A pandemic in National City ensues as children are coming down with lead poisoning symptoms and Morgan Edge is quick to blame Lena's lead bomb that got rid of the Daxamites.
Tropes in this episode:
- Amicable Exes: Maggie and Alex end their relationship in the most heartbreaking but peaceful manner.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Samantha tries to cheer Lena up regarding the lead poisoning public crisis, only to be stunned by Lena's hard hitting question.Lena: If Ruby was sick, would you still be my friend?
- Artistic License – Medicine: None of the children shown to be suffering from lead poisoning actually appear to have any of the common symptoms of lead poisoning in children
, which tend toward developmental delay and learning disorders and not so much toward passing out in the middle of a sentence. - Badass Bystander: Kara is in the crowd when someone tries to kill Lena. She stops one bullet from finding its mark, but her hesitation about blowing her identity means the shooter is tackled by a random, unnamed member of the crowd.
- Bad Boss: Edge kills and posthumously frames one of his underlings for his crimes.
- Bullying a Dragon: Edge blatantly taunts Supergirl at the end of the episode, even telling her that if he was her enemy, it would be smart for her to kill him now. Granted, his whole point is that she's too much of a hero to actually kill anyone, even if they have it coming, but if he'd been wrong about that, National City would have one less sleazy real estate developer to worry about.
- Call-Back: Edge blows off Supergirl leaving him stranded on a shipping barge, saying that all it cost him was time and a minor dry-cleaning bill. She doesn't buy it, because he's obviously seething that she would dare do something like that to him.
- Cliffhanger Copout: An act break cliffhanger has James hit by a stray bullet, but immediately after the commercials he's told he'll be just fine and it's barely brought up afterwards. They mention that he was shot with a small caliber bullet and say he got lucky with where it hit, but it still breaks the tension.
- Destroy the Evidence: Morgan Edge ordered his henchman to shoot the airplane console with his own gun, and proceeds to take it further by using the same gun to kill the henchman to cover up his involvement.
- Drowning My Sorrows:
- Alex straight up went to the bar after she broke up with Maggie.
- During her stay at Samantha's place, Lena gets stinking drunk when the guilt from potentially causing the lead poisoning catches up with her.
- Evil Is Petty: Morgan Edge poisons a public pool with a chemical that produces lead poisoning symptoms to destroy Lena Luthor's reputation all because she managed to buy CatCo before he could.
- Failed a Spot Check: Everyone seems to have missed the fact that Morgan's fall guy couldn't have committed suicide; Edge shot him right in the chest, so the angle of the wound couldn't possibly be mistaken as being self-inflicted.
- Happy Ending Override: Subverted. At first it seems that the lead bomb set off at the end of last season gave children lead poisoning, but then it's revealed Morgan Edge was poisoning a public pool with a chemical that produces lead poisoning symptoms.
- It's All My Fault: Lena is pretty heartbroken about accidentally having poisoned a bunch of children. Thankfully, it really wasn't her fault.
- Karma Houdini: Morgan is given no comeuppance for poisoning a public pool.
- Nerves of Steel: Say what you want about him, but Morgan Edge is barely phased when Lena points a gun in his face.
- Put on a Bus: As teased by the writers long before the season even began, Maggie and Alex break up as Floriana Lima leaves the series.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Edge gives Kara a vicious one, telling her that she is too soft to finish him off properly, while he will do anything to destroy both her and Lena.
- Series Continuity Error: The main plot is that Lena is allegedly responsible for poisoning children after seeding the atmosphere with lead in the season 2 finale. The only problem is, Lillian took all the credit for Lena's actions in that episode in a worldwide address. So as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Lena had no part in dispersing the lead.
- Sex for Solace: Right before breaking up, Alex and Maggie sleep with one another one last time.
- Ship Tease: Lena and James begin to warm up to each other by the end of the episode. In particular, when she tells him that her friends call her Lena instead of "Miss Luthor", he says she can call him Jimmy if she wants to.
- Smug Snake: Edge really enjoys talking down to, well, pretty much everyone, including Supergirl.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Kara's attempt to push the plane up from the inside causes it to break in half.
- Taking the Bullet: James jumps in the way of one of the bullets fired by a desperate mother at Lena.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Lena attempts to shoot Edge, saying that she is 'thinking like a Luthor' now.
- Wham Shot: Samantha has a flashback to the attempt on Lena's life... and realizes that she got shot in addition to James, but not only wasn't injured, didn't even feel the bullet hit. Then the bullet falls out of her jacket and onto the floor, pretty much confirming to her that she has superpowers.
- Would Hurt a Child: Morgan Edge will poison children just so he can set himself up as the champion for their parents against Lena, who he riles the public against.
- You Are in Command Now: Lena temporarily steps down from CatCo, leaving James in charge, so the paper won't be accused of bias during the whole affair.
