Warning: there be spoilers here!

Well this was an exciting, if somewhat formulaic, episode of Supergirl! This one is packed with series changing events, so again, don’t read on if you you’re not ready to hear about the good stuff. Tagging onto the end of last week’s episode, Kara has been left powerless after her run-in with the Red Tornado. While fighting the metal wind machine, she suffered the superheroic equivalent of a battery losing its charge, and gets to experience a very human version of life. Here come the sneezes, bruises, bleeds, and broken bones! Have fun with that, Kara.

At D.E.O. headquarters, Henshaw and Alex walk in to a holding room where a dangerous telepath and Faceless Hunter named Jemm is captive and neutralized. That name is a little on the nose, as he has a laser-beaming gem in his forehead. He’s all bluster and no bite in his cell, which is where he’ll stay forever and ever right? Nah. An earthquake rips through National City and the power outage that ensued gave Jemm just enough time to escape, leaving the D.E.O. no choice but to go on full lockdown. All of this while Alex is still questioning Hank’s motives, and investigating his involvement in her father’s death.

Outside on the earthquake stricken streets of National City, Kara experiences an even more painful preview of what puny human bodies go through with a broken elbow. Without her powers, Kara has another crisis of identity. First it was the secret in her dual identity that gave her trouble, then it was the anger that was unconsciously motivating her actions, and now its the lack of her strength and flight that’s making her doubt herself. This is all relatively short-lived, of course, because with a little prodding from Jimmy (sorry, James) Olsen Kara decides to be a hero without a bulletproof backup. She rushes into a store that’s being looted and talks down the robber using simple logic and a call to resist the fear that’s driving him. It’s a more dangerous situation than Jimmy had intended she get herself into, but it results in one of his best photos of Supergirl in action.

Back at the D.E.O. base, Alex is on the hunt for answers and for Jemm. Henshaw took off after the big bad, but Alex doesn’t trust his motives after two agents accompanying him turn up dead. She acquires a neural inhibitor (thanks D.E.O. R&D for always having the right gadgets) and goes in to the quarantined corridors looking for answers. She locates Hank, forces him to cuff himself to some bars at gunpoint, and hunts Jemm. During a shootout between the two, she avoids his laser beam blasts while successfully knocking his power gem free with a lucky shotgun blast. Hank shows up again though, cuff-free, and snaps Jemm’s neck. We’re getting closer to some answers.

A fire on the upper levels of the CatCo building has Kara, James, and Winn playing hero to a handful of stranded office workers. As Winn noted earlier, a jolt of the Kryptonian equivalent of adrenaline should restart Kara’s powers. So when James falls into a empty elevator shaft, that’s the rush Kara needs to go Full-Kryptonian again, and her powers return in time for her to save James and then head out to save the city.

Finally at the D.E.O. we get the reveal we’ve been waiting for: what is Hank Henshaw’s deal? What’s up with the red eyes? Did he kill Jeremiah Danvers? All is revealed! Hank Henshaw is Martian Manhunter! (We covered this spoiler last night!) When the real Hank Henshaw and Jeremiah Danvers were on the trail of an alien all those years ago, it wasn’t one of the Fort Rozz fugitives, but one J’onn J’onzz, the last son of Mars. When Danvers died saving the Martian’s life, J’onn makes a promise to look out for Jeremiah’s daughter Alex. That’s why fake Henshaw recruited her: to fulfill J’onn’s promise to Jeremiah and to keep her safe. I love it when a plot comes together. In all honesty, I wasn’t picking up any of the Martian clues until just this episode. I completely bought the Hellgrammite red herring theory. At any rate, J’onn tells Alex that she can’t even tell Kara about his identity, which means I give the show one or two episodes before it becomes necessary for J’onn to reveal who he is to Supergirl. He does say that only one other living person knows his identity. Is that one person Superman, perhaps? It’s an easy stretch to extend that courtesy to the other Super Cousin, if so.

Things are finally shaping up after the earthquake, but before Kara can even get home, she’s attacked. Astra’s back, and she brought backup. With a kidnapped Supergirl, I think we’ll be seeing more of Martian Manhunter in action sooner rather than later.

What did you think of Hank’s big reveal? Sound off below!

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Blink and you’ll miss it:

Early in the episode, Henshaw responds to Jemm’s threat of grinding his loved ones to dust with “there are none left to grind.” Now that we know who he really is, this makes more sense!

Notable Quotables:

“Well, I’m not going to let that bloviating narcissist knock my creation down just to build himself up.” – Cat Grant, regarding Maxwell Lord

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Images: CBS