Hello! Is it me you’re looking for? I’m sorry this was delayed, I was at A-Camp! While I was there some people asked me some shows I wrote about, and I was like, “Right now I write about Supergirl, soon I’ll be doing Wynonna Earp again.” When asked if I’d recommend those shows, I would say, “Definitely watch Wynonna Earp, Season One is on Netflix and Season Three starts in July so if the stars align the way they have in the past Season Two should be on Netflix some time in June.” And then I’d be like, “As for Supergirl, ask me again when this season is over.” And it made me really sad!! I used to be a one-woman marketing machine for this show and now it’s starting to lose my trust. Honestly, my feelings toward Supergirl the show right now are not unlike Lena’s relationship with Supergirl the person.
Similarly to Lena, I’m willing to put my hesitancy aside to work with Supergirl (aka recap it) for the people I love (aka Alex Danvers) so welcome to this double-trouble recap of last week and this week’s episodes. Which were mostly very good! Except for the parts where Supergirl wasn’t the hero of her own story and where they won’t just END this crusty bread storyline. Codpiece had some really funny moments when he was doing what he does best: background bit work. But when they give him skills they need to defeat the baddy that Supergirl doesn’t have, it feels gross and I hate it. Everything Codpiece can do that Supergirl can’t do, Alex could have been doing instead! But we’ll get there. Let’s start at the beginning.
Episode 318 starts with Lena waking up with James in her hotel room, where she’s apparently been living for the past two years.
My friend Nic made this gif and I can’t EVEN with Lena’s “bed head”
And listen, I actually really liked James’s arc in these two episodes. I’m glad they’re finally starting to give him his own storylines and slowly but surely making him part of the team again. I love James! I just wish they weren’t using him as a wedge to drive Lena and Kara/Supergirl apart. I think he could very easily just be part of Team Supergirl and still have his Guardian storylines without dating Lena, or being put in the position where he has to choose between the two women when it comes to lies and truths.
ANYWAY they get interrupted by some Reign Rage when the Worldkiller busts in the window and demands to know where Ruby is. Lena, who apparently not only knows how to MAKE kryptonite, but also liquify and weaponize it, pepper-sprays Reign with the stuff, staving her off for now.
Back at the DEO, Kara and Alex are sending off the Legionnaires. Brainy flirts with Winn, Imra side-eyes Codpiece, Alex looks amazing. Codpiece tries to have a private goodbye with Kara but as soon as she hears Lena’s in trouble she doesn’t even spare her breath for a “bye forever” she just zips off.
When Supergirl and Agent Alex arrive on scene, Alex begs to see Ruby. Lena is hesitant; Ruby is super safe right now in Lex’s mansion. But Alex must convince her somehow, because she rolls up on her motorcycle like the power lesbian she is.
I’m so gay.
Meanwhile, Supergirl and J’onn go to visit Sam’s mom, Patricia, to keep her safe in case that’s Reign’s next stop. Patricia knows exactly why they’re there, and takes them to Sam’s childhood bedroom. She tears off some wallpaper to reveal a doodle 10-year-old Sam scribbled onto the wall… and by doodle I mean the very intricate Reign symbol. Her mom waxes poetic about how she was a bad mom who pushed her daughter away when she should have pulled her closer and even though her daughter has become the very thing she feared she’d be, she wants to try to right her wrongs and be there for her now.
In Lex’s mansion, Alex is reunited with Ruby, who is very happy to see her. And frankly, it’s probably good she came when she did. Zero parents, one older caretaker, and a huge-ass mansion is a recipe for a broody vigilante that no one deserves nor needs.
We DO deserve Alex in this hoodie-under-a-leather-jacket look though.
When Reign gets to Patricia’s house, it seems empty, but her enemies are lying in wait. Reign puts on Sam’s voice goes looking for Ruby but instead finds Supergirl in a closet. (heh)
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Kara and J’onn try to fight Reign but now they know what we all saw: Reign now as Pestilence and Purity’s powers, too. So the fight is mismatched and Patricia gets attacked so in the end they opt for getting her out of there instead of trying to finish a fight where the deck is stacked against them.
