Previously on Supergirl, Alex and Maggie broke up in a beautifully heartbreaking series of episodes because Alex wanted kids and then Alex promptly signed up to adopt a child so her heartache was not for naught, Dreamer was interviewed on TV and became Lockwood’s next target alongside an alien that murdered Mrs. Lockwood, and Lena and Kara found out about Lex’s Kaznian adventures and decided to go see what he was up to.

Kara and Lena head to the airport to fly in of Lena’s custom-built private jets, but Kara is a little antsy because she wants to fly fly. She tries to convince Lena to let her go on her own but Lena wants to look Lex in the eye when they catch him. Not unlike Lady Olenna Tyrell, Lena wants Lex to know it was her when he gets taken down.

“I want him to drown in my baby blues as he gets dragged away.”

Meanwhile back in the staying-in-town camp, Alex and Kelly are going for a jog together, joking about not being in their 20s anymore and how James will never know the feeling of his body falling apart. Alex says it must be weird to have a sibling with superpowers, and I almost forgot she doesn’t know about Kara, CAN WE FIX THAT NOW PLEASE.

They take a wee break from jogging because Alex gets a phone call and has to go. When Kelly asks if everything is okay, much to my surprise and delight, Alex tells her the truth: an adoption agency called, and they have a baby for her. Kelly is surprised but not necessarily in a bad way, Alex looks like she’s feeling every emotion all at the same time.

JOY-PANIC

At Mrs. Lockwood’s funeral, little George is telling sweet stories about his mother when his father gets up and storms back to the DEO. Ben is losing it, and is desperate to find Dreamer and the alien who killed his wife. And also, maybe more than the other two things, to know how James got superpowers.

Speaking of James, he’s a little busy getting flambéed by Brainy and Nia, who are having a great time figuring out his new powers.

SHE IS WORTHY

James still seems a little disaffected for someone who has been acting like he was invincible for years, but we don’t have time to think too hard about that right now, because Brainy has to go back to the DEO to deal with the spiraling Ben Lockwood.

Lena and Kara hop on Lena’s plane and Lena tries to apologize for not telling her sooner about Lex, because she’s still learning how to trust. Kara reassures her that no matter what happens, they are on the same side. Because Lena is good, and Kara is good.

“And nothing you could ever do would make me love you less. Unless you have been lying to me about who you are every day since we met.”

As they get closer to Kaznia, the plane starts to shake and they realize the storm they’re passing through is definitely not natural. So Lena hops into the cockpit to manually land the plane.

What I imagine I look like when I play video games.

At the same time, Kara nopes right off the plane to help from the outside. (Possibly phasing out? Unsure how how she left the plane without sucking Lena out of it but we’ll just chalk it up to superspeed and metaphysics.)

In a beautiful moment of unknowing symmetry, they both say, “I got this” and do their part to land the plane safely.

As soon as the imminent threat is over, Lena is worried about Kara, but Kara managed to get herself back to her seat before Lena noticed she was gone.

The gal pals head to the army base, but it seems pretty deserted. Lena thinks maybe the lightning was an automatic trap her brother set, so they turn on the lights and start exploring. They find a room that was clearly used for torture, and they presume it was specifically used for aliens. It’s all Amertek machines and paper files, and that’s why Lena knows Eve was involved.

“Is this where they’re filming Saw XVII?”

I guess instead of Alex running off to deal with the baby thing on her own, Kelly decides to come over for moral support. Which I’m totally here for. So the deal is, there’s a 17-year-old girl who is in labor and since she only just told the agency she wanted to adopt her baby out, instead of doing the whole thing where she chooses three potentials and then meets them and makes her decision, she just picked one candidate and that candidate was Alex. Alex feels as shell-shocked as we do by this, because it’s been a year since she applied to adopt a child and neither she nor us has heard anything about it since.

“Look, I have the scripts, this storyline was entirely dropped for MONTHS!”

