Lena prepares to enact her plan, while Rama Khan seeks to unleash a supervolcano.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Hope really telling the truth that Eve would agree with her (Hopes) plan to sacrifice herself (and Eve) or is she saying this to allow Lena to let her attempt it? Does this mean that the real Eve is still alive somewhere in Hope/Eve's brain? This scene is never followed up as Crisis presumably rewrites Eve's backstory and seems to be added as an
Author's Saving Throw. - The Atoner: Malefic, at J'onn's suggestion, decides to return to Mars to help end the war he once fought in.
- Back from the Dead: While it was already hinted at before, Lex is fully confirmed to be this at the end.
- Bait-and-Switch: With Myriad up in smoke, Lena starts loading a gun and looks like she's about to commit suicide (or have Hope pull the trigger). Instead, she has Hope pretend to hold her captive and take the fall as Eve Tessmacher.
- Beam-O-War: How Malefic stopping Lena's Q-waves with his own is depicted on a monitor.
- Beneath the Mask: Lena tells herself that she's better off not having or trusting friends, but the way her face falls when Hope tells her that they aren't friends says a great deal about how Lena really feels. Word of God from Katie McGrath is that at the time of this episode, Lena still wants to be best friends with Kara but is terrified of another betrayal. This is hinted at with the scene towards the end of the episode of Lena looking sadly at a picture of her and Kara.
- Benevolent Boss: Lena does not want Hope (and Eve) to make a Heroic Sacrifice, only relenting when she insists.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Rama Khan and Lena are both equally great, if unrelated threats throughout the episode.
- Bittersweet Ending: Rama Khan and Lena are stopped, but the latter is still free and the Elder has given Gamemnae control of Leviathan. Also, Andrea is left grieving at her loss, Malefic leaves for Mars, and the Crisis is about to begin.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Kara's credibility with Lena is completely shot; Lena doesn't believe a word she says when Kara tries reasoning with her, and after a virus infects her computer system, she assumes that Kara was complicit in the trap.
- Kara and Alex don't believe for a second in the excuse that Eve was controlling Lena all this time (although Lena probably already anticipated this, hoping to fool only the authorities).
- Clark Kenting: Despite her "disguise" consisting of simply tying her hair back and wearing a domino mask, Supergirl doesn't manage to recognise "the shadow" as Andrea.
- The Dog Bites Back: Andrea seizes the opportunity to fight back against Leviathan after being freed by J'onn, using the staff to stab Rama Khan in the chest.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Rama Khan is disturbed when Gamemnae tells him that the Elder is thinking about putting Tezumak in charge, as he is even more destructive than he is and would likely fry the planet.
- Faux Affably Evil: Rama Khan offers to release Andrea from Leviathan's service if she helps him with One Last Job. Said job is triggering human extinction, and when Andrea realises this, Rama Khan is fine with forcing her assistance, leaving her with a vaguely courteous "Leviathan thanks you for your service".
- Foil:
- Supergirl and Rama Khan are both powerful aliens dedicated to protecting the Earth in their own ways, but where Supergirl is a Humble Hero who has spent her life among humans and champions their potential, Rama Khan is an arrogant misanthrope who has spent humanity's entire existence seeing himself as above them.
- Lena and Rama Khan are both Well Intentioned Extremists with extremely cynical views about humanity and an A God Am I mentality (Rama Khan treating himself as a god and The Scourge of God in one, while Lena considers herself smart and wise enough to eliminate free will to serve her goals). Unlike Rama Khan's borderline-Kill All Humans approach to saving the Earth, Lena prefers to use Brainwashing for the Greater Good to remove any possibility of people hurting each other. Rama Khan, for all his brutality, also shows a self-awareness that Lena lacks; challenged on his goals, he admits that he is a destroyer, while Lena refuses to even consider the possibility that she is a villain.
- The Ghost: The Elder, the supposed leader of Leviathan.
- A God Am I: Rama Khan makes this boast when Andrea insists Supergirl will stop him.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Rama Khan shows hints of this towards Supergirl, an alien savior who, unlike him, is renowned and respected; when Andrea says that Supergirl will stop his plans, Rama Khan angrily replies that unlike him, Supergirl isn't a god (which, of course, wasn't Andrea's point).
- Guile Hero: Alex uses Supergirl's appeal to Lena to infiltrate her systems with a virus and is even prepared to kill her (and Malefic), only narrowly being talked down.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Hope claims to be Eve and the true mastermind behind Lena's plot so as to spare Lena the consequences of her actions. Alex and Kara don't buy it, but the FBI does.