In the DEO med bay, Patricia again laments how she treated Sam, gives Supergirl some things to tell them both, then dies. And all I could think was: Sam is going to be so fucked up about this when she comes back to us.
Same.
In Lex’s mansion, Alex gets a call and Ruby panics about it so she tries to calm her down with a promise of Young Frankenstein. Which is funny because Alex is such a dork of course she likes Young Frankenstein but, speaking as a 12-year-old who once had to watch Young Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein is not a movie for 12-year-olds. So I assume there’s a reference I’m missing, or an inside joke/hat tip. Though even if I didn’t get it, it’s one of my dad’s favorite movies (he makes a knockers joke every time we encounter a door with one) so I’m sure he got a kick out of it.
:hums Puttin’ on the Ritz:
And then Agent Doctor Alexandra Danvers, certified genius and girl of the 21st century, leave her phone behind and unlocked for Ruby to sneak off and make a phone call on that reveals her location to Reign. Great.
After talking to Papa J’onn, Kara realizes that she has to try to find herself again, and use her heart as her best asset instead of relying on her ex-boyfriend, who is presumably halfway to next Tuesday by now. She decides to try to talk to Reign using her own code and see if that helps.
Unfortunately, however, Codpiece is not in his own time yet. Despite Brainy telling him that Supergirl is strong and can do things without him, after a final push from Imra, he decides to go back and help them defeat Reign.
I mean, I GET it, but still. ET TU, IMRA?
With a little nudge with James, Lena decides to bring some super-charged Reign-specific kryptonite to the DEO to offer to Supergirl as an olive branch of sorts. Or I guess more like a poison ivy branch. Supergirl flips out about it, explaining how painful it is for her to be exposed to it, etc, but Lena is calm and even-keeled throughout. She says that way more things than kryptonite can kill her and she doesn’t see Lena flipping out every time Alex comes near her with her gun strapped to her leg. “Trust is hard for me, too,” she says. And I would argue it’s harder. Yes, it’s hard for Supergirl to trust that anyone with kryptonite doesn’t wish her ill. But it’s hard for Lena to trust literally everyone. Supergirl goes through life knowing she can protect herself, knowing she has people to protect her. Lena doesn’t. She’s had to have walls up since she was four years old. And here she stands, risking a lot, to offer to help Supergirl save the city. Supergirl shouldn’t take that for granted.
I love when Lena serves attitude, I just wish it wasn’t toward Supergirl.
Also, not for nothing, but if I was writing Kara, I would have her taking a different position. Supergirl has been, on more than one occasion, possessed or controlled by an enemy (via red kryptonite, for example). I personally think that Kara should be grateful that if anyone on this planet is able to re-create kryptonite, it’s someone she (theoretically) trusts. Lena is giving her a way to defeat Reign, and also a way to help control Supergirl if she ever gets out of hand, someone she knows wouldn’t take it too far. It feels like it should be a win-win, with maybe a LITTLE wariness about it getting into the wrong hands, but not a full flip-out about its existence. In my humble opinion.
When Reign follows Ruby’s beacon and Alex rushes to hide Ruby. Alex tells Ruby to closer her eyes (which she only listens to for a minute because she’s a little shit) and stands at the door, waiting for Reign, hoping to hold her back as long as she can.
The new hair/suit combo is making me gayer by the minute.
Reign slowly walks through the hallway of traps like it’s a super fun car wash. It’s one part funny, two parts badass.
Team Supergirl swoops in just in time to help Alex fight her off, but the kryptonite isn’t as effective as they would have hoped and they still have a rough go of fighting her. At one point, Reign’s mask falls off and when Ruby runs out from under the table to try to help, she’s met eye-to-eye with her own mother.
Supergirl decides to try the reasoning tactic and tells her that killing Ruby doesn’t fit with her code of justice, and I’d prefer to think that talking about Ruby being innocent just inspired Sam to take the Reign reins long enough to hold her back instead of what I not-so-lovingly call a “Martha moment” (I’ve only seen one live action Batman movie and it was the one with Wonder Woman in it I don’t know why this is my second Batman reference).