Kelly is supportive and patient and kind, talking her through it. Alex explains that this is so important to her. So important, in fact, that she broke up with her fiancée because she didn’t want to have kids. Kelly responds with, “That’s so hard,” like the good friend she is. Alex is having second thoughts because of Lex Luthor and martial law and all the chaos, but Kelly has a rational answer for all of Alex’s irrational fears. Alex really wants to talk to her sister, but her sister is in Kaznia of all places. But Kelly has a rational solution for that too: she tells Alex to imagine what Kara would say if she were here. So Alex gives herself advice: It’s never going to be the perfect time, and this is a gift she can’t pass up. Kelly is proud of her, she answered her own questions.

“This is the gayest conversation I’ve had in a while and I couldn’t be happier about it.”

At the Kaznian base, Kara finds an article about an alien they used to know called Copy who could split himself like a cell, though the more he split the more imperfect his copies became. They also find power-dampening cuffs and proof that Lex had an in at the DEO Desert Facility.

This episode of Kara and Lena: Investigating Girlfriends is interrupted by a sound, and Lena grabs a taser torch off the wall as they wait for the person to reveal themselves.

“Maybe an Escape Room date wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

It’s Eve but there’s something… different about her. She’s more childlike than the Eve we know, saying she loves Lena and Kara so much, she just loves Lex more. She claims she simply couldn’t put up with the torture anymore, but Lena and Kara aren’t buying it.

Lena uses her taser torch to get information out of Eve about Lex’s shenanigans.

Alex has gone to a hotel near where the birth mother of her potential baby is in labor, and Kelly is also there. I sort of wish we had a line where Alex asked Kelly to come with her for this life-changing event, or better yet, that Kelly offered to go, but I guess it’s kind of like when you go to lunch with a friend and then end up going to American Eagle with them so they can pick up a pair of shorts they had been eyeing and then oh they just need to pop into Best Buy real quick and next thing you know you’re keeping them company while they grocery shop.

Alex gets an update from the agency and is a little surprised to learn that the birth mother doesn’t want to meet her until after the baby is born. She takes this as an automatic bad sign, but Kelly reassures her that this is a normal reaction and also gives her chocolate. Are we sure Kelly’s real and not just a figment of Alex’s imagination? Because she’s perfect.

She even sits like A Gay(tm).

Alex continues to panic-spiral, worried that the newborn will somehow fling itself into uncovered outlets, even though everyone knows babies are essentially loud, wiggly, leaking potatoes for the first three months. Kelly reassures her that she’s just scared, and Alex corrects her: she’s terrified.

Alex explains that one of the reasons she’s so scared to be a mother is because Eliza Danvers is one of the best mothers across all universes. She always made Alex feel so loved, and she did it mostly on her own.

She’s worried she won’t be half the mother Eliza is, but Kelly says that even though their friendship has been short (albeit intense), she can already tell that Alex is a naturally nurturing person.

Chyler and Azie are so good at the little face-acting moments that it makes me want to rip my own heart out.

She tells Alex the absolute truth: She cares too much to fail.

Alex is so appreciative that Kelly is there with her, saying everything she needs to hear. Not so appreciative that she left her any chocolate though. Sorry, Kelly.

In their own kind of bonding situation, Lena and Kara cuff Eve and ask her questions about Lex’s plans. They learn about his plans to have Kaznia attack the US, and they learn about Kaznian Kara, aka the Red Daughter.

When we cut back to Alex and Kelly, they’re laughing and looking at jogging strollers.

I am so very here for this friendship-first slow burn situation.

Then Alex gets another call. But it’s clear after a few moments the call wasn’t a good one. The girl’s grandparents convinced her (with the help of a priest) to keep the baby, so Alex won’t become a mother today after all.

“Why would you just tell someone a Killing Eve spoiler like that?!”

Upon reviewing the footage of the Red Daughter training, Lena knows that Supergirl must have been exposed to Harun-El. She explains to Kara that Red was basically a blank slate until Lex found her and turned her into a weapon. Kara is sure that if she comes from the same stuff as Supergirl there has to be good in her, but Lena explains that sometimes nurture overpowers nature. There was good in Sam, but not-so-much in Reign.

Lena is a bit shook though; Lex created his own biggest fear, a Kryptonian killer. They ask Eve where Red is, but before she can answer, another Eve strolls in. Kara knows Lex must have used Copy’s powers on her, because that was the only file she read out loud earlier.

