Editor’s Note: This post contains spoilers for Supergirl. Proceed with caution if you haven’t watched yet. 

After the epic alien fight club episode last week, we’re back with another week of Supergirl. In “Crossfire,” Kara spent time trying to mentor Mon-El, Alex did some soul-searching, and James’ storyline took a surprising turn. There are a ton of topics to discuss, so let’s get right to it.

After pushing him to the side last week, Kara spent most of last night’s episode focused on her new pupil Mon-El. Before sending him off on his first day at Catco, Kara dressed him up and gifted him with a pair of fake glasses (you know, just in case he wants to fight crime one day) and the moniker Mike. At the office, Mike spent the majority of his time fooling around with some girl and not doing actual work.

While Mike was adjusting, Kara and James were attacked outside by guys that were in the middle of a bank robbery. As per usual, Kara jumped into action as Supergirl but wasn’t expecting the robber, Chet Miner, to bust out a massive futuristic alien weapon. It came as no surprise that it was Cadmus that supplied the criminals with the guns. The mysterious Cadmus leader believes she is “making the world a better place for her children” and doesn’t mind using Miner and his guys as a device to fuel the public’s fear of aliens.

The experience was enough to shake James and convince him to don a disguise and head out into the night to fight crime. It’s clear how desperate he is to become a hero, despite the fact that he doesn’t have powers. To at least improve his garb, James reached out to his buddy Winn and asked for help. Too bad Winn thinks being a vigilante is too dangerous. He eventually came around but we’ll get to that in a minute.

But that wasn’t the only thing James was dealing with. Back at the office his new employee Mike was getting others to handle his work while he sat at his desk chowing down on “red tubes” (a.k.a. Red Vines). I’ll admit, Mike’s shenanigans and Kara’s increasing exasperation with his antics was entertaining to watch. But as she realized later in the episode, maybe the office intern life wasn’t for him. During a one-on-one chat, Alex reminded Kara that what works for her doesn’t necessarily mean it works for others. After all, when Kara was adopted into her Earth family, Alex tried to make her just like herself, but eventually realized she had to loosen up and let Kara live her own life.

Before Alex could explain her confusing feelings for Maggie, Lena interrupted the conversation with a special request: she wants both Kara and Supergirl to come to a charity fundraiser. Supergirl promised Lena that both would definitely be showing up for the soirée. Of course, we didn’t get to see as much Mrs. Doubtfire-like mischief as I’d have liked, but that just comes with the territory of being a superhero show. Kara/Supergirl’s swift transition between characters made the situation believable enough, especially considering how short it was.

Of course, the alien gun-wielding criminals from earlier had plans to crash Lena’s party and complicate things. Luckily Lena knew the baddies would probably pull something like that and planned an ambush of her own. With Winn’s help, Lena was able to get rid of their weapons and stop them. The moment Winn had with Lena convinced him to help James out after all. While James hasn’t revealed his official superhero name yet, Winn admitted to already having several cool plans set in place.

The rest of the episode (though not nearly enough of it) was devoted to the exploration of Alex’s sexual orientation, and her budding feelings for Maggie. Ever since since Maggie hopped into the picture this season, Alex has slowly been moving out of the closet. While we didn’t get a direct confirmation, Alex pushed through her fear towards the end of the episode and all but revealed to Maggie that she is a lesbian.

It’s unclear where their relationship is headed after that reveal, but it seems like it’s going in a favorable direction for both characters. On the other side of the story, Kara’s mentor/pupil relationship with Mon-El took an interesting turn. Instead of planning out how he should live his life, Kara left the career choices (and more) up to Mon and promised to be there as an aide if he needed needed help.

Keeping with the trend of the last few episodes, this one ended in a twist: the mysterious Cadmus leader is Lena Luthor’s mother. Gasp!

What did you think of this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook, or reach out to me on Twitter: @Samantha_Sofka.

Images: CW