Before we start this week’s recap, I have to tell you something. Earlier this season, Heather asked me not to lean into the Lena/Kara subtext in my recaps, because there was a real, beautiful, wonderful, canonically queer storyline happening with Alex, and she didn’t want anything to take away from that. This made perfect sense to me, and I tried, and she laughed at my pathetic attempt, and would edit me down, and my recaps were better for it. But she emailed me after this episode and removed the reigns and set me loose because ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS? But let’s talk about everything that happened in this episode (including a brief but super cute Sanvers scene) and then I’ll tell you why the ending of this episode made me want to riot (the reason isn’t my usual “Mon-El is boring” spiel, I promise.)
Okay so we start twenty years ago, when Lillian is playing chess with a young Lex Luthor. Lionel Luthor storms in, a small girl by his side, and much to Lillian’s chagrin, the girl becomes part of the family. Conveniently, the girl’s name was Lena, so she already fit in, if only in terms of their familial alliteration.
In actuality, Lillian looks at her like she’s a stray dog that wandered in, but Lex immediately invites her to play chess, and little Lena is quick to join him.
Flash forward to present day, in the gaylien bar, where Kara, J’onn, Winn and James are gathered and waiting to meet the person Alex is dating. James and Winn assume it’s a dude (because heteronormativity is a disease) and ask Kara what “he” does and Kara can just barely get the word “cop” out without either busting out with laughter or the truth, it’s anyone’s guess. Luckily she doesn’t have to keep anything in much longer, because just then, in walks Alex, Maggie close by her side.
Alex wins Show & Tell this week, class.
Lights dawn on marble heads and Winn and James catch on quick, and go with the flow, despite being surprised. J’onn already knew, because he’s psychic, but it wasn’t his place to say. And he looks at the joy radiating off Alex as she introduces Maggie and he says, “Good for you, Alex.”
GOOD FOR ALL OF US
Alex looks overwhelmed but relieved all at the same time, and then Mon-El comes over with their drinks and Alex tells him that she’s dating Maggie. She’ll say it to everyone in the bar at this rate, the adrenaline is rushing. Mon-El is surprised that this is why Alex called them all together today, because what Alex calls “Ladies loving ladies” (out loud! on our TV!) is totally fine on Daxom. Kara watches Mon-El’s kindness toward Alex and decides maybe this week he’s less like a moldy peach and more like a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But low-fat ice cream. That has those annoying ice crystals on top.
Maggie, the bold and the beautiful, challenges Winn to a game of pool, and he thinks he can math his way out of it, so off they go. James hugs Alex, and J’onn tells her, “My money’s on your girl,” and for a moment everything is right in the Superfam.
On the bar TV, Kara sees Lena getting torn apart by the media for testifying against her mother in court and decides that she could use a friend, so despite James being snarky about it, off she goes. But first she stops and gets donuts. One of her favorite foods. For Lena.
ARE DONUTS A EUPHEMISM PLEASE SAY YES
Lena confides in Kara, says that her mother (who is in jail because of that whole trying-to-kill-all-the-aliens thing) thing) wants to see her, but isn’t sure she should. Kara says she hates not having people from her past around to talk to and that even if she’s not perfect she’s still her mother and she’s here so why not go. But she didn’t shame Lena for not wanting to, didn’t tell her she was wrong for feeling the way she did, just offered a suggestion based on her own experience.
And so, Lena will go.
Lena Luthor, previously lost at sea, finally has a sail.
Lillian gives Lena her sob story. “I did the best I could,” and when Lena isn’t buying it, she plays a card she’s been holding close to her chest for twenty years: Lionel Luthor is Lena’s biological father. He cheated on Lillian and when Lena’s bio mom died, they took her in. But every time Lillian looked into those bright green eyes, she was reminded of her pain, and plus Lionel didn’t like Lillian spending time with Lena, so Lillian kept the child at arm’s length.
And the irony of the situation hits Lena all at once: She really is a Luthor after all.
Lillian wants a second chance, and the hesitation is written all over Lena’s face, but there’s something else there, too. Because hasn’t anyone whose mother mistreated them imagined your mother finally holding herself accountable for how she treated you? Haven’t we all wanted a reason? Something written in black and white that says it wasn’t our fault? So even though Lillian has done nothing to deserve it, of course Lena is considering giving her the second chance she’s asking for.
Who is the pawn, who is the queen, only time will tell.
Meanwhile, Metallo (that Cadmus cyborg who can shoot lasers out of his chest) is given the gift of kryptonite from a guard.
Cut to Lillian’s trial in court, where Metallo is testifying, and Lena, Alex and Kara are all in business suits, watching with serious faces and murmuring complaints under their breath.
Then the guy uses his pew pew powers and causes a ruckus that Supergirl has to break up, but his chest-lasers are infused with Kryptonite now, so Supergirl’s not having an easy go of it. Eventually she chooses to save civilians over chasing Lillian, and Mama Luthor gets away.
Back the DEO, the team can’t figure out where the kryptonite came from, because they thought Clark had all the leftover green stuff, when Maggie comes in with bad news. The only visitor who could have given him the kryptonite was Lena Luthor.
“And listen, I knew Alex was gay before she did, I am a VERY GOOD DETECTIVE.”
Kara, not believing that for a second, walks herself right over the Lena’s office and warns her that there’s a detective looking at her as the lead suspect in this case. Lena bristles, and accuses Kara of being more of a reporter than a friend, but Kara swears she’s on her side of this.
Maggie storms in then, and tries to make Kara leave, but Lena — despite kind of being in a fight with her right now — wants her to stay.
I’m pretty sure this is how accidental spells are cast.
So Maggie arrests Lena right there, showing them the footage of Lena going to the jail cell. Lena starts to say it wasn’t her, but Maggie cuts her off. Kara tells Maggie to let Lena explain, but Maggie tells Kara to stay out of it. Kara looks ready to fight her sister’s girlfriend in defense of Lena, but Lena says it’s fine, and goes off without a fight.
“You’re under arrest for being unlawfully attractive and also you smell really nice.”
Kara. is. Livid. She goes on a rampage trying to convince someone, ANYONE, that Lena is innocent.
No one at Catco believes her, no one at the DEO believes her. Poor Alex stands there like she’s on a tightrope, afraid to lean too far one way or the other. But she understand where Kara is coming from. She understands Kara and the heart she wears on the outside of her chest.
“And I think she’s kinda gay.”
Then James and Kara have one of those infuriating conversations they’ve been having where James-logic only makes sense to James. James is like, “I know you’re saying you believe in Lena, but I can’t trust your feelings, and by the way, fuck you for not trusting me to be Guardian, I literally always trust you.”
And then Kara and I start punching walls. Me figuratively, but Kara literally, in what Jenna calls her “wreck room,” which is too perfect not to borrow. Mon-El comes into the Wreck Room and he’s actually on her side on this; after all, she trusted him against all rhyme and reason, and he’s better for it. Kara starts to apologize for pushing him away ever since their last “I don’t like you like that” conversation and eventually things get too awkward for Kara so she runs away. To check on Lena.
In the getaway van, Lena is pissed that her mother broke her out because now everyone is going to assume she’s guilty. She wants to go back, but Lillian tells her that there’s nothing for her to go back to, that everyone hates her, that no one is on her side. Lillian says that she’s all Lena has now, and she’ll be the mother Lena always wanted. It’s classic abuse, and because she’s endured a lifetime of it, Lena believes her and resigns herself to her fate.
