SUPERGIRL 6.19-20

RECAP - SUPERGIRL  6.19:  "The Last Gauntlet"/6.20:  "Kara"  (Series Finale) 

We have finally reached the end of Kara Zor-El's journey....at least what WE get to see of it.  We KNOW the Girl of Steel and the Superfriends will have many, MANY adventures to come...be we will not bear first hand witness to them.  As did Green Arrow did the year before last, and Black Lightning did just this past season, Supergirl departs the Arrowverse's main stage, and allows new heroes to take the spotlight.  As we have seen this season, the Maid of Might has had to battle not just Lex Luthor, but the new 5th Dimensional Imp of Terror - Nyxly.  Now, with Nyxly and Lex working together for total domination, the stakes are high, as they want the totems to join together to gain ultimate power---and they have a bargaining chip:  Esme.  As Esme has become the love totem, it's going to force the Superfriends' hands to get her back.  Can our team of heroes save National City....and the world....one last time?  Let's see how it all ends....

This was the last arc of this (what I believe), lackluster storyline to bring this series to a close.  Esme has been captured by Lex and Nyxly, and they discover the love totem has reconstituted itself into her.  They need to get it out before it reconstitutes again, and Lex is contemplating killing the young girl to get it out, but Nyxly...in a rare show of humanitarianism...won't let Lex kill her.  She needs to earn Esme's trust in order to obtain the totem that way.  Lillian Luthor shows up to warn Lex that Nyxly will betray him, and Lex shuts his mother down, saying that he loves her, but she laughs it off, and says he's incapable of love.  She's always been mistrusting of aliens, and so she also tries to work over Nyxly, but Nyxly is wise to her...but Lillian warns her about Lex, and she takes off.  

The team has discovered William's body, and Andrea has followed his trail there, finding out where the Superfriends' hideout is.  She feels awful because of what SHE did that caused his death.  Andrea truly feels like a monster.  Lena tells her straight up that if she doesn't want to be the monster, then do something about it---change.  Alex is overly distraught, and Lex leaves them a message:  bring all the totems, and meet them where the Omegahedron had exploded...which is a dead area.  They get the totems, and they will return Esme.  But they also need the final totem in order to make the All Stone.  Supergirl must find the final totem, so she goes after it.  She obtains it, but Alex follows her, and wants it.  She says that the ONLY thing that matters is getting Esme back, and if that means giving Lex the totems, so be it.  Kara tries to warn her that this is a bad idea, but Alex doesn't care.  Meanwhile, Brainy is trying to find a way to power up Supergirl by having her absorb solar energy to make her more powerful than the totems, and cancel them out.  Lena warns of the environmental impact this little maneuver will make, but Kara doesn't see any other option.  

Lex has been keeping track of the time, and their almost out of time to get the totem from Esme, so---against Nyxly's wishes, he goes to get the totem the hard way---by killing the girl.  Nyxly manages to stop him, and refuses to let him hurt her.  In her one act of kindness for Esme, and her refusal to Lex to let him hurt a child...she passes the gauntlet and gets the love totem.  She tells Lex to screw himself, and that he's just scum, and ends their partnership.  She grabs Esme to meet Kelly and Alex on a bridge for the exchange.  Lillian returns to gloat to Lex, but he ALWAYS has a plan.  As Supergirl starts absorbing solar energy from the satellite Brainy configured, and she's powering up, the exchange is made on the bridge, and Nyxly assembles the All Stone.  Lex then blows up the bridge to take out all parties and get the All Stone himself.  Supergirl's power absorption is turning the skies red, and she can hear the panic in the streets as the Secretary of Defense is telling her and the team to stop.  Supergirl realizes that this is NOT the way to stop Nyxly and Lex, and tells Brainy to stop. He shuts off the device, and she apologizes to everyone.  She and the team then take off to help Alex and Kelly.  

They join the fight at the bridge, and as the fighting ensues, Esme gets mad and her powers breaks the All Stone apart.  Lex, Nyxly, and Supergirl end up grabbing a piece, and are at a Mexican Standoff.  Within that battle, Lillian is mortally wounded, as she showed up to try and help Lex, but saw Lena using her magic in the fight.  Lex and Nyxly then face off against each other, and their battle starts raging over the city.  And their battle is also sapping the will of everyone in the city, if not the world.  In 72 hours, all the will and hope humanity has will be sucked dry by the two evil villains, as their war continues.  Supergirl has to take time away to think....she is distraught and just doesn't know what to do.  After flying about, she hears Orlando give a passionate speech about fighting back and standing up for yourself. To not give up hope.  Supergirl then knows what she must do.  

Lena visits Lillian, who says that she protected Lena when she was younger by placing talismans about the house to dampen her magic powers, because she didn't want Lena to wind up like Lex.  She did it to protect her, but she knew about Lena's powers the whole time. So...all this time...villain as she was...Lillian turns out to be some semblance of a good mom?  She ends up dying in front of Lena.  Supergirl realizes that she's been trying too hard to be the hero, that it was her job to rescue everyone...but she instead feels that the heroes and the public need to partner up.  So, using Lena's magic to help get people to face up to their fears and find courage and hope, Supergirl broadcasts her message, and it seems to be working, as everyone comes out of their malaise.  

