Cat goes on an afternoon chat show to talk about how she and Supergirl are friends. She talks about how Supergirl is one of the kindest people, a true superhero. As she says all this, Supergirl heads to an elementary school when she hears a little girl being bullied for dressing up like Supergirl. The bullies are duly impressed that Laura knows Supergirl.
Kara watches the interview at the office when Cat comes in, looking quite proud of herself. She asks Kara to fetch Winn, who she discovers fooling around in a storage closet with Siobhan. Siobhan beats a hasty retreat, and Winn tries to apologize, saying it feels wrong… except when they are doing it. Kara doesn’t want to hear it and Cat calling for her gives her the perfect out. Cat tells her that Lucy quit, and Kara goes straight to James, to check in on him. He did not get a chance to tell Lucy about Supergirl, but admits he may not have loved Lucy as much as he should have – or as much as he thought.
Supergirl meets up with Alex at the DEO, and Alex gives her some “big sister advice” on getting James. They join up with Hank, who is meeting with Senator Crane. She has promised to get them more resources, and she thanks Hank for keeping the planet safe. She is flirting with him hardcore, a fact that does not go unnoticed by the Danver girls. Notice comes in that a firefighter is stuck on the roof of a burning building. Before they can blink, Supergirl is on her way.
Supergirl lifts the enormous piece of metal the fireman is stuck under, and his brethren help him up. They are all appreciative, and Supergirl walks away. She gets dizzy for a moment, and her face gets red and glowy, but she shakes it off and flies away. A camera pan reveals a pile of red Kryptonite hiding beneath a satellite dish.
Kara has a new swagger when she walks into work in a slim dress and high heels. Every person she walks by stops to check her out. She is first with a list of replacements for Lucy, all of them vetted and listed in order that Kara thinks Cat would like them. Impressed, Cat gives Kara tickets to a club. Siobhan is not happy.
At the DEO, Hank is giving a briefing on a gang of thugs who use a K’Hund alien as their weapon. Supergirl is only half-listening. She is bored and responds with attitude. But she goes off to fight K’Hund. K’Hund is busy robbing an armored truck when the DEO rolls up. Supergirl chases K’Hund into an alley, and they fight. She pins him easily, but decides he isn’t worth her time. She warns him to get out of her sight before she changes her mind. K’Hund doesn’t hesitate to run, and Alex rolls up. Supergirl casually informs her that K’Hund got away. Back at the DEO, Hank gives Supergirl a little talking-to. It is a typical argument between a father and a 14-year-old daughter: she wants him to get off her back and stop telling her what to do. But she also has a suggestion: why doesn’t Hank get off his ass and use his alien mojo to fight himself? Alex says it is too dangerous for him. “But it’s not too dangerous for me?” Supergirl storms out.
The next day at work, Kara does the unthinkable: she uses Cat’s private elevator to enter the building. But, she explains to Cat, that means that her coffee is 90 seconds hotter. Cat is intrigued by Kara’s new, brazen attitude. She doesn’t mind it – yet. Siobhan follows Cat into her office with what she is certain will be CatCo’s biggest story. She has security footage showing Supergirl letting a bad guy escape. Cat is troubled by this, but wants to sit on it until they know exactly what is going on. Siobhan argues the importance of this as a story; Cat dismisses her. So Siobhan composes an email, one which Kara suspects could get her into a lot of trouble. Kara creates a rouse to get Siobhan out of the office for a minute, then sits down at her desk. She sees that Siobhan is getting ready to send the Supergirl footage to Perry White. Kara prints out a copy of the email and deletes it from the computer. She turns it over to Cat, who is offended at her lack of loyalty and integrity. She fires her on the spot. Siobhan storms out of CatCo, the rest of the office watching nervously – but not Kara. She isn’t bothered by it and invites James and Winn to the club tonight.
James and Winn are at the bar when Kara sashays in and drags James onto the dance floor. Kara is all up on James, and James is worried: this isn’t Kara at all. Kara tells him to forget about Lucy, she was “clingy and insecure.” She dry humps him on the dance floor, and nearly pulls his arm out of the socket when he tries to leave. The last straw is when Kara removes her glasses to nuzzle closer to him. He makes her put her glasses on and takes a call from Cat, who wants to see Supergirl ASAP. Kara is gone in a blink, and James wonders what is going on with his friend.
