I actually couldn’t tell you for sure what triggered this thought, but you know what opportunity CW Supergirl completely missed out on?
Kara and maybe one other cast regular being stranded on Argo for like a season or even half a season. NOT this last season, because that would have been almost as bad as wasting half the last season on Kara being trapped in the Phantom Zone, though at least there would be an actual Kara plot line in my plan.
But other characters had been taking over Supergirl’s show for most of the shows run and if the main plot line of a good chunk of episodes was limited to Kara and one other character, we could have gotten Kara back as the main character and she could have had time to work through some of her issues with how she got to Earth and what she lost in the process and what she would have missed out on if she hadn’t gone to Earth, etc.
I don’t even really care all that much who the other character would be. Alex would let her vent about how much of her culture she had to hide when she got to Earth, but how much she still loves her Earth family. Lena would have let her talk about how much of her scientific knowledge she had to hide in order to not blow her cover and they could have bonded over if finally. Nia would have been an interesting character to bring because this is not the CITY that Kara grew up in. The Argo colony seems more like a small town and Nia grew up in an alien-ish small town. J’onn or Eliza would have been good contrast between Kara’s Kryptonian parents and her ‘Earth’ parents. Sam and/or Ruby could have learned about their heritage in a forum that wasn’t just a terrifying Jekyl/Hyde scenario. I’m sure other companions would have other interesting dynamics that they could explore with Kara in this new environment.
But the important thing would have been making most of the focus be Kara. Maybe we as an audience check in on Earth once or twice, because we love the cast, but the focus is on Kara in a way that the writers couldn’t figure out how to do with the entire ensemble cast present.
I know I said NOT in the last season, but in conjunction with my earlier idea where Brainy and Nia’s stowaway Young Kara comes back to the present with them after their mission; Kara and Young Kara are the ones stranded on Argo and they use this time to work through all of the issues that they jointly and separately have with their shared trauma. The whole arc is just focused on Kara trying to get back to Earth, but enjoying being immersed in her culture as much as possible.
