Supergirl: It’s Time for a Break
Look, I tried with Supergirl. I really, really tried. I gave the series so many chances that I would’ve never given to other shows, but no matter how hopeful I remained, I continue to find myself disappointed in the show it has become. No matter how bad I want this, the time has come for me to get off the ride. Sure, there’s been some really great moments in Season 3, but it seems that every time I get my hopes up, the show routinely dashes them. I’m tired of watching Supergirl squander away the massive amounts of potential it possesses. The time has come and I just need to be done.
Perhaps it’s taken me so long to get to this point because I used to really love Supergirl. It’s a show that has the ability to showcase a wide variety of powerful female characters and in a landscape where so many superhero shows center on men, it gave the ladies a chance to shine. It wasn’t even a month ago that I was singing the show’s praises, going on about all the reasons I had hope for its future. Sadly, it’s done nothing since then but disappoint me. I can’t keep going on a cycle where the writers seem to remember everything that makes the show great and completely nail it one week, only to follow up with several substandard episodes in a row.
It’s not as if the show doesn’t have the pieces to be great and in fact, we’ve seen it on many occasions. One of the biggest reasons why I love Supergirl is that it has shown that it can be a show where women are out in front, working together and can have a variety of different relationships. Through Kara and Alex we’ve seen the power of family and Sam and Lena have given a great example of female friendship. Through Reign and Lillian Luthor the show has even given us some really great female villains that go beyond stereotypical ones we’ve seen in the past on screen. It’s shown it can play to all these strengths and live up to its potential. Yet, despite all these glimpses of greatness, I’m frankly just tired of waiting for that to become Supergirl’s everyday reality, especially when as of late it seems as if the show is dead set on becoming the opposite.
Just how far off track has the show gotten? I don’t even recognize the Kara Danvers that is on screen in recent episodes. What happened to the main character that we all loved so dearly? Her decisions and treatment of the people in her life that she supposedly loves and cares for has been all over the place. This isn’t the Kara we met in Season 1. I can overlook a lot of things in a TV show — budget restrictions, poor visual effects or even crazy plots — but as soon as people start acting completely out of character then a show loses me.
Are we really supposed to believe Kara was ready to just leave the citizens of National City, Alex and her friends behind on this week’s episode, “Not Kansas”? All it took was a quick conversation with Alex on the couch to realize she’s done enough and is ready to focus on herself? I know that couch has magical powers for the Danvers sisters, but really? We deserve more than a quick chat comparing this to going away for college? To me, a development such as this requires a decision that’s formulated over several episodes, not just a split second decision.
Perhaps one of the reasons that Kara’s story has been so infuriating as of late is because she continues to be sidelined and made a supporting character of her own show. This was a major issue in Season 2 and with the reemergence of Mon-El in the back half of Season 3, Supergirl once again seems to be putting his needs and story ahead of its titular hero. Not only that, but Mon-El’s growth and story advancement always seems to come at the expense of Kara. Also, is she really saying things like she can only truly be herself with him? Has the show completely forgotten that Alex exists?
Alex has felt as though she’s on a completely different show as of late. Recent episodes of Supergirl have felt disjointed and stories within them feel as if they have nothing to do with one another. Unfortunately, the person that this affects most has been Alex. Why have we seen so few interactions between her and Kara? Don’t get me wrong, I love the family stuff with Alex and J’onn, and I didn’t even completely get annoyed when she was hanging out with Ruby, but the show is never better than when it focuses on the Danvers sisters. The lack of screen time for this relationship seems to be just another in a long line of detrimental side effects from the show pushing Mon-El to the forefront. He has now taken over the role of sounding board that Alex always filled so wonderfully.
Yes, the same Alex who isn’t even 30 years old, and yet was seen looking at adoption websites by the end of the episode. We know she and Maggie broke up because she wanted kids, but did that really mean this very instant? The end of the Sanvers relationship was hard, but the reason felt like a very real one to break up over. However, I don’t think anyone wanted Alex to immediately jump into motherhood. Can’t we take some time, find another woman for Alex and maybe see them start that venture together? This all just feels too fast.
I wish I could say that Kara and Alex were the only characters that Supergirl has let down as of late, but the reach has been far and wide. The Sam/Reign storyline seemed to have great potential and really held my attention, but like many other things, the show seems to have completely squandered that and it’s really fizzled out in recent weeks. The end of this week’s episode makes it apparent that Reign is far from silenced, but I still can’t help but wonder what could have been.