Supergirl knows what this is all about: Cat wants to know about her sudden change. Supergirl doesn’t like being a “stock character.” Real people have a dark side, and she is sick of enabling everyone in their victimhood. She quits. Cat thinks she is having a breakdown and offers to help her get an emergency prescription anti-psychotics. Supergirl tells her off, and decides to show her what real power looks like. She throws Cat off the building. As Cat plummets, screaming, Supergirl saves her at the last second, setting her down gently on the ground. “True power is deciding who lives and who dies. Don’t call me again.”
James and Winn go to Hank and Alex with their concerns. They have noticed Kara’s erratic behavior too, and conveniently discover an anomalous radioactive signature. Max shows up and admits that he created it in a lab, hoping it would lure Non down and kill him. They put him back in the containment cell, and he admits that he didn’t get it right. The fire was an accident, and he didn’t intend Supergirl to become victim to it. When he realized Supergirl had been exposed, he started tracking her. When she threw Cat off the building was when he realized it was time to tell someone. Max is there to make things right and make an antidote. Alex lets him out and puts him to work on an antidote.
Winn and James find Cat in her office, preparing to give a statement denouncing Supergirl. She isn’t happy about it, but she feels the public needs to be warned. The boys want her to hold off, but they can’t stop her. In her statement, Cat says she no longer stands behind Supergirl; she was wrong. Little Laura throws away her Supergirl costume; the firefighters pull down their pro-Supergirl banners; a crowd gathers to watch the press statement on TVs in the window of an appliance store. (Who does that anymore?)
Alex is worried to find Kara’s door ajar. Inside, her apartment is a mess, but Kara is there, wearing her aunt’s jumpsuit. She eye-lasers her old clothes, and Alex tries to explain that her brain has been altered. Kara launches into a horrible diatribe against her sister: you didn’t want me to “come out” because you didn’t want me to outshine you; we aren’t sisters; without me you wouldn’t have a life; I am finally free of you. Kara flies away, leaving Alex crying.
Alex returns to the DEO and tells Hank that Kara is gone. She doesn’t know what she is capable of, and Crane wants them to take her down. It is with a heavy heart that Hank rolls out the troops. Before she leaves, Max gives Alex a weapon that should work.
Supergirl is at a bar, flicking peanuts at the liquor bottles with deadly accuracy. Cat’s message plays on TV, and the other bar patrons run in fear of Supergirl. She goes out onto the street and blows up a huge outdoor screen playing the message. The police roll out in force, and she laughs as their bullets deflect harmlessly off her body. Alex readies the antidote gun, but Supergirl knocks it out of her hands. Hank rushes in, and Supergirl knocks him back. He sees her getting ready to laser Alex to death, and his protective dad senses kick in. He morphs into J’onn J’onzz and attacks Supergirl. They take their epic alien fight to the skies, but as soon as they return to the ground, Alex shoots Supergirl with Max’s gun. A red vapor leaves Supergirl’s body and knocks her out. Alex urges J’onn to leave – spectators have already gathered to gape in fear. Instead, J’onn transforms back into Hank and surrenders to the DEO.
Kara wakes at the DEO, worried she killed someone. She didn’t, but she did break Alex’s arm. Kara cries. “Every bad thought I have ever had came to the surface. I didn’t mean what I said.” Alex assures her she loves her no matter what, but there is some truth to what she said, and they will have to work on it. Down in the containment cell, Hank has replaced Max. He admits to Crane that Hank Henshaw is dead, but he doesn’t answer if he was the one who killed him. “I’ve always been afraid of aliens, but you changed my mind,” Crane admits. “Now I realize it is all a lie.” Alex comes in and asks why he didn’t run. He would spend a thousand years in this cell if it meant keeping the Danvers girls safe. But that really isn’t a good answer.
Kara returns to work in her normal sweater set. She feels bad about getting Siobhan fired. She goes in to apologize to James. He knows it is not her fault – but they are not okay. He knows there has to be some truth to what Kara said, and is concerned that she has such an anger inside. Kara admits she is jealous of Lucy, and would be jealous of anyone James loves. She fumbles for words, but James stops her. He doesn’t want her to finish her thought, but he does need time to think.
Next on the Supergirl Apology Tour is Cat. Cat doesn’t want an apology; sh*t happens. Supergirl is worried that she won’t win back the trust of the people. Cat knows that if anyone can win back this city, it is Supergirl.
You can watch a preview for next week’s episode, titled “Manhunter,” in the player below.