FIGHT IT, BB
They get to a warehouse that used to belong to Lex and there’s a vault there full of weapons. But only true Luthor DNA can open it. And suddenly it all clicks for Lena. Her eyes are wide open and she sees this for what it is: manipulation. Lillian is playing with her, but Lena wants out of the game. Unfortunately, Lillian is willing to do anything it takes, and Hank Henshaw the Cyborg is there to force Lena’s hand. Literally, he takes her hand and puts it on the keypad.
At the DEO, Kara is pacing back and forth behind Winn while he checks the surveillance video again. This time, he figures out that the video was tampered with, and Lena was framed. Winn is shocked that Kara was right all along, and Kara is a little offended at how shocked he is.
Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room?
Kara’s triumph is short-lived, though, because a different computer starts beeping, and it’s the alert Winn set up to track Kryptonite…and it’s leaking. It’s unstable and bad news and basically Metallo is gonna blow up in a big green cloud of death dust.
But Kara doesn’t care, she has to save Lena. Now.
lol this isn’t the photo that belongs in this scene BUT LOOK IT’S KARA EATING A DONUT
In Lex’s Evil Vault, Lillian is delighted to find weapons galore, including one of those awful plants that made Kara imagine a life on Krypton. Lena is still annoyed, generally unimpressed by the whole situation, until Supergirl swoops in. Lena is so excited to see her, and her voice betrays her utter surprise that anyone would bother saving her, since her mother has convinced her she was worthless.
Supergirl tells Lena she’s there because Kara Danvers believes in her. Even if no one else does.
Not that anyone could focus on her words with all that HAIR PORN going on
Fighting ensues, and Winn and Alex talk into Kara’s earpiece, warning her that every time Metallo uses his lasers he gets closer and closer to going boom, but Kara’s not worried and keeps fighting; she’s not just leaving Lena. (Alex is worried enough for the both of them.)
GET AWAY FROM THAT REFRIGERATOR
Luckily J’onn shows up and they get out just in time, with Lena safe and sound. Though Lillian and Hank Henshaw got away.
The next morning Kara uses her sweetest “I told you so” on Snapper and he tells her to just get an exclusive with Lena Luthor. Even James apologizes for not trusting her about Lena. So they decide to wipe the slate clean and stop stepping on each other’s toes and (drum roll please) HAVE A GAME NIGHT.
Finally.
*So happy we’re done fighting about Guardian*
Happy as can be, Kara goes to see Lena, who LOVES the article Kara wrote about her. “You flatter me,” is literally what she said and not something I made up just now.
Also something I swear I did not make up and am not exaggerating: Kara’s office is OVERFLOWING with flowers that Lena sent her. Kara chalks it up to friendship, but Lena says she’s never had a friend like her. Kara then negates everything Lillian said to Lena, everything she had started to believe, and says that she will always stand up for her.
Raise your hand if you’re a little in love with Lena Luthor.
Lena then calls Kara her hero. Outright! They stand up and hug and in some other universe, they would have kissed, but they don’t and it’s whatever.
As soon as Kara’s gone, the music gets suspicious, and Lena picks up the white knight and examines it with a serious face. What is she thinking? Is Kara the white knight? Is Supergirl? Because in a flashback, four-year-old Lena is very good at chess and used the queen to take down the white knight and beat her brother. Is she planning the same thing now? Or is she playing a chess game with her brother? Is Lex alive? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
HOLSTER YOUR WEAPONS, WOMAN
Kara, probably worked up after that intense meeting with Lena, calls Mon-El over and maybe she’s inspired because she ended up being right to trust Lena, but she decides to give him a chance. She says that she didn’t think she could be Supergirl and have a relationship but she wants to have it all. She even calls him a dudebro in her spiel so I’m not sure how into this she really is, but she’s gonna go for it. She leans in for a kiss and I mean I can’t blame Mon-El for wanting this LOOK AT HER.
HER EYYYYES
But right before their lips touch the ghost of angry fandom comes swirling in on a cloud of blue and manifests itself as Mr. Mxyzptlk, which somehow is a thing he says out loud. He, like us, declares to love Kara and is going to spend at least one entire episode proving it.
It’s raining men? What’s the opposite of “hallelujah”?
The end.
The way they’re going about this Kara/Mon-El thing (having everyone tell Kara she’s into Mon-El when she keeps saying she’s not into Mon-El until finally she has to start wonder if her own feelings are wrong and maybe she IS into Mon-El) is not great. BUT now that they’ve toned down the macho macho man attitude, Mon-El is actually a fun character sometimes. So maybe, as time went on, I could have gotten on board with Mon-El and Kara. But here’s the thing. Juxtaposed with the Kara/Lena dynamic? It’s impossible for me to get behind Mon-El/Kara.
Kara brings Lena donuts and Lena sends her flowers and they smile these special smiles at each other and and they talk in these special voices with each other and they look into each other’s eyes and sometimes have to look away and they’re never uncomfortable even when they’re having uncomfortable conversations. Kara was uncomfortable talking to Mon-El about club soda. Lena calls Kara her hero — separately from Supergirl entirely — and Mon-El spent half this season berating Kara for wanting to teach him how and why she uses her powers for good.
And the thing that frustrates me the most is that there’s a parallel universe, another Earth, or a distant future, where this wouldn’t be happening. In a world without homophobia or biphobia, even though the Alex/Maggie thing was on the books, when writers and producers and directors saw the way Melissa Benoist and Katie McGrath interacted with each other, they would have tabled the Mon-El romance, kept his thing a what-is-a-hero deal, and made Kara and Lena a thing right there on the spot. A complicated thing — Lena hates aliens! Even though she likes Supergirl, it’s still part of her ethos. There’s so much to do with that! And that was only my first idea!
But the issue is, shows are afraid of being labeled a “gay show”. Every other show has more than one straight relationship and LGBT+ people still watch those. And it’s not like straight people will not be represented on this show. And don’t even start with me on this “statistically unlikely” BS because first of all, we’re everywhere, and second of all, THERE ARE ALIENS ON THIS SHOW.
Having two queer couples at the forefront of a show would be polarizing, especially now, when the leaders of this country are trying to Lillian-Luthor us queer people into thinking nobody cares about us, about our rights. I really, truly believe that in another world, or if Lena was a man, they would have kissed in this episode, even if it left them both confused and conflicted. Even if it’s part of Lena’s evil endgame. Hell, even if the writers hadn’t originally intended it before they saw those two on the couch.
And I know this is not just me shipping subtext, and the reason I know is because Maggie and Alex is a canonically wonderful queer storyline. We’re not starving on this show! If Lena Luthor had never graced our screens, if I had never seen Katie McGrath bite her lip in the general direction of Melissa Benoist, I wouldn’t be just shouting from the rooftops for Kara to be in a relationship with just any woman. (Maybe whispering it now and then, I still want Kara to be bi, especially after Mon-El’s statement about Daxon, but honestly I was a huge fan of Kara not being in a relationship before now.) This is a thing we have seen play out on TV over and over and over again: Writers being handed a diamond, but it’s a queer diamond, so they try to turn it back into coal.
Talking about subtext is always tricky. We don’t want to glorify it in a way that encourages queerbaiting. We don’t want to diminish the power and intimacy that exists in platonic friendships between women. But sometimes you’ve gotta get real about what would happen if two characters had this kind of storyline/unexpected chemistry on a TV show and they weren’t both women.
“We’ll be together someday, if only in our dreams. And fanfiction.”
Next week: Sanvers Valentine’s Day!
