“How Does She Do It?” is episode four of season one of Supergirl.
Kara is flying through the air saying that she can finally have it all and that nothing can ruin her mood today. Famous last words. Red dots appear on her arm and she follows them back to a drone. It’s a pretty large one, with six rotors, and it’s pretty fast and agile. Enough so that Kara has trouble catching it and finally brings it down with her heat vision.
Kara retrieves one of the pieces and dumps it in from of Henshaw at the DEO She tells Henshaw that she doesn’t like being followed and he replies that if they were following Supergirl, she’d never known. But it’s not one of theirs. Alex says that the drone has no markings and she has never seen tech like it. It isn’t alien though, but definitely Earth technology. Very advanced Earth technology. When Henshaw leaves, Alex tells Kara she can trust him. That is by no means certain.
Winn is covering the phones for Kara when she arrives and he is not having fun. Cat has apparently won a prize for women in media and Winn says he didn’t even know Cat could smile, other than when being cruel to others. Cat is on the phone in her office, speaking to her mother, and Kara eavesdrops. It doesn’t sound like a good conversation.
Kara enters the office and Cat tells her she wants a salad for lunch. She doesn’t care what kind, as long as it has a cheeseburger on top. No, not a good conversation. Kara congratulates Cat on winning the prize but Cat says they will have to mail it to her. Kara points out that this is the first time Cat has beaten Lois Lane, but Cat doesn’t have anyone to watch her son, Carter.
Kara asks Cat if she’s fired another nanny; no, but the current one broke a leg storing Cat’s summer sandals. How many sandals did she have and where they being stored to result in a broken leg? Cat’s mother has more interest in her own career than Cat’s. So Kara offers. And Cat asks what she wants. Kara tells her that sometimes people simply help other people. Cat’s reply is that, if Kara does this for her, Cat will owe her something. The first time Cat has seen this quality in Cara. And she loves it. Perhaps not quite the reaction that Kara expected. Cat tells Kara that Carter is not a normal boy, but like many gifted children he can be shy and reserved.
James is talking to Lucy, wanting to know why she came there. According to her, it’s to do with an AWOL case to do with her job as a JAG. Kara speaks to James after Lucy leaves, and he tells Kara that he didn’t leave Lucy, he moved to National City after she dumped him. Then the place rattles as there is an explosion in the distance. Supergirl manages to stop the building from collapsing but another drone is watching her as she does.
Henshaw tells Kara that the bomb destroyed a lab working on a new non-lithium battery. It’s probably industrial espionage, so they will let the FBI handle it. Then Alex tells the director that the bomb used the same tech as was in the drone. And she has a lead – Maxwell Lord. The bomb used Lord Technologies technology that is not on the market yet. So they are going to ask Maxwell Lord some questions. Kara wants to know how, as they can’t simply announce themselves as DEO agents. So Alex holds up her DEO ID which morphs into an FBI one. Which Kara says is cool.
Kara gets a call from Cat about picking up Cat’s son. Which Kara had forgotten about, so she flies there really fast. When Henshaw and Alex speak to Maxwell Lord about the bomb he laughs. He is concerned about his technology ending up in a weapon, as he doesn’t make them, but what he finds funny is that he is a suspect. Because the lab that blew up was one of his, owned by a subsidiary of one of his companies, although it’s not public knowledge. Lord does not have a high opinion of the government, for reasons he reveals later. Alex is left behind to protect Maxwell.
Carter, as it turns out is a big fan of Supergirl. He may even have a bit of a crush on her. Thankfully, he is a pleasant kid to deal with. Winn claims he knows Supergirl, but both Carter and Kara says that he doesn’t. Of course Kara knows he does, but she’d probably prefer if he didn’t go around saying that.
Lord is preparing for the launch of the new train he was working on in “Fight or Flight” and Alex takes a look at some of the diagrams. He asks if Alex likes trains; she tells him no, she likes physics. And makes some remarks that appear to surprise him; clearly Maxwell didn’t expert Alex to be so knowledgeable. Maxwell thinks that there should be a new kind of hero, and he doesn’t mean Supergirl. He also wants to know why Alex is working for the government. She tells him she feels there is no higher calling than helping others. Which he agrees with. It looks as if they are going to share a moment, until a bomb turns up in the building. There seems to be a former employee with a grudge against Lord going around blowing stuff up.
Alex tells Kara not to talk to James about Lucy, or she will end up in the friendzone. And that she has spent more time in the friendzone than the Phantom Zone. Kara always listens to potential boyfriend’s girlfriend troubles, rather than being a potential girlfriend (Alex should perhaps talk to Winn). Kara follows Alex’s advice with James. Then ends up talking to Lucy instead about Lucy and James’ relationship. Kara also finds it very difficult to juggle her job, looking after Carter (Winn proves better at this than he thinks, possibly because he’s still a kid himself) and flying around as Supergirl trying to stop a mad bomber. Which is where the title comes from.
Hank Henshaw shows, albeit not when anyone else is watching, that he has other abilities besides being able to make his eyes glow red.
Note: This is actually episode four, but it was shown after “Livewire” as episode five during the original run, rather than before it. This was due to the episode having similar content to real world events at the time.