A few secrets are revealed on several fronts among the Supergirl crew in “Bunker Hill.” On that note, there will be some spoilers below. Be warned.

 

The show opens with a bit more about Nia’s sleeping difficulties and get to meet her roommate, although she never gets a name. Kara and J’Onn search Manchester Black’s place for something for J’Onn to make a link with his mental powers. What they end up finding is perfect for how Manchester has been acting lately. The two overly-optimistic heroes take turns blaming themselves for not realizing the dark path Manchester was going down sooner.

 

Nia gets to work looking a bit rough and with lots and lots of coffee. James and Kara are both a bit worried when Nia has an issue when getting off the elevator. Kara expresses her concern and Nia does her best to duck it. Colonel Haley spends some time interrogating a captured Child of Liberty who claims to be Agent Liberty, apparently a common claim among prisoners. Brainiac reveals a love for movies and some knowledge about Nia he has been keeping from the others. Actually, he’s keeping several things from them to not contaminate the timeline. He does reveal that Nia is very important. Kara will go talk to her at first, since Brainiac isn’t noted for his social skills. Alex and Haley have a meeting with President Baker which is a lot more about politics and poll numbers than anything useful. The petulant politician makes a few demands at the end of the conference.

 

Ben Lockwood makes a call from his car, and he reveals something about his movement I was unaware of until now. I don’t really think it had been hinted at before this point. Lockwood gets home to another surprise: Manchester Black is sitting at his dining room table with Lydia, Ben’s wife. The visit gets interrupted by J’Onn psi-calling Manchester. Ben and Lydia notice Manchester’s distraction, and Ben tries to use this as an excuse to get Manchester out. Manchester has other ideas, and lays down some conditions for Ben, who has little choice but to agree.

 

Kara goes to visit Nia, and explains how much they need her help. In return, we learn that Nia is some kind of ancestor of Nura Nal, aka Dream Girl of the Legion of Super Heroes, a teammate of Brainy’s in the future. She shares Nura’s prophetic power, but has very little control over it. With Nia’s permission, Kara calls in Brainy to help talk Nura though using her powers. Brainy even calls her Nura by accident at one point, although they really don’t look much alike (if Nura looks anything like her version in the comics in this world, anyway). With his help, Nia homes in on her newest vision, and they get a clue about the Collingwood area of National City. Arriving, Kara says it doesn’t look so bad, and Brainy makes the classic mistake of asking what could go wrong, as a Child of Liberty equipped with alien detecting dog lurks in the background.

 

Manchester takes a somewhat forced tour of the Lockwood home, with a lot of subtle hints to make Ben nervous. He later abandons all subtlety and flat out states that Lockwood is Agent Liberty, much to Lydia’s confusion. This happens while he’s playing with a family heirloom, a bayonet used at the Battle of Bunker Hill. J’Onn once again distracts Manchester at a crucial moment, leading to a fighting chance for Lockwood. Manchester beats him down, and decides to convince Lydia by searching the house for his Agent Liberty costume.

 

The Kara/Nia/Brainy contingent wanders through Collingwood, and Kara figures out they’re being watched. Brainiac goes to distract Nia while Kara confronts the Liberty contingent. It’s a decent plan that falls apart when Nia thinks Kara needs to be rescued, leading to Brainy’s new favorite phrase, “Problematic.” The three are brought to Lockwood’s plant, where the Children decide they need to die. The attempted execution goes awry when a new facet of Nia’s powers manifests, which lets Kara use her powers covertly and Brainy gets to kick ass again, including a new and unique use of a Flight Ring in combat. Manchester finds the Agent Liberty costume and orders Ben to put it on.

 

Kara is so impressed with Nia’s trick she almost blows her own secret. Kara finds one of the Lockwood signs in the debris and starts to put things together. Kara calls in and Alex manages to confirm the Ben theory with their not terribly bright prisoner. That’s enough for Kara to take advantage of being alone and take off, faster than a speeding bullet.

 

Manchester’s fight with Agent Liberty gets interrupted when J’Onn comes calling head-to-head again He almost manages to get Manchester killed this time, and does let Lockwood Liberty make a run for it. J’Onn’s really skirting the edge of this pacificism kick he’s on. Manchester takes off in pursuit, and the two narrowly miss the arriving Supergirl. J’Onn warns Supergirl that Manchester probably has Agent Liberty, while Nia and Brainy search the factory. They find Nth metal, in the comics what makes Hawkman’s wings work, and here some powerful alloy. Brainy gives Nia a pep talk about her powers.

 

Supergirl gets there just in time to stop Manchester from killing Agent Liberty. Manchester uses some Batman-level sneaky device to take Supergirl out of the fight, and then finds an equally smart way to keep her out of action. Supergirl pleads with Manchester to not become a murderer, and he ignores her to chase down the once-again fleeing Liberty.

 

Things start moving faster as Nia finds something from one of her visions, Lydia finds Supergirl, and Ben urges his wife to leave. Supergirl pulls off an amazingly powerful stunt to free herself which was really damn impressive, and Nia stops Manchester from killing Liberty. Manchester and Lockwood are both arrested, and Lockwood starts spinning right away for the magically appearing press. He somehow makes his being caught into a virtue and says he’s out in the open now, what’s Supergirl’s secret. I sort of wonder why everyone assumes she has a secret identity, as much time as she spends in costume and as little as she’s been Kara lately.

 

J’Onn phases inside Manchester’s cell to debate philosophy for a bit, they utterly fail to move each other, and the Martian goes back out the way he came in. CatCo releases a special edition of their magazine with Lockwood front and center, revealed as Agent Liberty.

 

Things take a bad turn when Supergirl goes back to the DEO. The President is being a lot more a politician than a Commander in Chief, and allowing himself to be swayed by donors who are apparently fans of Lockwood/Liberty. They argue back and forth and the President lays down an ultimatum that surprises everyone. Supergirl takes off, shaken and upset. She hovers over the scene as Ben is brought to prison and the crowd demonstrates in his favor, including a familiar face.

 

There’s a bonus scene that leads up to the coming crossover, with an ugly scene of carnage on Earth 90 and a surprising guest star. At the least, the dead included Stargirl, and I saw helmets from the Hawks and the Ray among the chaos. Elseworlds looks like it’ll start on a bad note, although the music as a blast from the past was kinda cool.

 

What I liked: Even if he turns it to an advantage somehow, I’m glad Lockwood’s secret is out. Nia pulled some cool stuff, and I’m glad they’re letting Brainy be effective as more than just tech support. The Elseworlds bit looked really interesting. Supergirl’s big power stunt was impressive as hell. Manchester is a very clever fighter. Brainy’s attempt at being smooth with Nia was hysterical.

 

What I didn’t:  J’Onn needs to pick a side here. He can’t say he won’t fight and then keep almost getting Manchester killed with his prying. He’s being inconsistent. Someone changed sides way too easy after Lockwood’s secret was revealed. I hate what the President is doing. Bring back Lynda Carter as President Marsdin already.

 

Despite some flaws, it was a really good episode. I’ll actually go 4 out of 5 for some of the stuff they pulled off.