Kara struggles to regain the trust of National City following her Red K rampage. Meanwhile, held prisoner by the DEO, J'onn reveals what happened to Hank Henshaw.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: We don't really know if Jeremiah ended up Not Quite Dead or if he's resurrected. Either way, he's now in Cadmus.
- Badass Biker: In order to rescue both J'onn and Alex without compromising their reputations (further, in Kara's case), Kara and Lucy go after their transport as Badass Bikers, with motorcycles and face-concealing helmets. They give the Cool Bikes to J'onn and Alex to escape on.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Cat mentions it was a mistake to fire Siobhan, it's assumed that Siobhan will get her job back. Instead, Cat knows it was Siobhan who sent the demeaning email instead of Kara, thanks to Winn's software identifying Siobhan's typing speed. Cat's only "mistake" is in already having fired Siobhan, because it means she can't do it again more vehemently.
- Beach Episode: A flashback during Kara and Alex's teen years show them hanging out in a beach. The Danvers home is near the shore as well.
- Beware the Superman: National City now treats Supergirl with fear, rather than adulation and respect.
- Category Traitor: Harper calls Alex a traitor for covering up J'onn.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The boy Alex is dating in the flashback will show up in Season 2.
- Demoted to Extra: Malina Weissman, who plays the young Kara, is usually at the regular guest stars line-up in the OBB every time she appears. She's listed at the CBB in this episode.
- Disney Villain Death:
- Hank Henshaw died after being pushed from a cliff.
- Averted by Siobhan, as her fall triggers a Traumatic Superpower Awakening.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The flashbacks to Kara's first days on Earth are presented an awful lot like autism, getting overloaded by new sensations and fascinated by things others find completely normal ("We don't have birds on my planet.")
- Downer Beginning: The show opens with Kara still feeling the fallout of her Red Kryptonite rampage.
- Dramatic Irony: Cat dislikes millennials and was initially wary of hiring Kara because she is one. However, Cat does not know that Kara was stuck in the Phantom Zone for twenty-four years without physically aging, making her a millennial only in technicality. Kara was born in 1966, making her officially part of Generation X (and judging by Calista Flockhart's age, only two years younger than Cat unless Dawson Casting is in play).
- Drowning My Sorrows
- It's indicated during Alex's flashback that the primary reason she used to drink was that she was struggling badly as a scientist.
- Siobhan opens the episode drinking a lot of mimosas after having been fired and being unable to get a new job.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted with Kara, as National City residents are generally afraid of her now, despite being aware that her rampage is over. The DEO, however, doesn't seem to care, due to knowing about the Red Kryptonite being the factor and also because they're focused on dealing with J'onn and the military.
- End of an Age: J'onn's tenure as the director of the DEO officially comes to an end as of this episode.
- Exact Words: Alex is repeatedly asked whether she knew "Henshaw" was really J'onn when she was recruited, to which she answers no. She's able to beat the lie detector (but not Lucy) because this is true—she found out about J'onn's true identity well after that event, though still before the rest of the DEO.
- Fantastic Racism: Colonel Harper shares the same hostility as Hank Henshaw when it comes to treating aliens (even innocent refugees like J'onn).
- Fights Like a Normal: During the fight to rescue Alex and J'onn from Cadmus, and in order to hide her identity, Kara fights like a normal Badass Biker (albeit with a moment of super speed).
- Flashback: Various scenes are aided by flashbacks.
- J'onn's interview explaining how he came to impersonate Hank Henshaw has a flashback to how Henshaw and Jeremiah Danvers died.
- Alex's interview on her association with J'onn has a flashback to her recruitment.
- Finally, Supergirl explaining why she hides her identity has a flashback to her problems attending school, attempts at heroism, and finally being hired by Cat.
- "Friends" Rent Control: A deleted scene on the first season DVD shows that Kara's apartment used to be Alex's... back when Alex was a grad student. That gorgeous, huge apartment in totally-not-LA, for a grad student.
- Fugitive Arc: Both Alex and J'onn are forced to go on the run at the end of this episode.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Prior to joining the DEO, Alex was arrested after attempting to drive while drunk.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: We already know from previous episodes that Lucy isn't as hardlined against aliens as her superiors, and this episode shows that despite heading the investigation, she's conflicted, so when Kara reveals that she is Supergirl it doesn't take much to convince Lucy to help J'onn and Alex.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Siobhan sneaks inside the CatCo Building and types a slanderous email from Kara's laptop. Cat is easily able to tell that Kara wouldn't do such a thing and gets Winn to investigate, implicating Siobhan by her typing style. This loses Siobhan Winn's respect, along with any remaining shreds of Cat's regard.
- Hypocrite: Alpha Bitch Siobhan complains that Kara went "Mean Girl" on her and got her fired.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Winn and Siobhan get into an argument after the latter tries to Frame-Up Kara, with Winn giving Siobhan a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech.
- Important Haircut: Turns out Alex was still sporting her long hair in her adulthood up until she joined the DEO, where she eventually had it trimmed to her current bob.
- Internal Reveal: Lucy learns that Kara is Supergirl. Lucy is amazed she didn't put it together.
