Kara, Alex and Lena team up to track down Miss Tessmacher. They find… her cousin. And even more questions. Meanwhile J’onn seeks an answer for why his powers aren’t working and gets a surprising visitor.

The spotlight on J’onn here is surprising at first but ultimately works really well. Not just because David Harewood and Carl Lumbly are amazing but because the entire plot is weirdly sweet in a way the show does very well. Lumbly’s amiable, zen-like calm is the perfect foil to Harewood’s gradually seething rage. It all leads to a very surprising place too, where J’onn’s father tells him to embrace his role as a Manhunter. In doing so, essentially to embrace violence. It’s a twist which, done wrong, would be the worst kind of pseudo machismo but here it feels far more earned, even noble. J’onn has a calling and the moment he realizes that he finds his own unique kind of peace.

Elsewhere the episode has a lot of fun with Kara, Lena and Alex fighting crime. It also neatly ties the Kryptonite heart into the overall plot and the ethical clash between Supergirl and Lena. These are big weighty issues and they’re all explored here with honesty and intelligence. They’re not alone either, with the Alien Amnesty Act front and centre even as it’s repealed.

Verdict: This is a brave, wide focus episode that manages to do intimate character work at the same time as massive plot elements. Weird as it is to say in an episode focused on everyone’s favourite Martian, it’s one of the most human episodes in the season and embodies everything Supergirl does best; building epic stories out of individual characters and their choices. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart