Superman joins up with Supergirl to investigate Lena Luthor, Lex's sister, who is attempting to reinvent her brother's company as a force for good.
Tropes in this episode:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite how much Kara is squicked out by the romantic attention her cousin gets, even she can't help but laugh at how Cat thinks the Two-Person Love Triangle of Clark/Lois/Superman has been solved with Polyamory, and her cousin's flustered reaction.Clark: Well, I think Lois has room in her heart for both of us.
Cat: Oh, how... modern.
Clark: Uh—well, that's not—um— - Artistic License – Physics: A skyscraper can't possibly have just one single load-bearing point. And once it was already falling, welding some I-beams together would not stop it.
- Attack Drone: Corben makes use of drones in his second assassination attempt on Lena Luthor.
- Badass Family: The Supercousins team up throughout the episode to glorious results.
- Bad Liar: While inspecting the unconscious occupant from the Kryptonian pod, the more experienced hero asks whether he was x-ray-visioned for foreign objects. Chagrined to admit it hadn't occurred to her, Supergirl offers a VERY unconvincing "Of....course." With a slight smile, Superman then suggests she do it now.
- Bait-and-Switch: Corben on the phone saying, "Have I ever let the Luthors down?" indicating he's working for Lena. It turns out he's working for Lex from jail.
- Better as Friends: Kara decides that she and James are better as friends after realizing she wants to try her hand at being a reporter.
- Cain and Abel: Lex tries to have his sister killed while in prison. It's heavily implied that this version of Lex has legitimately gone nuts.
- Call-Back: While examining one of Corben's drones, Winn compares it to something his father would make.
- Captain Obvious: After saving Lena Luthor from a half-dozen heavily-armed drones, Supergirl helpfully informs her that "Someone is trying to kill you."
- Career Versus Man: Kara ultimately chooses to focus on her new career and as Supergirl over her and Jimmy's relationship. Jimmy takes it in stride.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: The Venture shuttle is crashing, two hundred souls are in danger, and Supergirl and Superman gleefully talk to each other when they catch up.
- Crucified Hero Shot: This seems to be Superman's go-to pose; as Supergirl is mentioning to Lena Luthor that she had help saving her and the civilians, she slides aside to indicate Superman hovering above the street.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Cat is quite blunt and rude towards Kara this episode, but all to help her find her true purpose.
- Dynamic Entry: Somewhat more understated than other examples of this trope, but if Superman flying into the DEO, straightening up, and having a dead silence fall on the room doesn't count, nothing does.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Cat makes subtle passes at Clark, Lena makes some flirtatious comments, and Alex jokes to Kara that he smells terrific, all of which squicks Kara out.
- Emergency Transformation: John Corben's wounds would ordinarily be fatal, but Cadmus is able to save him by turning him into Metallo.
- Fridge Logic: Upon arrival at the new HQ building, Kara complains that, at the old facility (a cave), she was bitten by a bat. While it definitely wasn't a Kryptonian bat, it could have happened during one of her training sessions with Alex, when she was "powered down" with the red sunlight. Of course, J'onn immediately calls her a liar, so maybe she's just complaining for the sake of it.
- The Ghost:
- Lex Luthor does not appear personally, but his influence is heavily felt on the episode.
- Both Perry White and Lois Lane call Clark on different occasions, but their voices are not heard.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Supergirl stole my several tons of I-beams!
- I Choose to Stay: Superman decides to stick around National City for a while.
- In Spite of a Nail: Both Corto Maltese and Kasnia are now confirmed as locations shared by this Earth and Earth-1. Up until now, Central City was the only place acknowledged that exists on both Earths (and another).
- Interspecies Romance: Lois and Clark are confirmed to be a couple in this episode. Interestingly, the episode also shows Kara and Jimmy's breakup.
- In the Back: Lena Luthor shoots Corben when he's distracted by Supergirl.
- The Klutz: Kara compliments Clark for keeping up his bumbling when he bumps into a CatCo staffer in the elevator, but Clark hesitantly admits that time it just really was clumsiness.
- Lampshade Hanging: Kara remarks on how bizarre it is that the DEO had this much nicer facility all along that she never heard about, heading off audience objections to the sudden change of venue. The script takes Refuge in Audacity by having Alex mention that it's also only a few blocks from her apartment. The contrast between Kara's confused reaction and everyone else's straight-man acceptance really sells it.
- Mythology Gag:
- Intergang, Corto Maltese, Kasnia, and Gotham get name-dropped.
- There are many references to the Richard Donner Superman movie, including Cat's new assistant being named Miss Tessmacher, Lena Luthor stating that "statistically speaking, flying is still the safest way to travel," and Winn referencing Lex Luthor causing an earthquake in California.
- Lena Luthor tells Clark that he has some "steel underneath that Kansas wheat", alluding to Superman's traditional nickname, "The Man of Steel."
- The DEO mission that caused the falling out between J'onn and Clark involved a meteorite made of pure Kryptonite. It's not the first time we've seen something like that.
- Although he's appeared before briefly as The Faceless, this is the first time Superman appears in the series as a full character. So, of course, he has to save an aircraft in distress.
