Supergirl and Red Daughter finally meet face-to-face.
Tropes in this episode:
- Acquired Poison Immunity: After 15 years, Kara has built up a resistance to Kryptonite and is able to maintain some of her strength even though it weakens her. By contrast, Red Daughter is very susceptible to its effects and overpowered by Kara when she gets too close.
- Affably Evil: Otis is pretty chummy with Lockwood while spelling out Lex's plans.
- And Show It to You: Lockwood rips out Otis's Kryptonite heart, and Otis lives just long enough to see it before dropping dead.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Lena poisons her mom to make her comply in finding a cure for the Harun-El. Lillian assumed it was a bluff and worked with her out of love. Lena advises her to drink the antidote anyway.
- Anti-Villain: As harsh as Red Daughter tries to be, she genuinely thinks that she's a hero, and at heart, she's only misguided. When it looks like she's killed Kara, she's more disturbed than triumphant.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Brainy's guise as Lockwood amounts to simply making himself look and sound like the man. Otherwise, he doesn't change a thing about his demeanor or diction. Amazingly, it works until the dogs get his scent and reveal Brainy as an alien.
- Bait-and-Switch: For poor Nia when Brainy breaks in to the shipping container she is being held in and tells her that he has something important to tell her she is clearly excited and thinks he's about to reveal his feelings for her. Unfortunately since Brainy's been rebooted he instead tells her that he is not going to release her and will allow her to be captured so she can find out where the transmat portal goes.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Quite literally for Brainy. The torture causes him to reboot and allows his past lives to influence his behavior, making him willing to do anything to achieve his objective.
- Berserk Button: Kara brings up Red Daughter's friend Mikhail in an attempt to reason with her. Unfortunately, Red Daughter still doesn't know that Mikhail is alive, and Kara using his name sets her off, triggering their fight.
- Big Sister Instinct: Alex gets very distressed when she sees that Red Daughter stalked and targeted her sister.
- Bond One-Liner: Villainous example. Lockwood says "Game Over" after disabling Otis, fittingly due to Otis having played a videogame before.
- Call-Back: Lena puts the same kind of "Truth Seeker" alien squid on her mom that Haley used.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Brainy wants to tell Nia that he loves her, but throughout the episode he either can't bring himself to do it or a distraction comes up. And sadly, it is then too late after his reboot.
- Combo Platter Powers: Lex's research into Harun-El has allowed him to graft other alien powers onto Red Daughter, making her more than a match for Supergirl.
- Continuity Nod: Failing to understand Nia's Star Wars reference, Brainy recalls the last time he did so.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The unlocked Brainy makes short work of the Children of Liberty.
- Darkest Hour: Lex's scheme is pulled off without a hitch and Baker presents him as a hero, leaving the heroes no way to unmask the whole scheme.
- Did You Actually Believe...?: Invoked by Lena on how Lockwood never wondered how in just a year he went from an out of work college professor to a Cabinet member with superpowers.
- Disney Death: Red Daughter beats Supergirl so badly that her heart stops, but she's able to recover by absorbing solar radiation stored in the nearby plant life.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Lena deduces that Lockwood must be connected to Lex after she hears that he took the Harun-El. The only thing she gets wrong is thinking it's a willing cooperation.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Otis takes a moment to lament his late sister.
- Lillian, under the influence of the Truth Seeker, for the first time genuinely tells Lena that she loves her, despite the bad blood.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Lockwood is disgusted to learn that everything he's been through has all been to serve Lex's schemes, especially when he finds out that Lex's only real motives are money and world domination.
- Evil Plan: Lex is trying to get a hold of the technology of the Claymore Kill Sat.
- Evil Versus Evil: Ultimately, Lockwood and Otis come to blows, ending with Lockwood disabling Otis.
- Failure Hero: Kara recounts on how little she actually achieved throughout the season.
- False Flag Operation: Called by those exact words, Lex's plan to make Supergirl look like a terrorist and himself as America's savior.
- Flashback: At the beginning of the episode, there is one to 2007 in Midvale. It's actually one of many Alex has throughout the course of the episode while starting to remember the fact that Kara is Supergirl.