So Kara’s big “romantic” moment with Mon-El was basically “You aren’t AS bad as I thought. so maybe we can date, I guess.” Somebody hold me! I swooning so much over here!
Also, her whole reason for not being with James is that she wasn’t ready for a relationship, so if she is now then he’s literally RIGHT THERE. Someone needs to slap the writers so hard.
I think the whole reason of her not being with James right now is that he has become extremely annoying and dumb. Like dum-dum. God dam-dum-dum.
EXACTLY!!! i mean what exactly makes mon-el so much more special than james
Your comment is right on. I think this whole storyline is ridiculous. James and Kara have a cool and easy dynamic that has been ignored for most of this season. They look great together onscreen. The writers need to create a good storyline that brings these two together in a believable natural way.
I so wish I had Alex’s courage :^)
OMG what a recap and again your captions kill me!!! (and my gayself couldn’t stop misreading GAY AWAY FROM THAT REFRIGERATOR)
I must confess I was not buying the whole Kara-Lena romance subtext until now, because now this is not even subtext, it’s text written in caps lock! I mean, just take the soundtrack they used in both Kara-Lena ‘intimate’ scenes during this episode… THAT was Valentine material for sure.
And like you said, it’s so sad that in an alternate universe without this disease of heteronormativity there would be no issues about having two #LadiesLuvinLadies storylines.
My fear (and this is a fear I have since day one of Lena clearly flirting with Kara) is that they’re gonna play the psycho lesbian card on this show. I’m praying they won’t do this.
But the question remains: why??? why are the writers playing this game?
Probably because they can’t have a person from the super family be gay, I mean they are supposed to represent the ideal american qualities >_<
I don’t think the writers are baiting us. I think the actresses just have a lot of chemistry. I wouldn’t be surprised if the exec. producer starts asking them to dial it back. If I was her that’s what I would do so the show doesn’t take the rap for screwing with the gays if they decide to make Lena evil or something.
I agree. Melissa and Katie’s chemistry took the writers by surprise. They probably had an outline of how the season would play out and Supergirl being gay/bi would never be in the storyline. I do hope, however, that these two actresses don’t dial it back because it has been so much fun to watch.
Yes. This. Thank you. I know I’m not being queer baited, but I feel a lot like I’m being queer baited. I mean Katie McGrath has turned it down a little from the lip biting and the infamous sofa shimmy, but doughnuts and flowers and all that eye contact! Comparatively the Mon-El thing is just flat.
Great recap as always, but I wanted to make an amendment, as I think it’s important. You write that “in a flashback, four-year-old Lena is very good at chess and used the queen to take down the white knight and beat her brother.” In fact, Lena was playing white, and she used her white knight to capture the black queen, checkmating her brother. So if we take the scene at face value, Lena is the white knight, and perhaps it’s Lillian Luthor who is the black queen?
Also, the screencap captions are hilarious as usual, but the “I’m pretty sure this is how accidental spells are cast” one made me laugh the most – Lena, Kara, and Maggie *are* in some kinda witchy triangular formation there!
I think you’e exactly write about the symbolism of the chess match. This article really explains it well:
“she’s gearing up for war against her mother. She recognizes the game she and her mother are playing a la the game of chess she played with Lex. It was an ominous foreshadowing of the coming battle, to us, not a secret evil Lena moment.”
https://www.thefandomentals.com/luthors-addresses-manipulative-mothers/
Wow, thanks for the link – that’s a great review/analysis article! I totally agree with their take on why Lena should *not* become evil, but I’m still apprehensive of what the show will do.
That IS an important distinction, I guess Katie’s face short-circuited my brain. Very interesting, and raises just as many but very different questions.
I think Lena is planning how to checkmate Lillian.
what really annoys me the most about the whole Kara/Mon-El scene at the end (but also in the ‘wrecking room’) is that in S1 those were times we would have seen Alex and Kara together. Their relationship is seriously underrepresented this season and I don’t like it. I kind of like Mon-El, he is a fun guy and seems to become someone Kara can rely on. But I really see them more as friends, bros. Also Lena and Kara have WAY more chemistry!
I totally expected Alex to go after Kara on the wrecking room scene, and was also disappointed! I agree that they haven’t been showing their relationship as much anymore.
Me too. I’m really disappointed by the lack of Kara and Alex scenes this season. One of the reasons why I got so hooked on this show was the way they portrayed their sibling relationship. I loved how in season 1, at the end of many episodes, it would be a scene of Kara and Alex just hanging out together unwinding from the day.
YES bring back Alex who has so many feelings with her eyes
and not JUST for Maggie although we’re all obviously down with that too
I would be eternally grateful to anyone who could recommend some excellent Lena and Kara femslash.
Has Katie McGrath ever had a role where she didn’t seem like she wanted to fuck whichever beautiful woman she was on screen with?
believe me they are all excellent. go to archiveofourown. so many good stories.
Thanks! I guess I’ll just dive in and do some bingeing.
use the filters to sort by “kudos” or “comments” on archive of our own, and the cool stuff will pop to the top.
Actually, you get the best ones if you sort by bookmarks.
if you just sort by the pairing, you can’t go wrong
@Blackmar I guess you could say technically her role in Dates she didn’t “seem like she wanted” to fuck the beautiful woman she was on screen with cuz they got down to it pretty quick
Touche!
My gay, all you have to do is go to Kara and Lena’s tag on AO3, sort by bookmarks, and you’re all set (though that method is not foolproof.) Also, look out for the wonderful one-shots buried under the multi-chaps. Some of my favorite ones are:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9637913
http://archiveofourown.org/works/8780881
http://archiveofourown.org/works/8600764
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9572507
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9579116
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9225047
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9113236
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9127774
http://archiveofourown.org/works/9195704
Thank you!
Just accidentally reported your post. My touchscreen is very sensitive.Sorry about that. Not offended at all.
Wow! After this episode I started wandering: what if this Lena/Kara platonic thing is something the writers are trying to make it happen? Like “let’s take this amazing chemestry they have, check the audience’s reaction to a possible relationship and see if we can get a green light from the network to pursue it”?
I know it’s just wishful thinking but I would love to see a show with such courage! Especially a female ground breaking superhero show!
You are amazing, and it is this day 14 of February 2017 that your recaps have exceeding the actual show in enjoyability. At least for me. For others I’m sure that happened long ago. I’m embarrassed that I’m late to that party.
I want to plot the enjoyability curve for you, but I wouldn’t know how to post it on here. Trust that you are exponential, though.
@chashu! What a thing to say!! Thank you so much!
I am just so excited about this subtext, it was like watching fanfiction unfold on screen. I Love It. Like seriously – Kara is Lena’s hero? She’s SENDING A MILLION FLOWERS! What kind of platonic friend does this?
Who else thinks Kara, not Supergirl, is the hero? NO ONE. And what Supercorp fic have you read NOT featuring that specific dynamic? None because it’s just so obvious that’s how this ship would sail because Lena is all about Kara Danvers Adorable Mess/Reporter.
Re:Canon – as far as I’m concerned at this point it doesn’t have to be a relationship even. Some lovely .gif sets of Kara and Lena smooching will do plenty, thank you universe (just get them slightly tipsy they obviously would make out come on writers you know it’s true).
I don’t mind Mon-El, I don’t even mind a hypothetical romance between Kara and him but the romance on screen just… leaves me cold. It’s completely baffling to me why Kara likes him? She has never articulated anything beyond ‘he’s not terrible anymore’ which is a reason predicated on him having been terrible which seems not very Kara-like. She tends to go for good qualities not redeeming ones, ya know? Since when did someone get Kara as a prize for not being awful? It’s bullshit. Kara should have a romance partner who is nothing short of breathtakingly amazing, nothing else will do. Where’s Rogelio De La Vega when you need him?