- Hollywood Law: Or rather, law enforcement. Even if the FBI believes that Lena was acting under duress, you'd think they would at least want to bring her in for questioning. Instead, they let her go without further issue.
- Hypocrisy Nod: When Rama Khan rants about humanity's destructive nature, Kara throws it right back at him. He acknowledges it, but thinks himself different, because he is destructive in a cleansing way.
- Internal Reveal: Supergirl's friends learn the truth about Lena.
- Irony:
- The heroes have to rely on an enemy (Malefic) to stop the plans of a friend (Lena).
- The climax of the episode features two aliens, Supergirl and Rama Khan, having a humanist debate.
- It's All My Fault: Kara beats herself up over what happened with Lena throughout the episode.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Alex's points about Lena's hypocrisy, duplicity, and the threat she poses are all completely accurate, and her objections to having Malefic as an ally are quite reasonable. Supergirl's attempts to reason with Lena also didn't keep her from launching Myriad, which means that Alex was absolutely right to send that virus. Alex's comment that Lena, despite everything, is a Luthor also holds water; the end of the episode shows that, much as Kara wanted to believe otherwise, Lena and Lex are not that different.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The way Monitor says how he saw J'onn "fighting in Elseworlds" is a bit meta.
- Living Battery: Andrea serves as this for the Staff of the Shadow World to create a super volcano.
- Lonely at the Top: Lena remarks that she doesn't have — and doesn't need — any friends, as she is trying to save the world.
- Match Cut: This is used when Lena and Kara are looking at the same photograph of the two of them together.
- Moral Myopia: Alex discusses that Lena has had her own duplicity, as she hid Reign and her knowledge of how to make Kryptonite.
- Must Make Amends: Malefic wants to make up for his deeds, even literally quoting the trope.
- Obliviously Evil: Lena repeatedly maintains that she is a hero throughout the episode; when her plans are thwarted, she dejectedly notes that "sometimes, the good guys lose".
- One Last Job: After initially reacting violently Rama Khan accepts Andrea's plea to leave Leviathan after helping them one last time, even promising that her father can keep his wealth. Then it turns out that this one last job is actually an extinction level event.
- Pet the Dog: Lena doesn't want Hope or Eve to die.
- Put on a Bus: At the end of the episode, Malefic leaves Earth to return to Mars and try to finally bring peace there.
- Eve/Hope takes the fall for Lena's actions and is put in prison allowing Andrea Brooks to take a leave of absence from the show. This being a case of Real Life Writes the Plot.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Malefic, initially, for obvious reasons.
- Rejected Apology: Lena is not listening to Kara's apology and request to desist from using Myriad.
- The Reveal: The Monitor freed Malefic from the Phantom Zone in order to prepare J'onn to fight in the Crisis.
- Secret Test of Character: It's revealed that this is why the Monitor freed Malefic from the Phantom Zone, to help J'onn prepare for the Crisis.
- Series Continuity Error: Everyone immediately recognizes Malefic in human form despite never having seen him like this before. They might have just assumed it based on him walking through the wall with his distinctive green aura, but it's notable either way.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a play on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- Lex's password is his favorite quote from Paradise Lost, "Arise or be forever fallen."
- Silent Snarker: The Monitor responds to Lex's assertions of heroism with a cold glare. Lex clearly gets the message.
- Stock Footage: The Stinger, which was already shown on Batwoman (2019).
- The Stinger: Nash Wells opening the Monitor's hidden chamber and being sucked into it.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Lena tells Hope to stop the Kryptonite cannons, since she doesn't want to kill Kara.
- Token Evil Teammate: Lex Luthor is confirmed to be among those the Monitor has recruited to oppose the Crisis.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Lena manages to end the episode without her actions being exposed, continuing to appear as a respected businesswoman (or as respected as anyone named "Luthor" is likely to be).
- Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- Lena genuinely believes that what she's doing is right, even outright calling herself the good guy.
- Rama Khan openly describes himself as a protector of the Earth. The people on it, on the other hand...
- Wham Shot: The resurrected Lex Luthor sitting in the Monitor's lair.
- What the Hell Are You?: Andrea asks this of Rama Khan after getting a taste of his power.
- When the Planets Align: An alignment of planets not seen in 2000 years gives Rama Khan enough of a power boost to trigger a supervolcano.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Kara constantly tries to talk down Lena to no avail.
- You Have Failed Me: After being thwarted by Supergirl yet again, Rama Khan is stripped of leadership by Gamemnae.