Whatever the reason for it, the hesitancy is enough to give Codpiece time to crush the kryptonite into a bullet and shoot Reign with it, so they can get her into custody.
Alex hold Ruby as she cries.
Aunt of the Year Award goes to…
In Lena’s Lady Lair, Supergirl apologizes to Lena for freaking out when Lena was just trying to help. She insists she does trust Lena. But actions speak louder than words.
Later, Alex apologizes to Ruby for lying to her, and promises her that even though they share a face, the woman attacking them in the mansion wasn’t her mom, not really.
You would think this show was called Super Alex the way I screencap Chyler’s face.
And she promises never to lie to Ruby ever again. And apparently invites some gal pals over to hang with them.
Kara runs into Lena in the elevator, and Lena is so happy to see her; it’s been weeks since they saw each other.
lol sorry I had to
Lena talks about how meeting your idols can be disappointing and how Supergirl isn’t all she’s cracked up to be. In fact, she’s not even sure Supergirl is as moral and just as she thinks she is, explaining the James break-in situation. Lena says it’s fine, because they’re just working together, she doesn’t need to fully trust her.
Cut to a shady building where a girl named Tanya snatches a book and runs away. It has to do with Coville’s Cult of Rao, and we’ll learn more about it in the next episode, which starts… NOW!
The next episode opens with Lena doing some really great science, wanting to overwrite Reign’s DNA with Sam to get their friend back permanently. When their test doesn’t work, Lena turns out a blackout shield that is x-ray vision proof and Supergirl is salty all over again that Lena is creating weapons that could hurt her even though they were made to protect her from Reign.
Lena is starting to lose patience with this and says that she kept her promise to tell her about anything she does with kryptonite, but she doesn’t owe her a list of her active projects, and anyway this isn’t about her, it’s about Sam.
“I KNOW IT’S NOT ABOUT ME, THAT’S THE WHOLE PROBLEM!”
Also not for nothing but, Lena says the literal words, “I don’t think about you while I’m doing it” and then the camera immediately pans to Kara. If this was Jane the Virgin, that would have been significant.
Kara is having an identity crisis from hiding this secret from Lena. James tries to reassure her and tell her that Lena was so excited to see her, but Kara knows it was just Kara she was happy to see. And so now Kara is in a Catch-22. If she continues to not tell Lena she’s Supergirl, she has to lie to her best friend every day, but she keeps Lena a little safer. If she DOES tell Lena she’s Supergirl, she won’t have to lie all the time, but also Lena will probably never trust her again and it would ruin their friendship.
They’re interrupted by the girl from the end of the last episode, Tanya. She gives James the journal she stole from the Cult of Rao and asks him to get it to Supergirl, because she thinks the leftover followers are going to use it to make a bomb. You see, she was in the cult for a while, but then it stopped feeling like an appreciation support group and more like a scary meeting of scary minds. She gives them an address and they offer to keep her safe.
Back at Alex’s apartment, Aunt Alex is doing her darndest to cheer Ruby up—she even offers her a ride on her BRAND NEW MOTORCYCLE. But Ruby is in a dark place right now and not even Alex the Adorable can help her now.
It’s so, so hard to not know how to help someone.
When Supergirl goes to the address Tanya gave her to scope out the bomb situation, she finds an outline of a person on the wall like something out of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. They pick up what’s left of the girl that got exploded and head out to look for answers.
Meanwhile at CatCo, Olivia (you remember her, she was the blonde girl who was a loyal member of the cult but ended up seeing the light in the end…) shows up to distract James while they kidnap Tanya, the only one who can read their bomb recipe.
Guardian chases them down and they face off in a warehouse, and he gets his mask shot off but he’s putting up a good fight when the police show up. They immediately train their guns on him and his arms are up and Tanya is pleading with them, saying they have the wrong guy, but they refuse to listen or look away from James, so the actual bad guys get away. Spoiler alert: they are white, James and Tanya are not.
