J'onn tries to figure out the mystery of his brother as Lena makes a bold move.
Tropes:
- Action Politician: James is being asked to run for Senate. He's torn between that and a position at the Smithsonian, though he seems to be leaning toward the former by the end of the episode.
- Bait the Dog: Lena seems to be willing to give Eve a second chance, only to reveal she's only releasing Eve so her A.I. Hope can inhabit her body.
- Bluff the Impostor: While she was already suspicious, Alex confirms "Kelly" to be Malefic in disguise by offering her blueberry pancakes, as the real Kelly is allergic to blueberries.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Lena's plan for fixing humanity is to use Hope to delete their negative emotions (notably, the ones that Lena feels fuel the betrayals she suffered) and emphasise the better ones. Eve ends up as the first subject to be "fixed", with the added effect of using her as a host for the Hope A.I.
- Cassandra Truth: Eve tries to tell Lena about Leviathan, but Lena just brushes it off as a pitiful attempt of Eve to excuse her actions with Lex. Eve doesn't help her case by refusing to actually give a name, only vaguely explaining that she was recruited in college.
- Category Traitor: Malefic sold out his race to the White Martians. His motives for doing so are unclear, but he implies there's more to the story.
- Dramatic Irony: Kara happily reports that she feels a major weight of guilt gone after being forgiven by Lena. The audience, however, knows that Lena has absolutely not forgiven Kara.
- Emotion Suppression: What Lena's plan essentially boils down to — with Hope's help, she wants to make all humans 'perfect' in the sense of getting rid of all the negative emotions.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Andrea assumed that Lena dismantled a set of Obsidian lenses to try and steal the technology, cutting off her supply of replacements as a result. While she has her uses for the tech, Lena's plans have nothing to do with stealing anyone's intellectual property.
- Evil Feels Good: While Eve initially tries to claim that she hated betraying Lena, she eventually owns up to having liked the feeling of power it gave her.
- False Reassurance: Played with; Lena tells Eve that she "won't feel a thing" as a result of Hope occupying her body. Lena is being sincere, but the reassurance doesn't do Eve much good.
- Hearing Voices: The exact nature is unclear, but while looking in a mirror at the end of the episode, Malefic hears his own voice as a separate entity and sees his reflection move and even shapeshift on its own. It even suggests tactics he otherwise hadn't thought of.
- Hidden Depths: William Dey volunteers at a soup kitchen in his off-hours, a notable contrast from his attitude around Kara.
- Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Green Martians have a special curse for this, called Fa'ra'too'rik, which dates back to the split between Green and White Martians.
- Lampshade Hanging: Alex mentions how quickly she and Kelly got together despite barely knowing each other.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: J'onn's memories of his brother were wiped from his mind because his brother sided with the White Martians and sabotaged his own people.
- Literal Metaphor: Malefic shape-shifts into a fly on the wall at one point to spy on Team Supergirl.
- Mean Boss: Andrea, once again, forcing Kara to do lesser journalistic work.
- Mirrors Reflect Everything: During their fight, Malefic breaks a rearview mirror from a car to reflect Kara's eye beams back at her.
- Motive Misidentification: William Dey seems to think that Kara is trying to scoop his story when he sees her turned toward his monitor while she's on the phone, then making an excuse to leave. He follows her and winds up walking into the middle of a battle between Supergirl and a White Martian.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer features Alex and Supergirl fighting, which is actually Malefic disguised as Alex.
- No Social Skills:
- Brainy, once again, overdoes it with everything good he tries to do to Nia.
- He is also pretty blunt to Alex several times, showing off how perfect his breakfast was compared to hers and telling her that she smells after they get out of the sewers.
- Sarcastic Confession: William sarcastically asks Kara if he looks like the kind of person who does charity. As it turns out, he is; he volunteers at a soup kitchen in his off-hours.
- Spot the Imposter: Malefic disguises himself as Kelly a second time when Kelly and Alex are on the roof of the building. Alex is unsure which is which, until Malefic overplays his hand by trying to get Alex to shoot Kelly, whereas Kelly pragmatically suggested merely holding both until Supergirl arrived.
- Stepford Smiler: Eve, after being brainwashed by Hope.
- Villainous Friendship: Malefic is friends with a White Martian that is with him on Earth and that gets shot by Alex, which greatly anguishes him.
- What You Are in the Dark: Eve doesn't call for help when she hears Andrea speaking with Lena, later citing this as a reason why Lena should trust her again. It doesn't do her much good.
- Worf Had the Flu: Malefic apparently lost certain abilities while imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, blaming this for his inability to defeat J'onn and Supergirl. His "conversation" with his reflection suggests that using Obsidian technology to reset his brain might undo whatever happened.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: James encourages J'onn when he is reluctant to recover his potentially painful memories.
- You Owe Me: William has somebody in the NSA who owes him a favor, which he claims by having Kara tracked. Fortunately, he doesn't seem to draw the connection when he tracks her to the sewers and runs into Supergirl.