Then there’s Lena Luthor. She’s been a great addition to the show from the moment she arrived on the scene in National City, but what the show has done to her lately is unacceptable. Supergirl spent so much of Season 2 building what was supposed to be a rock-solid friendship between Kara and Lena. Kara was there for Lena when she had no one else and Kara was always the first to speak out and stand up for her friend. However, despite seemingly everyone in the world knowing Kara’s secret identity, including anyone who just happens to wander in and out of the minimally secured DEO, the show has kept Lena in the dark.
Viewers are expected to believe that Lena, one of the most brilliant minds in the world, has yet to figure out that Kara and Supergirl are one in the same. Because of that, Kara Danvers has been nowhere to be found when it comes to supporting her alleged best friend. Kara, the biggest Lena supporter since Day 1, who has backed her against anyone who dared to say anything bad about her friend, is not only not in her corner, but outraged at Lena for making Kryptonite? The show seems to have completely thrown Lena and Kara’s history out the window in favor of creating a conflict between the two women that goes against everything we know about them up to this point.
If the show wanted to explore that conflict then I wish we could’ve seen more how the tension between Supergirl and Lena was affecting Kara and Lena. However, the show has opted to have Kara and Lena continually talk to James about their problems and never to each other. These are two women who are supposed to be the very best of friends and yet, they’ve ceased all direct communication? Lena trying to cure Sam, a mutual friend of Kara’s, is one of the toughest things she’s ever been through and she never once calls her best friend? None of it makes any sense.
Coming to a point where I’m ready to walk away from Supergirl, especially when I still see so much potential in it, has not been easy. However, shows must keep in mind that there’s an overload of content available now and viewer’s free time is very precious. I can no longer choose to spend mine on a show that I don’t recognize, who sidelines its main character and has others act completely out of character.
It’s unreasonable to expect perfection, especially when it comes to TV shows, but all I ever wanted out of Supergirl was for it to be better. I’d still love for it to use and live up to all of that potential for greatness. I do still want Supergirl to succeed, and I’m never above saying “I was wrong.” Should I hear that things have changed, a hard left turn has been made and that the series does one day realize that potential, I’ll gladly come running back. In the meantime, I’m tired and don’t think I can stand to be dragged along on this ride any further.
Share your thoughts on Supergirl and its Season 3 direction below!
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW and Showcase.
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About The Author
Bridget Liszewski
Editor in Chief Bridget Liszewski comes from a long line of TV Junkies who fostered her love of television from a very young age. She's channeled that passion into covering both US and Canadian television shows, and is thankful everyday for the invention of the DVR. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she loves college football and is a fan of sports in general. Bridget is always up for talking TV and you can follow her on twitter at @BridgetOnTV.
I totally agree with everything you said. Mon el was the downfall of this show. What the hell is the fascination with that character??? He sucks. I don’t get it. They better get new writers and get rid of him once and for all. Get back to focusing on the danver sisters and the best friendship ever in Lena and Kara and who have the best chemistry.
This was sad to read but I can’t fault you Bridget as you have fair points about the issues currently with the series. Mon is certainly a huge issue for the series but not the only one, as you pointed out there’s a severe lack of Danvers sisters which I get having time as individuals but they did that last season so it feels like far too long since they were together for meaningful moments like we had in S1; I also think they don’t know what to do with James so when he’s Guardian to give him screen time it also takes from Alex and J’onn given the DEO use to be the backup plan for National City once Supergirl showed up. I want S1 James as much as the next person but the refusal to have him stay at CatCo and embrace the power he had there has done nothing for his character or the series and thus leads sadly to even his moments feeling like wasted time.
Another issue I’m noticing more and more is as you said Kara doesn’t feel like Kara, she wasn’t happy as just Kara in S1 so she came out as Supergirl but then she felt off balance as just Supergirl really in S2 and in S3 she hasn’t had time to recenter so she just feels lost and that doesn’t help anything.
“Can’t we take some time, find another woman for Alex and maybe see them start that venture together? This all just feels too fast.” – agreed! I get they want to pay off the plot they set up early in the season but you can argue they did that last week with the J’onn-Alex balcony scene so this felt like overkill. Also you can want to make the world safe for all kids along with your own and that doesn’t make you a bad person so I really hope they don’t desk Alex in the future!
I hope they decide to ditch “Lena doesn’t know” in S4 and instead go the Cat route where she knows but wants Kara to say it and until then she’s just going to pull a Maggie and kept telling Kara her issues with Supergirl. 🙂
Personally my love for Chyler in the role of Alex and Katie’s good work as Lena along with Odette killing this season and David still having good moments won’t let me quite the show but I understand you having to step away. When this show is on point it’s easily the best of the CW superhero shows I think, note I have not seen “Black Lightening”, but when it’s off it’s definitely a debate. Out of curiosity if the promo stuff for season four looked good would you come back or would you need to see clips from episodes before you made that choice?