Luckily, this time at least, James doesn’t have to go through the motions these racist cops would put anyone else through because he just bamfs himself and Tanya out of there with his disappearing powder.
At CatCo, Tanya takes a minute to fangirl about the fact that James is Guardian and it’s VERY CUTE. But then the reality of what just happened sets in and you can see her heartbreak all over her face as she realizes that even Guardian, known hero of the city, has to face the same racist bullshit her father and brothers do.
In Lena’s bunker, Supergirl tries to apologize to Lena, but Lena doesn’t care. She says that work is work, and that’s what they’re doing. She doesn’t need any more friends, and she’s not sure why Supergirl won’t let it alone. She speaks again of trust and truly I worry that they’re laying the groundwork for Lena to find out Kara is Supergirl and their friendship will be ruined forever. I don’t want that. Why can’t literally everyone else be doubting the Luthor and Kara be defending her forever, like it’s been up until now? Why does this have to be the tension?
Anyway, back to the cute/fun stuff aka Tanya being a Guardian fangirl when Supergirl tells him she would have happily been his back-up if he needed it.
“He gave them a HA! And a HI-YA!”
The mood shifts though when Supergirl asks her about the bracelet they found. Turns out her friend Liza is the one that got Acme’d to smithereens. While they’re talking, they get a text with some security footage that threatens to out James as Guardian if they don’t turn Tanya over to the cult.
Kara blames herself for Olivia going off the deep end, for disillusioning her, for lying to her. For lying to Lena. But James reassures her that she’s doing the right thing; telling Lena she’s Supergirl will make Kara feel better, but not Lena.
And besides, they have bigger issues to worry about. Like, for example, how the cult isn’t actually planning on making a bomb. They’re planning on making a new Worldkiller. If Worldkillers could be made with the same ease as making biscuits I’m not sure why we had to sleeper-bake three of them for 20-something years, but okay, fine.
Lena thinks she might be able to reverse engineer this information to make a cure for Sam to become Sam full time again, because she’s the cleverest girl.
Lena goes to talk to James and he tells her about what it’s like to be black in America, and how when he was seven he got handcuffed by police who thought he and his cousins were causing trouble when all they were doing was playing hide and seek. The oldest of the kids was 12, and still they were cuffed, just for being there. There being exactly where they were supposed to be. James says, “Racism is the oldest form of bullying” and he loved being Guardian because finally people were judging his actions and not his appearance. But seeing Tanya get excited to know one of her heroes is also black makes him feel confident that the right choice for him is to reveal that he’s Guardian so that the blackmailers have no leverage.
(See how I wrote that whole sentence without saying “coming out” like the people in this show did 384230984 times which was rude because I know that superheroes can be a metaphor for being queer but it just feels rude to co-opt in this case.)
Anyway, I do support James’s decision, and so does Lena.
Lena did this same thing to Sam in the bunker a few episodes ago, just saying.
Tanya comes to James and offers to give herself up instead of risking Guardian being arrested for being a black vigilante. She’s inspired by him and she wants to stand up for what she believes in. But they say maybe it won’t come to any of that.
On the other side of town, in a storyline far, far away, Alex and J’onn take Ruby and Space Grandpa, respectively, to the arcade, to try to cheer them up, but at first it is an epic fail. Ruby is grumpy and Space Grandpa is overstimulated and overall it’s just chaos. So they prep to get the heck out of dodge and for some reason leave the 12-year-old with the elderly man with dementia who just moments ago smashed through a video game, but instead of getting into trouble in their keepers’ absence, Ruby and Space Grandpa bond in their sadness and end up playing foosball together. Much to Alex and J’onn’s delight.
Team Supergirl decides to send Tanya undercover with Codpiece, Lena and Winn as support, and Tanya reads the cult the potion ingredients as she waits for somebody, anybody to make a move to save her. Unfortunately they wait too long and Olivia ends up getting superstrength just as Codpiece sends out a signal and Supergirl swoops in.
She’s got a dark mark!