Sidenote: I don’t care for Mon-El’s facial hair.
Anyway, I can’t even tell if it’s subtext it’s just blinding me. If Kara isn’t in love with Lena Luthor…. is this gonna be about Lena being in love with Kara? Unrequited? I CAN’T TELL THEY ARE ACTING SO GAY!
ALSO: the trailer for next week looks like a pure undiluted delight and I’m so excited for it. Kara looks so annoyed! Bristling with righteous indignation! What a treasure.
You are completely right, if Lena were a male character they would have kissed. This is so far beyond subtext, a room full of flowers? Seriously? I 100% believe that Lena Luther is going to make a move on Kara in the next couple of episodes.
I get that this is a website directed at wlw so you don’t want to delve too much into straight relationships, and even though I personally don’t ship it, I can see why some people like Supercorp. But, as a wlwoc, it rubs me off the wrong way how you, and other white wlw, blatantly write off the actual canon connection between James and Kara, in favor of the Lena/Kara subtext. That’s what it is, subtext. Kara has been canonically in love with a black man, and a meaningful and healthy relationship with him. That was real, and he loved and respected her. I mean, I usually would agree about your last point, but at this point, the white protagonist being in love with a black man would be a thousand times more progressive than with another white woman. There’s a reason James has been sidelined all season and replaced by Mon-El as Kara’s love interest, and that reason is anti-blackness. To me, it doesn’t feel right to say they should be canon, because it would be just another way of downplaying the importance of a black man. It’s true that Kara shouldn’t be with Mon-El, but not because of Lena, but because of James. He’s always been there.
Regarding James: the writers aren’t just sidelining him. They are butchering his character and it’s dumb. None of James’s basic personality traits or bio details match up any more (how is he the boss of Catco and also a vigilante? When does he sleep?).
I am not sure if it’s anti-blackness in particular or the general ‘if a man isn’t in love with Kara/trying to get with her, what on Earth is he here for and what will we do with him?’ that seems to plague this show. Introducing yet another dude to be in love with Kara isn’t a great solution… introducing a white dude as an allegory for Kara overcoming racism is DEFINITELY not a great choice.
I think it’s both. It sounds like these writers have no idea what to do with a black man if he’s not in love with a white girl (not that they should have broken up in the first place, but like you said, the worst thing isn’t even that Karolsen ended, but rather how the entire character of James has changed since the breakup). I really need James to have an independent storyline where he can truly shine, outside of Kara (and the Guardian stuff feels weird, maybe the lack of screentime is hurting him but I still don’t REALLY get his motives).
What convinced me that it’s anti-blackness is that it makes no sense for them to have broken up. Kara was in love with him for 20 episodes, how could she just fall out of love with him in less than 12 hours? And it’s not like they went on a date and felt it didn’t work out. They just… stopped liking each other for no logical reason. And then she falls in love with Mon-El. If it wasn’t anti-blackness, she and James would agree to wait for each other until they figured themselves out or something, but these writers are literally pretending that Karolsen never happened. They erased Kara’s feelings for James just so Mon-El can have a chance. James is a sweet guy who loves Kara and does the right thing because of his strong morality (something that he and Kara have in common). Mon-El has admitted that he just wants to be a hero to impress Kara, and even Kara says he’s an arrogant dudebro. This show treated its female characters so well in season 1, and now they’re really going for the “nice girl changes the arrogant guy for the better”/”guy is arrogant and nice girl pretends to be annoyed by it but she actually loves him for it”. Season 1 Kara would hate Mon-El.
Season 1 Kara totally would hate Mon-El. But the show’s not really selling me on season 2 Kara not hating Mon-El either, which… yeah. Writers, get it together!
And season 1 James and Kara had such an interesting dynamic. They even (briefly) talked about how they both have to hide their anger because of their marginalized identities! If we’re being honest, James being black is (yet) another reason James is a better match for Kara, in terms of narrative. Their overlapping and contrasting stories and identities could make for great tv in a way Kara/Mon-El just can’t because there’s nothing interesting about how they overlap or contrast. I get that the writers are going for an ‘opposites attract’ kind of thing with Mon-El, but James and Kara had a much stronger case of compatible, complementary and contrasting differing traits that could’ve been made into something cool.
I really would love for James to be the guy. He still could be (I suspect he might be, actually) the endgame guy. Mon-El is only the for-now guy at BEST, that relationship is a disaster which I assume will be some sort of catalyst for Kara.
As far as anti-blackness I’m also kind of not thrilled that M’gann is gone. J’onn is the only non-ooc black character left, really. It’s sad.
“If we’re being honest, James being black is (yet) another reason James is a better match for Kara, in terms of narrative.”
Right?! And not just narratively, but also, how many white straight ships exist? It’s overdone and boring! White straight couples are all the same, there’s nothing original or progressive about them. Now we have Sanvers, an interracial (even though Floriana is white, Maggie still is canonically non-white) lesbian couple. Karolsen, as an interracial straight ship, would be just as original and important as Sanvers in its own right.
I really hope you’re right and Karolsen is endgame. Kara/Mon-El honestly feels like a regression for Kara, and it’s sad to watch. She deserves better, as a person and as a role model for the girls who watch!
WHY DID THEY SEND M’GANN AWAY???! WHYYYY
I unfortunately agree with the sentiments here, but let’s be realistic. Season 1 Kara would not be into Season 2 James. It literally made no sense to have the entire initial season be a build up of their feelings for each other and then have her clumsily break up with him for no damn reason. I want James to have his own storyline instead of pathetically waiting for Kara to play dating roulette.
I agree with all your points, but it’s also pretty common for shows like this to build up a relationship and then put it on the skids for no reason. It’s just easier to write the build-up than a relationship. They definitely did not handle it smoothly, and Mon-El rubs your face in it unpleasantly, but delaying a first-season romance for no good reason is statistically likely.
I agree. Kara and James seemed to have something going that was abruptly dumped. It made no sense. If the producers/writers didn’t want to feature an interracial couple (other than when they had James & Lucy) why did they lead up to that for so long?
Thanks for saying this. I don’t hate Mon-el (he’s little brother funny or puppy chewing couch funny) and Lena’s dazzled by Kara that it’s fun to watch, but James knows Kara’s a hero (remember that photo he gave her). He’s kind and brave. He’s inspired by her search for her calling. He’s sorting out his own. Him being a hero is pretty important to many people, too.
I was 200% down for James/Kara and was upset when they randomly and inexplicably dropped it at the beginning of this season — the Guardian storyline would have been so much more interesting if they were dating — but the writers have dropped the ball on James, and I’ve talked about my disappointment about this in many of my recaps, and will continue to talk about it. But I don’t think whoever this James they’ve turned him into is any good for Kara; I want S1 James back. HE would be good for Kara. And it seems like he might be finally getting back to that, based on their last conversation. I couldn’t not address the Lena thing after this episode, but I’ll continue to be openly baffled as to why they’re not pairing James and Kara after all the set-up they did. And the reason I name Mon-El after a random white-colored food in every recap is to remind everyone that he’s boring and white and, more specifically, that it’s boring that he’s white.
That said, I think these are two issues and I think both are worth addressing. In this episode, the relationship between Kara and Lena peaked in a way that made it impossible not to address the very specific reason the show will never go there, so that’s what I did. Maybe in the next episode, James will say he still has feelings for Kara and we’ll address their relationship then.