Eve sets off a self-destruct timer and disappears, leaving Lena and Kara to find an exit themselves.

I’m such a big fan of these two going on capers together.

They split up and normally I would say this is a terrible and dangerous plan, but in this specific instance it worked out because Kara found the Red Daughter’s room, with pictures of Kara and Supergirl all taped to the wall. Clear as day, impossible to dispute proof that Kara Danvers is Supergirl. And she even has Kara’s journal with a picture of her and Alex tucked inside.

Kara runs out, stunned, confused, probably feeling a little invaded, and Lena assumes Kara looks like she just saw a ghost because she’s afraid of dying.

Kara misdirects by saying they should go up the air vent, but when Lena goes up first and reaches down to help her girl, Kara makes an excuse about her recorder and runs back to burn all the evidence on the Red Daughter’s wall with her laser vision.

Me deleting tweets I feel self-conscious about as soon as I tweet them.

Back at the DEO, Lockwood breaks into Lena’s lab despite Brainy’s best efforts to deter him. He finds the Harun-El and before Brainy can warn him against taking it, an agent tells him that they found the alien who killed his wife and he heads up a strike team to go raid the shelter she was staying in.

Lena and Kara figure out that the President’s Chief of Staff is the mole under Lex’s thumb, and then Eve distracts them. They both go running after different Eves, and Kara can’t help but suit up for this fight. So while Kara fights a bunch of Eve copies with Ariana Grande lyrics, Lena fights original flavor Eve with the RETRACTABLE SWORD IN HER SHOE.

Hello, welcome to Swoon City, where I am now the mayor.

Back in National City, Lockwood finds himself face to face with James and Dreamer, and tries to arrest them with all the shelter aliens, but Brainy finally has had enough of trying to politely talk him out of things. Brainy focuses directly on the DEO agents this time, telling them to follow their hearts, not their orders. They start to stand down, and Dreamer is very proud of her fella.

Why yes I do use any excuse to include screenshots of Nia in my recaps.

But Lockwood doesn’t need agents, because he’s got a secret weapon. He injects himself with Harun-El and throws a truck at James and Dreamer. J’onn swoops down to save them, and James has him throw Lockwood into a tanker, knowing he would survive the fire but that it would get him off their back long enough to save the aliens. And Lockwood does survive it… he’s MAD though.

While Lena and Eve are fighting, Lena is trying to turn Eve against Lex, telling her that Lex is incapable of loving anyone but himself. She overpowers her and starts to go check on Kara, but then Eve pops up and stabs her right in the chest.

So many dirty jokes to make, so little time.

But Lena retaliates by knocking Eve out. Kara’s recorder was right in the place Eve stabbed her, so Lena is fine. WHICH. CAN WE TALK ABOUT FOR A SECOND? Am I totally losing my mind or is this one of the most romantic tropes in cinematic history? Usually it goes, girl gives guy something to remember her by as he goes off to war, guy gets shot, thing girl gave him stopped the bullet. Unfortunately “bullet stopped by gift” only returned some questionable Etsy results, but I feel pretty sure this is a thing that has happened more than once and usually between love interests.

Anyway, Lena hugs Kara when she realizes she’s safe, and they’re disappointed to realize all the Eves have disappeared.

“I think we’re alone now…”

Kara says this mission wasn’t a wash though. They found the information they came for. They have enough information to take Lex down. On the way back, Lena tries to apologize for leaving Kara behind to chase after Eve, but Kara assures her it’s fine. Lena is frustrated because she’s trying to apologize for putting her in danger. Kara starts to explain that she was never in danger. She takes off her glasses and stands up, but Lena is like me and finds it hard to have vulnerable conversations while looking directly at a person. So Lena doesn’t see Kara stand up and put her hands on her hips. Lena doesn’t see her finally, finally open up to her best friend.

This was one of those I-forgot-how-to-breathe scenes for me. I thought the tension build and visual framing was so well done.

