First watch Supergirl review
Now for the longer, wall of text version;
I say review but this is honestly just me rambling
The Kara we see is someone who has only been to Earth for a brief amount of time. We know she's still grieving, depressed, and still unable (or maybe refuses) to see Earth and Clark as home.
Ruthye watches her whole family murdered and house burned down by Krem. Come the following day, we see her determined and deadset on revenge for her family, approaching the ruined bar to announce her bounty for the man responsible for her tragedy, the reward of it being her father's sword. It's a naive move that earns her a shove and her blade promptly stolen right from her hands. This pulls Kara to take action.
Ruthye witnesses all this and follows Kara back to her ship to ask for her help. Kara refuses, tells her revenge isn't worth it, but unbeknownst to them Krem had been stalking all along planning to flee the planet via stealing Kara's ship. However, just before he can completely hijack it, Krypto senses him and attacks. This leads Krem to shoot him with a poisoned dart and with the antidote only in his person, this bolsters Kara to hunt him down herself, Ruthye tagging along (much to Kara's displeasure).
It follows the flow of the comics enough, aside notable changes like Krem being a space brigand, Ruthye's entire family murdered instead of just her father... However important of all, is Krypto's life being at risk.
In the comics, we later find out that Kara hunting down Krem was mainly more for Ruthye's journey rather than for herself, and that Krypto was not in any imminent danger.
The movie gives Kara little choice but to move, because if she doesn't then Krypto, her only connection left from Home- in fact, Krypto is her remaining home, will be gone forever.
She's not just teaching Ruthye a lesson... she's also on a time limit. She has no patience for delays and detours, yet despite... Kara still tries to instill to Ruthye that revenge isn't the right answer, lackadaisical or flippant in her efforts she might be.
Anyways their hunt then leads them to a planet that brigands haunt over. Prior to this it is revealed that Krem and his band belong to a dying planet, and in order to revive their population they kidnap young girls to take as their brides.
Kara and Ruthye spot a bar and begin their search for answers there, which goes poorly as you expect. An arm wrestle quickly escalates into a bar fight, and later we get a brief introduction to Lobo. Thankful for our pair, the entire sequence of events leads them to meeting a couple who mentions knowing a way to call the brigands down. Whilst hiding in the couple's home, the two take this time to rest.
"Clark sees the good in everyone, but I see the truth."
Kara says this line not out of malice against her cousin, nor a boast to herself. The movie is quick to clarify on this, with Ruthye questioning if Kara dislikes Clark's naivety, who in turn responds contrarily. In my opinion I think she states it wistfully, somberly. Enviously, and bitterly.
Kara misses the same overwhelming hope and optimism that Clark feels, but she's jaded now. She's seen far too much pain and loss. Her hope has dwindled down, her outlook of life as dim.
Ruthye on the other hand has never had the chance of closure, of saying goodbye. Where Kara receives parting words, Ruthye's only consolation is being able to lay her family to rest. She's a child who has just lost everything, and a child who is lost. Revenge is the clearest path in her mind.
Their talk leads Kara to reminisce, and we are greeted with a flashback of Argo.
Kara eventually get overwhelmed with emotion, and cuts the conversation short by going down to check for an update with regards to the couple's contact. She's asked to sit down and drink a special brew created by the wife.
It's a trap of course. Kara's given the same poison Krem and his brigands use. The couple confesses that they do this for their daughter, who has been taken. One child back in exchange for two. Fortunately the husband is unwilling to resort to deceitful ways, and helps Kara recover. By then it is too late, and Krem and his crew have arrived, blasting the wall down.
Kara doesn't give in easily, and fights her way. At some point, the cargo holding the kidnapped girls are dropped, freeing them out and with the brigands' gleeful cries of "the brides!" it's implied that they do this tradition of letting them out and chasing them. [ Which is also a tradition that remains even till now; Bride Kidnapping. ]
Lobo joins the fray, solely intent on finding the bounty he's hunting.
Kara however, prioritizes the safety of the young girls first, flying around and freeing them from the clutches of the brigands.
Through all this chaos, the couple's daughter drifts away from the center. Krem sees this and stalks her, who is then followed closely behind by Ruthye.
