Manchester Black confronts Ben Lockwood while Brainiac and Kara help Nia Nal cope with her emerging powers.
Tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: After the fiasco at Shelly Island, Ben tries to give up being Agent Liberty for the foreseeable future and instead change public opinion through his talk show. Manchester showing up at his house torpedoes that plan, ensuring that Ben can't be anything other than Agent Liberty since he's arrested and exposed.
- All Psychology Is Freudian: According to Brainiac, in the 31st century psychology has become a mix of Freudian and Jungian called "Frungian".
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Supergirl tries the standard superhero argument about her friends and family being in danger if her civilian identity was known, President Baker points out that his family is in just as much danger and needs Secret Service protection because everyone knows who he is, and he doesn't get to hide it - ignoring that not everyone has the luxury of 24-7 security. Supergirl still won't budge.
- Being Good Sucks: Kara does the right thing throughout the episode, intervenes to save the bad guy, and bends over backwards to make sure everyone gets out alive. She's rewarded by being smeared by the very villain she saved and forced to resign from the DEO because she refuses to give up her secret identity.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ben Lockwood is revealed to the world and arrested, but he manages to spin his arrest to favor his cause by pointing out that Supergirl hides her identity, and seems pretty confident he'll be out of prison soon. President Baker tries to get Supergirl to reveal her identity to calm the situation, but she refuses, so he dismisses her from the DEO. Meanwhile, even though J'onn couldn't talk down Manchester, he still believes Manchester can be saved, and that Manchester himself believes it, too.
- Blatant Lies:
- Frank, the fake Agent Liberty from the last episode, keeps insisting that he is the real deal even though it is clear that he is no leadership material. Overlaps with Undying Loyalty for the cause.
- Brainy slips up and accidentally calls Nia "Nura". He immediately denies doing it as soon as Nia and Kara notice.
- Kara's attempt at distracting the Children of Liberty is laughably poor; she claims to have used 23AndMe.com to try and find Agent Liberty, claiming her real name is Kara Liberty, to connect with the group. Unsurprisingly, it ends with the Children forcing her into a van.
- As he's arrested, Lockwood rants about aliens being the enemy, notably saying "look what they did to me"; all of Lockwood's injuries were inflicted by the human Manchester Black.
- Blessed with Suck: Nia doesn't like her powers at all.
- Crazy-Prepared: Manchester keeps a grenade filled with moon dust on him, which is sharp enough to act as tear gas to a Kryptonian.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Despite J'onn's continued interference and even getting stabbed by Lockwood once because of it, Manchester still beats the crap out of him, until a final interference knocks him out.
- Deliberate Injury Gambit: When J'onn tries to stop Manchester from taking his revenge, Manchester drives J'onn out of his mind by slicing his hand using Ben's heirloom bayonet, forcing J'onn to share that pain.
- Didn't Think This Through: Nia told everybody who asked her about it a different story about her supposed narcolepsy, making it simple for Kara to figure out she was dodging the issue.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: What Nia's powers are revealed to be. Though they are by no means 100% clear.
- Early-Bird Cameo: John Wesley Shipp's Barry Allen and the Anti-Monitor are announced to make an appearance in Elseworlds (2018), but certainly not in this episode.
- Eccentric Mentor: Brainy helps Nia master her powers in his typical way.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Throughout the incident with Manchester, Lockwood prioritises protecting his wife, even after she finds out about his double life as Agent Liberty.
- Eye Scream: Kara has tremendously bloodshot eyes after being hit with the moon dust grenade, though thankfully it quickly clears up.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The scene on Earth-90 pans over the bodies of various heroes, some more recognizable than others. Stargirl is the first to be seen. Among the wreckage are the helmets of Hawkgirl and the Ray. A version of Green Arrow in a brighter costume is one of the last bodies shown.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Manchester spends the entire episode terrorising Agent Liberty.
- Hypocrite: Lockwood tries to make Supergirl look bad by saying that unlike him, she hasn't unmasked, conveniently leaving out the fact that he didn't to it willingly.
- I Am Spartacus: Even gets a direct Shout-Out by Brainy, in regards to Agent Liberty and his followers who are protecting his identity that way.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Supergirl tries to pull this card on Manchester. He however just snarkily proclaims himself to be the "Intolerant Left".
- Internal Reveal: Ben Lockwood's identity is exposed to the world.
- Intrepid Reporter: According to Kara, by way of Lois Lane, getting kidnapped is just proof that you're on the right track. It's Reporting 101.
- Moral Myopia: Lockwood and his supporters are adamant he's a "human right activist" being unfairly prosecuted because of his political beliefs — the fact he was the mastermind of numerous high profile domestic terror attacks doesn't cross their minds.
