Supergirl: How Does She Do It? Recap

Synopsis: Kara must protect National City from a series of bombings and babysit Cat’s son, while James is visited by Lucy Lane.

★★★★☆

This was a rough week for Kara. Not only were bombs going off all over the city, but she also volunteered to watch Cat’s son, Carter.

Carter was a great addition that I hope we see again. He’s nerdy and sweet and adorable and has a humongous crush on Supergirl (he even asks if James will introduce him to Superman, so Superman can introduce him to Supergirl). So much so in fact, that he takes off while under Kara’s watch to see Maxwell Lord’s new train launch, even knowing there is a potential bomb threat, because he hopes she will be there.

Kara abandons an identical bomb threat at the airport  in order to save him, earning her suspicion and dismay from both Maxwell Lord and James Olsen. This all comes on the heels of an advanced drone that tried to shoot Kara out of the sky. She managed to catch it and take it down, and the DEO was able to determine it contained technology patented by Lord technologies. Later, another bomb blows up a lab in a Lord Technologies subsidiary, and after Kara saves the day, that bomb is found to contain the same technology.

Alex confronts Maxwell Lord, and the two bond over science. Alex is fascinated by the mechanics and physics of the train, and she and Maxwell both believe there is no greater calling than helping people, although they disagree on exactly what that means. While they’re bonding, yet another bomb is discovered in the building, and Kara, again, arrives in the nick of time and flies the bomb out into the ocean, getting pretty banged up by the blast herself.

Back on the train, Kara talks to the man strapped with the bomb. He seems calm and sad and tells Kara to do everything she can to save everyone else, because it’s too late for him. Kara asks him to think of his daughter, who is sick, and he tells her that’s exactly what he is doing. Kara uncouples the train car from the rest of the train, saving everyone on board and letting the man die.

At the airport, no one knows how to diffuse the bomb. Hank orders everyone out of the building and uses his as-yet-unexplained glowing eyes to disarm it. He tells everyone the bomb was a dud – a decoy. Alex is not convinced and voices her feelings to Kara, who has an epiphany.

She goes to see Maxwell Lord again and tells him that he’s the only common link between everything that’s happened, and she knows he’s up to something. He gives an eloquent little speech about scientific discovery and reveals that everything was a plan to pin down Supergirl.

The drone tested her agility, the bomb in the first lab forced her to hold the building up, testing her strength. The bomb at Lord Technologies tested her speed as she tried to distance it from them, and it proved that she wasn’t invincible since she was affected by the blast. By setting a bomb at the train and airport simultaneously he meant to test her tactics, but when she chose to save the far smaller number of people on the train, she revealed that she probably knew someone who was there — a clue to her identity.

Maxwell Lord has every intention of exposing Supergirl.

Which is unfortunate for everyone because he and Alex were really hitting it off. Personally I’m not down with that. The secondary protagonist unwittingly falling in love with the debonair arch-villain? Beyond stale. And totally unfair to Alex. It’ll be fun to see her kick his ass when she finds out, though.

Speaking of romantic subplots Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Lane got back together. Which should be a total bummer except that Lucy is great, and she and Kara genuinely like each other. I applaud the show for making the unexpected gorgeous ex-girlfriend a legitimate choice and a rounded character, and doing away with the prototypical animosity she and Kara might have had. Its’ a breath of fresh air.