Summary:

Aunt Astra's got a game plan to save the Earth from humans through methods of murder and mayhem we won't like while some mysterious person has hacked Cat's email and is trying to destroy her.

*Spoilers Ahead*

The positives:

---"Seeing Red" established that Kara's got anger issues and this episode right to the core of them about Astra's betrayal and then learning that her mother used her as bait to catch Astra really shows how her life had already been messed with Krypton.

---Astra caring about Kara makes Astra a far more interesting character and it's odd to have someone that Kara so thoroughly hating someone as it's not her typical nature but that goes back to the anger which is shown in a fight where Kara doesn't risk innocent lives and can't bring herself to kill Astra but also one where property damage is at a premium.

---Cat Grant gets played for both comedy and drama as we learn about her minor foibles and then the biggest mistake of her life, having an illegitimate son and then not being part of his life. Her loyalty to Kara when it looked like she'd be forced to resign to save her son was very touching and felt sincere and shows how these character have grown close over the course of the last eight episodes.

---Cat figuring out Supergirl's identity shows she's smarter than the average boss. The minor slip that keyed it was added to numerous clues that Cat had picked up on. It'll be interesting to see what the writers do with the secret. There have been hints of one possible "out" which I hope they don't take. It would be convenient for Kara if her boss knew what she were up to and I also think that given all that Kara has learned about Cat, the strength of the relationship dictates the secret be shared. I think Cat is responsible enough not to plaster it all over the paper, but she might be tempted to abuse her Supergirl connection. But that's something for two weeks later.

---"Superman doesn't kill." So this isn't in the same Universe as "Man of Steel" and it's fair to wonder why the makers of Supergirl figured this out but the makers of "Man of Steel" didn't.

---Finally, Jimmy Olsen recognizes that Winn is pining for Kara and shows some real class in encouraging Winn to make his affections known, and we finally get a little bit of a reveal of what Winn is thinking rather than just guessing.

---Cat's nickname for Winn, "The Handsome Little Hobbit" is awesome.

The Bad

---While the Cat Grant getting hacked plot does allow a development of the relationship between Cat and Kara and some comedy, it's not particularly well-handled. It takes over half the episode and feels like padding and distraction for Aunt Astra's plot to set up a "To Be Continued." Another reviewer suggest a plot to topple Cat would have been an interesting season arc. I wouldn't necessarily go there, but having this play out over four or five episodes and having a more interesting solution than, "Cat's powerful White male nemesis is behind this effort. Shocker!" would have worked better. And a more complicated resolution would have helped too.

--Astra's plot is a little daff. Her plan was to get captured by Kara so to distract the DEO and Supergirl while her men broke into Maxwell Lord's corporate headquarters. The problem is that neither were guarding the corporate headquarters and both arrived before her people were finished. The only difference her being locked up made was to get Kara upset and make sure Astra wouldn't be able to provide support to the operation. Maybe there's some genius twisting we're missing but this plan looks incredibly dumb.

---Kara is a little too easy to let Alex's "explanation" or lack thereof for Hank not being responsible for Alex's father's death go, but I'll attribute it to Kara's trusting nature, but there's a fine line between trusting and naive.

Overall: A great cliffhanger sets the stage for a January return and there's some wonderful character work in this story. Still, the mishandling of the Cat Grant hacking plot makes this a little weaker than recent episodes, so I give this a 7/10.