Lena and Kara travel to Kaznia to hunt down Lex, but Eve is waiting for them with a trap. Alex takes a leave of absence when a teenage mother puts her child up for adoption. Lockwood, still smarting from his humiliation at failing to capture Dreamer at CatCo and grieving over the loss of his wife, wants to find out how James got powers so he can give them to himself.
Tropes in this episode:
- Actually a Doombot: Every Eve fought by Lena and Kara turns out to be a duplicate.
- Always Someone Better: Lockwood gaining Super-Strength doesn't give him any sort of edge in a fight with J'onn, who easily side-steps his attacks. Not only does J'onn have powers that Lockwood can't counter, but Lockwood has very little fighting experience, and even less experience with his enhanced strength; he only got James on his back through a lucky shot, and was never going to win a straight fight with J'onn.
- Antagonist Title: The episode title refers to Eve.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Brainy refuses to open the door to Lena's lab, Lockwood asks his goon, Cooper, for his gun. Instead of shooting Brainy, he just shoots out the glass door to the lab.
- Big Damn Heroes: J'onn shows up in the nick of time to stop Lockwood from killing James.
- Blatant Lies:
- Eve's duplicate tells Lena and Kara that she tried to stop Lex after she saw him experimenting on aliens. Naturally, they don't buy it for a second.
- Lockwood tells the DEO to prioritize hunting Dreamer for being an illegal alien, ignoring her status as a legal citizen since Nia is a Half-Human Hybrid and for making a "treasonous" broadcast. While hijacking broadcast signals is illegal, there was nothing in it to incite treason, revolt, or violence; just a plea for humans and aliens to live in peace.
- Break Them by Talking: J'onn, taking a page from Manchester's book, tears Lockwood down verbally before subduing him physically, spelling out for him that everything that's befallen Lockwood is of his own making and that his downfall is a certainty.J'onn: The last man who stood against me met a downfall of his own making.
Lockwood: There will be no downfall. I am the law!
J'onn: For now. But regimes change. - Calling the Old Man Out: Mixed with "The Reason You Suck" Speech. George finally lets Ben have it for leaving him in the middle of Lydia's funeral and that his anti-alien crusade is what caused her murder in the first place.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Baker covering up the file on Lex that Kara gives to him and having a black Bag of Kidnapping placed on her head.
- Combat Stilettos: A literal example. Lena's heels are actually concealed blades.
- Coming-Out Story: Kelly reveals to Alex she is lesbian like her. While in the military, she got secretly engaged to her sergeant (because of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" they couldn't be out), who then died on patrol.
- Continuity Nod: Nia uses the same hammer Lois used in Elseworlds to test James' durability.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Despite taking the Harun-El, Lockwood again finds himself in this situation once J'onn arrives on the scene. Before, he subjected James, Dreamer, and Brainy to this.
- Cutting the Knot: When Brainy won't allow him access to Lena's lab at the DEO, Lockwood just shoots the glass door.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kelly reveals that she was engaged once to her sergeant. They couldn't be out while serving abroad, and the sergeant died on patrol. Kelly couldn't mourn her and she was alone in her pain, and she didn't face it until she returned to the States a few months later. The sergeant sent a postmortem note saying that she had every faith that Kelly would find another woman who makes her smile.
- Didn't See That Coming: Brainy acknowledges he never expected Lockwood to skip his own wife's funeral to take over the DEO.
- Disownment: George effectively disowns his dad after rightfully accusing him that his mad crusade is what got Lydia killed in the first place.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: Lydia might've been a bigot, but Ben and George still loved her.
- Failed a Spot Check: In their conversation near the end of the episode, Lena, caught up in trying to apologize for endangering Kara's life, manages to miss Kara explaining that the explosion at the Kaznian facility wouldn't have killed her.
- Have You Told Anyone Else?: Baker asks this of Kara when she tells him of Lex's planned invasion. It comes as no surprise that they black-bag her moments later.
- Hope Spot: Brainy's words seem to convince Lockwood not to risk using the Harun-El on himself, but it turns out that he took a syringe of it anyway, injecting it when confronted by James and Dreamer.
- Internal Reveal:
- Lena and Kara find out about Lex's treasonous alliance with Kaznia and of Red Daughter's existence.
- Kara finds out that Lex knows her secret.
- Lockwood finds out about the Harun-El.
- Kara almost tells Lena she's Supergirl, but she chickens out when Lena starts waxing about how Eve's betrayal almost shattered her faith in people. She nevertheless promises to fess up for real once the current crisis is over.
- At the end of the episode, Kara tells President Baker about Lex Luthor's alliance with Kaznia. Unfortunately, the President already knew that.
- Irony: Lena telling Kara that she is the only one she can still depend on, after all the lies she's been subjected to... while Kara still lies to her about who she really is, with Lena's speech about not being able to trust people after so many lies being the thing that convinces Kara not to start being totally honest.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Kara objects towards Lena speaking about Red Daughter as if she is a weapon.
