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“All About Eve” is actually -just like the rest of the season- all about Lex. Lex sets up Eve as the bait for our Superfriends to follow the trail until the culmination of his long-con comes together with his Red Daughter impersonating Supergirl to bring the world against her. Oh, and James has got some serious PTSD going on with Lex now having tried to kill him eight times. Thankfully his sister is a trauma counselor. Convenient, eh Comrade?

Team Eve

MOS 83 Team EveAlex storms in Lena’s office to find her tied to her chair still groggy from the knockout gas that Otis gave her. The letter left on her desk is from Lex and reveals that Eve is the key in how Lex knew what he knew and how he outsmarted Lena the whole time. Supergirl comes to the DEO and while the alarms are going off she comes bearing doughnuts wanting to work with the DEO to find Lex. Col Haley explains that Lex is not their deal but is convinced when Supergirl shares that Lex has super powers. (No mention of how she got out from under the Daily Planet planet) Alex suggests that she and Agent Dox can be assigned to help with the search for Lex and Haley agrees. Supergirl gives Alex the James Olsen watch that calls her to the scene at the push of a button and she and Brainy have a very nice moment where she gives him his Legion ring back. Alex goes to Lena for information about Eve and Lena wants in on the investigation. Alex warns her that she’s also working with Supergirl and Lena realizes that their differences are not as important as finding and stopping Eve and Lex. They come up with a lead in Mary Tessmacher so they button push Supergirl to join them in the burbs where she is brought up to speed that Eve is the lynchpin and that she’s in love with Lex and henceforth is titled “Crazy Lex-Girlfriend.” (Okay, HA! I’ll give ’em that one.) At Mary’s house they meet Cousin Bitsie who Lena puts together is the cousin that was sick and now it seems she’s right as rain. Bitsie turns angry and apparently has powers. Supergirl assures her they’re not going to take her healing away so she tells them of a secret lab at NCU where Eve worked in secret. At the lab Supergirl makes the discovery that Harun-El is the science behind all of this super powered weirdness. Lena confesses that she gave SuperMom all that she had but that she made more. Supergirl is angry that the recklessness of this has led to a super powered megalomaniac and Lena and Alex both argue that this science has also led to a lot of good, including saving James’ life. Lena also accuses Supergirl of seeing red any time she feels threatened. Supergirl relents and agrees that Lena is right. She does see red but not because of ego; but, because she feels the weight of the world on her shoulders with Superman on Argo and therefore she can’t be weak. She can’t lose. She apologizes to Lena and asks for bygones. Lena thanks her for her words and understanding. All is well. They continue to explore the lab. They find out Otis was brought back through Metallo technology and Supergirl finds the gun that Eve used to shoot James. And another failed Metallo test subject comes to life and tries to kill Supergirl. Lena comes up with a bomb that she and Alex use to take out “Frankenberry,” as moniker-ed by Lena. (Okay, HA! twice) They also put together that Lex and Ben Lockwood are connected. So, Supergirl is headed to DC and stopping off first to deliver the Lex-bad-news to James that Eve popped him. Lena is headed for a heart-to-heart with Mommy Dearest Luthor. In DC Eve (actually in this episode less than one minute of screen time) is telling Red Daughter her assignment. She bends the will of the Senator to repeal the Alien Amnesty Act and gets away using the image inducer. Red Daughter comes to the Oval Office where Ben, Ben’s son George, and James are all assembled to do a press conference. She laser eyes the place and people to shreds. And she burns an image on top of the White House that we don’t see finalized. Eve has set a trap for Supergirl so once she breaks free she sees and realizes that there’s another “her” in the skies above the White House. She is appropriately horrified. President Baker declares martial law and names Supergirl “Public Enemy Number One” saying that the world trusted her for safety and she used her powers to lash out because of the repeal. Alex and Col Haley are watching the announcement in the DEO and Alex is convinced Supergirl did not do this and Haley…agrees. Lena and Alex are together and push button Supergirl to them where they promise to stay a team to get down to the bottom of this.

Remember Who You Are

MOS 83 J'onnSupergirl and J’onn are flying above the City doing a sweep for Lex when J’onn hears the voice of M’yrnn and drops from the skies. Supergirl catches him and back at his home he explains that the internal conflict he’s having from not being a man of peace as he promised his father is leading to a breakdown. Supergirl tells him that he needs to spend the time he needs getting himself better. At his office he tries to commune with the Martian sacred symbols when he’s interrupted by a knock on the door. Angry, he goes to find M’yrnn at the door. Shocked, he finds M’yrnn to be blunt and rude about J’onn not succeeding in his desire to become a man of peace. M’yrnn will be taking the symbols away and J’onn is freaked that if they leave everything of Martian religion and history will disappear forever. M’yrnn be like…”yeah, that’s too bad that you ^&%&’ed it up.” Wait, what?! Basically M’yrnn is getting J’onn to be true to himself as the Martian Manhunter. Once he finally admits that he can’t be his father and must be himself all is settled. They come up with a plan to take the Symbols back to the desert on Mars where they came out of. They will lie dormant until “someone who is worthy” comes to take them again. J’onn packs up the spaceship and heads to Mars.

