[moon-axolotl]

Kara is actually pining. She wants Lena so badly I’M SCREAMING

[leighlew3]

So here’s my review for 6x16. Buckle up. I ramble.

In a word: yikes. Or, maybe just “sigh”.

THE GOOD

- Lena lookin’ at Kara like a whole snack. 😂

- Great scene of Nia unloading on her sister. So deserved.

- Brainia’s sweet domesticity.

- Esme’s cute drawings of everybody.

THE BAD

Literally everything else…

- Cringe CGI and a nonsensical monster.

- Once again they present it as if Kara can’t ever do the job she’s been doing for years and even won a Pulitzer for without a man’s help. And now William is even her go-to advice giver instead of Alex or Lena or J’onn or Brainy or Nia or anyone else. He of all people is telling how to be a reporter, how to live her life, and even how to be Supergirl. The writers have truly lost it in this effort to prop up this man, so that his death is more impactful, but in the process have diminished Kara in every way and simply alienated more fans with every passing episode. Alas that’s on brand, I guess.

- Nia failed in the end after repetitive drama in a plot that dragged on and ultimately had very little pay off other than closure she should’ve had with her transphobic as hell sister long ago.

- Kelly was gone.

- Alex did literally nothing. Same for J'onn. And Lena was basically at a desk the whole time, also doing nothing.

THE SUPERCORP OF IT ALL

Allow me to, despite this disappointing episode on all almost all fronts, put on my clown shoes. You can join me in my clown car or you can give up the show now and never tune in again. That’s your call, because you have to guard your own heart. And nothing I say from this point on could mean jack shit. But I’m just rambling aloud.

In 6x08 Kara said she didn’t want to be alone anymore. For the three episodes upon Lena’s return: she wasn’t. Lena was her sounding board, her partner in Supering, her comfort, and even her intimate conversationalist at the end of a long day. And with Lena by her side she was “happy and hopeful”, and that’s canon via Nyxly. Tonight though, things got out of hand, Kara and Lena had no time one-on-one, and Kara has begun to spiral. Her PZ issues are coming back, she spun out, and William’s advice? Lead her to give up a part of herself and quit a job that meant the world to her. And it was yikes. But he did issue one challenge that was interesting as hell: “What does Kara Danvers want most right now? Go after it.”

So when he obviously dies within the next few episodes, it possibly opens up for Kara to say “One of the last things he said to me was to go after what I wanted… well what I want is __________.”

So, what is it that Kara wants? The show has shown us one second that’s to be Supergirl and save the world. The next that she wants a normal life. The next that she wants to be a reporter. The next that she wants it all. The next that she just wants peace. The next that she wants a challenge. The next that she wants true love. The next that she’s okay being alone. The next that she doesn’t want to be alone. The next… you see my point here? Either it’s just more bad writing, or it’s intentional to show how truly lost she is post-PZ.

Which leads us then, presumably, to her finding herself between Episodes 17-20, likely at the last possible second for “maximum effect” in their minds. Next week is the love totem. One would think it’s the perfect opportunity for SC to have its first real moment, alas we can already see from the preview it will be focused on Dansen and Lex/Nyxly. You know, because it’s super important to spend the final episodes establishing a brand new love story for villains, rather than make canon a five year long one for the titular hero.

My point is… what does Kara want? Just to go charge off as Supergirl and save the world like always but have no normal life? Okay… and then? How is that new? Or different? Or any sort of closure or step forward for her? It’s not. It’s actually a step backwards, in so many ways, because it tells women they can’t have it all. So, again…

“What does Kara want?” Well, exactly 8 episodes ago she said she wanted to not be alone anymore (right after Lena left). And in Season 1 she said she wanted love, a perfect partner at game night, someone she’d fight for, etc etc. In 6A via the Kenny retcon they showed us what she wants in a romantic and adventure partner. And all this season they’ve shown Lena to check off every single box of what Kara wants on ALL these fronts.

