Supergirl: Why This Week’s Surprise Reunion Fell Flat
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It was a moment three seasons in the making. Or was it? In this week’s Supergirl, “Dark Side of the Moon,” Kara and Mon-El traveled through space in a bid to stop Reign once and for all, only to discover a lost city of Krypton, and her mother alongside it.
It was a reunion full of tears, joy, and hugs, but as a viewer the scene barely left a dent on the emotional meter. It left me feeling more hollow than satisfied–but is it really all that surprising, given how the series has treated its titular hero lately?
Kara’s descent toward supporting character has happened gradually, beginning in Season 2 when she became a mentor for fledgling hero Mon-El. While Kara’s sidestep has opened the doors for powerful, emotionally storytelling such as Alex’s coming out, it has also meant a serious decline in Kara’s personal journey and development. As a result, it undermined what should have been one of the biggest, most emotional reunions in the series’ run.
Looking back to the first season, Kara’s relationship with her mother, and by extension her aunt Astra, was one of the major components of the season’s emotional through line. The more she learned from Astra, the more hurt, angry, and resentful Kara became toward her mother. By the end of the season she was forced to reckon with the notion that her mother wasn’t the wise leader she thought she was, or Krypton the peaceful and just society she remembered.
Unfortunately that story thread stagnated in Season 2, with only brief reminders that Kara could no longer trust her memory of her mother. Fast forward to this past week’s episode and we see a reunion that came out of nowhere. It breezed past Kara’s development from Season 1 and brushed off any notion that her mother was anything other than the good woman she built up in her mind.
Remember, this was a woman that not only sent her own sister to the Phantom Zone, but used her daughter to do it. The Alura we learned about in Season 1 was a woman of principle and duty above anything else. The woman we met in this week’s episode felt more like a remnant of Kara’s memory than the living, breathing Kryptonian leader.
The by-product of this was a reunion without nearly the same emotional resonance it should have. There was no conflict, no confrontation. Instead her mother’s presence feels like the gateway to an easy escape method for Kara, who has struggled to maintain her secret identity this season.
This shouldn’t be the case when it comes to Supergirl. From the beginning, the series has revolved around the complicated relationship children have their mothers—beginning with Kara, then branching out to Alex and Eliza Danvers, Lena and Lillian Luthor, Mon-El and Rhea, and moving to Sam and Ruby in Season 3. Supergirl has demonstrated how beautiful and complex that relationship can be, the heartbreak it causes when that relationship is strained or lost, and the selfless ways mothers will look out for their children.
Yet, somehow, that key message in the series has been told in the last two seasons through the series’ supporting characters rather than its lead. And why? There was so much emotional turmoil to mine for Kara, but instead the writers left it buried, only to be a distant memory when a climax was on the horizon.
By repeatedly sidestepping Kara into the shadows of her own story, Supergirl betrayed its own foundations, giving us a reunion that was neither satisfying nor earned. Our only hope moving forward is that the series will at least give Kara and Alura the breathing room—and screen time—to give this vital relationship the respect and consideration it deserves.
Do you have thoughts on the Kara and Alura reunion this week? Add them below!
Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on the CW and Showcase.
I’m not crazy about Alura being alive before you even start dissecting the scene because to me it lessens some previous emotional moments to me a viewer, yes it’s still sad for Kara herself but for me who can rewatch things it really brings down some moments in the series particularly the opening.
There’s also just general questions such as why has Alura not aged, she wasn’t in the phantom zone like Kara thus she should be older. How did she and her husband have time to get to the dome and set it up before being killed? She knew she shot Kara off so why did she never look for her?
I just feel it was a mistake to bring Alura back to life as it were; enough Kryptonians pop up each week as it is it seems so what do they gain from adding another besides lessening the whole “last children of” plot?
On to your article though…
“It was a reunion full of tears, joy, and hugs, but as a viewer the scene barely left a dent on the emotional meter.” – so much this! Honestly to me it was the weakest part of the episode; Alex and Lena definitely carried this episode to me!
I think the constant back and forth with Kara is also an issue, she wasn’t happy just being Kara in S1 so she began being a hero and then she wasn’t happy with leaning more towards the Supergirl side in S2 so she became a reporter even that is a joke plot to me as 1) it’s a rip off of Clark and Kara isn’t Clark, 2) she’s bad at it despite what Cat wrote on the paper, and 3) we never see her really doing it anymore and then in S3 she’s still been in a funk because of S2 events so she’s kind of unhappy with both sides of herself; she was probably her happiest in S1 but she’s been having an identity crisis for awhile now and when you add that with the debatable Mon romance Kara hasn’t exactly be the one with the most to cheer for and that’s sad. As the article says she’s fallen on the favorite list for a number of fans. I am by no means suggesting Kara has to be perfect or everything has to go her way because it didn’t happen in S1 yet she was everyone’s first or second favorite character without question so it would be nice to see more of her rather than this eternally yo-yoing version; I get the whole “growing” plot but sometimes she’s involved in plots that don’t feel like they fit good or bad Kara, at least not the version most loved in S1.
“Yet, somehow, that key message in the series has been told in the last two seasons through the series’ supporting characters rather than its lead. And why?” – you forgot Cat and her mother on the list; to be fair it’s easier to tell those stories with the characters actually on screen versus Kara essentially having a one way conversation with Alura but that was their plot – how does it effect one person when they want to say things to someone but can’t for whatever reason. Who knows if they’ll add Alura full time to next season, I hope not, but if they do then you take that unique plot from Kara; even if she doesn’t and they find a way to space FaceTime you’ve taken that plot and again it’s a question of for what.
Couldn’t agree more. I wasn’t crazy about Alura’s return since the beginning and was VERY disappointment with the reunion. It didn’t feels like they just met after years and years apart! Beside, Kara was supposed to be the LAST survivor of Krypton- and all the sudden, there’s too many Kryptonians this season…
Also, why they made Mom El to travel w/ Kara? How come Alex hasn’t went with her? Alex is the obvious choice and companion! Plus, she IS an Earthling after all. I mean, wasn’t the all point of this trip was to find the stone that’ll help save Earth?? LOL
Weak reunion, weak and boring episode.