written by Cara Russell

SPOILER WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT

This episode gives us a bunch of treats and some questionable moments, but most importantly, my favourite scene in the season to date. James has Harun-el powers, and Dreamer is very happy to abuse him to test his limits. Who could resist being able to beat up their boss with no repercussions? That she does it with such glee is just a delight.

Lena and Kara go on a Kaznian road trip, find Lex’s alien experimentation lab, and catch an oddly acting Eve Tessmacher. Unfortunately for them, Lex gave Eve Copy’s power to duplicate, allowing Eve to rescue herself and start the base’s auto-destruct sequence. This kicks off a tense escape, with Kara trying to keep her super-ID a secret from Lena in a base plastered with her pictures, along with Eve copies trying to slow them both down.

Alex receives an unexpected adoption offer while hanging out with James’ sister Kelly. After freaking out, Kelly wisely counsels her and she accepts the offer. Alex then gets punked by the grandparents, who pressure the teen mother to keep the child. This is a cruel thing to do to Alex (and the nameless birth mother!) again, but it does get acknowledged by the characters. It’s revealed that Kelly had a fiancée…although it also means that Kelly was cool with sleeping with her commanding officer in a war zone.

The house of Lockwood is grieving Lydia’s murder, with Ben becoming more unhinged in efforts to eradicate aliens. He enters the DEO and breaks into Lena’s office. Despite Brainy’s interference, Ben acquires some Harun-el serum. His team (including Brainiac 5, there for damage control) tracks down the alien who killed Lydia. When Dreamer and James to show up to defend the aliens, Brainy stages a conscientious objection that will definitely not be forgotten by his employers. Ben injects raw Harun-el directly into his heart to give himself powers for a throwdown, which is interrupted by the triumphant return of the Martian Manhunter. Ben ends up losing in more ways than one, as his son rightfully blames Ben for both Lydia’s death and abandoning him during the funeral.

Back on the plane, with all the Eves defeated, Lena tries to apologize to Kara for not protecting her. Kara comes within an inch of revealing her secret identity as Supergirl, like she should have three seasons ago, but Lena venting about her hurt feelings from Eve’s betrayal keeps Kara from piling onto those frayed feelings. Later, Kara tells James that she’ll follow through once Lex is thwarted, and I’m concerned this is a tell that Lena isn’t long for this world, and Kara won’t be able to tell her.

Kara the reporter takes evidence of U.S. staffer collusion with Lex Luthor, along with their plan for Kaznia to invade America, straight to President Baker. We know this is a bad idea because the president is in on it, but it’s still interesting to see him play it so straight…right up until he has his henchmen bag and abduct Kara. It’s far smoother than someone who has cancer-causing Kryptonite decor has any right to be.

I like this trend of horrible people reaping what they’ve sown, plot progression, and movement towards righting some long-accepted wrongs, but I’m still under the spectre of the earlier episodes. Why couldn’t the entire season have been at this level? I feel like a broken record with how often I say this.

Supergirl airs Sunday nights at 8 Eastern/7 Central on the CW. Cara can be found on Twitter @virtualcara.