- Mythology Gag: Earth-90 is named for John Wesley Shipp's version of The Flash, which debuted in 1990.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Lockwood is a xenophobic terrorist and the current Big Bad, while Manchester is a ruthless Knight Templar who's dropped more than his share of bodies. While both men are condemned by the heroes, Manchester is still the more sympathetic of the two.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lydia might be xenophobic but she is appalled when Manchester reveals that Ben is Agent Liberty... at least until Manchester tries to kill her, which gets her to fully embrace her husband's extremism.
- Not Named in Opening Credits: John Wesley Shipp and LaMonica Garrett aren't listed in the opening credits, to keep their appearance in The Stinger a surprise.
- Oh, Crap!: Ben Lockwood has one when Manchester mentions Fiona in his house, and even more so when he draws a gun on him, forcing him to keep up the charade by threatening his wife.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Lockwood and Manchester engage in it before Manchester reveals his true nature to Lockwood's wife.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Manchester is more than ready to kill Lydia to make Ben suffer through the same pain he himself went through.
- Prophecy Twist: Nia Nal's vision shows a swinging crane hook and Agent Liberty about to shoot a woman, later shown to be his own wife. As the vision clarifies, it's revealed to be the wife with the gun and Manchester about to shoot her with his blaster staff. The crane is used by Nia herself, to keep him from doing so. Also, fans may have assumed that the showdown will happen at the old Lockwood factory. In fact, it's at the still-operating Nth metal factory.
- Pyrrhic Victory:
- When Manchester is examining a bayonet made by one of Ben's ancestors, Ben reminds Manchester about the Battle of Bunker Hill, where the bayonet was used, pointing out that the British (clearly indicating Manchester) may have won the battle, but the casualties they sustained eventually cost them the war. Manchester doesn't care, though.
- Lockwood's arrest ends up being this as he's able to successfully draw sympathy by falsely claiming Supergirl attacked him which the right-media outlets in National City eat up, egging on the city's xenophobia.
- The Reveal: Turns out Nia is pretty well-known in Brainy's future. Also, she is not human but a Naltorian.
- Revenge by Proxy: Manchester threatens to kill Ben's wife at one point, if only to demonstrate what Ben took from him by killing Fiona.
- Save the Villain: Supergirl arrives just in the nice of time to save Lockwood from Manchester. For good measure, she follows up by saving Manchester from Lockwood.
- Saying Too Much: Brainy accidentally calls Nia "Nura", implying an awareness of her family line in the future.
- Sequel Hook: The final scene is a lead-in to the Elseworlds crossover event.
- Shoot the Rope: Nia's powers allow her to dodge an incoming bullet and place her handcuffs exactly where they need to be for the bullet to break the chain. The bullet then ricochets and hits a tank that releases a cloud of thick gas into the room, providing cover for Kara to use her powers covertly.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: None of J'onn's or Kara's attempts to reason with Manchester work.
- Skewed Priorities: President Baker complains about his poll numbers in a call to Alex and Haley. Haley diplomatically assures him that capturing Agent Liberty should help with that.
- Slave to PR: President Baker complains over his approval rating being low since the Children of Liberty fiascos.
- Tempting Fate: Jimmy states that "it'll be hard for Ben Lockwood to come off reasonable now that everyone knows he's a psycho in a mask." Cue the President showing Supergirl a newspaper calling Lockwood a "Humans right activist," showing that there's still a lot of people who think Lockwood's message is valid.
- To Be Lawful or Good: President Baker decides to be lawful in the end, firing Supergirl from the D.E.O. when she refuses to unmask.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- Not a whole five minutes after both he and his wife were saved by Supergirl, Lockwood proudly smears her good name to the public to garner support for himself, and walks into prison ominously promising to see her soon.
- Despite being saved by Supergirl, Lockwood's wife Lydia still sides with him in the end.
- Villain Has a Point: In-Universe, as Baker thinks that Agent Liberty rightly pointed out the fact that Supergirl should unmask herself.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The public firmly rallies behind Lockwood when he is unmasked and arrested, calling him a "human rights activist".
- We Will Meet Again: What Lockwood promises Supergirl as he is being taken away.
- Wham Shot: The Sequel Hook has two; John Wesley Shipp's Flash's world is shown to have been destroyed by the Monitor and said universe is revealed to be Earth-90, revealing that the number of worlds in The Multiverse is far more than the previously believed fifty-three.
- With Us or Against Us: Manchester gives this declaration to Supergirl, saying she can either be a government stooge or join him in eradicating the terrorist threat.
