BWW Recap: Red Tornado Throws SUPERGIRL For a Spin

On this week's episode of SUPERGIRL, Kara battles against a military android called Red Tornado and her own anger, Lucy Lane's father proves a threat to the DEO and her relationship with James, and Alex seeks out an unexpected ally to find out what happened to her father.

When Kara races to stop two out of control drivers from hitting a group of schoolchildren, things don't go as planned. The driver of one of the cars attempts to attack her and she stops his punch, scaring the children. Hank Henshaw warns her that she needs to learn to control her anger.

Lucy Lane's father has arrived in town and wants to have dinner with her and James. James is uneasy because General Lane doesn't like him as he disapproves of his friendship with Superman. General Lane believes that aliens are a threat to national security.

Speaking of disapproving parents, Cat's mother is in town and doesn't approve of anything Cat does, from her personal life to her business. Katherine, a famous book editor, even disapproves of SUPERGIRL and all female superheroes. Anyone else really annoyed by her quip, "Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer a male doctor"?

Alex comes to Kara's office, seeking Winn's help in finding out what happened to their dad. Winn hesitates, but when Alex tells him, "You're the only one that can help us," he gives in. Winn just has a weakness for the Danver girls, I suppose.

It isn't long before Kara learns what General Lane's real business is in National City: an executive order to have SUPERGIRL fight against his new robot toy. (He literally says, "Fight my robot." Like, seriously?) The Red Tornado is a military cyborg designed by Dr. Morrow that can be run from a fancy control pad. Hank doesn't want SUPERGIRL involved in the testing, but Kara is determined to prove herself to General Lane and Major Lucy Lane.

Despite these events, Kara is insistent about having game night, but isn't as pleased when James invites Lucy. The game they play only demonstrates how well James and Lucy know each other. And to make things even worse, Lucy tells them that meeting SUPERGIRL was a let-down and that she wasn't impressed.

The next day, Kara shows up ready for a fight. Kara manages to defeat the Red Tornado, but she's so overcome by her anger that she doesn't stop attacking it when Alex gives her the signal . The Red Tornado's emergency self preservation function kicks in and it flies away, only leaving behind an arm. General Lane tells SUPERGIRL that she's responsible for releasing "an uncontrollable killing machine on National City."

General Lane can't seem to take the blame for his own failed plan. He tells Dr. Morrow, "The Red Tornado failed and so did you. You're fired." What is he? Trump?

Meanwhile, Cat taking her anger about her mother out on Kara has pushed her to the breaking point. Kara snaps and demands, "Why are you so mean?" before realizing what she's done and apologizing. Cat brings her to a bar for a night of drinks and drunken advice. Cat tells Kara that she needs to control her anger while at work and that she needs to find a release for it. "You weren't really mad at me," she insists. "You need to figure out what's really bothering you." Drunk Cat is officially my favorite.

Alex goes to Maxwell Lord for help, asking him to prove that he isn't the bad guy. She shows him the Red Tornado's arm to see if he can figure out how the robot works. "I know you don't trust the government after what happened to your parents," she tells him. Okay, I'm definitely intrigued!

At their fancy dinner, General Lane tells James that he isn't good enough for Lucy. After learning about James's insecurities in previous episodes, the line "You ally yourself with people you think are special, but that doesn't make you special" was so heartbreaking.

When Lucy, James, and General Lane leave dinner, the Red Tornado is terrorizing people in the street. James calls for SUPERGIRL who arrives just in time to keep the robot from hurting General Lane. The Red Tornado outwits Kara and escapes the fight, which General Lane blames her for. After studying the materials it was made of, Hank Henshaw reveals, "That robot was designed to kill Kryptonians."

After bonding over the loss of parents, Maxwell Lord reveals to Alex that the droid is run by a controller with a GPS. "You're looking for Frankenstein's monster. You should be looking for Dr. Frankenstein," he explains. Anyone else sense some romantic tension between Alex and Maxwell?

Kara and James decide to try kick boxing, as neither a woman nor a black man can acceptably be angry in public. They take turns saying what's upset them and then punching. (Kara hilariously uses a car instead of a punching bag.) Kara gets worked up, finally admitting, "I hate how I'm never going to get to have a normal life." She tells James, "Seeing you and Lucy makes me think I'm never going to have what you two have" because of her abilities.

The moment that broke my heart this episode (because there always is one, isn't there?) was when Kara admitted, "I'm realizing that being myself doesn't make me feel more normal and it never will because my normal life ended the second my parents put me on that ships and that makes me so mad." Turns out Cat was right and that the real reason Kara was angry was hidden underneath more trivial reasons.

Alex, Hank, and Kara use a hologram of General Lane to lure the Red Tornado while Alex goes in search of Dr. Morrow. Kara fights the robot to distract him, while Alex discovers that Dr. Morrow has linked the android to his own brain. I thought this scene was incredibly cool, flashing between Alex fighting Dr. Morrow and Kara fighting the Red Tornado. Alex finally wins by hitting Dr. Morrow on the head, but they realize that the machine has become sentient. Kara uses her heat vision powers to blow the robot up, while channeling anger based on having to leave her planet as a little girl.

I was originally very against James getting back together with Lucy, but I may have finally changed my mind. Lucy tells her father that she's resigning her commission in the army to stay with James. He tells her, "You're my hero." Poor Kara!

Winn reveals to Alex that he located a file about her father's death, though it's been heavily edited. Her father and another agent disappeared while on a mission and were presumed dead. However, a month later the other agent appeared unharmed and claiming not to remember anything. That agent, of course, was Hank Henshaw himself. Did Hank kill Dr. Danvers? Is Hank actually an alien?

A very hungover Cat stands up for Kara when Katherine criticizes her and tells her she is excellent at her job. One thing I love about Kara is that even though she's SUPERGIRL, she still wants to be the best assistant to Cat that she can be. In the last few seconds of the episode, Kara cuts herself on a glass she dropped...and is bleeding. What happened to SUPERGIRL's powers?

My favorite part of this week's episode may have been that Jeremy Jordan responded to my question on Twitter. (Insert fangirl screaming here.) He always live tweets the episodes, so make sure to log onto Twitter while you watch!

In other SUPERGIRL news, the show has officially been picked up for a full season of 20 episodes in total. Which means we'll have plenty more episodes to discuss...and hopefully a second season after.

Don't forget to tweet me at @nicoleackman16 with your thoughts about this week's episode!

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