[SPOILERS for those not caught up on Supergirl ahead.]

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Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) goes dark in the trailer for the Supergirl season 3 episode, 'Damage'. That makes Lena but the latest character on Supergirl to find themselves challenged by their darker instincts this season. Supergirl herself (Melissa Benoist) has been struggling to re-embrace her bubbly personality as Kara Danvers, following the events of the season 2 finale (believing she might have sent Chris Wood's Mon-El to his doom). Meanwhile, Lena's newly-hired assistant Samantha Arias (Odette Annable) took another step closer to becoming season 3's big bad Reign in this week's episode, 'The Faithful'.

The Supergirl season 2 finale also saw Lena take a more active role in Supergirl's battles, by releasing a lead bomb that helped to save National City from the Daxamites and Mon-El's mother. Next week's installment 'Damage' will pick up with that plot thread, as Kevin Smith - who previously directed the season 2 episodes 'Supergirl Lives' and 'Distant Sun' - returns to call the shots on Kara and friends' latest adventure.

Related: First Look at Reign on Supergirl

According to the official 'Damage' synopsis, the episode pairs Kara and Samantha up for an investigation to clear Lena's name, after a string of children in National City wind up sick from lead poisoning and her rival Morgan Edge (Adrian Pasdar) publicly blames the bomb that Lena created. The CW has released the trailer for 'Damage' online (see the video above), showing that things get so tense in the episode that Lena even pulls a gun on a less than impressed Morgan, at some point along the way.

Supergirl Lena Luthor Katie McGrath

Lena, of course, has been living under the shadow of her family name - specifically, her brother Lex - since she was introduced in Supergirl season 2. The character was constantly being pulled towards the dark side by her mother Lillian (Brenda Strong) throughout the course of last season, but never actually gave in. Life for Lena has been going better in season 3 thus far, between her purchasing CatCo and becoming a more active force for good, in the process.

As mentioned earlier, Supergirl season 3 has continued to explore one of the show's core themes (that of identity) in a darker light, so it was inevitable that Lena would find herself wrestling with her darker tendencies yet again. The odds are in favor of Lena pulling through and proving herself to be a hero once more in 'Damage', but her fear of one day following in her brother and mother's supervillain footsteps probably won't be going away anytime soon.

NEXT: Does Lena Luthor Know Kara's True Identity?

Supergirl continues with 'Damage' on Monday, November 6 on The CW.

Source: The CW