Supergirl 5x11 : Back from the Future Part One review

Be warned there will be *SPOILERS* involved in this review. With that being said let's get into it. 

Winn returns, The prototype Watchtower gets revealed and lots more. Supergirl is back to her almost best after last week's pretty non existent episode. The episode begins with a bike driving Brainy who places a trap on the road. For what?? well it's to stop a bus right in it's tracks as the driver is none other than Winn himself. Well it's not the Winn we know it's the demented Toyman version who is following on from his father's footsteps after he was wronged by a colleague. Lex Luthor with Brainy's help ends up recruiting him for his cause mainly as a distraction as he gives Winn the push to embrace his Toyman side as he gives him the location of National City Toy Convention. At the Toy Convention we see Lex being interviewed by Kara and William. Lex is getting his own action figure as William tells Kara in secret that he thins something is up with Lex and he is going to dig deeper much to Kara's dismay at first. Pretty soon however Supergirl is called into action as toys which Supergirl knows from her encounter with Toyman way back in season 1 puts a stop to. While doing so she spots Winn up in the rafters pointing a sniper at the man who wronged his father. He shoots but the bullet gets stopped by a tiny ship which soon turns into a giant ship. It's the Legion ship. It comes to a halt and out comes Winn. This Earth's Winn who we last saw go to the future with  the Legion. He is a fully fledged Legion member now and even boasts Dreamer energy thank to a distant relative of Nia's. Toyman ends up getting away much to Winn's shock and disbelief as the reason he is here is to stop Toyman. Why?? well in the future Winn is married and has a daughter. A couple hours before travelling back to this date he was interrupted by Time Cops who argue with his wife while he was putting his daughter to bed. If Toyman isn't stopped in the present time Winn's entire life will change forever in the future. He won't get married, have a daughter and there will be a bounty on his head for murder. 

With the number one priority being to stop Toyman everyone goes to see J'onn so that he can restore Winn's memory. At J'onn's office he calls them to a secret location and with the help of an elevator they are all brought into a new base of operations for all the paragons. Complete with all their symbols J'onn calls it the Tower which I'm sure is a play on the Watchtower. The base of operations for the Justice League in the comics. I do wonder however if other members like Barry, Kate, Superman or the others will ever be shown here?? so J'onn brings Winn up to speed which causes him to vomit a lot. He has missed a lot after all like Lex being back from the dead, the entire Crisis scenario and even Kara vs Red Daughter. Speaking of Lex he uses his new found distraction with Toyman as a way to learn more about Leviathan aboard the Legion ship. He gets aboard thanks to DNA from Winn and he ends up finding info. Valuable info that will be a turning point going forward. He learns that a member of the group is working or at least involved with Obsidian North. 

The episode draws to a close as the search for Toyman goes on. The team don't have to look or go far however as Toyman appears on the big screen inside of the Tower and states that once he reaches 1 million followers he will have a very special gift in store. People throughout the city begin to actually take a shine to him and share this video around the entire globe leaving #Toyman to become a viral sensation in mere hours. The team end up figuring out a key clue as at Toyman's base we see a picture of Andrea Rojas and her father marked in a red circle on the wall. Could they've been involved in destroying Toyman Senior's operation?? well speaking of Andrea and Obsidian North they are to unveil the next part of their VR tech in hours at the National City University. With Andrea now primary target for Toyman Supergirl shows up just in the nick of time as Toyman is disguised as the University's mascot he looks set to kill Andrea but she gets saved by Supergirl. A fight breaks out between the team and Toyman's army of robotic tigers complete with the song ''Eye of the Tiger'' playing over the scene which was perfect. With everyone else dealing with the Tigers Winn chases his doppleganger and asks him to stop whatever he is doing that he still has a chance to be good. To be something better than this. Of course Toyman refuses and as he hit 1 million followers he steps off a giant explosion below the University which somehow everyone survives which was just silly. Back up top and Winn checks his future status and is pleased to see that things have returned to normal. Back at Lena's office Lex offers her a new way to use Q-waves as thanks to Crisis they were all messed around and lost. Those two working together is honestly nice to see even though it will probably end in tears or even worse..death for someone. The episode ends as the team celebrate their victory with game night at Kara's place. Even William attends after being convinced by Kara to go and not be alone. Could a romance be blossoming?? the final thing we see is two security members lock away all of Toyman's stuff but one giant suitcase of sorts lifts itself open and we see Toyman on a screen inside of it. He lives on and will presumably return in the next episode which like Batwoman returns on February 16th. All in all though this was the best honest in quite some time. Last week's felt completely filler but this, this felt exciting and had a real purpose. Of course seeing Winn back helped too but the inclusion of the Tower?? well that is just super exciting to me. I hope it doesn't go unused however. Thank you Kara Zor El this was you flying high once more.

★★★★