The stone in question is fused into Olivia’s hand, but eventually Kara does what she does best and reasons with Olivia, explaining that she understands what she’s going through, not knowing the role you’re meant to play, feeling pulled in different directions to the point where mostly all you feel is adrift. Kara says if she lets go of the rock, Olivia will have her whole life to figure out who she is, so with some heat vision help, they get it out and Supergirl holds Olivia while she cries, overwhelmed by the weight of what she did and what she almost did.
I’m here for the Danvers sisters holding people to comfort them but also can they maybe interact with EACH OTHER a little more?
Later, James admits to Kara that while he didn’t like feeling forced into it, he was kind of into the idea of his identity being revealed to the general public. He says, “People like Tanya need to see heroes who look like me.” So he’ll tell the world someday. (Until then, he should tell Tanya to watch Black Lightning.)
Back at the Lesbian Loft, Alex is dying the tips of Ruby’s hair blue, and Ruby is finally starting to open up to her, admitting she’s a little afraid that what is happening to her mom will happen to her someday. Which is very astute for a kid; I think anyone with a mother who had some sort of mental illness or any undesirable quality really wonders if that’s their fate. All Alex can promise is that both Sam and Ruby have a team behind them of people who love them and will do anything to protect them. It’s a safe promise, and a true promise, and is just reassuring enough for little Ruby.
I don’t know how Chyler gets more attractive frame to frame but here we are.
Okay so we end it like this: Lena and Winn found more of the rock so Kara and Codpiece are going to get some so they can end this Worldkiller thing once and for all, but Reign is starting to build a resistance to the kryptonite so they don’t have much time. Also Coville is back because of course he is.
We’re coming in hot toward the end of the season, only four more episodes to go. What do you think we’re heading toward? I feel like it’s getting better in some places but worse in others and I miss loving this show full stop. Tell me I’m not foolish for hoping.
(And thanks for being patient with me while I was away!)
Back in the Fort Rozz episode, it was established that Alex made Kara watch “The Shining” (or was it Silence of the Lambs”? I forget.) when she was tasked with babysitting her. The “Young Frankenstein” bit feels like a nod to that.
I guess? But Young Frankenstein isn’t actually scary! But you’re probably right.
But you said in your review, “speaking as a 12-year-old who once had to watch Young Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein is not a movie for 12-year-olds.”
I guess I misunderstood and inferred you meant it was too scary for a twelve year old.
No, sorry, I just meant the humor is over their heads and also I found it very boring as a 12-year-old. It’s just not meant for kids is all. It’s also from 1974 and is in black and white. Just felt like an odd choice for Ruby is all!
And what about the two big pieces of news?
– Next season, “Supergirl” will have a transgender character.
– In the crossover next year, Batwoman will star. I’m hoping that she’ll be Earth-1’s Alex Danvers.
I was out of the loop this whole past week and a half – I had heard about Batwoman but not about them adding a trans character. Very interesting!
I really really hope they don’t make Arrowverse Batwoman Alex, Lesbian is a huge part of Batwoman’s identity yes, but Jewish is just as huge of a part, it would really be bad if they removed that.
No no no Alex shouldn’t BE the Arrowverse’s Batwoman, she should DATE the Arrowverse’s Batwoman.
Who’s the “girl from Life in Pieces” you mentioned, please?
Holly J. Barrett
Holly J. Barrett and Sofia Vassilieva are in something together??
Fixed.
I’ve been reading unhealthy amounts of supercorp fanfic lately, so between having to watch Lena and James have the least convincing relationship in the history of ever, Codpiece staying behind and Lena and Supergirl not trusting each other, I’m losing my everloving mind.
Also, please, someone remind me that I am a grown woman with a full life and I should not be going crazy over all this. PLEASE.
I went looking for LoT fanfic in Portuguese to help me practice and found Supergirl fic instead and started reading even though I’ve only watched S1. And only on seing this comment did I FINALLY cotton on to what the supercorp tag means. :D So, thank you!
(Sidenote: I’ve found fanfic to be great foreign langauge practice as so many switch between first and third person narration and generally don’t get too complex in sentence structure/vocab… also, free!)
