After some episodes that played out of order, we are back on track with “Red Faced” where  we get introduced to the Red Tornado (Iddo Goldberg) a military robot that is commissioned by General Sam Lane (Glenn Morshower), get an awkward game night and we meet Cat’s mom Katherin Grant (Joan Juliet Buck).

Asking Winn a Favor

Alex asks for Winn’s help in hacking into the DEO’s database to find information about what happened to her dad. Winn initially doesn’t want to but when Kara brings up the fact that it is about Alex’s dad, his daddy issues get him to agree to help. What Winn finds is a redacted document that details Jeremiah’s last mission for the DEO which was tracking down an alien in South America with a fellow agent. When the two weren’t heard from again, the two were presumed dead until the other agent returned without a scratch on him. This agent was Hank Henshaw. Alex believes that Henshaw killed her dad and wants to know why. We then see Henshaw walking around the DEO when his eyes glow red.

I know we are supposed to not trust Henshaw and think he is going to be a villain like Harrison Wells was in season 1 of The Flash but I truly believe that Henshaw is the Martian Manhunter, another person that Clark/Superman asked to keep an eye on Kara.

Disapproving Father

With General Lane in town, Lucy begs James to have dinner with him. The dinner if fraught with tension and when the two men are alone, Lane tells James that he isn’t good enough for Lucy and he is holding her back in her career. James thinks part of the reason why he isn’t good enough for Lucy is that he is friends with Superman and knows Supergirl.

Before General Lane leaves town, Lucy resigns her commission in his platoon to stay in National City and to be with James. Lane hopes that one day Lucy will come to her senses when she realizes she has made a mistake.

There was a part of me that really wanted General Lane to mention to Lucy how he wished that she would meet a nice fellow like her sister Lois (i.e. Clark) but alas no mention of the man in Lois’ life.

And I hate to say it that while Morshower looks like General Lane from the comics, his acting was quite wooden. Give me Michael Ironside’s version of General Lane from Smallville any day.

But I am liking this Lucy Lane better than the one in Smallville, who came across extremely immature and selfish.

Anger Management

Kara displays a bit of rage when she stops a road rage incident that gets some media coverage. When General Lane comes to DEO, he asks for Supergirl’s help in testing out his new robot, the Red Tornado.

At the DEO base camp, Dr. Morrow unveils the Red Tornado with Lane, Lucy, Henshaw and Alex watching as Supergirl tests the limits of the robot.

I want to note how much Lucy in her military gear looks a lot like Lucy in the comics.

As Supergirl battles Red Tornado, her rage reappears and she manages to defeat it by freezing off its arm. The Red Tornado then takes off into the skies for parts unknown.

Back at the DEO, Lane is angry that Supergirl let a dangerous robot loose on National City and then fires Morrow for his failure in the Red Tornado disaster.

During game night, Lucy and James kick ass while Winn and Kara have a hard time. During a break from the action, Lucy mentions having met Supergirl and was not impressed and is glad she isn’t worried that James would be interested in her.

The Red Tornado appears again going after Lane. The Red Tornado attacks Lucy and just before it can go to attack Lane, Supergirl arrives and stops it. The Red Tornado then starts a tornado that Supergirl deals with while it makes his escape.

We learn that the Red Tornado was developed by General Lane to stop Kryptonians like Superman and Supergirl and all of the Fort Rozz escapees.

Kara, taking Cat’s advice (see Mommie Dearest) about channeling her anger, starts punching a car hung like a punching bag, while James punches a punching bag to say what is bothering him.

We learn the root of Kara’s anger is that she feels she can never have a normal life, have something like James and Lucy. Kara thought that if she used her powers that she would start to feel normal again but the last time she felt normal was when she was put in the ship and sent away.

To try and track down the Red Tornado, Alex turns to Lord but at first he doesn’t want to help. However, later, Lord has a change of heart and says that the Red Tornado is being controlled by someone and Alex determines it is Morrow as revenge on Lane pulling the plug on his project. The scenes with Alex and Lord are very flirty in nature and it really seems something romantically is going to happen between them especially after Alex confides that the government is also responsible for the death of her father, something she shares in common with Lord.

Alex has a plan to lure out Red Tornado so they can find Morrow. Using a hologram of Lane, Red Tornado arrives for the kill. Using that distraction, Alex finds Morrow and the two fight while Supergirl and Red Tornado fight. Alex takes down Morrow thus disabling the neural link. Red Tornado goes down but temporarily when it comes alive again as it is now sentient. Supergirl uses all the rage pent up in her to defeat the Red Tornado using her heat vision.

Mommie Dearest

Cat’s mom, Katherine, visits and let’s say that mom has no interest in spending time with her daughter despite Cat’s best attempts. When Katherine blows off dinner plans with Cat to spend with Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood, Cat take out her disappointment and anger out on Kara. Kara is at her breaking point and yells back at Cat.

Impressed a bit at this backbone, Cat takes Kara out for drinks. After downing plenty of martinis, Cat shares how being angry at work is different for women than men. Cat then gives Kara some great advice about finding out what she really is angry about and to channel it in another way.

As Katherine is about to head back to Metropolis, she snaps at Kara but Cat comes to her defense and says that Kara is an excellent assistant.

I love how Cat doesn’t get Kara’s name right. Throughout the episode, Cat either calls her Kira or pronounces Kara like Care-a.

As Kara gives Cat a glass of water to take some Advil for her hangover, the glass gets knocked over. Kara goes to clean up the shards but Cat warns her that she will cut herself. Kara says she will be okay but then she does indeed cut herself. Kara is surprised to be bleeding for the first time in her life.

It doesn’t surprise me that we get an episode of Supergirl where she will have lost her powers as there were plenty of episodes like that in Smallville.