Thank you for sharing all of your thoughts! I think for me personally, I’d have to hear from friends that still watch that things have consistently improved over several weeks for me to go back in Season 4. Believe me, I hope that ends up being the case!
I gave up on Supergirl a while ago – I haven’t been in their target demographic for rather a long time and I found the eternal optimism too wearing.
But I’m sorry to hear you’re giving up on it. From what I read a lot of people are finding S3 really hard to cope with for exactly the reasons you’ve mentioned, although you’re far more articulate than they are. It will be interesting to see what The CW does, I suspect their viewing figures AND their social media presence for Supergirl is going to tank next year. While I rarely wish ill on a show, and Supergirl doesn’t fit my limited criteria, taking a show I wanted to like because of all the women and making all the stories not work because you’re putting a man front and centre seems really dumb…
I 100% agree. The show has so much potential but seems to sacrifice it and it’s characters acting in character to make space for monel and to force storylines that would be great but are poorly executed because they don’t get enough screentime.
Take Kara and Lena’s conflict for example. While I don’t want Lena to go full evil (seems too much like Smallville’s Lex Luthor put in a dress) I all for these two amazing smart women to be at odds (bonus points if it’s a moral grey area when neither of them is right and wrong). Two inteligent, strong women, who are best friends otherwise, clashing on something? Sounds like great TV. But what did we get instead?
Kara acting like a petulant child over Lena having had kryptonite, even though she has never expressed such negative feelings about it (remember, it was Kal-el who demanded they stop using kryptonite, and Kara stayed quiet and I like to think remembered the red kryptonite incident) and using Lena’s name against her when she has been vehemently against that multiple times. And Lena acting like she just met supergirl, and saying stuff like “never meet your heroes” when they not only have two seasons of working well together behind them, but Lena literally did a speech about what an inspiration and good friend SG is to her at the beginning of the season.
This could have been an awesome storyline, but instead it was overshadowed my the stupid love triangle mon-el brought with him and Lena apparently not being allowed to interact with anyone else other than James in a personal capacity anymore.
Or take the resurfacing of Argo and Alura. Kara has had the weight of being the one true survivor of her planet (Clark being more human than anything else) on her shoulders for years. She lost her family, her friends, her culture. Her finding out that it still exists, that she is not alone, that her mother and friends are alive should be an at least half a season long arc, not one filler episode that btw is half used to warm up a romance with a boy whom she dated for a few months and is married now. Even the fact that they didn’t even think to acknowledge the fact that she brought Monel along (also, why????), instead of Clark, who never had the chance to meet other kryptonians, or even Alex, is already a huge letdown.
I am truly disappointed with Supergirl as a show. It seems like it’s really losing sight of not who it’s fans are, but what it’s supposed to be
You have way too much free time.
Can’t agree with this article more. I used to love the show so much I dragged my friend into doing a podcast with me about it…and we are both agreed we’re going to stick it out to the ending and then drop the show.
I’m angry because I want it to be good. It’s such a good cast, such a good concept (Wha? Supergirl grew up on earth with a human sister? That’s a GREAT idea!) and it’s all been utterly squandered so we can watch The Mon-El Show.
Even if that was told well, it’d be something but it HASN’T. I keep thinking the bar can’t get lower…and then we get last nights episode. At this point it’s an utter chore to watch which is so maddening because Melissa Benoist is SO great as Kara Zor-El and Katie M as Lena Luthor was inspired casting. Just a waste. Such an utter waste.
I’m done, been watching for Chyler but no more. It’s too cringe worthy. That hole Mon El story is sickening.
I already arrived at that point last year, even before the Sanvers split, so I understand you well. And still, like you, I hope they will turn the show around again and I follow what’s going on via tumblr, to see if it’s safe to come back. I even watched the last episode with my favourite Livewire this season but how that ended just resulted in another Eff this! on my part! Reading your very profund and absolutely correct in all aspects article, lifted my heart and it nourishes my own criticism of the show, when I feel like to not even bother with that anymore and just leave it to those those who actually like what this clusterfvck has become… So thank you!
I wholeheartedly agree with everything you wrote. One thing that also bothers me about this season is Sam Arias. Nothing about the character itself, Sam is amazing and Odette is such a perfect choice, what I have problem with is the opportunity this character brings and gets wasted.
The friendship between Sam and Lena might be plausible but between Sam and Kara is rushed, and then Alex is shoved into the fulltime babysitter role. We have this amazing single mom who overcame everything to raise and take care of her daughter; she’s also the big bad of the first half season 3; she has amazing chemistry with everyone. All of them are wasted with the whole Legions storyline with the drama-dragger Mon-el. It’s exactly how CADMUS coming from the big bad of the first half of season 2 into a forgotten villain when Mon-el’s family drama comes and invades the Earth. Female friendships get set aside for the unbelievable conflict between Lena and Supergirl, forced romance between James and Lena, problematic drama with Mon-el.