BRB gonna go read the same fanfic these “staying in a hotel for two years” writers obvs also read
But also, months?? I am not used to a Supergirl episode needing to verbally acknowledge months have happened
2000% agree with the writers co-opting the “coming out” language in that scene with James and Lena. Hitting us over the head with it felt gross and totally unnecessary. Glad to have you and your recaps back!
Yes, it felt so forced and unnatural that it couldn’t be more weird even if they tried.
I am on the other side of the fence when it comes to Lena knowing Supergirl’s secret identity. I think it’s going to happen, and I think it’s going to be explosive. I also want it to happen because I’m tired of Lena being on the outside and look forward to the day that she’s a fully embraced member of the team.
Stale whitebread, on the other hand, needs to return to the 31st century pronto.
Welcome back, Valerie.
Thank you!!
At this point, I think Lena knows Kara is Supergirl and is waiting for Kara to say it herself.
I used to look forward to watching the show but as the season progressed, I’ve been feeling a bit let down…like there’s not the same excitement that I used to have (S1 & 2).
Also tired of Mon-el. Also still not convinced of Lena and James’ relationship.
**Valerie, thanks for the recaps! I much prefer them over watching the show.
Aww, thank you!! I’m glad you like them! I hope someday you like the show and my recaps the same amount! I hope they earn that love back.
I’ve got a theory (it may be bunnies).
Like many of you I’m in the “Lena Knows” camp, because she has too. Too many coincidences piled up in season two for her to not be suspicious. Lena telling Alex that she knew she was DEO but didn’t say anything because it was her secret to keep fits the theory. But, Lena suddenly distancing herself from Supergirl, directly to her and indirectly in her conversation with Kara, raises questions.
Originally I thought that Lena may suspect Kara and Supergirl are like Sam and Reign; two entities, inhabiting the same body, who may not be aware of each other. But that theory didn’t hold up after the latest episode.
Lena has been living in a hotel for two years because she didn’t know that National City would accept her. It sounds like she was ready to cut and run if things didn’t work out, no muss, no fuss. Whether it’s a pragmatic world view or a coping mechanism, it suggests she’s slow to trust. Both women have been talking about trust a lot in the past two episodes. Assuming that Lena knows (or suspects) Kara is Supergirl, and that Kara is one of Lena’s few friends, Lena must trust her and assumes by now the trust is mutual, after saving the world together, and saving her life a couple times now. There was a warmth between them.
That warmth ended in the episode “Trinity”. I think Supergirl zeroing in on Lena using the last of Lex’s kryptonite (and later her own), completely ignoring what Lena was trying to do, the heroic effort she made trying to save her friends life, is when Lena closed herself off from Kara/Supergirl. As an exchange Lillian Luthor went back in “Resist” (episode 2×21)
Kara: “I’m curious about something. You know my real identity. But you never told Lena. Why is that?”
Lillian: “Eventually she’ll find out on her own. Find out you’ve been lying to her all this time. And when she does, she’ll hate you for it.”
Maybe Lena thinks she’s found out Supergirl’s real identity, and that the warm, cheerful person she called her friend is just a mask.
Sorry for the long winded brain dump. I just hope that when the cards are down it all makes sense in the end.
@ryanmporter This totally makes sense!
I love your brain dump and I love your Buffy reference!
For the life of me I do not remember when or where Lillian Luther found out Kara was Supergirl. You seem to know — which episode? which scene? Thank you. (And I used to think Lena knew; but now I don’t think she does. Othewise she is playing SG and Kara with her deception and that is not Lena. It’s the script. They don’t want her to know. Even if it makes no sense to us. IMO.)
I don’t think we see Lillian told Kara’s secret on screen. I think it’s inferred/implied back in season 02, probably episode 7, “The Darkest Place”. I’d have to re-watch to be sure. But that’s the episode where it’s revealed that Jeremiah Danvers is working for Cadmus, so that is probably how Lillian knows.
Oh, Valerie I really missed you and I’m glad you’re back! :)
I really hope that when Lena finds out about Kara being Supergirl things get ugly! Come on, every friend Kara has knows she’s Supergirl and the one she calls her “best friend” is in the dark?
