I love this scene. There’s something very subtle going on behind the obvious of Lena protecting Kara and Kara looking for an out to change into Supergirl.
Because here’s the thing, Kara’s first instinct around Lena has always been to protect her. Both physically and emotionally. On the very first day they met, Kara pulled Lena’s spiraling helicopter out of the sky and ripped the door off to get to her after bringing it to safety; she didn’t even offer the unconscious/dead helicopter pilot a precursory glance as she pushed past him to check on Lena and assure her, “You’re safe now.”
And that was just the beginning. Kara would honestly do anything to protect Lena—a fact she has proven on numerous occasions. She would fly towards a Kryptonite bomb. She would risk poisoning an entire city. She would potentially expose her true identity to the entire world. And it’s funny because none of those things are a hyperbole. Those are all actual things Kara Danvers has done to save Lena.
The last example, especially, is such a big deal. Kara knew Lena was dying, and she knew she had to act fast. So, she risked everyone finding out her true identity in order to get Lena to the DEO that much quicker. But was it even that much quicker? Kara has superspeed. Kara wears her supersuit under her perfectly tailored button downs. She could have changed in a fraction of a nanosecond. But in Kara’s mind, Lena was in too much danger to risk even that fraction of a nanosecond. Lena was in too much danger to worry about exposing herself as Supergirl to her or to the rest of National City. And this is important when looking at the scene in Lena’s lab.
So, first, in review, our two canon facts we’ve just established:
1. Kara’s first instinct is to always, always protect Lena Luthor.
2. Kara is willing to expose herself if Lena’s life depended on it
Now to the scene itself. We have a scene where Lena is in danger, but Kara has not been able to escape in order to change into her supersuit. Because Kara was acting scared (to try and get away so she could change) and maybe because Lena Luthor also has an instinct to protect Kara Danvers (bb tried to push through a cyborg to protect the girl of steel and bought a 750 million dollar company to ensure that Kara kept her job), Lena insists Kara stays with her since that is the safest place for her, and the two women find themselves face-to-face with Mercy Graves. And Mercy is armed.
And Kara lets her. Kara lets Lena step in front of her, and you can literally see Kara fighting with her instincts as they circle the table. She looks everywhere for a place to escape to change into Supergirl, with no luck,
and remains behind Lena as Lena finds a weapon of her own. And as Mercy and Lena trade fire, Kara seems as if she is about to explode as she fights all of her instincts that are screaming inside of her to jump in front of Lena to protect her.
Kara never forces Lena away from the line of fire, she never steps in front of her, she never sets a line of heat vision over her shoulder, aimed at Mercy. She doesn’t expose herself. She waits until Lena provides her cover all the way to a door through which she can escape.
And since we know that Kara has already proven herself to be willing to expose herself if Lena needed her to, then there’s only one conclusion to make: Kara realized that Lena didn’t need her to. Kara assessed the situation, looked at Mercy Graves, a known killer armed with one of Lex Luthor’s weapons, and she looked at Lena Luthor armed with a weapon her genius brain tweaked to make even more powerful, and Kara recognized that Lena was more than capable of handling herself.
Of course, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t nervous. Girl looked like she was about to combust as she forced herself to stay back and let Lena handle things.
But she did it anyway. She knew Lena could take care of herself this time, so she let her, no matter how protective she felt. And I just…I love that. I love that she recognizes the strength Lena has. Lena has saved the day countless times. She’s saved the lives of a multitude of humans and aliens alike. And Kara knows that. She respects it. So, she fights down her desire to shield Lena as the youngest Luthor does her best to teach Tony Stark a thing or two about weaponized armor, and Kara let’s Lena handle it.
It’s not the first time something like this has happened, either. I’ve snarked about it before. But I still love it. There’s so much mutual respect there. Kara knows that Lena is a brilliant and strong leader and allows Lena to protect herself just like Lena knows Kara is an honorable and talented reporter and trusts her to always get to the truth, going as far as to allow Kara full access to her past demons in order to aid her research. Which is a big deal for someone with so many deserved issues with trust. Just like it’s such a big deal for a superhero to realize they don’t have to be the hero, to understand that sometimes humans can protect themselves. That sometimes humans need to protect themselves. That sometimes people need to be their own heroes.
But of course, as I mentioned in the beginning, there are two sides of Lena that Kara instinctively protects: her physical safety and her emotional well-being. And after everything that Lena is been through, it is no wonder that she is not quite as proficient at protecting herself emotionally as she is physically, but for this, Kara never fails to step up.
Even in the scene in question, when Lena is steadfast in front of Kara, shielding her from Mercy, and Kara is forcing herself to stay back and allow Lena to take care of it, there is a moment when she falters from her resolve to let Lena protect herself.
Mercy prods at one of Lena’s biggest fears—a potential lack of integrity in her morality—
and Kara’s heckles immediately raise; she pushes forward, placing herself back next to Lena’s side as she snaps back at Mercy, protecting her best friend’s heart, reminding her that Kara Danvers still believes in her, that she knows her true self and is always willing to stand up to the naysayers.
And even later, after Kara slips out of the room and Lena finds herself cornered by Mercy who is prodding at more of those little black boxes Lena tries so carefully to bury below all of the rest,
Supergirl bursts through the door and drives Mercy into a wall, perhaps with a bit more force than necessary judging by the slight tremble in the cement column.
And then Supergirl stares her down with a look that leaves know room for argument as she stands up for Lena once more, making sure the other woman heard as Supergirl swore to the goodness of her character.
I love it. Because here’s the deal, you can’t just push for someone to step up and become their own hero without offering them the room to grow into that hero. And Kara does that for Lena. They both do if you look at Kara’s work as a reporter as life saving like Lena does. And they are able to understand and shift through all the different supportive roles necessary to allow each other to safely grow, whether it’s a thoughtful critic or a spirited cheerleader, or it’s someone to shield or a soft place to land, or it’s a shoulder to cry on or a shoulder to hide behind or a shoulder to stand on. They are exactly what the other person needs them to be, and they do it so seamlessly. I just…I love them for that level of understanding and respect because it is so rare in fictional relationships.
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