3×21 bothers me so much because Sam/Reign should have been the focus along with Argo city (I still find Argo city a bad-timing side story that should have been the cliffhanger of season 3), instead her screen time is under 3 minutes (not counting Reign). Kara quickly calls Sam her best friend, tries to save her life for episode, and suddenly takes off as soon as that is done? You’re right, I don’t recognize Kara anymore.
I wish the writers/producers would just listen to what fans are telling them and make the show something truly exciting and heroic. Is the network afraid of ONLY showing strong females with depth? I’m here for the female leads. But I feel used/baited with being given a fraction of “female forward” interesting storylines, but then force-fed a bunch of lame, all over the place “comic book” stuff focused on some man saving or being in love with the superhero “damsel in distress”. Please stop it! My T.V. super heroes deserve better writing than their comic book versions of themselves.
Alas, Bridget, I’m sorry to see you throw in the towel, but I understand because your reasons are so well supported. Supergirl is not the lead on her own show. National City is the Los Angeles of the DC Universe but there were only 2 queer women there and once Maggie left it’s just Alex. I understand they needed a “big deal” issue to break Sanvers apart, but my best friend adopted a child when she was 49 not 30. If Alex is not going the route of pregnancy to have a child, then the timetable is a whole lot more open. It’s possible the writers are setting up a storyline about the difficulties of single parent adoption when you are part of the LGBTQ community in an era when states are permitting adoption agencies to refuse to allow queer people to adopt. The problem is that seems like giving the writers too much credit. Sadly, I can’t help feel that the storylines have been driven not by the characters & their development, but by loads of off-screen drama starting with the SDCC fiasco and spreading from there. There was hope that the change of EP would make the show better. While the environment behind the scenes might have become most hospitable for women working on the show, there seems to be an inverse effect on the female characters of the show. I will stick out the last 2 episodes of Season 3. I fear the move to Sunday nights for Season 4 will remove all potential for the show as it will get sanitized for the censors.
Hmm wonder where was a similar article earlier in the season when the entire community got baited with a f/f wedding storyline TPTB knew wasn’t going to happen, but ended up getting a break up as a gift instead, culminating in an actress playing one of the queer characters being pushed to leave the show by a man who not long after was fired for harassing over 20 people and blamed it on her, because he could. He also took a story out of his own very straight life and ignoring canon, continuity and basic common sense, inserted it as the reason to break up a same sex couple. I’d hardly say that was a “very real reason” to break up over.
But let’s not fret because one of them would be used to hook up with another queer character from another television show in a crossover for sweeps just two weeks after said break up, cause that’s always been a wet dream by the showrunner. Who cares about rep and what actually goes on behind the scenes when two female characters are having a cheap hook up for sweeps? Look at those two badasses pressing their lips for three seconds!
Where are all those people complaining about mommy!Alex when they were still deluding themselves thinking her and Sam were ever going to be a thing? Sounds like you couldn’t have your cake and eat it too so suddenly Alex only *now* has no storyline, only now has been sidelined, only now is acting OOC. As if the very tiring baby crazed lesbian storyline wasn’t forced on Alex for the sole reason to desexualize her. Never mind the fact that Chyler Leigh herself literally said she couldn’t bring herself to watch most of this season after 3×05 and this is a woman who used to watch it religiously with her kids and live tweet almost every episode – which hasn’t happened ONCE this year. And yet there you are saying Alex should be dating around instead, other than, you know, bring back the actress/character they treated as a second rate plot device and give her an actual storyline this time – and give Alex something real to angst over. Do better.
I totally agree with you. I’d have to add though that I think the friendships with Sam are totally unearned. You gave a great example of how they built a wonderful friendship between Kara and Lena and yet after a few scenes we’re all meant to accept Sam as best buds with them all? As for Ruby, no offense to the young actress but I really hate her character, I was hoping reign would succeed in killing her I really was, it would have served the story and she’s be gone. Alex better not adopt her!!!
I agree too that seeing Alex have a few dodgy first dates, a one night stand or two and then meet someone special (who is contracted as a regular for a long time) would be the way to go
Alex doesn’t do one night stands, though. They already dodged that bullet when they had her sleep with Sara and she literally told her as much and called it a mistake. She’d have to meet someone through work, just like she met Maggie, otherwise, it’d be shortlived – but perhaps that’s the point since I can’t see Maggie not returning at some point.