This talk about protect Lena is bulls***t! Lena could be targetted by several things (just for being who she is, for instance) and being friends with Supergirl would be the last of them! You can’t call someone a close friend when you have a secret this huge (that you are the only one that doesn’t know about) cause it looks like you don’t trust them.
I missed you all, too!!
Honestly, I have decided to give it a few episodes into season 4 to see if the writers have become interested in telling stories I find at all interesting but…. we’ll see.
I don’t understand why they essentially just want to tell the ‘WHO WILL WIN IN A FIGHT????’ story again and again, and then stacking the deck in such a silly way just to add to the dumbness. By now Supergirl, J’onn, James and Mon-El have superpowers and Alex, Winn and Lena basically do as well through the Magic of Science the show operates with. Where is the narrative tension in this storytelling choice? I don’t get it. I want ‘can she punch them hard enough?????’ to not ever again be the central narrative tension. It is boring as heck. The answer is ‘yes’ 100% of the time because hey that is the premise of the show and if she wan’t there’s now 6 other characters to step in instead! WHYYYYYY
The episode in season 1 where Kara lost her powers seems like an episode that could no longer even happen on this show because the characters and their arcs outside of their powers are gone and only the powers remain. It’s very sad that they’ve chosen to be a much more generic show than they used to be – they have such a rich set of stories to tap into if only they wanted to. And it’s easy even! If the tension changes from ‘can she beat the bad guy???’ to ‘can she save the hostages???’ you’ve introduced a limitation that doesn’t rely on underselling Kara’s abilities. But then she’d save Lena Luthor again and that would look gay so I guess it won’t be the route they choose. But something needs to change.
The story about the kids getting handcuffed while playing hide-and-seek is from Mehcad Brooks’ own life.
I hate what the show has done with Alex. She’s never struck me as very maternal; at one point she said that she resented always prioritizing Kara’s needs above her own. I know the writers needed a relationship dealbreaker for Alex and Maggie so they could write Floriana off without killing her character, and I appreciate that, but I think this was the wrong way to go. I’m worried that Sam will die and Alex will end up raising her annoying kid. She’s been sidelined with the kid too much lately and I can’t handle another season of that.
Finally, I’m 100% on Lena’s side right now. Kara is being a sanctimonious ass with a god complex. I hope Lena does know that Kara is Supergirl and is messing with her at this point, although I think the writers want us to believe she has no idea. I just can’t suspend my disbelief that much — Lena is too smart to be duped this long.
I would’ve loved a storyline about how Maggie “I hate Valentine’s Day and squishy feelings that make me weak” Sawyer was a big old softie for kids and saw herself having a few of them while Alex grappled with the sheer panic of having to revert to prioritizing other humans above her own happiness and well-being. I would’ve really enjoyed the complexity of someone who clearly wants a hand in saving the world, and is totally capable of and happy to care for her loved ones, deciding that she couldn’t really stand the idea of being a mom.
Falling for Maggie opened Alex’s whole world up, and I would’ve been perfectly entertained and satisfied (but also gutted) if she realized that staying with Maggie meant closing it all over again.
Plus, then we get Alex Danvers dating around a bit (after several months of mourning Maggie), which would give us plenty of room for side queer characters of varying importance. OOOOH….idea: Alex dates some girls, we think they’ll be minor characters never to be seen again, but then she realizes the inevitability of befriending women who’ve been in her dating pool and she builds up a healthy wlw squad that she gets to just be Alex with. Not Kara’s big sister, not an agent, not Supergirl’s protector, just Alex who likes guns and motorcycles and is widely regarded as a great lay and a better friend.
I’m annoyed with the whole Kara!Mad storyline regarding Kryptonite. In the first season Alex used it to train with her. They used it to hold other Kryptonians. They used it for medical procedures. It was only with the advent of season 2 and introduction of Clark’s rift with J’ohnn that it became A THING, and it’s a retcon that doesn’t work for me. Supergirl is generally pragmatic, even if she has emotional reactions to things. Just. No.