Finally, Kara succeeds in saving the girls and subduing the brigands, so she hurries on to find Krem. Whom she finds first is Ruthye instead, and in a rush- panicked, even- Kara drops down to quickly whisk the girl to safety. This choice would cost them both dearly, as the next time Kara finds Krem, he has killed the daughter and the couple.
Ruthye is mad at this, saying that their deaths could've been prevented, snapping at the older woman's "moral compassing" and citing quite ruthye-lessly that if foregoing revenge would lead her to becoming like Kara then she would rather not be that kind of person at all.
Overwhelmed at the events of the day, Kara flies off to space to vent her anger out and this is lowkey another favorite scene of mine because of its silence. There is no sound in space, yes so points off to realism on that yada yada. On the other hand Kara is quite literally screaming into a void, silencing her grievances letting herself go unheard. Yet still as she comes back down it's with tension. She's mad at herself.
She rushes to find the planet the brigands are in, and to her dreaded realization, it contains dual suns of green and yellow. She passes out, but not before seeing a blurred figure dragging her feeble body, and then another flashback of Kara finally arriving on earth and meeting Clark.
Here, it could be said that it's just a natural follow up from the Argo scenes. But the flashback about meeting Clark, arriving at Earth, right after the whole ordeal at planet B-something, whole thing probably causing her to remember Argo all over again...
Kara tries to live, and tries to find a home in Clark, her only living relative, but she can't accept that. It would mean moving on, but also, how could she live beside someone so bright? Kara thinks of herself as jaded, and broken, and hopeless.
She wakes up to Ruthye standing guard and despair in her heart. In her efforts to save the only remaining figure of her previous life, she's now dying and away, unable to say goodbye to Krypto who's going to die alone.
It's during this scene that we got some bittersweet callbacks. "Don't freak out" for one thing.
Additionally, it's also here that Ruthye reveals having brought the suit, hoping that it might help. But Kara scoffs lightly, tells her that the suit is nothing. Maybe. But what isn't though, is Ruthye's later words.
"You are not always nice, but you are kind. You may not be perfect, but you're good."
These words that, unbeknownst to Ruthye, reflected the same words Kara's mother once spoke to her. There's no time to dwell, as Ruthye leaves to fetch water, but here this scene I think encapsulates Kara's character in the film.
Kara may see herself as broken and dim, but through her actions we see her, unfailingly, always put Ruthye and the innocents first. She may not strive, but god does she try. Even at the beginning where we see her drunk off her ass, she has stood up to reclaim Ruthye's sword. Kara has never once forsaken her morals.
This isn't a hero's journey. This is a hero just trying... not to quit.
And I believe that it's Ruthye's words and by extension her parents' that finally gives Kara the resolve to do what she does in the last confrontation.
In the final fight, Kara is quick to return to Ruthye once she hears Krem's taunting, and we get to see this fucking awesome fight scene that once again- clearly shows how she skillfully takes enemies down whilst still prioritizing Ruthye's safety. People may find the needledrop corny but personally I found it fitting, looking at from Ruthye's eyes. This isn't a badass kick ass scene. This is a child, gazing in awe as her friend weave through the enemy like wind. A child gazing up above the clouds of dirt, watching hope stand firm against the light
If Superman is blinding hope, then Supergirl is the hope that persists. Supergirl is the symbol of hope that continues to spur on and refuses to be snuffed out despite all the struggles and calamities.
When Ruthye runs towards Krem's prone form still committed in dealing the decisive blow, Kara arrives to implore once again for mercy. She entrusts Ruthye with a choice. Kara is right, that killing would not alleviate the grief and will be scar to live on forever. Kara is right that living as she is, as a Knoll, as someone whose spirit remained unbroken would be the best revenge. Ruthye's found the graces in life she once believed was lost after her family died through Kara, and in turn it makes her believe and trust Supergirl.
Kara on the other hand now realizes that though her eyes have seen the truth, it doesn't mean she is broken or that she is unworthy to stand beside someone bright. Kara may not have saved herself from the harshness of life, but she can save others from it, and so she accepts to take that burden... and kills Krem.
In the end, Ruthye returns to her home planet to live with her aunt and to carry on her father's blacksmithing. Kara on the other hand decides it is time to return to Earth, and tells Clark that she's staying longer this time. It's acceptance and invitation, to be family and home all at once.
Kara is still finding herself as she goes, but this time she's willing to go through that journey with Clark now.
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