- It's All About Me: Lockwood prioritizes getting vengeance for Lydia's death rather than being there for George. It's cemented when he takes the undiluted Harun-El Serum to get petty revenge on Dreamer and James for his humiliation in the last episode.
- Kick the Dog: After capturing his wife's killer, Lockwood has every other alien in the room arrested for harboring a fugitive, ordering that they be subjected to "enhanced interrogation" (torture). Some of the aliens he takes in are children. It proves to be the last straw for Brainy and the rest of the DEO.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Kelly Olsen, who's very feminine, is revealed as lesbian.
- Ludicrous Precision: Notably averted; when Brainy speaks to Lockwood and the Children of Liberty, he doesn't give them precise percentages, just tells them "the odds are not good." Presumably he doesn't want to draw extra attention to the fact that he's an alien.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: Lena and Kara discover Lex's in Kaznia.
- Me's a Crowd: Eve has been given Kopy's duplication power.
- Million to One Chance: Brainy tells Lockwood that the prototypes of Lena's DEO experiments will far more likely kill him than give him superpowers. Guess what happens when he finally injects himself with a vial?
- The Mole: Subverted. At first, it seems like Baker's Chief of Staff Sarah Walker is this for Lex...then it turns out Baker himself is also in on the whole scheme.
- Multi-Character Title: The title refers to Eve and her duplicates.
- Never My Fault:
- Lockwood refuses to accept any responsibility for causing his wife's death; he may not have killed her, but it was his actions that led to her death. His casual cruelty towards the aliens at the shelter prove that he's really learned nothing from the whole experience.
- After seemingly stabbing Lena, Eve is shocked, asking "why did you make me do that?".
- No-Sell: After taking the undiluted Harun-El, Lockwood effectively ignores Dreamer's dream blasts and James throwing a car at him.
- Nothing Personal: Eve claims that she genuinely liked Kara and Lena; she just loves Lex more. After she seemingly stabs Lena, she even seems taken aback for a moment.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: When Kara and Lena find Eve in Lex's lab at Kaznia, she immediately goes into dumb blonde mode, which Kara and Lena don't buy for a second. Subverted in that she's not faking it, because she's been given Kopy's power and the doubles get dumber the longer they exist.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Kara, when discovering that Lex knows her secret.
- James, Dreamer, and Brainy, when they see Lockwood No-Sell their efforts.
- Pocket Protector: Eve stabs Lena in the chest, but Lena just shoves the blade aside and knocks her out. Then she pulls Kara's handheld recorder out of her pocket.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Lockwood's crusade has cost him pretty much everything at this point: His wife is dead, his son despises him, his crusade has long since stopped being about helping anyone, and Lockwood himself is nothing but an Unwitting Pawn in Lex Luthor's schemes. The truly sad part? He doesn't seem to have actually learned anything from all this.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: George gives his father an epic one for abandoning him at Lydia's funeral, pointing out he's become an angry and bitter man, and the only reason Lydia died was because of his cruel crusade against aliens and that he's had enough of it.
- The Reveal: Lex has a Mole in the White House: Sarah Walker, the President's Aide who's been funneling DEO detainees to Lex's lab in Kaznia. Even worse, the President himself is on Lex's payroll, as revealed by the end of the episode.
- Revenge Before Reason: Lockwood abandons his son at the boy's mother's funeral to continue his mad crusade of hate.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: As Brainy points out, DEO employees don't take orders from Cabinet Secretaries, not even the Director of Alien Affairs. Lockwood doesn't care.
- Ship Tease: Alex and Kelly spend the entire episode together, even picking out strollers together before finding out that Alex won't be getting a child.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Despite all of his heinous acts, Brainy still gives Lockwood his sympathies for the death of his wife.
- Take That!: Baker is this to President Donald Trump; he's well-aware of what Lex and Kaznia are plotting but does nothing to stop that, just like how Trump brushes off all intelligence warnings of Russia's meddling in USA elections.
- Third Line, Some Waiting: The A-plot is about Lena and Kara's investigation in Kaznia. The B-plot is about Lockwood's forceful takeover of the DEO. The C-plot is about Alex's adoption.
- Titled After the Song: The title came from the chorus of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" which, in turn, originated with the Catchphrase from the game show To Tell the Truth.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Brainy convinces the DEO agents to do the right thing and stop following Lockwood's orders.
- Took a Level in Badass: Lockwood becomes stronger thanks to injecting the Harun-El into himself.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: With Haley in DC and Alex taking personal leave to deal with her adoption application, Lockwood is able to throw his weight around the DEO in their absence. While there, he finds out about Lena's experiments for the DEO and finds the Harun-El Serum which he uses on himself. Eventually, the DEO agents stop following his orders after Brainy points out their illegality.
- Villainous Breakdown: His wife's death is what sends Lockwood completely over the edge.
- Wham Episode: President Baker is revealed to be in on Lex's alliance with Kaznia.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Alex's adoption application is approved when a teenage mother is about to give birth... and then the girl's grandparents get a priest to talk her out of it.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kelly keeps on picking up Alex when she feels too weak.
