“Red Faced” is episode six of season one of Supergirl.
Kara is flying through the air when Alex calls wanting to know if anything is wrong for they can see she is flying above National City. Kara says no; she simply flew to clear her head because it’s so peaceful up there and she’s relaxing. Then she hears a bit of road rage down below, so heads to deal with it.
Two drivers are yelling at each other and racing down the street. One, at least, is sideswiping the other. They are just about to plough through a zebra crossing full of kids when Kara stops both cars quite abruptly. One driver gets out and yells at Supergirl for breaking his nose. Then he tries to punch her. This does not work; Kara grabs his hand and twists it. The man complains she’s hurting him, and Kara stops, to see that she’s being filmed – and probably not giving the best impression.
Director Henshaw is not happy with Kara. He tells her she cannot lose control. She complains that it was the two idiots driving recklessly yet he’s mad at her. Henshaw says that he isn’t mad, because he’s controlling his anger. A habit Supergirl needs to get into. The director says to Kara that he told her before that some people feared her cousin. Not because of his godlike powers – but because of what he might do with them if he ever lost his temper. On the news, Maxwell Lord is saying that he’s glad the two men are just in the hospital, and not in the morgue. And that perhaps they should put a bodycam on Supergirl.
Lucy is drinking coffee with James when she tells him her father is in town. James does not appear happy about this. Lucy reassures him that her father is just in town for work – but that he would like to have dinner as well. Lucy leaves but, on the way out, thanks Kara for the invite. Kara looks perplexed but says no problem.
Kara then goes to speak to James. He tells Kara that Lucy’s father is army, just like she is, but he doesn’t like James because he consorts with aliens. General Lane considers Superman to be a threat to national security. When Kara mentions the invite, James says that he invited Lucy to game night, and he meant to tell Kara.
Cat’s mother is also in town and she’s in Cat’s office, complaining about the number of televisions and asking how Cat can get any work done given all the visual noise. Cat points out that the visual noise is her work. Katherine Grant is in town for a book tour, as she recently edited a book by a famous author. She suggests Cat listens to the book – when it comes out in audio book form. Cat may be abrasive but her mother is already coming across as simply unpleasant. Cat tells her mother that Carter would love to see his grandmother, but Katherine says she doesn’t have the time. Before leaving, Katherine also comments on Supergirl, asking if it shouldn’t be Superwoman, and says she simply feels safer in Metropolis, with a male superhero.
Alex is in the office waiting for Kara. She wants to talk about her father. In the previous episode, “Livewire” (“How Does She Do It?” swapped places with that episode originally, due to real world events, but “Livewire” is the canonical episode prior to this one), Alex’s mother Eliza had told her that she already knew about the DEO because Jeremiah Danvers had gone to work for them, in exchange for them not taking Kara. In particular, he was brought in by Hank Henshaw.
Kara tells Alex she doesn’t have time at that moment but Alex is actually here to talk to Winn. Alex wants Winn’s help to break into the DEO mainframe to find out what happened to her father. Winn repeatedly says no and it’s explained to him how Dr Danvers died within a year of working for the DEO and Alex wants to find out the truth. If the DEO were going to tell her the truth, they would have done so by now. No surprise, Winn eventually agrees.
At the DEO. base camp General Lane of Army Intelligence arrives and tells Director Henshaw that he wants the immediate transfer of one of the members of his unit to the general’s command. The person is Supergirl. Alex points out that technically Supergirl doesn’t work for the DEO General Lane says that, if he had his way, no-one would. Everything could be handled by his special forces without having to resort to foreign assistance. Namely Supergirl.
General Lane says that his team has developed an anti-insurgent combat device, codenamed RT, and he needs Supergirl to test its capabilities. He says that Henshaw has no choice, for the general has an executive order, and calls over his legal attaché – and daughter – Major Lane. The order has been signed by the president. Supergirl is to fight the robot but its creator, Dr Morrow, says that it isn’t a robot. It’s also a large humanoid red metal figure with glowing yellow eyes called Red Tornado.
Kara doesn’t want to cancel game night, as it’s the last shred of normalcy in her life. James is paired with Lucy and the two do very well. Winn and Kara; not so much. Winn is not good at explaining the cards – until he comes to one which he says is easy. Kara’s cousin. The answer is, of course, Superman; Winn blundered a bit there, because Lucy doesn’t know this. Still, they manage to cover it up. Winn was doing so badly it’s easy to pass off as a mistake.
In the testing, Red Tornado proves able to generate wind and Kara gets a bit carried away. She continues even after Morrow asks for the test to be cancelled, freezing one of Red Tornado’s arms and breaking half of the arm off. After she tops, Red Tornado leaves. Dr Morrow says that its self preservation mode must have been activated and its gone into undetectable stealth mode. So General Lane blames Supergirl for unleashing an unstoppable killing machine on National City. Strange; Lane was the one who ordered, by executive order, Supergirl to fight his precious robot.
General Lane then tells Morrow that they need to find and destroy Red Tornado before it turns National City into a warzone, as bleeding civilians do not look good on TV. Dr Morrow is not happy, because he has invested so much time and effort into the program. The general tells Morrow he failed, so fires him.
Back at the office, Cat yells at Kara when she arrives. So Kara yells back and demands to know why Cat is so mean. She apologises afterwards. Cat tells her to forward the phones, because they are going.
Alex arrives at Maxwell Lord’s office and tells him to prove he’s not the bad guy. Because in “How Does She Do It?” Kara accused Lord of setting up various events to test her, and it looks as if he admitted they were true. As a result of which a man died. Lord has trust issues. Alex has Red Tornado’s arm and says that they need his help to find the android, because it’s dangerous. She tells Maxwell to prove he isn’t the bad guy by helping to find a real one. He claims to be busy.
James is having an awkward dinner with Lucy and her father. When James doesn’t have a drink, the general says a quote about not trusting a man who doesn’t drink, for they are self-righteous. Sounding more than a little self-righteous as he does so. When Lucy pops to the bathroom, General Lane tells James he isn’t good enough for her, as he’s just a glorified paparazzo. General Lane is another parent who is coming across as being quite unpleasant this episode.
Where Cat took Kara was to get a drink. Cat tells Kara that everyone gets angry, and that there is no pill to eradicate it. Cat knows this for, if there was, she would be popping them like Pez to deal with her mother. Kara apologises again, and Cat says she apologises too much, which is a separate, but related issue.
According to Cat you cannot get angry at work. Especially when you are a girl. Kara needs to find a release; take up boxing or scream at her housekeeper. Kara needs to find out what’s really bothering her. Cat is furious at her mother and she says that Kara is not really mad at her. When Kara says that yes, she was, Cat tells her that no, there is something beneath that.
After the awkward dinner between the Lanes and James, Red Tornado pops up again and attacks. Somehow the robot has acquired a new arm. It also has the ability to make actual tornadoes. General Lane keeps blaming Supergirl and the DEO for what was frankly his own mistake until Director Henshaw eventually has enough and yells back. Maxwell Lord decides to see Alex – it seems he likes her – and does provide useful information. Which can be used to stop Red Tornado.
Cat’s advice to Kara turned out to be good advice and Winn does find out something about what happened to Jeremiah Danvers. Kara also gets a bit of a shock at the end of the episode.