- Genetic Memory: Brainy has memories of his past iterations, which he kept locked away to avoid being influenced by them. Unfortunately, being tortured unlocks those memories.
- He Knows Too Much:
- All the scientist who worked on the Claymore project got killed.
- Otis tries to invoke this after telling Lockwood about Lex's plans. But Lockwood now has the Harun-El Serum, so it ends with Otis getting his Kryptonite heart ripped out.
- Idiot Ball: Despite J'onn warning them that it's a bad plan, Brainy and Dreamer try to walk into an Alien Affairs detention facility with him disguised as Lockwood. It takes less than a minute before they're found out and captured.
- I Just Want to Be You: Red Daughter has modeled her apartment to be a replica of Kara's own, has gotten clothes similar to the ones that Kara uses, and even visits Eliza to try and emulate Kara better. Kara calls her out on this despite Red Daughter's protests to the contrary.
- I Know Mortal Kombat: Dreamer and J'onn think they can sneak into the facility the same way Luke, Han, and Chewie snuck into the Death Star. Brainy even calculates the odds of success.
- Internal Reveal:
- Lena fills Brainy, J'onn, and Alex in about what she and Kara found in Kaznia, including Red Daughter's existence.
- Lockwood finally finds out that he's been nothing but an Unwitting Pawn for Lex Luthor. He doesn't take it well.
- In a sort of re-reveal, Alex gets her memories of Kara being Supergirl back after seeing Red Daughter beat her to death.
- Irony: Red Daughter considers Kara to be deluded, indoctrinated, and the villain of the piece. In other words, everything that Red Daughter herself is. She also tells Kara that "not everyone is as selfish as you" while the two are discussing Lex Luthor.
- Just Between You and Me: Otis fills Lockwood in on Lex's plan, since he plans to kill Lockwood as a loose end anyway.
- Kick the Dog:
- Otis takes a moment to taunt Lockwood before trying to kill him.
- The emotionless Brainy lets J'onn and Nia see him do nothing to help them as they're herded off-world.
- Knight Templar: Thanks to Lex's manipulations, Red Daughter considers America a failed state, describing the nation as a "fatted heifer" that needs to have its throat cut and believing herself to be the one to do the deed.
- Lack of Empathy: Rebooted Brainy has no concern for anything other than accomplishing his mission, even if he has to sacrifice Dreamer and J'onn to do it.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Seeing Red Daughter fighting Kara causes Alex's to be reversed, restoring her memories of growing up with her. Before that, she already had a few memory flashbacks in the form of dreams she couldn't sort out.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Supergirl and Red Daughter finally have their fight that's been building up all season. Red Daughter wins thanks to the extra powers Lex gave her.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Otis' response to Lockwood ripping out his Kryptonite heart is a mildly surprised "Harsh, bro".
- Mirror Match: Kara and Red Daughter finally face off, Red Daughter wearing a variant of Kara's Kryptonite suit to make things more noticeable.
- Moral Sociopathy: Once he's been rebooted into an emotionless machine, Brainy remains dedicated to the mission to stop Lex. Unfortunately, he's now unable to actually care about any of the people involved.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After seemingly killing Kara, Red Daughter has a confused and unsettled look on her face, especially when she sees Alex weeping over Kara's body.
- Mythology Gag: Kara manages to narrowly avoid death by drawing sunlight from nearby plants, just as Superman did in The Dark Knight Returns.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Mythology Gag notwithstanding, we've never been given any indication before that Supergirl can extract sunlight from plants or even anything remotely akin to such a power.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By trying to break into the DEO detention facility, Brainy unwittingly sets off a chain of events that allow for the original Brainiac to take control of his body since he lives hidden in Brainy's root code.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Red Daughter's beatdown of Kara almost rivals Reign's; Kara's heart stops as a result.
- Oblivious to Their Own Description: Almost every criticism Red Daughter throws at Kara in this episode applies equally, if not more so, to her.
- Obliviously Evil: Red Daughter is totally convinced that she is the hero, even directly referring to Kara as the villain. She goes so far as to conclude that Kara is the one who's been indoctrinated, asking who "fed" her the belief that America is worthy of protection.