I totally agree with you. The writers have ruined the James character, and it definitely smacks of anti-Blackness that they tabled the Kara/James pairing. This season would have been so much more dramatic if he was trying to hide Guardian from her while they were dating.
Mon-El is that guy you have a summer fling with; James is the man you marry.
I could ship SuperGuardian or SuperCorp, but the writers need to give the POC men personal lives to add depth to their characters. I want M’Gann to come back!
Yes, yes, yes to all this! Torpedoing the James/Kara ship was completely about anti-blackness, and the show has other problems in this regard. (Like, why couldn’t we get a J’onn/M’gann romance–a romance between 2 black people over age 40–on screen?) And I was really into James/Kara last season for all the reasons people discuss here.
And also, they have butchered James’s character since he was demoted from love interest, and his character progression makes no sense. But I think that both the decision to torch that romance and his character spiral are linked to anti-blackness in the audience; I have seen so much hate for his character on this and other sites, and I think the network is partly responding to that. People who dislike his story lines could easily complain about the writing rather than just piling hate on the character, and seeing them choose the second option and egg each on in comments is creepy, especially at the current political moment.
I’m not sorry that her and James aren’t back together. I didn’t think the two of them had romantic chemistry at all. I think the reason people are matching actors in their head based on chemistry rather than progressiveness of the pairing is because the chemistry of a couple is what you respond to. They could have Winn and Jonn date for the sake of diversity, but those two would make a crap couple.
Anyway, James is a series regular unlike Mon-El who could be gone at the end of this season. For all we know her and James will be together again. And not for nothing, but if we’re judging on a scale of more progressive there’s certainly an argument to made that Kara/Lena > Kara/James > Kara/Mon-El.
I agree with you. I am a man who is straight. I think the relationship between Kara and James is cool and could have progressed into something really special if it had been handled right. Jimmy is a seasoned photojournalist and Kara wants to be a reporter. That is a mentor/mentee relationship filled with endless possibilities of a healthy relationship slowly turning into loving romantic one based on friendship and mutual respect. Instead they gas-light and go with Kara falling for the white scumbag who magically reforms in 6 episodes. C/W nonsense.
The chemistry between Kara and Lena is explosive. I swear I thought they were going to kiss even though I knew better.
Great points, really funny recap! But honestly, I thought you were a little too lenient with Kara/Mon El. They’re not just “meh” or “acceptable” together; Mon El is like a legit problem. He (and others, let’s be real) have basically been gaslighting Kara since he told her he liked her. Two episodes ago she had to feel totally miserable and alone to consider liking him, after he gave her an ultimatum on whether she’d accept his feelings or have a friendship on his terms. That’s not healthy, and it’s material scraped from the bottom of the dated, heteronormative barrel. Not to mention before then all they ever did was argue, with Kara having to babysit him and him belittling her or not taking her seriously, continuing to act selfishly. Mon El would be a fun character if he wasn’t Kara’s love interest, because we all know she deserves way better, and if the writers didn’t insist on giving him so much screentime when he’s just another straight white fuckboy and Maggie is literally right there, beautifully one dimensional. Before Kara and Mon El, there’s Kara and Lena, and before them it should be Kara and James, but before aaaallll of those should be just Kara herself, because she’s still got growing to do, even if the writers forgot that point after the first episode.
PLUS – Mon-El is obviously not telling the truth about who he is, since there are aliens coming after him for some reason. I think he’s the actual Prince of Daxam, not just a guard, and he did some dirty crap to some alien world and had to escape to earth.
Ditto to both of these comments!
– Yeah, now they have to have Kara nervously laughing when talking to Mon-El, something that she normally does with Lena.
– Did Lena jam that entire doughnut into her mouth? One moment she’s got a doughnut, and then two seconds later, she’s got a different one.
– I know that I’m not imagining things. Lena was behind Alex in the courtroom when Metallo went on a rampage, so she must have seen Kara run off and become Supergirl.
– New social topic, media rumors ruining people.
– Why was Mon-El there at the DEO? I expected Alex, Jonn, or even Winn to come and talk to her, but Mon-El? There was literally no reason for him to be there other than for him to side with Kara when everybody else was against her. *sigh* That makes him so dreamy…..*gag*
– I’m guessing that the Karolsen shippers are going to be SUPER salty after that ending, and rightly so. Kara breaks up with James because she thinks that she can’t have everything, but then rethinks that decision when she meets Mon-El? What?
C/W nonsense and an insult to the fans of the show. Karolsen was a healthy relationship that could have had endless possibilities if they had writers that knew how to write. The Mon-El crap is racists and downright disrespectful.
I play chess a bit, and since chess is often used symbolically I took a look at those boards and have a few things to point out.
1. Lena played white, and moved with a white knight, in both games (contrary to what is written in the recap).
2. In the first game she captured the black queen (post-shadowing Lillian Luthor’s arrest?) and in the second the knight stands directly against the black queen (I would say ‘beside’, not against, but they’re opposite colours, on their own sides of the board, and facing across the board rather than sharing a rank (row).
3. Most glaringly, in both games, pawns are located in places where pawns can not ever theoretically be (one row behind where they start, and, in the second game, on the other end of the board). In addition, both games have two bishops of one colour sharing squares of the same colour, which is very implausible, though theoretically possible – it can only happen if a pawn has promoted to a bishop. In either case, they’re not really playing chess according to the rules – though the check and checkmate in the first game would be valid if the pieces could actually be where they were.
4. The strangest thing of all – in the second game, in Lena’s office, the black king is not on the board. It’s not among the captured pieces either – it just sits right behind a place that is reasonable for it to be, off the board. Maybe representing Lex?
5. Both games have a lot fewer pawns left in the game than one might expect – given the openness of the board, I would expect a quick resolution in the game in Lena’s office from this point.
Black seems likely to win, even if we imagine that the black king was on the board and could actually be checkmated.
Wow, this analysis is next level! I play chess too, so I appreciate these details. Somehow I suspect the chessboard was set up by set people who don’t really understand how chess works though (particularly the bishops detail).
As I commented above, I suspect the only important aspect of the game is that Lena was white, and took the black queen with her knight. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this means Lena will turn out to be Kara’s white knight; the show keeps going back to the Lena-might-be-evil well, surely the writers know that keeping Lena at least grey rather than straight out evil gives them the most narrative options!
Thanks. I had fun doing this, though I agree that the white knight thing, and maybe the black queen thing, are probably the only intentional symbolism. That black king placement really was weird, though. Maybe someone bumped the board?
I linked to this above, but just in case you missed it:
https://www.thefandomentals.com/luthors-addresses-manipulative-mothers/
“Oh, and did you note which pai sho chess piece Lena was fiddling with? It was the knight, which moves in an “L” shape. And not just any knight, it was the freakin’ white knight. And in the flashback, Lena beat Lex using the white knight to take out the black queen. If that’s not foreshadowing Lena defeating her mother, we’ll eat not only our hats but our scarves.”
I mean, here is a ridiculously contrived board on which one would actually want to promote a pawn to a bishop (of the same colour as the player’s existing bishop), because I decided to take up the challenge of making such a board because it is SO UNLIKELY that such a situation would occur.
Actually, a knight is just as good there, so I need to try again. One last post and then I’ve got to step obsessing about Lena’s weird chess.
I love the chess geekery here!
