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kuekyuuq · 1 year

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One of the things that bug me about how CWSG ended...

And no, it's not (just) a certain lacking endgame XD

We've got a serialized show about Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, Kara Danvers. And yet the show spent overall so little time on her.

She got traumatized several times over, it got implied that she suffers from claustrophobia and PTSD. Yet it was never fully addressed, the next episode Kara just moved on, carried about - as if this was an episodic show. Which, yes, with the freak-of-the-week nature it was at certain points, but it also did in many others aim to have connected and continuous plots, story and character developments...

Now, what is it that bugs me in this installment?

Kara coming out to the world as Supergirl. Aaaand cut. Show over.

Is this a continuation or inevitable destination of Kara's struggles? Well, I argue, no.

What we did have was Kara struggling to find her place in the world. Kara is many things. She's a (no longer) orphan. She's (no longer) the last daughter of Krypton. Kara(thought she was but really is no more) the last Kryptonian to carry Krypton’s legacy, history, culture, education.. everything.

... Kara is Kryptonian. Was raised as one until she was 13, throughout the majority of her informative years. Kara Zor-El. Kara has incredible powers, which her very nature dictates she uses for good, become a hero. Supergirl. Kara is.. a refugee, adopted and in some ways till the end of the show at times struggling to fully integrate herself as: Kara Danvers. Kara's nature, without her powers also have her to strive to help others, uncover and fight bad things. A reporter. Kara's also just the girl who loves musicals, Big Belly Burger, Karaoke, hates greens, wants a perfect partner at Game Night... Just Kara. Kara is a sister. Kara is a daughter. Kara is a loyal friend...

Several times in the show, whenever Kara was struggling, Kara thought she had to chose between Supergirl or Kara Danvers.

The Black Mercy clearly showed Kara’s longing to be Kara Zor-El, missing the what-if.

During her redK incident some more seeds of that were sown, her red-veined self mildly risking her identity - but mostly showing that Kara was unhappy playing herself down (e.g. as Kara Danvers at work).

The downside of revealing herself was depicted in the 100th episode.

There were more instances whenever Kara became overwhelmed, that she wondered if her duality (person vs. persona) was the cause of her problems.

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But the solution was NEVER to go full Supergirl!

It was always something else. ALWAYS, the show, told us, showed us, Kara was ultimately happier being bouncy Kara Danvers at the office and the proud hero on the streets. That despite her pain and whichever most recent trauma, neither her cape nor the glasses were the problem. Nor was the double-act. [...except when it came to Lena]

Kara considered going full-time Supergirl in season 6 (episode 16), too. Alex and William (quoting Kara who quoted Cat) talked her out of it by letting her know, she can have it all, taking one step at a time, and maybe not all at once - because she's got a team, a family!

And then she does it anyway.

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She also becomes editor-in-chief at CatCo (which likely cuts down her investigative reporting time by a great chunk... You know, the very thing she loved about the job, loved so much it even - temporarily - did cost her that very job).

Oh, and there was also this:

The argument was made, that the whole double-life spiel had long since lead to Kara no longer knowing who she really was.

But did it?

I mean... yeah, it sure can be stressful at times, but... right, speaking of stress. Kara made that decision after

being part of reshaping the universe (and having witnessed the death of all of them beforehand!)

which reshaped Kara's history she now has no knowledge of (due to being a Paragon) or, if J'onn or her stay in the fractured PZ somehow bestowed her with her Prime-Earth memories, she now has two sets of memories...

she had been cast into the Phantom Zone again, where she had to suffer at the hands... claws... of the Phantoms and their nightmare inducing powers which are known to drive people insane for them eventually no longer being able to tell reality and the nightmare apart.

she found out her father was still alive and she sent him off to Argo / her mother - her family now well, whole and alive somewhere out in the universe

loosing yet another friend (William)

...

So, she tells the world she's Supergirl,

which will not erase the in episode 100 mentioned threats to her fam's lives

while the Children Of Liberty had been beheaded, the mistrust in people is still around

two years prior, during the Red Daughter incident, she had been declared public enemy number one

her sister's got a kid

ALL her prior reasons not to do so, have not magically evaporated!

I know, she's the Paragon of Hope, but...

People know Supergirl. Only very few know Kara Danvers. Hardly anyone on Earth ever knew about Kara Zor-El.

So, ask yourself, after revealing herself to the world, how would/will people perceive her now?

I think it's very naive to think, that Kara can be "herself" when people (at Al's bar, Noonans, work, performing the rare interview she manages to squeeze in between supering and her new, demanding job at CatCo) now either get star-struck or nervous at "meeting Supergirl", or at worst can't think past her being an (over-powered) alien. Supergirl is (in)FAMOUS! There is only Supergirl now, in the eye of the public, to anyone she meets. ...how could that possibly help her be more “herself”? The only people who she can be herself are the ones she could all along - her friends and family. If anything it made going for a walk much more stressful, whereas Kara Danvers could eat ice cream without judging her for the messy way she may go about it in her eagerness...