Besides my annoyance at Kara’s No!Kryptonite stance that seems to be drama developed merely to serve the plot, I have a variety of “yes” and “no” reactions to these two episodes:
YES Lena is living in a hotel, because this is hilariously basically all we can conclude, and so fanficky that I laugh
YES Lena and James aren’t annoying me. They’ve actually had some meaningful conversations and bonded. And they’re both pretty. I don’t “ship” it, but I don’t mind it.
YES cop racism. Not that I’m happy about the cop racism, just that the scene where they let the cult go rang true for me. Sadly.
NO racism is the oldest form of bullying. Perhaps *one of*, but I’m pretty sure sexism is older. It might be a toss up? But certainly not *the* oldest form. It just landed wrong with me.
NO cops in the DC universe generally decry vigilantism, so I don’t know that racism can be the only reason they hate Guardian. There was a storyline with Maggie learning who he was and putting the breaks on, but I don’t know how much continuity I can believe on this show. It undercuts the racism argument a touch (like J’onn when he was talking about the face he wears…when it’s a Face He Wears, but whatever)
YES on the discomfort caused by so blatantly co-opting “coming out” language; good point; I’m over superheros and magic powers or whatever being used as an allegory for being queer
YES we need more of Danvers sisters and their empathy and their hearts on our screen. Yay!
NO there hasn’t been enough Danvers sisters actually on screen together. And when they are a lot of the time it’s just DEO/Supergirl time, not heartfelt sister time. :(
YES James the morality mentor. I liked his interactions with Kara here. I think he has good life experience to offer in the discussion, and I never expected that the Guardian storyline would come around to actually being useful to the story, but lo and behold: here we are!
YES Lena righteous anger. She’s totally earned it. I love that she continues to be salty (whether it’s at Supergirl or Kara not telling her she’s Supergirl)
NO Guardian exposing his identity. Unless he means to resign as CEO of Catco, just no. Can’t Winn just re-design his helmet so that people can tell he’s black? Because: yay, representation!
YES Chyler’s face
YES Imra getting Space Divorced (who can blame here? my head canon is that shenanigans mean Supergirl is now still alive in her time and she thinks she has a chance!)
NO Mon-El being so stalker-obsessed with Kara that he lies about the reasons he’s there, dude-bonds with J’onn about not telling Kara the truth, and is generally on our screens stealing focus and saving the day when it’s Supergirl’s show
NO Mon-El being so stalker-obsessed with Kara after a relationship of months (?) that he Space Divorces Imra (the wife who he has “honorably” loved for years for the few-months girlfriend he realizes he never treated very well?)
HARD TO COMPUTE cute blonde girl cult leader in the Superverse…I know it wasn’t in reference to Alex Mack, but I couldn’t help but think of her anyway. Yikes.
“YES Chyler’s face” is the biggest mood
But I do call it Super Alex. Am I the only one who screamed: “I’ll ride on your new motorcycle with you Alex”?
Amen
You are not.
FYI: Wynonna Earp Season 2 is being released on Netflix June 9.
I would enjoy this show so much more if they had Alex in conversations with ANYONE ELSE by Ruby. Lena. Sam. Kara. Winn. Blech.
And Ruby. Ughh. She is so annoyingly whinny and crabby and awful. I’m not sure if it’s the writing or the acting. She could be sad and not a b*tch. But I think it’s the writing more than anything.
Please please please. I want Sam to stay in S4 and Ruby to leave. I wonder how they can do that. :) Maybe Ruby’s dad comes back in the picture and takes her happily away. Or she lives with him 1/2 time off screen forever.
I like Ruby. She’s had a hard row to hoe, and she’s 12! Hello hormones and pre-teen and testing boundaries! Then throw in all this business. I like that she’s not idealized, but is acting like a human person might. You know, from my perspective.
The whole “oh no I can’t tell her the truth, she’ll hate me” thing is such a RomCom trope, why can’t it come with the payoff of Lena and Kara getting together in the end?
Also I have to admit that last week broke me and I’ve started yelling “send that motherfucker back to space!” every time I see Man-El on screen.