The Best Mary McGowan Quotes

Mary: Hey, Buffalo Bill, why are you doing this to us?
Jacqueline: 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: You knew my husband.
Jacqueline: 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: Oh. So you're his patsy.
Jacqueline: 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.

Supergirl: [as a bomb in Winn, Sr's casket explodes] Everybody, get down!
Mary: Bastard always wanted to go out with a bang.

Jacqueline: 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: Winn, don't come here.
Supergirl: I'll go.
Mon: Me, too.
Winn: Not without me.
James: That's exactly what she wants.
Winn: 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: [besting Jacqueline] Childish things.
Mary: Thank you, Winn. We've got to get that cleaned out right now before it gets infected. When was your last tetanus shot?
Winn: Mom, recently. I am very cautious.

Mary: That is an angry monkey corpse.
Winn: 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: Can I try? I love Operation.
Winn: I'm not sure if you noticed, but it's, like, a top-secret government facility in here.
Mary: Oh, nobody cares.
[to a passing agent]
Mary: Are you paid enough to care? No, of course not.
[to another agent]
Mary: You should unionize, by the way.

Mary: I'm so proud of you.
Winn: What, for shaming my friends? It's...
Mary: 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.

Mary: 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: Oh, no, I'm sorry, let me guess. He threatened your life.
Mary: 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: I don't believe you.
Mary: You saw what your father did at his own funeral.
Winn: 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: I'm so sorry.
Winn: [turning to leave] I don't care anymore.
Mary: Winn...
Winn: I don't need your excuses. You wanna keep me safe? Great. You know what you should do? Leave again!

Mary: Did I ever tell you I was once your father's apprentice?
Winn: I thought you two met in Ivy Town.
Mary: 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: Your father's mind was a wind-up toy. I know what made it tick.
Winn: So then you knew how to stop him from, uh, going crazy and killing a bunch of people.

Mary: [watching Mon-El sing karaoke] This is unfortunate.
Winn: Oh, white-boy rock.
[to Mon-El]
Winn: Hey, rookie mistake, bud!

James: Any luck on figuring out who's behind the Toyman attacks?
Mary: No, but we've discovered a thousand ways how not to make a flying monkey.
Winn: And also a few ways to make better flying monkeys.
Mary: Oh, the wiring on these is amateurish, at best.
Winn: Alas, we are no closer to finding out who actually built them.

Mary: So, you work with Supergirl. You should sit up straight, be proud.
Winn: You cannot be down here.
Mary: Oh, please. If anyone asks, I'm just looking for the bathroom.
Winn: It's around the corner to the left. Okay, bye now.
Mary: Yeah, I tried that one, but it was closed for "enhanced interrogation."
[seeing another agent's expression]
Mary: Kidding. Jeez. Just kidding.
Winn: You think this is funny?
Mary: Oh, a little gallows humor never killed anybody. Well, except for the fellas hanging from the gallows.

Winn: Mom!
Mary: Turn around and leave right now!
Winn: I'm here to rescue you.
Mary: Don't Luke Skywalker me. This crazy woman is trying to kill you. Don't give her the chance.

Mary: Do you remember when I took you to Disneyland when you were nine?
Winn: 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: 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: I never saw it.
Mary: 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: That's not on you.
Mary: Maybe not, but the last twenty years, those were. And you were right about that. But I just wanted you to understand why.

Mary: 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: 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: 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: 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.

James: What the hell is that?
Mary: It's a message. For me.
[they see a skywriting message reading "Surrender, Mary"]
James: Is that a wicked witch?
Supergirl: No. Is it flying monkeys?

Mary: Do you recognize me? It's been a while.
Winn: I know how long it's been. You just missed him.
Mary: Oh, I wouldn't say that. I never missed him. I'm not here for him.
Winn: Oh, so you're here for me? Wow, mom, it's a little late.
Mary: You have every right to be furious with me.
Winn: [sarcastic] Oh, thank you. Thank you for your permission.
Mary: But I am so happy to see you. Honey, you don't understand it yet, but we're finally safe.

Mary: Sorry about the mess.
Supergirl: Oh, this? This is... that's not your fault.
Mary: 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: Oh.
Supergirl: Does that make you feel better?
Mary: Yes. Very much so.