Supergirl and her team come across a cult that considers her to be their savior. Unfortunately, the group’s leader – who has along-standing tie to the Girl of Steel – doesn’t seem to have the best of intentions when it comes to the way his members worship.

Previously, on SUPERGIRL

Now that most of the pieces have been set on the board, the third season of SUPERGIRL is starting to move into its main story arc with the fourth episode (though, if you’ve not followed the news bits of what’s coming up, I won’t spoil it here). Supergirl’s ties to her former home on the planet Krypton have strengthened somewhat since the season’s first episode, with visions of her mother, Alura, along with her seemingly new practice of Kryptonian praying and meditation. Here, we begin to learn more about the planet that produced both Supergirl and her cousin, Superman, via a cult that worships Supergirl.

The episode kicks off with the new head of L-Corp, Samantha Arias, at her daughter’s soccer game, when she’s approached by someone who hands her a panphlet and tells Samantha to bring daughter Ruby to a meeting, because Ruby is special. When Stephanie meets up with Lena Luthor and Kara, Kara takes notice of the pamphlet because of what’s on the front – the symbol of the Kryptonian god Rao. Kara takes a bored James Olsen and Winn Schott to a meeting, where they find a group of people who have been saved by Supergirl. She remembers saving all of their lives, except the group leader, Thomas Coville. We later find out that Coville was on the plane that Kara saved during her debut, two years ago, and the experience changed his life. He sought out all the Kryptonian artifacts he could find and started to encourage others to show their appreciation for the Girl of Steel. Kara is not at all comfortable with this.

And it turns out her instinct is on the money. Coville is encouraging others put themselves in danger to show them that Supergirl will save them, and he seems to also be perverting the teachings of Rao to aid his cause. During a girls’ night with sister Alex, Maggie Sawyer, Lena and Samantha, Kara has to excuse herself when she hears about a fire, which was set to show a potential newcomer to the group that he owes his life to Supergirl.

Kara confronts Coville in her role as a reporter for CatCo, though Coville could tell she was Supergirl – he’s officially smarter than 99 percent of the DC Universe that can’t see past a pair of glasses – and he defends his methods and his purpose. Kara uses the opportunity to take a device from his headquarters, which turns out to be Kryptonian. Winn uses the device’s power source to find an even larger Kryptonian device – a probe sent out into the universe to find life – which is getting ready to explode underneath the National City arena, currently hosting a hockey game. When Supergirl goes to stop the device, she is felled by traces of Kryptonite inside the probe, shocking the acolytes and breaking Coville’s faith. If not for Alex’s intervention, giving Kara a chance to use her heat vision to melt the floor into the Earth’s core so Alex and Coville can push the device inside, all would be lost.

That was a tough sentence to get through… Anyway, Coville is arrested, his cult is broken up and the Kryptonian probe explodes deep below the Earth’s crust. All’s well, right? Not really. The show closes with a second Kryptonian probe activating, and a very ominous hand slamming an opaque cell wall. And our new L-Corp CEO, Samantha, sees herself in a bathroom mirror covered in Kryptonian symbols as a hooded woman appears to prepare her for her fate.

Show Notes

• We get the origin story for “Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen,” when James has a talk with Kara about what she means to people. Olsen tells her about the first time Superman rescued him, as he was high up taking pictures in a smokey area and fell.

• As Alex and Maggie prepare for their wedding, Alex has been shown to be accepting of Maggie not wanting kids, but she breaks down while watching Ruby’s recital at the end of the episode. She tells Kara that she wants to be their for her daughter the same way their mom was there for them. Not a good sign for their relationship…

• Though not seen in the episode, Morgan Edge makes an impact here, too. We discover that Edge – introduced in the season premiere, tried to foil Samantha’s first merger as head of L-Corp. Samantha battles him back and gets a win. Edge is clearly not being portrayed as much of a threat here.

The Super Cinco

  1. Kara Danvers / Supergirl – The star of the show finally has a spotlight episode for the first time this season, being worshipped for her acts, saving the day and being a shoulder to cry on for her sister. (Last Week’s Ranking – 3)
  2. James Olsen – Despite being really bored and trying to find something to do with Winn to start off the episode because crime is down and Guardian wasn’t needed (doesn’t he have a media conglomerate to manage?), comes through with advice to keep Kara in the game. (Last Week’s Ranking – Unranked)
  3. Samantha Arias – Had a busy week as the chief financial officer of L-Corp, fighting off a challenge to a merger from Morgan Edge, and tried to be there for her daughter as best she could despite everything going on. (Last Week’s Ranking – Unranked)
  4. Alex Danvers – It’s tough to come to terms that maybe your partner’s beliefs may stand in the way of your own happiness, but Alex gets hit with that realization. This should guide her emotional arc for the next few episodes. (Last Week’s Ranking – 4)
  5. Winn Schott – Finally seems to make a substantive contribution to the team by finding the location of the probe that was about to explode. (Last Week’s Ranking – Unranked)

That’s all for this week. Be sure to check out Joe’s recaps of THE FLASH and LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, and then I’ll be back later this week with ARROW and this week’s ARROWVERSE POWER RANKING!