“I know you trust Lena, but why can’t you trust me more than her when I say she’s evil?” – James
“So where does you trusting my judgement fit into that equation, you arrogant hypocrite?” – Head-Kara
Valerie you make a good point, one that I didn’t see before, There are writers who are rigid and have this idea to pair 2 people even though the chemistry is not there (cough Callie and Penny cough) and no one can talk them out of it and then you have the writers who have 2 actors who explode with chemistry but they don’t want to act on it. Yes in a perfect world if the chemistry is there writers would be foolish not to see where it goes no matter between a man and a woman or 2 women or 2 men but unfortunately we are not there yet.
So here;s how I look at it; we were given Alex and Maggie and the writers have barely scratched the surface with them, so do I want 100% on making Sanvers the greatest TV couple ever or 50% Sanvers and 50% Supercorp? Sorry, but I’ll take the 100% Sanvers.
Can someone please explain to me why Lillian would alter the video to show Lena taking the kryptonite out of the safe and get her arrested and then have to break her out of jail when she could have just had Hank and Metallo swoop in a kidnap Lena from her office.
So J’onn who was Hank is now exclusively goes by J’onn and Evil Cyborg is going by Hank now. noted.
Can we all take a moment to applaud Metallo though, I mean Guardian showing up at the jail all tough and Metallo laid him out like a little bitch. You know why last weeks episode was better, because there was no James.
I know it’s coming but couldn’t we have gotten some kind of physical contact between Alex and Maggie, like a hand hold or an arm around the shoulder. The nudge was cute but come on. I did like how we saw Maggie “detect” more this episode rather than just being Alex’s girlfriend. The show still needs to find that good balance for them. I say 45% split among Supergirl fighting criminals of the week and Kara doing reporting, 30% focused on Alex and Maggie in their jobs and coupledom, 20% for J’onn and Winn stuff, 5% for Mon-El, and -45000 for James = Perfect show.
Why Lillian altered the video:
She needed to isolate Lena. As an abuse tactic, she had to make Lena feel completely alone, like no one was on her side. She had to the public give up on Lena and believe her to be evil and i league with Cadmus. Kidnapping Lena wouldn’t have been enough, it would have just made Lena sympathetic to the public. No, Lillian had to frame her for an illegal act in order to turn the public against her. And it worked really well.
Seems like a lot more work than necessary to me.
Valerie, I completely agree with you about juxtaposing Mon-El and Lena in this episode. Up until now, the Kara and Lena stuff has been literally subtextual – it’s all been in looks and facial expressions and actions by the actors, nothing in the script. But then this episode, that last scene, oh my god! Like, that isn’t just Katie McGrath being unable to play straight – that was the SCRIPT. Those were the actual LINES. Is it still queerbaiting if they don’t need to bait us? There is already a wlw relationship on this show, they don’t need to queerbait us with another to get us to watch, so what the hell are they doing!? And it’s not just gay goggles. I’ve already read two reviews by straight authors on mainstream tv sites that have picked up the extreme sexual tension in that last scene. It’s getting so obvious even the STRAIGHTS are picking up on it. How there are people who sincerely believe Kara has more chemistry with Chris Wood than Katie McGrath, I will never understand.
I will admit though, I liked the scene with Mon-El and Kara in the training room. It actually did make sense to me that James would be very anti-Lena, considering his history with Clarke and Lex. And it made sense too that Maggie would believe the evidence over Kara’s feelings – she is a cop, she’s doing her job, and she doesn’t actually know Kara that well yet. It was weird that Alex and Winn didn’t side with her, but I can almost forgive that because they are both very scientific, technical people who trust science and facts and evidence over gut feelings, even Kara’s gut feelings. But it made total sense that Mon-El was the one who believed her right off the bat, because he knows first hand what it’s like for Kara to believe in you when no one else does, and that made me momentarily not hate him.
But also, that scene served to again compare Mon-El with Lena. They literally HAVE THE SAME LINES in this episode about Kara trusting them and believing in them and how that has made such a difference in their lives. Like, hey writers, if you don’t want us to ship Kara and Lena, maybe don’t have Lena say the SAME LINES AS KARA’S MALE LOVE INTEREST!?
Hey. Do you by any chance remember what reviews those were? Would love to read them. Also the sentence “even THE STRAIGHTS are picking up on it” might be one of my new favourite expressions when talking about (not-quite-)subtext.
Found them! You’re right. That last scene didn’t really go unnoticed by many. XD
This episode felt like someone put an executive order on Supercorp.
Katie McGrath felt visibly reigned in, the Mon-El thing came flying out of absolutely nowhere, with zero chemistry.
Not letting a story run its very obvious and organic course (from Mon-El’s rebuttal right into Lena’s arms) hurts my little gay heart.
It’s like someone scratches their nails down a chalkboard.
This could have been so awesome and organic.
Kara being confused, talking it out with Alex.What to do about her Superhero identity..classic Lois Lane/Superman dynamic.
So now Kara gets the guy who went out on a date with his copy room hook up two minutes after she shot him down?
Naw.
Just no.
Dammit prejudice.
I feel like the move from CBS to CW is THE THING that affected the Kara’s romantic storylines negatively. I’m pro-move, it’s been great – we got Sanvers, and Lena, and overall the show has been doing better (although I will mourn Cat’s departure forever). Obviously CBS thought an interracial hetero romance was the height of diversity, and then the show moved to CW and they were like “bitch you thought, here’s a lesbian interracial romance, how about that”. But at the same time, all the networks still fall into the same trap of “one diversity is plenty for us you guys, what will the people say if we have *gasp* TWO diversities oh my” so they replaced – in a really clumsy way tbh – James x Kara with Sanvers, as if the two couldn’t coexist. And added the trademark CW pasty traditionally attractive white boy to poorly compensate for it. The move to go Sanvers was sound, I mean, Supergirl fandom was gay af from the inception, CW tapped that demo, and I’m extremely glad they did. But back to the point of this whole conspiracy theory lol – I just feel like here it’s not the writers’ fault so much as it is the networks and their inability to even fathom a universe where you have more than one per identity (if even that!) representation. So of course we’re not going Supercorp, if we can’t even go James x Kara.
In conclusion, Shonda Rhimes is the only one who can save television from itself.
This feels really really true and I’ve been thinking it too.
I also think the new network has hurt the relationship between Alex and Kara, which is just a writing thing, not a social justice thing, but still is a thing.
I’m so glad we’re finally discussing Supercorp! I love Sanvers, but I love Supercorp too. Their chemistry is killing me!
1: Kara has more chemistry with POTSTICKERS than she does with Mon-El. I can honestly get on the Mon-El train if he remained a friend and partner in crime. He’s goofy, a little clueless and a little reckless but I think given time he’ll make a good support system for Kara. But romantically? Yeah, no. Kara and Mon-El have zero romantic chemistry. The only time I saw genuine, organic chemistry between them was when they were hanging out on Kara’s couch talking as friends. The fact that they’re really pushing for this whole Romeo/Juliet, star crossed lovers trope is frustrating. But hey, Mon-El has a secret of his own so maybe when that comes to light, it will put an end to their now seemingly inevitable romance.
2: The lack of Kara and Alex scenes – them having Sister Night, hanging out, Alex checking in on Kara after a long, life threatening day…where in the hell have these scenes gone? Their sibling relationship and the scenes that portrayed this was what made Supergirl unique and why I got invested in the show in the first place. Now we just have to assume that these moments take place off episode. It’s annoying.
“Kara has more chemistry with POTSTICKERS than she does with Mon-El.” GOT ME GOOD THERE hahahaha love it
Okay, first off, I super appreciated the BtVS references in your captions.