Is she being more honest?

Yes. There’s no more need to “fly on the bus”, am I rite? No more lies.

Does this lead to her being more true to herself?

...on the surface at least, yes.

Does this lead to her being able to live as herself, her true and authentic self?

No, and not for some decades either (eventually, far away in the future, her having taken that step, and others following her example, this may very well lead to people not making distinctions anymore, being a Hero possibly just becoming considered yet another job, like a fireman/-woman or police officer).

Just a few years ago they've built the woman a friggin statue!

So, no. I do not think - and the show has not given me anything to believe otherwise, rather kept affirming my conclusion - that Kara would indeed be able to live as "herself" after the finale episode and her public "coming out".

I think the writers or whoever was in charge of that decision only saw the superficial symbolism (and a woke pro-LGTBQ+ implication). But they've entirely ignored Kara's path, her evolution and her experiences.

Truth be told, if there had been a seventh season after this cliffhanger (which it essentially was, as it raised more questions than it provided answers and/or closure), it would have had to have featured Kara facing the plenty-fold backlash of that decision. But making the show about Kara - the character - may have been a bit too much to ask for anyway... Maybe even culminating in her needing to call back Mxy to cash in her do-over raincheck.

So, no.

I see what the show was trying to say.

"Be yourself, don't hide, be proud." And that IS a good message.

But within the context of the show? Oh, boi, this one failed hard IMO.

My advice for Kara Danvers?

TAKE A VACATION! Really, just be "Kara" for a while. No Super, no Danvers, no Zor-El. Just kick up your legs, DEAL with your trauma (talk to Kelly!), clean up shop, find your center, focus on your needs for a while.

Go sing Karaoke with your extended found family. Eat buckets of ice cream. Watch every musical in existence. Maybe even go and visit your re-united parents! Go on a road-trip with your bestie. 🥷 Finally take some time off to mourn: Red Daughter, William, Jeremiah (for good), Oliver... Go meet your nephews! There's two of them now, and they are teens already!

Trust your friends, trust in them having your back, that the world won't get destroyed (again) just because you take a few months of a sabbatical or to just limit yourself to rescuing kittens and helping grandmas cross the streets for a while. Maybe you'll even find a hook for a story to snag yourself another Pulitzer while you're just out there enjoying the world.

And yes, just ENJOY the world you've saved (over and over and over and...) for once! There's so much beauty in it. Prove to yourself why it is all worth it!

Because, Kara is NOT just Supergirl OR Kara Danvers OR just Kara...

She's all of the above and so much more.

Revealing herself to the world is not changing that it isn’t an instant solution to Kara's multitude of problems, her traumas, her inner(!) duality (tripality? quadrality?...).

The seasons have put her through the ringer several times over without giving her a chance to breathe, have thrown trauma, drama, loss, grief, shock and terror at her over and over and over again. She's a former last Kryptonian orphan refugee adopted by humans who has her parents back but estranged by time and space, facing xenophobia, racism, sexism (lots of 'isms...) left and right, had to face, fight and lose her own "evil" twin, possibly contradicting memories of her teenage years up to Crisis, keeps losing even when she's winning, spreads herself way too thin because of Big Bads constantly showing up....

For Rao's sake! The girl really doesn't know who she is anymore!

And it only on the surface leads back to her being a reporter and a Super both day and night.

There is a reason the comic book arc of Superman revealing himself got retconned / axed. ...after all, if I grasped that correctly, it was Lex' great idea for Sups to reveal himself to the world...

And no. I don't think either Cat nor Lena meant for Kara to come out like that. They were being supportive. Cat in her "you need to figure out what you want, so just dive, Kara!" way and Lena in the more gentle "whatever you feel is right to you, my one true love best friend" approach. Cat was trying to push Kara (meant well, but IMO after the previous events just wrapped up, a bit of a bad timing). And Lena was ...kinda enabling, having just come on the other end of her own life-long trauma spiel and possibly being over-supportive after the year of hell...

So yeah, I've got issues with the last few minutes of the finale. In my head-canon it was Kara's fever dream after she finally had a full night's sleep after the final show-down.

Feel free to disagree!

TL;DR:

“I was missing the point. It is not about what you do. It is about who you love.”

- Cat Grant [2x21]

#Kue out.

#cw supergirl #finale #reveal #supercorp #6x20 #spoilers #kara danvers #kara zor-el #kara zor-el danvers #secret identity #Kue doing Kue-things #none of the pics or gifs are mine #CWSG #reposting myself #bc this got CL blocked for no good reason #stuck in review limbo for 2 weeks with no progress #lemme just have some good ol' fashioned fandom fun #overanalyzing fandom

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