Basically re-purposing a storyline from Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman “How Does She Do It?” pins down Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) as the series’ Lex Luthor stand-in as the genius billionaire creates a series of disasters around the city to test Supergirl‘s (Melissa Benoist) abilities. Even going so far as to put himself and potentially thousands of others in danger just to test the Kryptonian hero’s abilities, it’s obvious Lord has bigger plans for both the city and it’s new hero.
When Supergirl isn’t stopping bombs and saving people aboard the city’s new subway, Kara is also tasked with watching over Cat Grant‘s (Calista Flockhart) son, a role that tasks even the might of Supergirl. Although the action comes from the other storyline, the B-story provides the episode its title as well as begins to flesh-out Cat Grant as more than just Kara’s self-centered boss. The episode also begins a thread of Alex (Chyler Leigh) beginning to look into her father’s connection with the DEO and searching for answers as to what really got him killed.
“How Does She Do It?” is a good episode, but the series takes a step-up with “Red Faced” which deals with the double-standard of strong women (be they in tights or in a board room) as well as forcing an increasingly angry Kara to examine the source of her rage and learn to challenge it in a constructive way. “Red Faced” also introduces us to both the show’s version of Red Tornado (Iddo Goldberg) and the mad scientist who invented him in T.O. Morrow (also Goldberg). Despite the Tornado’s apparent destruction I’m not so sure we won’t see a more human version of the character closer to his comic counterpart return at some point.
Red Tornado is certainly a strong adversary for Supergirl, especially one a bit out of control as the artificial lifeform is exactly what Supergirl needed to unleash some of her rage, even if the design leaves a little something to be desired. Continuing a thread begun in the previous episode, Kara’s anger boils over for a pair of nice scenes between the assistant and her boss beginning with an unexpected blow-up and ending with a show of support for Kara from Cat Grant. As the man in control of the project, the episode also introduces us to Lucy‘s (Jenna Dewan Tatum) father General Sam Lane (Glenn Morshower) who has no love for any hero from Krypton or his daughter’s current boyfriend.
