Supergirl Season 4, Episode 22 recap: The quest for peace

The season finale of Supergirl left us with some major game changers. From deaths and relationship changes to big reveals, this episode had it all. Here’s our recap of all that happened.

Lex Luthor is shining in all his glory on this week’s Supergirl. He has positioned himself as a hero after “killing” Supergirl. Of course, it wasn’t actually Supergirl, it was Red Daughter, and she’s not actually dead she’s just trapped in a pod after Lex betrayed her.

The Super Friends are all pulling together to take Lex down, but that’s difficult when Nia and J’onn have been kidnapped thanks to Brainy’s somewhat betrayal. Unfortunately they end up on Shelley Island which is surrounded by power dampeners so none of their powers work. That makes it tricky for them to get themselves out or to send the information about their location to Brainy.

Nia and J’onn stage a distraction and slip away into the control room so that they can turn off the power dampeners. After successfully doing this Nia is able to astral project to Brainy, Kara, Alex, and Lena and tell them her location. This new Brainy is completely calm about the information and honestly he’s a little creepy but kudos to Jesse Rath who is doing a stellar job with this change.

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Brainy, Alex, Kara, and James go to Shelley Island to save Nia and J’onn and confront Lex but no sooner do they get there than Ben Lockwood shows up. Fresh off another dose of the Harun-El serum he’s powered up and angry and attacks Supergirl along with his Children of Liberty.

They manage to take him down fairly quickly and both James and Ben are given the serum to remove the Harun-El from their bodies. James’s eye is injured in the process but other than that he appears to be fine and I wonder if this means the end of Agent Liberty on Supergirl.

Lex’s ultimate plan is to mine alien energy to power up a powerful version of the Claymore satellite Kara previously destroyed and use it to attack Argo city and kill Superman. Good to know some things never change and Lex’s obsession with Superman remains constant. To the surprise of no one Lex never actually told Eve about this part of his plan and she’s a bit put off since she thought all they were doing was getting endless energy to sell.

In the end his plan failed anyway because even though he captured enough aliens to gather the power he needs, Nia and J’onn were able to overload the system with their combined powers and stop the launch. It also had the upside of bringing the real Brainy back, seemingly after seeing Nia in distress, and he confessed his true feelings to her. Guess there’s a new couple in National City!

After last week’s reveal that Lex was working with the president it doesn’t come as a shock that Lex has the president under his thumb. He has now been pardoned and given the position of Secretary of Alien Affairs and is being hailed as a hero for defending America from Kaznia.

It turns out that Lex is the one who removed the previous person who wanted to run for Vice President so that Baker would win, and then removed the former President so that Baker would be granted the position. He’s always been two steps ahead.

In true Lex fashion he invites Lena and Lillian to the White House so they can witness his glory. Lena is disgusted and refuses to give Lex the time of day while Lillian tries to poison his tea, though Lex notices and doesn’t drink it. As Lillian says, a fairly typical for a day with the Luthor family. Honestly this family needs their own spin-off.

The family reunion is cut short when Lex has to rush off after the missile doesn’t launch on Argo City. Supergirl then reveals herself and Lex is furious that she’s not dead. They have a big blow out fight, Lex in his powered up Lexosuit and Kara in the Kryptonite protected suit that Lena designed.

However, even Lena’s suit can only take so much and just as Kara is about to be overpowered Red Daughter swoops in. She escaped from the pods after Nia and J’onn overloaded the system and everyone went free, and she dives between Kara and the kryptonite blast that Lex shoots at her.

Red Daughter finally realized that her “Alex” was not good, not like Kara’s Alex, and with her dying breath she tells Kara to go and protect her people. It’s a sad story for a character that could have had a lot of potential, but it was almost inevitable since the show was never going to have two Supergirls permanently running around.

Kara is able to absorb Red Daughter’s evolved powers and shoots at Lex as he’s escaping. His suit starts to fall apart but he makes it safely away, only to be confronted by a very angry Lena. Lena shoots her brother, knowing the world will never be safe with him around, but not before he reveals the secret everyone has been waiting for.

He finally reveals the truth about Kara’s identity to her, and he makes her feel as though she’s been at the end of a cruel joke. Lex frames it in a way to make Lena feel that all of her friends have been laughing at her and she truly has no one. She later shows up to a game night with the Super Friends but it’s clear her smile is strained and we also see her in her office smashing a glass down on a picture of her with Kara and Alex. Has Supergirl just set up its next villain?

That reveal isn’t the only major thing to happen at the end of the episode. It turns out Eve has been working for the crime organization Leviathan, which is the real reason she went to work for Lex, and now she’s on the run from them.

We also got a hint to the next crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Monitor shows up and has brought J’onn’s brother with him and his brother does not seem happy with J’onn. The Monitor then also shows up at Lex’s body and light starts to form out of his hands. Is he taking Lex’s body somewhere or somehow bringing him back? Is it possible we haven’t seen the last of Lex Luthor?

Despite the omens of future doom there are also some happy moments to end the finale. We see National City finally come together for peace, led by Ben Lockwood’s son of all people. Alex and Kelly share a romantic moment and their first kiss and it seems Nia and Brainy are on track to becoming a happy couple as well.

Since this is National City, and a television drama, the happiness likely won’t last for long though. Whether she goes full Luthor or not, Lena will obviously harbor some anger and feelings of betrayal. J’onn’s brother doesn’t seem to want a happy family reunion so that may be some trouble for J’onn. And since we were only just introduced to the Leviathan crime organization they likely will play a part in next season. So there’s plenty to speculate about until season 5!

Are you happy Lena finally knows the truth? Do you think she’ll go down a dark path? Which tease for next season are you most excited for? Let us know!

Supergirl will return to the CW for season 5 in the fall.