Supergirl (TV Series)

Schott Through the Heart (2018)

Laurie Metcalf: Mary McGowan

Quotes 

• Supergirl : [as a bomb in Winn, Sr's casket explodes]  Everybody, get down!

  Mary McGowan : Bastard always wanted to go out with a bang.

• Mary McGowan : Leaving you, it gutted me. And I've carried that with me every day of my life, but I had to, Winn, because your father...

  Winn Schott : Oh, no, I'm sorry, let me guess. He threatened your life.

  Mary McGowan : No, Winn. He threatened yours. He told me that if I went near you, ever, that he would kill you. And when he died, I thought it was safe. But I was wrong. You're still in danger.

  Winn Schott : I don't believe you.

  Mary McGowan : You saw what your father did at his own funeral.

  Winn Schott : I saw the last grasping prank of a lunatic. And now what I'm hearing is an excuse. Twenty years in the making. Hey, I had twenty years to think, too. You want to know what I think about the most? Let me set the scene for you. It's the night dad finally snapped. And I'm sitting in the police station, freezing cold, 'cause I'm in my pajamas. When the police came and picked me up from home, I was asleep. Remember? In bed. Alone. And the nice officer, he-he drapes the coat over my shoulders. I feel a little better. So I'm sitting there, and my cold little feet are dangling in the air, and I'm waiting. I'm waiting for my mom to pick me up. 'Cause they said that they-they-they called you. Yeah. Yeah, they said it was just gonna be like an hour, and then they'd explain everything. And then it was two hours. And then it was just the next morning. When I lie in bed at night, staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, I-I'm not wondering why dad finally, suddenly snapped. No, that doesn't haunt me. What haunts me is you. You, who left me, when I needed you the most. With no explanation, no goodbye.

  Mary McGowan : I'm so sorry.

  Winn Schott : [turning to leave]  I don't care anymore.

  Mary McGowan : Winn...

  Winn Schott : I don't need your excuses. You wanna keep me safe? Great. You know what you should do? Leave again!

• Mary McGowan : That is an angry monkey corpse.

  Winn Schott : I was hoping to access this thing's inner workings, but it's like a game of Operation. Every time I get close to cracking it, it just zaps me.

  Mary McGowan : Can I try? I love Operation.

  Winn Schott : I'm not sure if you noticed, but it's, like, a top-secret government facility in here.

  Mary McGowan : Oh, nobody cares.

  [to a passing agent] 

  Mary McGowan : Are you paid enough to care? No, of course not.

  [to another agent] 

  Mary McGowan : You should unionize, by the way.

• Mary McGowan : Do you remember when I took you to Disneyland when you were nine?

  Winn Schott : Do I remember? Yeah, we drove overnight, 'cause you wanted to be there the second it opened. And then we get into a car accident at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and dad has to come and pick us up and takes us home. We never actually went to Disneyland.

  Mary McGowan : No. We were never going there. We were going to a domestic abuse shelter. And he ran us off the road. Stole a car, sped down the highway, ran us into a ditch. You sat dazed in the back seat with a concussion, and he and I had it out on the shoulder of the interstate. That's the night that he threatened to kill you, his only son, just to hurt me. Your father didn't just go to bed normal and wake up the next morning a monster. He was paranoid, he was controlling, he... he w... he was mean.

  Winn Schott : I never saw it.

  Mary McGowan : I didn't want you to. And I'm sorry, Winn. I'm sorry that-that... I couldn't get us out from under his shadow. That I couldn't save you.

  Winn Schott : That's not on you.

  Mary McGowan : Maybe not, but the last twenty years, those were. And you were right about that. But I just wanted you to understand why.

• Mary McGowan : Sorry about the mess.

  Supergirl : Oh, this? This is... that's not your fault.

  Mary McGowan : Can I ask, uh, when it comes to your day-to-day, on a scale of one to ten, how big of a pain in the ass are flying monkeys?

  Supergirl : Maybe a two.

  Mary McGowan : Oh.

  Supergirl : Does that make you feel better?

  Mary McGowan : Yes. Very much so.

• Mary McGowan : Hey, Buffalo Bill, why are you doing this to us?

  Jacqueline Nimball : Us? Who's "us"? The shrew wife who wouldn't let her husband have any fun? The son who never wrote, never called, never visited his lonely, ailing father in prison? You really think you're a pair worthy of sympathy? Or mercy?

  Mary McGowan : You knew my husband.

  Jacqueline Nimball : I worked maintenance at the penitentiary. He was a brilliant, dedicated man. A once-in-a-lifetime mind. He graced me with everything he knew. And, in exchange, I promised to carry out his wishes. Even after he died.

  Mary McGowan : Oh. So you're his patsy.

  Jacqueline Nimball : His apprentice. His protege. And the executor of his final wishes. To punish you, if you broke the rules. I'm gonna kill your son. I'm gonna make you watch, just like Winslow wanted. Then I'm gonna kill you, too.

