Since Crisis, Supergirl has been trying very hard to prove that Lex is still a bad guy, but Lex has been hiding it very well. In this week’s episode of Supergirl, which is Melissa Benoist’s directorial debut, we see what Lex has really been up to post-Crisis and how his plans within plans within plans are unfolding. 

The episode begins in the present day, 90 days after Crisis. Margot, the Leviathan manager, is found dead in the warehouse with other comatose Obsidian Platinum users. Lex has actual blood on his hands but people are reporting Lex saving them from Margot’s captivity. But we all know Lex isn’t the real hero here. 

Flashback to the day after Crisis. Lex wakes up in his mansion and discovers that yes, he’s alive and he has also created a whole new world. He goes right to his mother and explains what just happened. Lillian tells him to keep a cool head and advises him to win Lena’s affections to keep her away from Kara. Lex is determined to prove to his mother that he can do this.

Moving closer to the present, we recap events like Richard Bates getting stuck in the VR, Toyman, Alex in VR, and Jeremiah’s death from Lex’s point of view. During the Toyman battle, Lex gains access to the Legion ship, where he learns all about Margot, Gemma, and Eve. He tracks down Eve mid-assassination and promises that she’ll never have to kill again if she spies on Leviathan. He will do all the dirty work. Eve gets herself assigned to the Obsidian Platinum project and makes sure that the “end simulation” glitch, which is actually Lex’s plan, doesn’t get fixed. Lex’s plan is that Leviathan will come to him for a coverup for people using the lenses. Then they’ll invite him to their ship, where Lex will use the code Brainy has been reverse engineering to make Leviathan mortal. In order to get the plan rolling, Lex begins putting pressure on Richard Bates to build the torture chamber for his wife’s virtual lover.

By now, Eve has fallen in love with Lex. She takes him to the warehouse where Margot has been hiding Obsidian users who are trapped in the VR. Lex seems to trust Eve so he gives her a vial of poison and tells her about the man who killed her father. But he just tells her about Jeremiah. Eve goes off to get her revenge. But even the best laid plans have flaws. Lex’s plan begins to unravel when Lena is honest and human with Kara as she expresses sympathy for her father’s death. Lex says it cannot lead to pictionary.

Now, it’s time to get William involved. Lex feeds William the name on the hospital ID bracelet and William goes to Alex and Kara for help. He tells them that he and Kelly have already started on tracking down these people. Lex watches this meeting and gives the footage to Gemma. Gemma reveals that Leviathan’s plan is to gather all of humanity in the VR and kill them all in a snap. Lex warns her that Kara’s close to exposing her and wants to strike up public fear. Lex convinces Brainy he’s not involved in the missing Obsidian users and asks Brainy to help his friends by finding something that could track Q-waves. Myriad can track Q-waves. Brainy suggests this and Supergirl heads off to the fortress. Lena finds her there and accuses her of being a hypocrite. Lex also sent an invisible Morae to release the baby sun eater in the fortress. Our heroes don’t know what to make of this but J’onn and Kara go off to save the sun. While people on earth are afraid of the destruction of the sun, they put on their Obsidian lenses to escape reality. That hits a little close to home these days.

Now we’re back where we started with Lex killing Margot and “rescuing” the warehouse full of Obsidian users. Unfortunately, Gemma’s not happy about Margot’s death and unleashes her full Leviathan self on Lex. Lex says he’s on board with killing everyone in VR, but first they will have to kill Supergirl. Many have tried and no one has ever succeeded in killing Supergirl. But Gemma says she will not fail.

We all knew Lex was evil but he has one more thing to do. Eve has made a nice dinner for the two of them but he breaks her heart. Lex tells her that the guards at her mother’s are actually waiting for a kill order from Lex and he’ll send Supergirl the recording of her killing Jeremiah if she steps a toe out of line. Lex is happy that he handled the situation his way and he transports himself back to the Fortress of Solitude.