- Oh, Crap!: Just when Kara has knocked out the guards, Red Daughter appears, with Kryptonite.
- Pet the Dog:
- Red Daughter visits Eliza under the guise of Kara, hoping to get a better understanding of her enemy. Although she acts threatening once Supergirl arrives, Red Daughter ultimately leaves without harming a hair on Eliza's head.
- Even though Lena forces her to do it, Lillian seems genuine in trying to help her save James.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Brainy fails to understand Nia's Star Wars reference.
- Pressure Point: Brainy uses these to paralyze J'onn just long enough for him to be captured, as he figures the odds of learning where the portal goes are better if he sends two people through it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Haley has come a long way since she was introduced, as she immediately believes Kara and Alex about Red Daughter's existence and agrees to work together with them.
- Save the Villain: James tries to stop Lockwood from killing Otis, due to him being the only one who could lead them to Lex.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Lena buys the private prison where Lillian is imprisoned to blackmail her into helping her extract the Harun-El from James.
- Shout-Out:
- Aside from the Star Wars reference, Lena's plot to secretly feed her mother poison and then extort her for the antidote takes cues from the Action Prologue of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
- While talking to Kara, Red Daughter quotes The Merchant of Venice ("the Devil can cite scripture to serve his purpose"). Ironically, the quote in question (which is about an evil person pretending to be good) applies perfectly to Red Daughter's "friend" Lex.
- Stalker without a Crush: Red Daughter has been staking out Kara's apartment through her own across the street and has even modeled the inside to resemble Kara's own décor.
- Superpowered Evil Side: When Brainy's past memories take over, he becomes much more brutal with his powers and willing to do more morally dubious things to stop Lex such as allowing Dreamer and J'onn to be captured.
- This Cannot Be!: Kara's reaction to seeing Lex's plan having worked flawlessly.
- Trojan Prisoner:
- Dreamer suggests doing this to get into the alien detention facility; she calls this a Wookie Gambit (the former name of this trope), in reference to Star Wars. She and Brainy are almost immediately caught when they try.
- Brainy allows J'onn and Dreamer to be taken through the transmat portal so Dreamer can use Astral Projection to inform him of where they've been sent.
- Undying Loyalty: Nothing Kara brings up dissuades Red Daughter from her loyalty towards Lex.
- Unscrupulous Hero: What Brainy becomes after having his genetic memory unlocked.
- Unwitting Pawn: When she sees Lockwood just staring off at the mention of Baker working for Lex, Lena realizes Lockwood honestly had no idea whatsoever he was being used by Lex from the start.
- Villain Ball: Despite having Kara at her mercy at the start of the episode with a Kryptonite collar around her double's neck, Red Daughter decides to mock Kara's philosophy and tell her that she is an indoctrinated tool instead of shooting her like she was ordered to do. Even if she wasn't aware of Kara's tolerance to Kryptonite, considering the fact that they have similar physiologies, walking right up to Kara (and therefore to the collar) is pretty stupid and it weakens Red Daughter enough for Kara to escape.
- Villainous Breakdown: Lockwood upon learning that all the work he did trying honestly (in a horribly misguided way) to protect his country and planet and that cost him the life of his wife and the respect of his son was just part of Lex's plan.
- Villainous Rescue: Lockwood ultimately ends up saving James and Lena from Otis when he disables the latter by pulling out his Metallo core.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Lena is willing to poison her mother to make her comply in saving James. Lillian assumes it was a bluff, but Lena's insistence that Lillian drink the antidote indicates she really did poison her, or at least that she wants Lilian to think so.
- We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: J'onn operates on Kara to remove the bullet she took in her arm while she was weakened by Kyptonite.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Kara's Badass Boast to Red Daughter about her tolerance to Kryptonite would stick, if she didn't say she built it up for 15 years, when she was only first introduced to it 3 years ago at the start of the series.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Lockwood's reaction when he hears that Lex's plan is basically just about money... and world domination!
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- Otis tries this on Lockwood, but fails.
- Lex (seemingly) kills Red Daughter during the False Flag Operation, as she no longer serves him any purpose.