I was so hoping we’d get to see Game Night with Maggie being included in the gang (which would have worked narratively to bookend the episode after the introducing-her-to-the-gang scene) as the closing scene rather than another MonEl-and-Kara-in-her-apartment-forwarding-the-romantic-plot scene. Literally every single episode since the hiatus has ended with that (fine, last week’s wasn’t in the apartment but still). Also Kara’s explanation of why she broke things off with James seemed like a bit of a retcon. Next week’s episode does look delightful though and not to reference BtVS twice in the same comment or anything, but the basic premise of it just makes me think of “Once More, With Feeling”–eccentric villain wants to marry a leading lady, magically puts her in a wedding dress, she goes “what the fuck are you talking about no thank you.”
On Lena: I’m not a SuperCorp shipper. Up until this episode, I just found the probably-accidental queerness of their interactions hilarious (“haha Katie McGrath can’t play a straight”). I’ve never seen them as a good couple though, because it seems to me that their relationship is somewhat unbalanced: Kara is a lot more important to Lena than Lena is to Kara. Kara cares about her and trusts that she is not evil because Kara is a superhumanly wonderful, but Kara has friends who she’s much more open and casual/comfortable with, and it’s not like she and Lena are spending time together just for fun ever. Fittingly then, the hilarious queer crush has seemed really to just be on Lena’s side, which I think was still the case in that last scene. (Though it does seem right for Kara to be bi/pan since she’s a fucking alien (why should heteronormativity have existed on Krypton?) and also just loves everyone always.) But that last scene took me way beyond just thinking the unintentional queerness was funny, because I can’t figure out how they could have written that (she sent a roomful of flowers?? Kara Danvers, you are my hero?? I’ve never had a friend or family like you??) unintentionally. It was so romantic as to be cliche. Watching it initially I was actually really impressed for a moment that the show *was* about to have a second wlw storyline because it seemed impossible that Lena wouldn’t kiss her at the end of the scene (I expected a kiss when they pulled out of the hug and then Kara being really confused/awkward and leaving quickly with Lena calling after her because Kara is just doomed to have all her friends fall in love with her because she is amazing). I’d kept the queerness in the realm of funny because intellectually I was saying “no, but this character was created for a specific narrative purpose and that purpose is not love interest.” But you know what, Valerie? You are absolutely right. Shows adapt their storylines to things like actors’ chemistry all the time. There is no excuse for this.
Weirdly, heteronormative is pretty established canon for Krypton, unfortunately… including arranged marriages and strange breeding practices where babies are incubated in a matrix device to make their DNA perfect. The Superman comic were pretty damn weird about Krypton romance and marriages.
Your recaps are the highlight of my week. Side note, when Kara became Supergirl did Eliza get fed up with re sewing all her shirt buttons and just replace them all with poppers? Lets face it, the shirt ripping is so extra.
Haha, I’ve thought that too. Like, if Kara has superspeed, she could also unbutton her shirts superfast? But the shirt-ripping has been iconic since Superman long long ago, so :).
I also have been trying to reign in my Kara/Lena feelings because I understand that it can NEVER happen. When discussing this with my gf, I was talking about how they already have one queer couple and they can’t have another without alienating the audience, she just said
‘Have they never met a rugby team?’
WHICH IS SO DAMN TRUE. Gays don’t travel alone, friends. We gather in packs. And one day TV is gonna realise that.
Unfortunately not for a while yet.
I second the appreciative BTVS references in the captions that Slay mentions. Highly entertaining.
I want to rage about Mon-El as a love interest.
He’s a funny character, and played charmingly, but he should remain supporting in a Winn-type capacity, not be a primary romantic foil or whatever they’re trying to do with him.
I also want to rage about the assassination of James’ character.
We don’t get to see him growing into his greater leadership role. Is he a CEO or a vigilante? Is he Bruce Wayne now? Where’s his requisite dead-parent backstory? I have to work so hard to fit all of his stuff this season into a reasonable character frame, and the pay-off isn’t as sweet as when I work hard to follow subtextual on-screen relationships. I’d possibly be more receptive to his man-pain if it were born of his personal characteristics (black man in corporate America, two failed relationships with amazing women, having all these skills and time going to waste that he feels he needs to apply to something appropriately, i.e. in support of the crime-fighting, not as a headliner, otherwise give him his own show) versus his man-ego.
I want to rage about the lack of Kara/Alex sisterly bonding scenes overall this season.
No additional words are needed. I think Kevin Smith said that he saw their relationship as the central one in the show. I think most fans here would agree. It’s weird to have a bunch of Alex on our screen, yet feel that same “pulling away” and abandonment that Kara feels as fans. I’m loving me some Sanvers, but (1) too many extraneous storylines about man-pain have kept us from learning more about Maggie, leaving us to fill in the blanks from comic book canon, and I’m not ok with that (you can almost literally see that any time you turn on your television; just stop); (2) couldn’t we learn about both Kara and Maggie through some group-bonding scenes? Because the close family always has to bond with the new partner. My brother-in-law integrated into our small hang-out group of 3-turned-4 pretty seamlessly. We can’t be that unique!
I want to rage about how this season hardly seems to be about Kara at all–on her own show!!!–despite the opening episodes being about her pursuing her new career, etc. I mean, they slip into conversation as a convenient plot point, but it all seems to be happening off screen so that we have time for Kara/Mon-El or whatever. Just like the Kara and Alex stuff that’s not job-related is left for us to assume off-screen.
I wouldn’t mind if they kept playing Kara as essentially asexual (which doesn’t seem odd for a Kryptonian given the way their society was structured, etc.). The way her character has been set up, it hasn’t been a driver for her character, anyway, canonically. I know she’s had some impediments to intimacy (secrets will do that). But it’s the most interesting way (in my opinion) I can explain to myself how she finds herself going along with the Mon-El thing all of her friends and family keep pushing her way, or how the James thing just kind of petered out when romantic love/sex was in the offing. Like, if her support system is made up of “sexual” people, and she’s less sexual, she may find herself leaning on their emotions and perceptions versus her own because that’s just another way she’s not “normal”, or she honestly doesn’t have strong feelings either way so she might as well try it all out!
Anyone else get an asexual vibe?
We don’t get much representation of that on screen, so it would be interesting to me to do so (and, seriously, wasn’t Krypton all arranged marriages and test tube babies?).
Clearly everyone is and will be gay or straight for Kara. You’re so right about that, Valerie!
Lena is very gay for Kara (and probably other women too, but this is “Supergirl”, not Lena Luthor–though I would probably watch the latter???). And I think Kara has feelings on that spectrum for Lena, or could. It’s easy to see, and they do have great on-screen chemistry.
I just think it would be interesting if they followed an overall non-sexual path for Kara (which doesn’t mean never!).
Re Kara’s sexuality: Seems a two sides of a coin situation. Thinking back to S01E16 (Falling), when Supergirl is exposed to red K, she loses all her learned(?) inhibitions. Becoming predatory (hypersexualised, which was kinda trope-y), self-assertive (yes!), and nasty towards Alex (hell, no!)*. Still there were/are a lot of unresolved feelings underneath her normally shiny, happy persona.
In that sense, Supergirl S2 seems to fall flat, mostly limiting her emotional struggles to man-problems. I hope, this drama is soon resolved, either through a) Mon-El’s finally catching up with him, and/or b) Supergirl realising she’s better off with her ever-extending family of Alex/Maggie, Winn/James, J’onn AND Lena.
