As the stakes with Lex are raised higher than ever before, Lena must decide how far she is willing to go to stop her brother. Meanwhile, Supergirl and the team are faced with a challenge unlike anything they’ve ever dealt with before and it brings Alex to her breaking point.
Tropes:
- Actually Not a Vampire: Silas, who is an alien from the planet Transylvane. Nia lampshades how unlikely it is that there is actually a place called that with vampire-like aliens.
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- Lex gets acquitted by discrediting Eve and Lena.
- One of the Phantoms escapes, apparently possesses Silas and opens up a portal for several more Phantoms coming to the real world.
- Blunt "Yes":Lex: Mother, it almost feels as if you care more about the family name than freeing your son from bondage.Lillian: I do.
- Boxed Crook: The team catches Silas trying to rob a blood bank, but agree not to turn him in if he helps them build a Phantom Zone projector so they can rescue Supergirl.
- Boxing Lessons for Superman: Brainy trains with Nia to help her locate Kara in the Phantom Zone, though it unfortunately doesn't go very well.
- Brutal Honesty: Lillian Luthor towards both of her children. First she tells Lex how ironclad the case against him is and then she tells Lena that, if she testifies, she will also implicate herself. The latter ends up being proven true.
- Crazy-Prepared: Lex has Otis on standby with a bomb to break him out in case he was convicted. He's surprised when he ends up winning and it proves unnecessary.
- Despair Event Horizon: William very nearly crosses it after Lex is acquitted. Nia finds him in the beginnings of a Heroic BSoD, but is able to convince him that though they couldn't stop Lex today, they will never stop fighting to stop him next time.
- Determinator: Kara absolutely refuses to just accept her fate and spend eternity in a cave, like her father.
- Didn't See That Coming: Lex genuinely didn't expect to win his case.
- Dull Surprise: Although the conversation took place offscreen, Kelly shows no reaction to learning her girlfriend's sister is an alien and one of the most powerful people on the planet.
- Eldritch Location: The Phantom Zone is presented as an absolutely hellish landscape. The effects Crisis had on it didn't help.
- Engineered Public Confession: Lena deliberately prods at Lex's ego to get him to admit to brainwashing the people of Earth. It nearly works, but Lex is smart enough not to completely admit responsibility and quickly turns it back on Lena as her being bitter at her own failure.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Lillian offers to sell her shares of LexCorp to Lena to give her a controlling majority because Lex will only use the company as a weapon against Supergirl. She seems to have changed her mind after Lex manages to rehab his image in court.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Despite being reconciled with Kara and devastated at her being in the Phantom Zone last episode, Lena never mentions her predicament once in this episode or even checks in on the Superfriends. Admittedly, she has Lex's trial to deal with, but you would have thought she would show some emotion regarding Kara.
- Fate Worse than Death: What Zor-El describes being in the Phantom Zone as.
- Heroic BSoD: Alex undergoes one after the team fails to save Kara from the Phantom Zone. Kelly snaps her out of it.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Unfortunately, Lena manipulating Lex into his Engineered Public Confession ends up backfiring, as there are talks about leveling charges against herself afterwards.
- Internal Reveal:
- Alex has apparently told Kelly the truth about Kara offscreen.
- The world learns about Lena developing Non Nocere during her testimony.
- My Greatest Failure:
- Silas failed to rescue his husband Owen from the Phantom Zone.
- Kara's conversation with Zor-El about what the Phantoms showed her hints that she still sees the bad timeline from her original final battle with Reign as hers.
- Not Quite Dead: Zor-El turns out to be alive, having opened a portal to the Phantom Zone to escape the destruction of his homeworld.
- Out of Focus: Poor William suffers again. One scene with Andrea and Nia and about 40 seconds of him watching Lex's trial on TV. Presumably, his appearances are to remind the audience that the character (arguably the lead's love interest) is still on the show.
- Papa Wolf: M'gann points out that J'onn is letting his fatherly feelings for Kara get the better of him, as he acts increasingly irrational. He doesn't listen at first, but after the Phantom attack concedes that he needs to approach the situation rationally.
- Person as Verb: Lillian says to Lex, "No one should have been able to Houdini themselves out of a situation like that."
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Both of Lex's rants have incredibly sexist, even outright misogynistic undertones.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Lex commenting on how easy it was to get what he wants by just being himself and telling things like they are (or rather, how he wants the public to think they are) is an obvious dig at modern day (right-wing) populism.
- Shattered World: The Phantom Zone, originally a single dimension and Floating Continent, was shattered in the Crisis. Now it's a series of dimensions shifting randomly, making finding Kara exponentially harder.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: The Phantoms can force others to experience their worst fears, and in the Phantom Zone they have an eternity to drive the prisoners mad.
- Tantrum Throwing: Alex throws a box of Chinese food in her frustration about the setback in rescuing Kara.
- Tempting Fate: Andrea is already setting up a "GUILTY" headline for Lex as "his conviction is a sure thing."