I wish I could say that Kara has an arc outside of Supercorp because she deserves one as an individual, but at this point they’ve written themselves into a corner where the only thing we have been shown for sure that she wants… is to not be alone and to have someone, and also not be so stressed all the time. And there is ONLY one person who fits the bill of everything she’s ever said past or present that she wanted when it comes to having someone, and that’s Lena. It just is. Unbiased facts, it’s what they’ve actually shown us all along, but especially lately.

They have no choice but to make SC canon in some way or another, or Kara will literally end the series without ever having it all. Her simply deciding to hang up the cape and be alone the rest of her life is absurd and not enough. Her deciding to take a break as Supergirl and just be a reporter again and alone for the rest of her life is absurd and not enough. Her revealing her identity just to circle right back to being a reporter again and alone for the rest of her life is absurd and not enough. Her leaving her family, new niece, friends, and a life made on Earth to run off to the future with an old friend and toxic ex is the ultimate insult to Kara and the audience and the worst messaging possible, and would be extra absurd and out of left field. Her giving up her powers seems absurd and out of left field at this point as well. So…? How will it end for her?

What. Does. Kara. Want.

All I can see is: Lena, and some peace from being torn in a million directions all the time. Because they’ve not shown us anything else in any consistent way they way they have shown us she wants love and wants Lena in her life and wants to breathe. Lena is her one constant. In all these years. When she quit CatCo before, when she suffered loss, when she felt alone, when she needed inspiration, when she had an obsession, when she needed her life saved, when she needed hope, it’s always been: Lena, Lena, Lena.

And we still have the courage totem issue and Pilot flashback to revisit and find out what mistake she really made and how that ties into what Kara wants. And right now, nothing makes any damn sense or ties into the possible endings for Kara unless they maybe reveal Lena was there that night and Kara missed out on meeting her and knowing her as Kara and Supergirl from Day 1 and living a life in the open, with Lena by her side, and having it all. And thus in the end she realizes THAT is what she wants, reveals her identity, confesses her feelings for Lena, and the show ends with Kara finally having it all.

THAT is the only way that Kara has it all. Not leaving her family and friends. Not giving up her powers now. Not hanging up the cape. Just being who she is in EVERY way, living openly as Kara so she can be both Supergirl the hero and Kara the reporter, and having her soulmate Lena finally as her love, with her found family by her side.

THAT is having it all. THAT is what Kara wants. Because THAT is all they’ve given us any indication of at all, especially this season.

So if they do literally anything else… it not only won’t make any sense and prove them to be the worst queerbaiters in TV history, but it will also be a complete and total letdown and waste of a six year series.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[rainbowkarolina]

Lena looking at Kara | 6x16

[mymomentishere]

[anxietyproblem]

[the-queen-of-the-light]

when she says “golly, gee whizz” in the streets, but “fuck, babygirl, lemme get the strap” in the sheets

[leighlew3]

this was the laugh I needed

[templedragon]

Supergirl 6x07 Fear Knot

For the longest time, the award for the most self sabotaging show went to the X-Files. Refuse to act on stellar chemisty? Make the characters fit the plot? Hide the main plot and then disregard it? Give no time to the trauma characters endure? Make everything about a white guy that really should stay dead? It’s all here. The showrunners may try and make the actresses look bad by praising scenes in upcoming episodes only to cut them out, but the blame lies firmly in the drifting filler decisions of whoever thought this was okay to write and film, not just this episode but the whole of 6A. Where’s the consistency, the emotional through line, the plot that’s about Kara? Where’s the excitement, the emotional payoff for six years of build up… to what?

The plus points of this episode are David Harewood’s third time directing, where atmospheric and off kilter framing portray the sense of the Phantom Zone. Another plus point is everyone’s stellar acting with whatever material they are given. They have the range but it’s seldom stretched by the script (take the grass, anyone?). Dansen rocked this episode, though I am concerned that it’s only been a week in show time that Alex asked Kelly to move in with her, as we’ve had three days waiting for Nia and Brainy to come back from 2009 Midvale.