Next weeks’s episode looks way more fun than I thought, when I first read about it. There’s only so much BS that Supergirl can take from the universe!
* I adored that black suit!
(Umm, Mon-El’s past catching up with him…)
I decided to read Supercorp fabric during the commercial breaks and I almost didn’t need to because the same stuff was happening ON THE SCREEN. I mean, the flowers? “I’ve never had a friend like you?” It’s like the writers were reading the same stuff I was and said “Look at these gals being pals!”
“Lena then calls Kara her hero. Outright! They stand up and hug and in some other universe, they would have kissed, but they don’t…”
I think the reason this is so painful to experience as a queer viewer is that in actuality any queer woman has a relationship (or several) that resembles the Lena-Kara dynamic; on the surface of things platonic, but with a level of intimacy that often verges on homoerotic… I have several friends with whom I’m certain, in “another universe,” I would be romantically involved if it weren’t for that ugly specter–internalized homophobia (and patriarchal conceptions of normativity)
As much as I ship Supercorp with my entire being, and I love Lena, and as a rule don’t ship cis-m/f relationships, I have to say that if they are gonna force Kara to be straight and monogamous then she should be with James. If she has figured out how to be Kara & Supergirl, wasn’t needing to do that her reason for breaking up with James? Though I will mantain that Lena is what helped Kara do that, from giving her the idea to be a reporter to recognizing what she does as Kara, not just Supergirl, is important.
Not to mention Kara has in her scenes with Mon-el called him arrogant, dudebro, selfish, untrustworthy, and not a good match. Where as she has told Lena that she is good, kind, warm, spent an entire episode yelling at people and punching things because she knew Lena was trustworthy, and then rushing in to die for her – which I know she would have done for others, but I’m positive the focus would’ve been on stopping the bad guy not desperately trying to save the damsel in distress.
So bi-phobia & anti-blackness running rampant.
WORD.
I whole-heartedly believe that Kara is only into the *idea* of being in a relationship, and Mon-El is convenient & safe; she already knows he likes her.
She is feeling really lonely right now; Alex has Maggie and Kara is happy for them, but it’s hard for her to have to share Alex (notice that she didn’t start questioning her feelings for him til *afer* Alex & Maggie got together). And Winn & James have been huge dicks lately, with their fragile masculinity. So all she has is Mon-El. She’s so desperate for love that she will enter into a relationship w/ someone she doesn’t really have feelings for.
I can totally relate to this. I got my first boyfriend and it was great, cuz everyone was so happy for me and he was like the perfect guy. But 3 weeks later, I was like, yeah…. I think I like girls…
Anyway, I have such conflicted feelings about Kara being in a relationship, cuz she did have some good points, about being able to have it all!! And in that aspect, Mon-El is also the safest bet, cuz he isn’t human, so she doesn’t have to worry about him as much, there isn’t that dumb trope of superheroes not allowing themselves to love because it would be too dangerous for the other person!! HOWEVER, as a Luthor, I think Lena could handle herself against enemies.
I just hope that they don’t make Kara & Mon-El’s relationship the central storyline. That is my biggest complaint about Buffy: yeah, it was an awesome revolutionary show about a BAMF woman, but her world still pretty much revolved around Angel & Spike!!
On a slightly unrelated note, I don’t read the comics, so I am wondering how closely this show is following them. Cuz Alex isn’t even in the comics, right? I’m just getting annoyed with people complaining about how different it is from the comics.
I’M SORRY BUT LENA IS LITERALLY DRESSED AS A DOMINATRIX AND THERE ARE SO MANY GRATUITOUS BOOB SHOTS IN THAT LAST SCENE AND WHAT IS HAPPENING
Haven’t even watched the episode yet but when I saw that picture of Kara and Lena eating doughnuts my brain immediately went to that scene in Amar En Tiempos Revueltos between Ana and Teresa: https://youtu.be/AiysDBvqzdA
When A&E assassinated Emma Swan’s character for the sake of Captain Swan, I thought that we had lost Lady Snarkbite, but Supercorp has revived her.
From http://ladysnarkbite.tumblr.com/
Great re-caps! I have a plot question, does everyone at the DEO know that Kara is Supergirl? Cause during that last scene with the exploding cyborg, both Wynn and Alex are shouting “Kara?!” like a thousand times. Might be some fall out with that little “oops.”
I have been wondering that for a while, although it’s probably something that I would know if I rewatched some old episodes. I thought, with all the regular loudly referring to Kara as ‘Kara’ or as Alex’s sister in earshot of DEO staff, that they all knew from the beginning – but then they did that storyline when one of the DEO people smuggled kryptonite for Cadmus.
Great recap!
I trust the writers of this show.. so far they did not leu us down.. and I think they know the golden egg they have right there with this Kara/Lena chemistry. So, let’s see, maybe they will do something like Lena is falling for Kara, but Kara sees her only as a friend, and that also would be fine for me! The Maggie/Alex storyline is so nice and pure that is already revolutionary for a superhero show or any show in general, let’s all hope they will be brave enough to do the next step! #Ialwayswantmore
Lucifer and Mazikeen in the show Lucifer are main characters who are bi. Three of the four major female characters in the show Gotham are bi. Why can’t Kara just say she’s bi? I don’t need her to kiss Lena or anything, I just want her to say she might have a crush on her. Like how Elenor in The Good Place became canonically bi by saying, “And I may legit be into Tahani,” after a lot of ambiguous remarks about how beautiful Tahani is.
As a bi woman, I find that comments like Eleanor’s (although I love that show!) and characters who are considered bi with such offhand comments are often very problematic. As a bi woman, the last thing I want to see are more examples where a character is effective straight on screen but makes a comment about maybe sometime being open to the ladies in a way that could be considered a joke, or whose attractions to women the narrative treats as theoretical.
I want characters who actually use the word “bisexual,” who have a bi identity, whose experience of their own queerness and attractions shapes their interactions with the world, no matter who they are dating.
And I’d love if Kara was one of those characters, but I don’t think they’re going to do that.
love this!
They exist inside a Multi-verse, where there are an infinite amount of universes, which means that anything you could think of exists on at least one universe. Statistics don’t mean anything in a Multi-verse. So the writers could do it. If they wanted to make Lena and Kara a thing, they could make Earth 38 the universe where that happens. No matter what, because they exist in a Multi-verse, there is a universe (multiple actually) where Kara and Lena are together. Why shouldn’t they make it Earth 38?
I’ve mentioned before that I am watching this show with my (just turned!) eight year old daughter. During this episode I defined for her cleavage and dudebro. And she has since used dudebro correctly to describe a character in another movie.
Also, she’s is not a fan of Mon-El, but she loves loves Lena. I have really tried to reign in my own feelings on this, though I do ask her why she likes or dislikes them. Lena because she is nice and she fooled her own mother and Mon-El is not so great because he was disrespectful to Eve when he took her on a date and then talked about another girl. “When a boy is on a date with a girl he shouldn’t talk about a different girl.” – Good advice, kid.
Your daughter sounds like such a treasure! And I’m glad she gets a basic fact of date etiquette this early.
Hi, I’m crazy late, but I’m binge reading these(your voice is all of us btw)and this bit broke my little quasi-orphan heart
“Because hasn’t anyone whose mother mistreated them imagined your mother finally holding herself accountable for how she treated you? Haven’t we all wanted a *reason*? Something written in black and white that says it wasn’t our fault?”
How dare you slash thank you so much
Oof yeah sorry. I have a lot of feelings, you know? Thanks for reading. <3