Childish Things (Supergirl)

"Childish Things" is the tenth episode in the first season of the CBS television series Supergirl, which aired on January 18, 2016. It was written by Yahlin Chang, Anna Musky-Goldwyn, and James DeWille, and directed by Jamie Babbit.

The episode centers on Winn's father, Winslow "Toyman" Schott Sr., escaping from prison in an effort to reconcile with his son while seeking out vengeance, Cat offering Lucy a job at CatCo, and Hank using his powers to find out what Maxwell is hiding at Lord Technologies.

Plot
Winslow "Toyman" Schott Sr., father of Winn, escapes from Van Kull Maximum Security Prison. Kara attempts convincing J'onn to embrace his powers, but J'onn refuses. Cat offers Lucy a job at CatCo and convinces her to take the offer. The news report of Winn's father becomes the top story and when FBI agent Cameron Chase questions him, Winn tells her he wants nothing to do with him. Winn admits to Kara that his father was responsible for the death of six people after his boss, Chester Dunholtz, took credit for his toy designs. He shows Kara a doll he received, telling Winn to meet Winslow at their favorite place.

Alex takes Maxwell out on a date, as J'onn (posing as Maxwell) sneaks in and discovers the mystery woman. When J'onn trips over the alarm, a guard shows up but J'onn erases his memory; Maxwell returns and finds the guard has no memory of anything, including his own family. James is reluctant to have Lucy working at the company; Lucy is upset that he does not support her.

At an arcade, Winn finds his father, who reminds him that they are much alike. As Cameron and her agents closes in on them, a cloud of poison gas is dispersed, but Supergirl inhales it and disperses it into the air. Winn realizes his father must be hiding in an abandoned factory he once owned; Kara goes to capture him before the FBI can. At the factory Kara is trapped in quicksand and distracted long enough for Winslow to escape. After being encouraged by Kara, Winn tries to kiss her but is rejected. Winn is later kidnapped by Winslow and taken to a warehouse. Winslow reveals his plan is for Winn to kill Dunholtz so they can be together in prison. To ensure his compliance, Winslow Sr. placed ten bombs in random toys at the convention and will set them off if Winn does not go through with it.

As Dunholtz makes his speech, Winn has a gun and fires it into the air; the FBI agents shoot to kill him, but Supergirl stops them and with x-ray vision sees Winslow set the bombs on a timer. She sets off the sprinklers with her heat vision and uses her freeze breath to create a frozen shield, then subdues him. James and Lucy reconcile, while Kara and Winn apologize to each other. Maxwell previously planted a recording device on Alex's purse and discovers Alex and Supergirl are adoptive sisters.

Ratings
The episode attracted 671,000 viewers for its British premiere, making it the 8th most watched programme on Sky One for the week.

Critical response
Eric Goldman of IGN gave the episode an 8/10 praising Jeremy Jordan's performance as Winn, the Toyman comic book references and the creepiness of Toyman, but criticizing the Lucy Lane's subplot and the scene with the quicksand.

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted: "The first part of Supergirl’s season has been focused on Kara finally embracing who she really is and enjoying every moment of that. Well, tonight’s episode finds the people around her, mainly James, Winn, and Hank, grappling with who they are, what they want, and whether or not they are ready for the world to see who they are."

Stacy Glanzman of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.0 out of 5 stars.