That’s about it for the good points. The episode resetting itself every few minutes felt like a microcosm of the show, and as such there’s no emotional consistency for me to follow. All these fear scenarios happened in isolation, and it’s unlikely the characters will ever talk to the other characters about what scared them the most. Lena and Nia had the most consistent fear. Nia fears her slow interpretation of dreams will get Brainy killed. Lena is still dealing with family baggage of survivor’s guilt with her mother drowning. This was previously only known by a volunteer for a science project that promptly died (season 4), but it adds to the audience’s feelings that Lena would rather drown by being dropped into a reservoir than harm children (season 3), and the self torture of Titanic being her favourite film.

The men were unaffected by the fear, for the sexism. J'onn saves the ship. Brainy has a new analogy of compartmentalised feelings, replacing little boxes with balloons waiting to pop. It does make sense as he temprarily made himself forget Kara’s identity when interrogated by the truth seeker. Personally I would have thought J'onn’s biggest fear would be abandoning his found family, the way he escaped White Martian occupation. I would have thought Brainy’s biggest fear is turning into his ancestors and bottling planets. But hey, we’re only going to torture women. Kelly shows the greatest emotional strength, recognising it’s a dream thanks to her mental health specialist training and picking up a ‘guardian’ shield to protect the women she loves. It’s a pity Alex won’t know about the depths Kelly loves her. Lena is the second most adept at overcoming fear, by showing her kelpie folklore nightmare compassion. Nia doesn’t recognise all of the dream as such, and it’s just her and Brainy in the end. Alex is so far gone that she self-sacrifices to save those she loves, so her biggest fear is being a compromising element to the superfriends, specifically being unable to save Kara and protect Kelly.

The episode is a similar set up to the 100th, where we have four scenarios with high emotions ultimately for naught, as in the final moments Kara does something unrelated to what the audience has seen for 40 minutes. If the 100th was a treat about the world being fundamentally altered depending on how Supercorp get on, being sabotaged by Kara given an emotionally damaged woman an ultimatum of “forgive me for treating you badly or I’ll leave you to your family abusers”. This episode was an exploration of the supporting ladies having none of their deepest fears involve Kara, because she’s not shown, not even in GCI watery outline. This is in contrast to the previous episodes where people have gone to emotional extremes to get Kara back from the Phantom Zone, with Brainy breaking down and comfort eating, to Nia getting despondent about her dream interpretation, to Lena ready to sacrifice the world to repopulating phantoms to get Kara back, to Alex and J'onn having to rely on their military training to keep it together. Six episodes of build up, to have four 10 minute segments unrelated to Kara, with the exception of J'onn and Alex arguing about who is her touchstone early on.

Yet, even this is disregarded as Zor-El becomes her hope speech. The guy has barely had screen time, and previously his stone function was being a dead weight I couldn’t wait for Kara to cast off. This guy made the Medusa virus, was married to someone who sent innocent people to an indefinite torture, only thought of saving his hometown rather than challenge bureaucracy to stop environmental degredation, thought his daughter would be fine as a teenage parent on an alien planet. He gets a longer hug than any reunion with the superfriends, and it’s only Alex that gets a half second hug that was apparently cut and originally included J'onn. The reason given was the sense of urgency of the Phantom Zone island being ripped apart by the anchor, but I remember Mon-El having a prolonged goodbye scene when he should have died from coughing lead. Given any opportunity, the show will make things about men, especially white men. The trailer to tide us through the hiatus was framed around Zor-El acclimatising to Earth, with a blurry background prescense of William Dey, the show killer. It’s season 2 all over again, the comedic relief eroding Kara’s progress. He should be sent to Argo immediately, so the show can be about Kara, and unpacking her trauma.

There’s been filming spotted this week of Katie McGrath with Staz Nair. She’s holding a battered book that an audience looking for consistency has dubbed the folklore book Lena’s mother read to her as a pre-four year old. Worst case scenrario, William’s presence with Lena may be them romantically dating, as it’s not the first time Lena’s had Kara’s romantic cast offs.

