Previously on SUPERGIRL

Still public enemy number one according to the U.S. government, Supergirl is staying out of the spotlight again this week, instead trying to use her skills as a journalist to find proof that Lex Luthor is manipulating everyone to meet his own ends. Oddly enough, they seem to have moved on from the fact that a Supergirl clone murdered dozens of people inside the Oval Office and causing the President to want her brought in.

If it happened to me, I think I’d be pretty singularly focused on figuring out why someone who looked exactly like me and had my powers used them with extreme malice against high-ranking government officials. But no, instead, all the super-powered people in National City are working other angles and acting like having an evil Supergirl under the control of Lex Luthor isn’t the most frightening idea in the world.

Eventually, this is going to come down to a giant brawl between the two Supergirls and everyone is going to be shocked that Lex has his own Supergirl, despite all the evidence that he had one and it’s going to annoy me. But that’s a situation for later, isn’t it?

While the adventures of Kara Danvers has her looking through boxes and writing on windows with white dry erase markers, Nia Nal is suiting up as Dreamer and taking down the Children of Liberty in defense of the aliens. Since Supergirl is on the sidelines, Kara decides that Dreamer needs to become the symbol of hope for the country – because she’s of alien origin but was born on Earth – and interviews her live on a TV signal that apparently hacks all the screens in National City, forcing people to watch it.

Losing the ability to change the channel on Kara’s interview really cheesed off Ben Lockwood, who directs the Children of Liberty – from DEO headquarters – to CatCo to capture the new hero.

Under the cover of darkness – because Alex and Brainiac 5 cut the power – Kara uses her powers in secret to help Nia and Brainy take down the Children of Liberty and destroy the CatCo offices. The overwhelming force of the agents is almost too much for our heroes, until James Olsen walks back in. After an episode-long therapy session with Brainy, Olsen finally gets his Harun-El powers under control, crushes Lockwood’s hand and tells the agents to leave his office.

Lockwood started out as a nuanced villain, a man pushed to the edge by circumstance who felt betrayed and it led him on a difficult journey. But now, at least in this episode, he just seemed like a cartoonish, over-the-top figure of evil, yelling maniacally and vowing revenge. Olsen probably should have just used his new heat vision to lobotomize him.