James and Ben and a Lightbulb

MOS 83 JamesMOS 83 LockwoodSister Kelly Olsen is interested why James is leaving the hospital in his suit and ready to get back to work rather than work through what has happened to him. She follows him later to the office with a list of PTSD counselors. He is not interested but would rather she head home rather than take advantage of him while he’s down and telling him what to do. Super Kara comes to CatCo to tell him that Eve/Lex shot him so the danger is still out there. Then he heads to the Oval Office and has a severe reaction to the mayhem that Red Daughter lays down. James heads home and asks Kelly to stay to help him going forward. She assures him that she’s not going anywhere. Meanwhile, George Lockwood is learning about the ways of Washington, DC from his dad Ben as they head to a Senator’s office where she tells Ben that she won’t be voting for the repeal. Ben is shocked and threatens her to listen to the voice of the common man. She laughs him out of her office. (OK, not really. I’m embellishing it to how it should have gone.) Eve pressures the Senator to change her mind and the repeal is done. James is in the Oval Office and tells Ben that he’s been used by Lex Luthor and Ben is dumbfounded.

Throw Momma From The Prison

MOS 83 LillianAnd, there are two absolutely exquisite scenes with Brenda Strong as the recurrent Lillian Luthor. They are both with Katie McGrath alone and the first one is Lillian gloating over Lex and her being the same person and Lena being weak for being dependent on her friends, and that her having a heart is a point of weakness. The second one is Lena getting to gloat a little bit because she found the prison schematics in Eve’s secret lab showing that he was planning the end of Mama Luthor. Lillian gives in to Lena and gives her the information she wants. I will applaud every single time Lillian is showcased not just because Brenda is amazing in this role but in how the writers keep on pounding the drum that Lena is different from her family. Huzzah!

Closing Thoughts

There’s a lot to process in this episode so I would encourage multiple viewings. The team puts together all of the different pieces of Lex’s puppeteering and how it impacts Ben, Lena, James, Supergirl, Eve, everyone. It sets the stage for a battle royale between Supergirl and Red Daughter. For these reasons I thought this was another solid episode of setting up the ultimate conflict between Supergirl and Lex. Let’s talk about Supergirl feeling the weight of battling Superman’s arch nemesis and why she feels she can’t lose against him because that would mean she can’t handle things as well as Superman. I really don’t like this part of this episode. I really don’t appreciate sending the message that she feels this kind of pressure. Lex now has super powers and is the “greatest criminal mind of our age” per Gene Hackman. Plus the fact that he has his own Supergirl to do his battling for him. Her thinking she has to be as good or better than Superman is a negative message and I hope they show this line of thinking as a fallacy. My only other gripe is that they’re pulling Kara’s support from J’onn during this huge test of her. Hopefully they will show that her strength of character and having Alex and Lena with her will be enough. Other good points: Ben realizing he’s been tooled this whole time was well done. James realizing that he is going to need help in the short-term healing is also well done. Finally, airing the dirty laundry between Lena and Supergirl was well overdue and I’m very glad that they could both have an adult conversation – especially that Supergirl could open up the possibility that Lena might have other than sinister motives behind the science that she works on. This was overall a really good episode. Thanks to all involved!

Cougar’s Comic Corner

“Superman/Batman Vol. 01: Public Enemies”
51ZRJVlmGmL._SY346_A tale of loyalty and unlikely friendship featuring two of the recognizable and popular super-heroes on the planet, this book pairs the Man of Steel with the Dark Knight. The iconic super-heroes unite when longtime Superman enemy Lex Luthor, now POTUS, accuses Superman of a horrible act against mankind, and assembles a top-secret team of powerhouse heroes to bring Superman in – dead or alive. But after the Dark Knight Detective proves Luthor’s accusations to be baseless, the “World’s Finest” duo prepares to topple the corrupt President’s reign once and for all. From August of 2012 authored by Jeph Loeb!
Find it on Amazon today!

Next time on “Supergirl”!

Season 4, Episode 18, “Crime and Punishment”
There’s no official description yet but keep your eyes on the Facebook group feed!

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