And Lena never sees it, because as Lena goes on and on about how Eve lied to her every single day about who she was and that it’s emotional trauma she may never recover from, and that the only reason she hasn’t totally fallen apart is because she has Kara by her side… Kara knows this isn’t the time. Kara knows this will break her. Kara puts her glasses back on and reassures Lena that she will always be there for her. No matter what.

Alex and Kelly are on what has to be at least the third date in this one single day, back at Alex’s apartment.

I think a spontaneous 12-hour date is the gayest thing Alex has done since she cut her hair.

Alex tells Kelly that she feels like all the wounds she thought were healed up were ripped clean open again, and she’s not sure she can survive the painful healing process again. Kelly believes that wounds like this are scars that you should wear like a badge of honor, and Alex asks Kelly about lessons she learned from her own scars.

Chicks dig scars.

Kelly tells Alex that she was engaged once, too. To her sergeant. But no one knew, because they couldn’t be out while on active duty.

I want to take a short break in this heavy story to mention Alex’s reaction to this. It seems like this is the first time Alex is finding out that Kelly is queer, too. Chyler does this absolutely perfect, almost imperceptible, thing with her face, where she registers it as new, exciting information, but checks it immediately because this is not the time to jump up and down and shout about it, despite that sometimes being the reaction you want to have when you find out someone you admire is queer like you. It’s no Sara Lance “what have we here” eyebrow quirk, but it’s a very realistic and beautiful acknowledgement nonetheless.

Okay, back to Kelly’s story. Her biggest scar taught her that there are always second chances. Kelly’s fiancée died on patrol, and Kelly couldn’t even mourn her at first. Probably partially because she couldn’t mourn her properly amongst her peers since they hadn’t been able to be out, but also she was just so numb about the whole thing. But her fiancée had sent her a letter in case she died, and that letter gave her permission to keep moving forward. To find someone else who would make her smile.

Oh what a coincidence, here Kelly is, with Alex, smiling.

So Kelly encourages Alex not to lose hope. Today’s wound is deep, yes. And it hurts like hell. Kelly doesn’t want to take away from that. But she just wants Alex to be able to hold on to the fact that someday this will just be a scar. And maybe that scar will ache when the sky’s grey, but it won’t hurt like this forever.

Also hurt, albeit in a very different way, is little George Lockwood. Ben abandoned him at his mother’s funeral, all to be hyperfocused on this mission George doesn’t even believe in, and George is OVER it. In fact, he might hate Ben Lockwood as much as we do now.

Though this admittedly doesn’t help Ben’s spiral into darkness. I’m hoping losing control will be his downfall.

Since Kara can’t talk to Alex about SuperStuff, she calls James over to debrief after her trip with Lena. The story of the Red Daughter is making Kara feel extra grateful she landed where she did, and was raised by Eliza Danvers instead of Lex Luthor, who was like 40 when she landed. Kara also tells James that she almost came out as Supergirl to Lena, and that she finally is aware that it’s long overdue. She promises to tell Lena as soon as Lex is behind bars, which is risky considering how many people on Lex’s side of this battle know that she’s Supergirl, but at least she’s committed to it, that’s all that matters at this point.

Also, since we’re no longer worried about people who know getting murdered… can Alex get her memories back? Please?

Kara packs up all the information her and Lena learned and heads to the President’s Kryptonite-protected office. Why Kara Danvers, Sometimes Reporter can stroll into the Oval Office is kind of beyond me, but I guess it’s because of how close Cat Grant and President Wonder Woman were? Anyway, Kara explains the whole situation to the President, about the imposter Supergirl, and about the mole in the White House, and hands him the envelope of proof.

“I would like to announce my candidacy for President. I hear everyone is doing it.”

The President puts the envelope away without looking at it and presses a button, and before you know it, Kara has been black bagged out of the room.

To quote Georgia Hardstark, it goes all the way TO THE TOP!

Season Four is almost over, and I won’t lie to you, I’m loving this ride. These last few episodes have been the best in a long time, and even though I have no idea how they’re going to wrap up all 87 of their open storylines in two episodes, I’m excited to see what does go down, even though I’m pretty sure my heart is going to be broken eight ways to Sunday.

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