Supergirl (TV Series)

American Dreamer (2019)

Mehcad Brooks: James Olsen

Photos 

Quotes 

• Querl Dox : By George, I think we've got it. We stumbled upon your core trauma, James. And surprisingly, it isn't a Lex Luthor murder attempt. It's your father's death.

  James Olsen : Brainy, you said that whatever I saw in your mind palace was gonna be based on real memories. I wasn't at our father's funeral.

  Querl Dox : Yes. You were. Incontrovertibly.

  Kelly Olsen : No, Brainy, he wasn't. I was alone. That is not something you forget.

  Querl Dox : Consider the possibility that James was there, and you, Kelly, did not see him.

  James Olsen : I was across the street. At a diner. I got locked in the bathroom and nobody could hear me. By the time the manager opened up the door, his funeral... his funeral was over.

  Querl Dox : Perhaps that is merely a picture of the truth that got framed and hung in your mind. An excuse you invented that, over time, even you came to believe. The mind will play tricks to protect itself. Think of memories like a watercolor. While you're painting, the colors blend into each other without clear borders until they grow opaque. Once the painting dries, the picture is set.

  Kelly Olsen : Yeah, I'm sorry, I need a break.

  Querl Dox : [she leaves]  Was it my metaphor?

• Kelly Olsen : Wait, that's you? You weren't at the diner? You were trapped down here? Those boys did this to you?

  [hearing her younger self calling for James] 

  Kelly Olsen : Oh, my god, that's my voice.

  Young James : Down here, Kelly. Help!

  Kelly Olsen : I was looking for you.

  Bully #2 : Dead daddy can't save you. You think your baby sister can? Pathetic loser.

  James Olsen : I must have pushed the shame of this and the memories so far down, I forgot. I've told that diner story so many times, I believe it.

• Alex Danvers : [running tests on James at the DEO]  Heart rate is 186. His ICP at 22 mil, and his BP is 160/30 and rising.

  Querl Dox : EKG now erratic. Pardon me for stating the obvious, but I do not believe the extraction process is working. You're pulling plasma, not Harun-El, and you're exacerbating his symptoms.

  James Olsen : It's okay. Keep going.

  [Lena taps her tablet; James grunts in pain as his hearing is overloaded with stimuli] 

  James Olsen : Oh, god... okay. I'm fine.

  Lena Luthor : I'm sorry. I thought this would work. I took this AmerTek technology straight from Lex's cell and I followed the instruction plans from Eve's lab exactly.

  Querl Dox : In the interest of science, was that super hearing you just experienced?

  Kelly Olsen : Super-hearing now, too?

  Alex Danvers : It seems every panic attack is bringing out a new ability.

  Lena Luthor : I will fix this. I just... need to better understand this.

• Querl Dox : A mind palace is a hyper-real interactive space in James' mind. This device taps into James' temporal lobe, allowing me to map out his memories. Everything he experiences will be real and true. If James is able to identify and face his core trauma, he may be able to manage the attacks.

  Alex Danvers : Do we know why the Harun-El is making the attacks worse?

  Querl Dox : Lena's drug was designed to attack illness. In this case, it was focused on the PTSD, heightening what would normally be just a panic attack. And since the drug also gives you superpowers, the attacks were causing the powers to be uncontrollable.

  James Olsen : So you're saying even if I'm able to manage the symptoms, I'm still gonna have superpowers?

  Querl Dox : Yes. But you'll be able to control them. Now, shall we jump in?

  James Olsen : Let's do this.

• James Olsen : [in his memories]  I'm at the Daily Planet?

  Querl Dox : Welcome to level one.

  James Olsen : [seeing a news report about Superman]  This is right after I met Superman. The first time Lex kidnapped me.

  [an elevator opens and three people get off] 

  James Olsen : No, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. This is... something wrong. This is not how it happened that day.

  Querl Dox : The memories are folding in on one another.

• Alex Danvers : Brainy, what is going on in there?

  James Olsen : [he re-enters James' memory]  That's me.

  Kelly Olsen : [he wakes up]  What happened?

  James Olsen : I saw dad.

• Querl Dox : I know this is challening, James, but I'll be with you every step of the way.

  James Olsen : [waking up in his memories]  It's the day of the funeral.

  Querl Dox : Looks like you're early.

  James Olsen : I remember wearing that suit.

  Young James : I love you, dad. I promise I will spend my life making you proud.

  Funeral Parlor Employee : You can't be in here. The funeral hasn't started yet.

• James Olsen : I remember them. Billy New and Brandon Palmer. They taunted me, took my lunch money.

  Young James : My dad was a soldier. Have some respect.

  Bully #2 : [to his buddy]  Let's say we show him some respect.

• Ben Lockwood : Dreamer! You're coming with me.

  [James catches his fist, crushing the bones in his hand, and crumples the barrel of his gun] 

  James Olsen : Get out of CatCo. Now.

  Ben Lockwood : Not without the alien.

  James Olsen : What alien? All I see are journalists exercising their right to freedom of speech and doing their duty to uphold freedom of press. So unless you're gonna re-write the Constitution, get out now!

  Ben Lockwood : I don't know what happened to you, or how you did this. But I'll find out.

  [to his agents] 

  Ben Lockwood : Come on!

  [he turns to leave, then stops] 

  Ben Lockwood : Oh, and I will find this... Dreamer.