- Cat's lusting over Clark in the comics as well as in Lois & Clark comes into play in the episode.
- While on the phone with Perry White, Clark mentions his Catchphrase "Great Caesar's ghost!"
- Superman's first line to his cousin is "Need a hand?", just like his first appearance in Justice League.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Kara relates to Lena over both wanting to prove themselves away from the shadows of their more (in)famous male relative.
- Old Maid: Kara mentions that at her age she would already be considered a spinster back on Krypton, although she may be taking the time she spent in the Phantom Zone into account.
- Once for Yes, Twice for No: In The Stinger, Corben is told to blink this way when asked whether he wants an injection to live.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cat Grant is uncharacteristically flustered around Clark, as she finds him attractive. Clark finds this amusing, while Kara is mostly grossed out.
- The Paragon: Kara sees her cousin as this, seeing how he can be a superhero, a good boyfriend and a reporter all at the same time. In the end, Cat says that Kara is this to her.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Corben isn't just a Professional Killer, he was part of the genocide in Corto Maltese.
- Powerful and Helpless: When Kara and Clark are saving the Venture, Kara says it looks like a job for both of them. While either of them could easily catch the craft, Kara's problem with the oil tanker shows how they must bring it down in a specific way, otherwise all the humans inside the ship could be injured or killed.
- Protagonist Title: Notice the Supergirl in the title?
- Repeating So the Audience Can Hear: Clark repeats everything aloud during his phone call with Perry. His genuinely dorky nature makes this seem a little less forced.
- Replacement Scrappy: In-universe, Miss Tessmacher is this as Kara's replacement in Cat's eyes.
- Retcon: As a result of the show's move to The CW and filming to Vancouver, the teaser scene at the end of last season's finale was reshot. At the end of Season One, the Kryptonian pod is seen passing by Kara's apartment before the scene cuts to her and J'onn landing beside the pod after it's already landed. The beginning of this episode adds a sequence of the two trying to stop the pod from crashing within the city. Also, there was a DEO office in the middle of National City, two blocks from Alex's apartment, the entirety of Season One that Kara (and the viewers) never knew about. That's now the setting of the DEO scenes instead of the desert base.
- The Reveal: An as-yet unnamed Kryptonian male was in the pod that crashed last season.
- Sadistic Choice:
- When Superman and Supergirl show up to protect Lena from Corben's drones, he reveals that he set more loose in the city to target civilians, forcing them to choose who to save. Superman splits off to stop the ones in the city while Supergirl protects Lena.
- Cadmus rescues Corben and offers him a choice between life or death. Of course, they fail to mention what kind of life he's getting.
- Secret-Keeper: Lois knows about Clark and Kara's respective Secret Identity, given that Clark mentions he's with Kara when she calls him.
- Shipping Torpedo: Kara does not like Cat hitting on Clark and Alex's comment about him smelling terrific. Justified since Clark is already in a long-term relationship.
- Shout-Out: After arriving at the new DEO HQ, Kara wants to see "The Man Who Fell to Earth".
- Spared by the Adaptation: Lena Luthor, in this version, was welcomed by Lex to the Luthor family, until she replaced him as head of the family corporation. In the previous adaptation (Smallville), Tess Mercer, (Lutessa Lena Luthor), was an unwanted interloper, killed by Lex in the final episode of that show.
- Squick: In-Universe, Kara is grossed out by the people hitting on Clark.
- The Stinger: The first one since the pilot, showing a mysterious woman from Cadmus injecting a fatally wounded Corben with what seems to be liquid Kryptonite, turning him into Metallo.
- Stuff Blowing Up: This season premiere is jam packed with explosions, from the Venture rocket ship's engine to the Luthorcorp Building.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Winn also had an Eating the Eye Candy moment towards Clark, though this is probably more like hero-worship than romantic attraction.
- Super Family Team: with emphasis on family; Clark mentions that while he has the files and other sources about Krypton, he likes it when Kara can tell him stories about his parents.
- Take That!:
- After Cat derides Miss Tessmacher's intelligence, Kara protests that she can't be stupid because she went to Yale.Cat: So did George Bush.
- Alex "liking the new place more than the old one" (read:the Channel Hop from CBS to The CW because the former didn't want to renew them).
- After Cat derides Miss Tessmacher's intelligence, Kara protests that she can't be stupid because she went to Yale.
- Time Stands Still: The Kryptonian pod took a detour through the Well of Stars, where (like the Phantom Zone) time doesn't pass. This is why, like Kara, the occupant of the pod is still young so long after Krypton's destruction.
- Too Dumb to Live: Yeah, weapon seller guy, go ahead and teach that assassin exactly how to use the deadly drone while you're standing downrange.
- Troll: Clark trolls Kara when she asks how he knows about her and Jimmy.Clark: Supertelepathy; it's a power you'll get someday.
Kara: Really!?
Clark: No. Jimmy and I are friends; we talk. - Wham Line: "John Corben dies today. Long live Metallo!"
- Would Hit a Girl: John Corben spends the majority of the episode trying to kill Lena. In his final attempt he fights Alex when she catches him, and was then about to fight Supergirl when Lena shoots him.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: John Corben kills off the seller of the military drones by testing out the weapon systems on him.
