‘Long May She Reign’: How Supergirl Righted the Ship in Season 3
My co-worker simply shook her head. ‘It…isn’t the same.’
I frowned. ‘But was it good?’
In context, we were discussing Supergirl. In particularly, the Kara/Mon-El (aka Karamel) relationship. Ever since the Season 2 finale, she had been worried how their relationship would change. Comic buff that I was, I gave hints on what might happened.
Several episodes in…we got our answer. It was also very clear by that point that Supergirl had gotten her groove back.
SHOW ME THE SIGNS: WHAT CAME BEFORE
I had been cautiously optimistic about Supergirl.
Back in May, I wrote a blog about my thoughts on the last season of Supergirl (http://someplace-that-is-else.tumblr.com/post/160597303533/welli-guess-thats-your-exit-what-supergirl). It had been a season that was different from Season 1. And it was a very divisive season judging by fan response. In my blog, I had discussed where the season was going wrong and how it could correct that. At the time, villain Queen Rhea was being introduced and helped soothe some of those worries.
However, Rhea was gone. And a new season was upon us.
The writers clearly heard the complaints from last season…some of which were in my blog…and this season was a beauty to behold.
There was several times last season that Kara felt more like a supporting character on her own show. No more than when the writers focused on her alien boyfriend Mon-El. It was about Mon-El’s adjusting to life on Earth. It was about Mon-El’s secrets. It was about Mon-El’s pain. Uh…ok?
It was not until the tail end of Season Two that it began to feel like Kara’s show as she went toe-to-toe with Mon-El’s mother Queen Rhea to save the world.
Season Three took Kara in a new direction. A darker direction. Post-Mon-El, Kara had become a bit of a recluse. Okay, not true. She was still saving the world. However, it was all she was doing. She had isolated herself from her friends. Part of it was because she was still dealing with the loss of Mon-El. Part of it was the fear of losing someone else. It was a direction the writers played with in the first third of Season Three, going as far as making Kara a little toooo willing to give her life. It was a trait that was all too relatable to anyone who had been deeply in love with someone. A bonus to that fact? That it was all about KARA.
Even as the season allowed for new elements from Cat-Co dealings with Lena and new villain Morgan Edge to a peek into Kryptonian religion, the focus on Kara never shifted as slowly, but surely she attempted to recover from the loss of Mon-El.
Immediately, worries came up again. Was the show going to shift again? Was it going to be less about Kara like it was in Season Two? Was it Mon-El time?
And….it wasn’t. It was about Kara’s reaction to Mon-El’s presence. It was about her reacting to his experience away from her and what had happened…which was time jumping…not to mention a wife.
And then it was about Kara’s pain. Kara’s ability to overcome that. But the point continued to be made as the seasonal arc about a hidden Kryptonian weapon aka the world-killer Reign started to take shape.
YEAH, BABY!!! THAT BAND DYNAMIC!!!!
Another thing that has improved this season on Supergirl was the fact that THE ‘BAND’ WAS BACK TOGETHER.
I mentioned in my last Supergirl blog that Team Supergirl was suffering from the Season Two curse of being in separated storylines when most viewers wanted to see the team dynamic together. While it was nice to see characters being developed, something could be said for it occurring within the push-pull of the team. It was possible, but one might assume otherwise if they were watching during Season Two.
Thankfully, that appeared to be a thing of the past. Were characters still having separate storylines? Of course!! Off the top of my head, there was J’onn discovering his father was alive and trying to get him adjusted to Earth. There was Alex dealing with her wedding…or the loss of Maggie over the possibility of children. There was James being a good spar partner for Kara…and Lena, leading to a romance.
Even the newly returned Mon-El had finally found a place within the group dynamic. Mon-El’s introduction in Season Two was very much like how soap operas introduced new characters…shoving them down fans’ throat without much time for character development. Worse his time took away from characters that the audience already loved….a BIGGGG no-no. This season, Mon-El was integrated into the group slowly, ironically how a new character on a soap should be introduced. #douglasmarland. And Mon-El this season was so much better for it, still having his own storyline, but he still was part of the gang now. Best of all, none of it took away from Kara THE MAIN CHARACTER. His return even enriched her own now.
SOMETIMES IT’S THE JOURNEY: REIGN AND THE SEASONAL ARC
So…who remembers Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Five?
Season Five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer started with Buffy appearing to come into her own as the Slayer. And then it started to throw curveballs. Oh, it’s Dracula! Oh, Buffy has doubts about her potential! Oh, Buffy has a sister! Wait, a sister? How!?!
Finally after several standalone episodes, the arc of that season revealed itself when a hot woman in a red dress entered stage left. Her name? Glory? She was…a hellgod. Banished from her home, she was looking for a key to get back to her hell dimension, throwing death and sass along the way. The Key? Buffy’s unheard of younger sister Dawn. It turned out some monks had casted a spell, making said Key into a person and gave Buffy and her friends false memories in order to be sure Buffy would guard it with her life. You see…if Glory used said Key, all of reality would fall apart.
But before we got to the end of the season, there were all kinds of episodes that appeared to not be connected to the seasonal arc at all. Buffy and her vision quest aka ‘Death is Your Gift.’ Spike’s growing love/obsession with Buffy which lead to a character named Warren creating a Buffy robot. Ex-Demon Anya and Willow having a jealous fit over Xander’s time with the other, allowing for the appearance of Olaf and his Troll Hammer. Completely unattached to the seasonal arc of Glory and her Key.
In the season finale…the 100th episode at that…all of these loose threads came together. All the things that appeared unrelated just fell into place. The Troll hammer came in handy as Buffy took on Glory. As did the Buffybot and Spike’s growing feelings. Meanwhile ‘Death is Your Gift’ came full circle as Buffy gave her sister the greatest gift of all…the gift of living for another day by sacrificing her own life. Her death.
Supergirl this season appeared to be going in a similar writing direction. There was the second episode that introduced villain Psi. There was another episode having to do with the character of Coville and his embracing of Kryptonian religion. Both stories tapped into Kara’s state of mind post-Mon-El. Meanwhile, there was a crashed ship in the waters of National City. There was nothing that appeared attached to what the seasonal arc was about…naming the coming of supervillain Reign.
And just like Buffy Season Five…everything started to come together. The ship turned out to hold Mon-El and the superhero group the Legion of Super Heroes. Coming from the future, the mission was to stop the WorldKillers…which Reign happened to be ONE of. Coville turned out to align with the people behind the WorldKillers…and how that factored in overall was still a mystery. Meanwhile, Psi had appeared again, helping Supergirl out reluctantly in order to stop the WorldKillers. I was even of a mind that there were still secrets to be had to what happened with Mon-El in the future that have yet to be revealed that will affect Kara. Given that Kara had already been beaten twice by Reign, in order to stop her…them…would Kara have to do what Buffy did in Season Five?
Given how debatably suicidal she was at the start of this season…that could be a REAL possibility.
Overall, Supergirl was on a high in its third season. After a divisive second season, it had come back into its own with a strong seasonal arc with character development, the old school team dynamic that fans knew, and of course, the focus firmly back on the main character.
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