• Winn Schott : [besting Jacqueline]  Childish things.

  Mary McGowan : Thank you, Winn. We've got to get that cleaned out right now before it gets infected. When was your last tetanus shot?

  Winn Schott : Mom, recently. I am very cautious.

• Mary McGowan : [watching Mon-El sing karaoke]  This is unfortunate.

  Winn Schott : Oh, white-boy rock.

  [to Mon-El] 

  Winn Schott : Hey, rookie mistake, bud!

• Mary McGowan : Do you recognize me? It's been a while.

  Winn Schott : I know how long it's been. You just missed him.

  Mary McGowan : Oh, I wouldn't say that. I never missed him. I'm not here for him.

  Winn Schott : Oh, so you're here for me? Wow, mom, it's a little late.

  Mary McGowan : You have every right to be furious with me.

  Winn Schott : [sarcastic]  Oh, thank you. Thank you for your permission.

  Mary McGowan : But I am so happy to see you. Honey, you don't understand it yet, but we're finally safe.

• Mary McGowan : So, you work with Supergirl. You should sit up straight, be proud.

  Winn Schott : You cannot be down here.

  Mary McGowan : Oh, please. If anyone asks, I'm just looking for the bathroom.

  Winn Schott : It's around the corner to the left. Okay, bye now.

  Mary McGowan : Yeah, I tried that one, but it was closed for "enhanced interrogation."

  [seeing another agent's expression] 

  Mary McGowan : Kidding. Jeez. Just kidding.

  Winn Schott : You think this is funny?

  Mary McGowan : Oh, a little gallows humor never killed anybody. Well, except for the fellas hanging from the gallows.

• Mary McGowan : I always knew he was brilliant and capable, but I worried when I left that he'd go the same way his dad did.

  Supergirl : He worried about that, too.

  Mary McGowan : I should have been here to tell him that he and his father were worlds apart. Did his friends tell him?

  Supergirl : We did.

  Mary McGowan : Thank you for that.

  Supergirl : Well, it was easy. He doesn't always get the credit, but... he keeps us going around here. He's always the one with some crazy idea that no one else would possibly dream of.

  Mary McGowan : My son works with Supergirl. It's just such a relief. He saves lives. I just wish he'd let me tell him how proud I am of him.

  Supergirl : I think he will. Eventually.

• Mary McGowan : Did I ever tell you I was once your father's apprentice?

  Winn Schott : I thought you two met in Ivy Town.

  Mary McGowan : Uh, we were both students, yes, but that's not where we met. I kept the books at the local toy store and your father was the genius stock boy. And he taught me about the math in the machine. One and one is two; it's simple, it's elegant. It's clean. Just like a wind-up toy.

  [popping a piece of the monkey off] 

  Mary McGowan : Your father's mind was a wind-up toy. I know what made it tick.

  Winn Schott : So then you knew how to stop him from, uh, going crazy and killing a bunch of people.

• James Olsen : Any luck on figuring out who's behind the Toyman attacks?

  Mary McGowan : No, but we've discovered a thousand ways how not to make a flying monkey.

  Winn Schott : And also a few ways to make better flying monkeys.

  Mary McGowan : Oh, the wiring on these is amateurish, at best.

  Winn Schott : Alas, we are no closer to finding out who actually built them.

• Jacqueline Nimball : I have your mother, but you can trade your life for hers. She's hanging around at the old Wiggins Game Company factory. But hurry, Junior, the pressure is on.

  Mary McGowan : Winn, don't come here.

  Supergirl : I'll go.

  Mon-El : Me, too.

  Winn Schott : Not without me.

  James Olsen : That's exactly what she wants.

  Winn Schott : I've spent my entire life trying to fight off the part of me that's like my dad, but now... now I can use it. Let's go.

• Winn Schott : Mom!

  Mary McGowan : Turn around and leave right now!

  Winn Schott : I'm here to rescue you.

  Mary McGowan : Don't Luke Skywalker me. This crazy woman is trying to kill you. Don't give her the chance.

• Mary McGowan : I'm so proud of you.

  Winn Schott : What, for shaming my friends? It's...

  Mary McGowan : No, you came out from the darkness, you forged an incredible life for yourself. I've spent so many years worrying about what had become of you, what the loss of your father, what the loss of me, did you to, and you have not only survived, you have excelled. And I couldn't be happier.

• James Olsen : What the hell is that?

  Mary McGowan : It's a message. For me.

  [they see a skywriting message reading "Surrender, Mary"] 

  James Olsen : Is that a wicked witch?

  Supergirl : No. Is it flying monkeys?

• Mary McGowan : I don't know why you hate me or my son, but it stops right here. I'm pointing a gun at you, by the way. In case that's a thing you'd be interested in knowing.

  Jacqueline Nimball : A gun. That's a dangerous toy. But mine are worse.

• Mary McGowan : [after the attack of the flying monkeys, to Winn:]  This is your job?

  [modem explodes] 

  Mary McGowan : This is?