- It's Personal: Col. Harper turns out to have been a good friend of Hank Henshaw. Learning what really happened to his late friend just gets him more pissed at J'onn.
- Lie Detector: Alex is hooked up to one during her interview. Though she's able to beat it, Lucy figures she's lying and has her arrested anyway.
- Make Some Noise: Siobhan's powers.
- Moral Myopia: Siobhan calls Kara a "mean girl" for exposing her attempted betrayal to Cat, but has no problem forging an abusive E-mail to Cat in Kara's name (not to mention she conveniently forgets that she had been treating Kara like dirt since the day they met).
- Mundane Utility: Kara uses her X-ray vision to get a job.
- Mutual Kill: Jeremiah Danvers tossed Hank Henshaw off a cliff, but Henshaw managed to stab him just before. This is an aversion, both are later revealed to have survived.
- Mythology Gag:
- Martian Manhunter's love of junk food, specifically ChoCo brand cookies, finally comes up.
- In the flashback, Jeremiah comments how J'onn really doesn't like to get close to the bonfire, reflecting on the comic version of Martian Manhunter's weakness.
- Project Cadmus has a long history in both the comics and the DC Animated Universe.
- Kara and Lucy's Badass Biker stunt is basically what you usually see if you're watching Arrow.
- Jeremiah Danvers acts much like Jonathan Kent in Man of Steel, warning Kara that using her powers to save people could bring unwanted attention (though with the bonus that Superman himself is already out there doing the job).
- Never My Fault: Siobhan calls Winn to a lunch so she can whine about how Kara ruined her life. It seems that, in her mind, she's an innocent heroine who got slammed by the Alpha Bitch.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Winn's pep talk is what motivates Siobhan's slander attack and ultimately causes her powers to come out, meaning Winn is more or less responsible for her becoming a supervillain.
- One-Word Title
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Both Colonel Harper and Hank Henshaw are huge Fantastic Racists.
- Power Nullifier:
- To keep Supergirl from listening in on the interviews, the military uses sonic jammers that overwhelm her with noise.
- J'onn is kept in "Hank"'s form by way of a stasis field the military has developed.
- Prison Episode: Technically, since most of the episode features J'onn (and later Alex) in the military's custody. Played more straight with the flashback scene where Alex and J'onn first met.
- The Reveal:
- Jeremiah Danvers is alive.
- Siobhan has powers (though it was blatantly stated in social media from the get go).
- Superman refuses to work with the DEO because the American government has an even more secret facility called Project Cadmus, where they experiment on aliens for defense purposes.
- Running Gag: Cat's distaste for millennials makes another appearance.
- Secondary Character Title: Directly referring to J'onn.
- Sequel Hook: The mention of Cadmus, which is then confirmed to be the arc for Season 2.
- Shout-Out:
- The place where Jeremiah and J'onn are chatting, as well as where Henshaw met his end, looks exactly like the very first stage of the Virtuous Mission from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Hell, Jeremiah even met J'onn because of a snake.
- "Party Rock Anthem" can be heard playing, appropriately, during Alex's Hard-Drinking Party Girl days.
- "Since U Been Gone" can be heard playing during Kara's beach flashback to 2004.
- Possibly coincidental, but when Kara asks Colonel Harper where Alex is going, he responds "Same place I'm taking your little green friend".
- Stepping Out for a Quick Cup of Coffee: Supergirl asks one of the DEO agents who handles communications to help her listen in to the interview between Alex and Harper, but the agent tells Supergirl she can't help her due to Harper's orders. So instead she just leaves her post, leaving her communication device behind for Supergirl.
- Take That!:
- Cat makes it clear that she utterly can't stand Millennials and their self-entitled opinions during Kara's job interview.
- She also takes a subtle shot at Mel Gibson at the beginning.
- They Would Cut You Up: Project Cadmus is dedicated to weaponizing alien powers, usually by dissecting the aliens in question to learn how they work.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Siobhan having powers. Even if you're not aware of the comics, her fate as the supervillain Silver Banshee was blatantly stated by Word of God in social media and conventions.
- Tranquil Fury: Cat doesn't raise her voice when scolding Siobhan—she acts perfectly civil at first—but it doesn't make a difference. Cat Grant is pissed.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Siobhan discovers her Make Some Noise powers after she accidentally falls off a building.
- Turn of the Millennium: J'onn's Flashbacks happened in this decade, specifically 2005 during DEO's manhunt for him and his return as "Hank Henshaw" a month after. Kara also reminisced about her first year on Earth during 2004, complete with Kelly Clarkson music ("Since U Been Gone").
- Ungrateful Bastard: Even though J'onn saved National City from the corrupted Supergirl (something a news report actually acknowledges), he is treated with nothing but hate and suspicion by the military.
- Villainous Friendship: One of the main reasons Harper is so pissed at J'onn is because Hank Henshaw was his best friend.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: How Harper tries to present himself and Hank. Alex point-blank calls him out on how pathetic he is.
- Wham Line:J'onn: [to Alex] Your father is alive.
- Wham Shot: Siobhan's Traumatic Superpower Awakening.
- World's Strongest Man: According to Hank Henshaw, J'onn is considered to be this by Superman.
- You Are in Command Now: Thanks to J'onn, Lucy is put in charge of the DEO.
