"Red Faced" is the sixth episode in the first season of the CBS television series Supergirl, which aired on November 30, 2015. It was written by Michael Grassi and Rachel Shukert, and directed by Jesse Warn. The episode centers on Kara feeling the pressure as she takes on an android commissioned by Lucy's father, General Sam Lane, while Cat's estranged mother comes to visit and Winn helps Alex investigate her father's death.
Plot
During a flight around National City, Supergirl accidentally scares some kids after breaking uproad rage between two men and hurting one of them badly. Hank is not happy with Kara's behavior, and Maxwell is now leading a campaign to place regulations on Supergirl. Later on, Lucy asks James to have dinner with her father, General Sam Lane, who doesn't get along with James because he's friends with Superman. At CatCo, Cat gets a visit from her mother Katherine, who has been critical of her daughter. Hank calls Kara and Alex in to the DEO base camp to test out a new weapon that was commissioned by Sam. The android, Red Tornado, is introduced by Dr. T.O. Morrow, who objects to how his project is treated. Meanwhile, Cat cleared her calendar for Katherine, only for her mother to tell her she has plans. The next day, Kara begins her training with Red Tornado and Kara is pushed to her breaking point. After the project starts to experience damage, Kara is unaware of being told to stand down, causing it to take off. Sam then blames Supergirl for unleashing Red Tornado and orders it destroyed. After Kara yells at Cat, Cat tells her to find what she's mad at, since she knew that Kara wasn't mad at her. Red Tornado arrives to attack the Lanes after their dinner and James uses his signal watch to alert Kara, who immediately shows up to stop it, only to have the android create a tornado that puts it in harm's way. At Lord Technologies, Maxwell states that, judging from his samples, Red Tornado is being controlled remotely by Morrow. Meanwhile, Kara and James set up punching bags, as Kara takes out her anger about being an alien and not fitting in. Alex then calls Kara to inform her that she found a way to draw Red Tornado's attention by using a hologram of Sam and that the only way to stop Morrow is to remove it or kill him. The android shows up to attack Kara, but after Alex kills Morrow, is shown to be unstoppable, almost killing Kara, and causing her to use her heat vision at full force to destroy it. The following day, Lucy says to James that they're on the same team and hopes that they can reconcile. Winn, having been convinced by Alex to find out more about their father, reveals that Jeremiah and Hank went missing after going to apprehend an alien and were presumed dead. Hank had survived and been deleting information from their father's file, causing them to become suspicious of Hank. Later at Cat's office, Katherine starts yelling at Kara and Cat snaps back, defending her, causing Katherine to excuse herself. Cat drops a glass, and Kara cuts her finger on it, surprising herself and feeling human.
Reception
Ratings
The episode attracted 950,000 viewers for its British premiere, making it the most watched programme on Sky One for the week.
Critical response
Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted: Red Faced' is a nice rebound from last week's lame installment. As I mentioned last week, Supergirl is at its best when it focuses on family dynamics and moments of connection between its characters that don't focus on romance, and this episode definitely showed that off. It lures you into thinking Kara's anger issues are tied to her crush on James, but then it quickly reveals there's a deeper and more complex reason." Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the episode an 8.6/10, saying, Red Faced' is a great episode that really digs its claws into Kara’s character and forces her to confront emotions that have been bubbling under the surface. It really stacks the odds against her and urges her to overcome them. Combined with great scenes with Cat, fun action sequences, and emotional punch at the end, this week’s Supergirl stands as the show’s strongest feat thus far." Stacy Glanzman of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