Want a Supercorp parallel? While Kara’s been in the Phantom Zone (around the Nyxly hijinx) she’s told us her biggest fear is people she loves dying because of her. Lena and the audience actually see all of the superfriends die. Want another parallel? Both Kara and Lena are saved by their parents. Another? Nia’s supersuit was made by her romantic partner Brainy, and Lena makes Kara’s suped up suits. Nia and Lena really big on bonding over their dead mothers and how lucky they are to have their found family, for the audience at least as I think it falls into the individual dreams. Indirectly, Kara’s called Lena family as that’s what she says upon seeing the sun bomb and Lena created it.

The show is really not being subtle about sci-fi and fantasy references this season, with Harry Potter and Alien nods abound. It’s like they decided they wouldn’t follow through on anything they created regarding Kara and women, and hoped we’d appreciate being reminded that other shows do far better.

Apparently Kara really doesn’t have to worry about leaving Earth unprotected as M'Gann is doing it by herself. And if J'onn was immune to the Phantom Zone, then he could have gone on his own without subjecting everyone else to their isolated fears.

Kinda concerned that the canon romances got killed in the fear dreams - both Brainy and Alex get blown out an airlock while their queer partner watches helplessly. Glad M'Gann wasn’t here for that.

I want to know what it’s like to live next to the Tower. Do you think they take bets as to what’s happening next? People fly out of it, spaceships pull up to the balcony, and now the whole top section flies off and disappears into a dimensional portal. Said portal is opened by Lena as a sign of trust to use the projector. This bonding by Lena with the superfriends is appreciated. Though the DEO blew up so I don’t know how she got the plans or equipment for the sun grenades (season 2) to make the sun bomb. Everyone’s got magic money stashes, and Nia’s had a three day absence from CatCo without reprimand.

Gonna be a long wait until August.

[femaleheroes]

[lesbianlenas]

kara breaking up w every single one of her boyfriends to choose herself and her powers but the fact that she has always chosen lena over everything else every single time

[femmeluthor-deactivated20220516]

alex is this close to getting it 🤏

[svpergrl]

if they do decide to have mon-el come back for an episode, i’d love to see a scene where kara talks to him about lena. perhaps she admits to him about her feelings for lena, because she’s not ready to tell anyone in her timeline yet. and mon-el is just like “i’ve always known, kara.” and kara’s just like what do you mean you know i just figured this out myself?? and mon-el is just like “remember back when we were dating, and you forced us to crash lena’s date with jack? i was so confused then, i thought maybe you just really wanted to make sure your friend was safe. but honestly, kara. a part of me knew you were jealous of him.” and kara’s just silent for a moment like...has it really been all this time? and she never realized? did EVERYONE know except her?

[afterglowlws]

This is the only acceptable cameo scenario I’d be okay with

[newtoniannn]

The way we could’ve had Lena and Alex searching Kara’s apartment for any trace of DNA she might’ve left behind, only for Lena to stumble into a box of tapes with her name on it. The same tapes that Mxy left behind from the 100th episode. Lena asks Alex what’s on the tapes and Alex tells her it’d make more sense if she watches them herself. So, Lena watches the tapes and understands everything Kara tried to do to save their relationship....we could’ve been eating good

[swiftagron]

6.04 lost souls

[2019metgala]

sarah malik bell, monster as victim, victim as monster: post-traumatic stress disorder, redemptive suffering and the ‘undead’

[tellyjpg]

i really wish everyone had good hearts and good intentions for others. honestly.

[enby-life]

The point of supporting POC isn’t to piss off racists, it’s to support POC

The point of supporting Jewish communities isn’t to piss off antisemites, it’s to support Jewish communities

The point of supporting Muslim communities isn’t to piss off islamaphobes, it’s to support Muslim communities

The point of supporting mentally ill people isn’t to piss off ableists, it’s to support mentally ill people

The point of supporting disabled communities isn’t to piss off ableists, it’s to support disabled communities

The point of supporting trans women isn’t to piss off TERFs, it’s to support trans women

The point of supporting the LGBTQ community isn’t to piss off queerphobes, it’s to support the LGBTQ community

(Anyone who fucks around on this post needs to pick a god and pray)

[arguablysomaya]

this is why blm will always come before acab

[desi-potato]

men be like women don't have a sense of humour they don't laugh when I make them uncomfortable