Supergirl Gets a New Status Quo in “Bunker Hill”

Tonight’s episode of Supergirl saw a lot of developments when it comes to the Girl of Steel’s fight against anti-alien sentiment in National City and America on the whole and that included a major status quo shift for the heroine.

Spoilers for tonight’s episode of Supergirl, “Bunker Hill,” below.

While tonight saw Nia Nal (Nicole Maines) begin to embrace her powers as well as reveal her alien origin, it also saw Agent Liberty (Sam Witwer) not only be exposed as history professor turned radical pro-human pundit Ben Lockwood but saw him arrested for his crimes as well — after Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) saved his and his wife’s lives from Manchester Black (David Ajala).

However, when he was being put in the police car, Lockwood rants that now the world knows who he is but doesn’t know Supergirl’s real identity. Back at the DEO, the President has shown up now that Lockwood has been apprehended, but he’s not pleased. Turns out he cares more about his approval rating than justice and demands that Supergirl reveal her real identity or quit the DEO. Supergirl refuses to reveal herself, citing the risk to the people she loves, and the president summarily dismisses her from her work with the government. Effective immediately, Supergirl is no longer part of the DEO.

The ending delivered on what episode director Kevin Smith said earlier in the day would be a shock ending for Supergirl, but it also marks another shift in status quo for the series. In the season premiere, Supergirl was flying high, as it were, enjoying an unprecedented wave of public support and adoration for having saved the world from Reign. Now, as the show goes on winter hiatus, much of that support has disappeared while support for a hate group and their dangerous viewpoint has risen — something Benoist previewed in an interview earlier this year.

“The writer’s room is being really great this year,” Benoist said. “Last season, it was a lot of fire and brimstone and a lot of homages to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was great because I was such a big fan of that show. This season they really want to thematically tackle more topical stories that maybe mirror what’s going on with the state of the world and our country. There’s a lot of anti-alien sentiment at the beginning of Season 4 that Supergirl is going to have to grapple with. I think their main premise is that fear itself is a villain and can hope conquer it? Supergirl stands for hope, so we’ll see. I think fear is her biggest opponent yet because it’s more of a wildfire-type emotion.”

Supergirl airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.