The battle is once again on, as Nyxly and Lex start losing power when everyone starts feeling strong again and having hope.  Lex and Nyxly start conjuring monsters and enemies like Red Tornado, Parasite, and even Overgirl to battle the Superfriends.  Supergirl is saved from Overgirl and Lex by Mon-El, as he and the Legion return to 2021 to help join the fight.  Jimmy also returns as Guardian to pitch in.  Eliza even pitches in to help by destroying some of the creatures conjured up by the evil duo, which brought out the best line of the entire two episodes.  When Alex sees her mom, Eliza comments that "You'd think I was a Kryptonian", to which Alex replied "Only in the movies".  This harkens back to actress Helen Slater's time as Supergirl from the movie.  Either way, the good guys take out the monsters.  And as they're ready for the next wave, Lex opens up a portal to the Phantom Zone.  He says it can't be sealed, and the phantoms come racing out.  However, instead of coming after the people and the heroes...they turn around and attack Lex and Nyxly, and drag them back into the Zone, thus ending the threat once and for all.  It turns out, according to Supergirl, that hubris was the thing that covered for fear---and the phantoms knew that of Nyxly and Lex.  

The team gathers for William's funeral, and it's a somber time for them to remember the sacrifices he made to make the world a better place with his reporting...and for trying to save Esme.  J'onn had talked to the President and Secretary of Defense, and they want to have the DEO re-started.  Brainy isn't sure, and neither is Alex, but Kara says that it's a good idea.  They need to show that they can work WITH the people, not just work outside of them. Mon-El has to head back to the 31st Century, and says his goodbyes to Kara---he will never return to this time ever again.  Brainy has to take his leave of Nia, but he promises her that he will always carry her in his heart.  

We then jump to three weeks later, as Kara is going through the floral arrangement for Alex's wedding, she sees a news report on TV, and they talk about a rescue operation.  She thinks she's needed, but instead, the problem seems to have been solved, thanks to people helping people.  She then gets a call from the long missed Cat Grant.  Cat's on a beach in a wet suit, and tells Kara that she bought Catco back, and she wants to refocus the magazine on actual reporting that matters---so she's offering Kara the job as Editor-In-Chief.  She goes to take off, she'll be back in National City in a couple weeks, and wants Kara to sign the contract she left her.  Alex shows up, and Kara tells her what happened.  Alex is excited for her, but Kara isn't sure.  She says that she allowed herself to get so distracted as Kara Danvers, that it prevented Supergirl from being the best hero she can be.  She feels deflated because everyone else is having their best life....but not her.  Alex assures her that whatever choice she makes will be the right one. 

We jump to the wedding, where Kara and Winn sing a wedding tune.  Jimmy walks his sister down the aisle, and J'onn officiates the ceremony.  Alex and Kelly are finally married, and everyone celebrates.  Nia is then found by Brainy, who said he couldn't live without her.  He also managed to find time to throw a Barry-ism in there:  the future hasn't been written yet.  So, with that in mind, while the threat of the Big Brain being in danger is still an issue, there's time to prevent that from happening.  So, he and Nia can be together.  While the reception continues, Winn, Jimmy, and Kara sit down and talk about the old days, the Supergirl OG team, and how things have changed.  Winn also drops a bomb on J'onn about him and M'gann's children running the DEO in the future.  He also says that Mxy sends his best from the 5th Dimension.  As they go to dance, Kara is called by Cat again, who wonders WHY she hasn't signed her contract.  Kara is stuck, much to Cat's dismay.  Cat says she knows she's Supergirl, and that's why she's held back.  She tells her that she's always known, the glasses never fooled her.  She thinks Kara should become one integrated person...because she'd be able to do so much more if she did....plus, the whole Kara/Supergirl ID crisis is boring.  Kara has much to ponder.  Lena talks to her, and Kara understands why she never passed the courage test:  her biggest fear was coming out as Supergirl, and having to give up who she was in the process.  Lena tells her that she shouldn't hold back...because once Lena stopped holding back on her part, she became the best person she is.  As we have seen, she opened up a new company, Andrea opened up a school in William Dey's name, and Dreamer opened up an LGBTQ outreach center...everyone was living their best life...time for Kara to do that herself.  So, has Lena encourages her to celebrate the wedding....Kara takes off the glasses...and leaves them on the table.  

We get one more final family game night, where Kara thanks everyone for the past six years of adventures, and to the many more they will have.  They all toast, and as we pan outside of Kara's apartment, we see Cat Grant on a big screen, addressing National City, giving an interview to the new Editor-In-Chief, Kara Danvers...whom she introduces as Supergirl...and we finally see Kara Zor-El embrace her true self as the show ends.  

Well....after 126 episodes among 6 seasons, the Girl of Steel leaves our tv screens.  And...I gotta tell you, I only REALLY felt entertained by the last half hour of the final episode.  The whole storyline with the totems and Nyxly wasn't my cup of tea, and didn't really hold my interest like it could've.  And I didn't feel Nyxly really deserved a whole 10 plus episode story arc as the main villain.  It only got MORE watered down by the fact that Lex had to make one more appearance in it to be the OTHER bad guy.  Don't get me wrong....Cryer has breathed new life into this character---but I just felt that he was shoehorned into this story because, honestly, the writers had no real direction for it, and Nyxly alone didn't generate enough heat for a villain.  Now, I thought Peta Sergeant did a good job with developing Nyxly, and breathing life into this villain...but I just didn't get into her as a huge "big bad".  So, for me, the last huge arc of this season was about totems, and using them to form a stone that can control all of the universe---so, it's like the Infinity Stones Thanos was searching for in the Avengers movies....just not that good.  I was surprised that they decided to kill off Lillian Luthor, but I think HER death was the final push needed to get Lena to be HER full self...especially since Lillian told her that she knew the truth about her magic powers, and her biological mother.  So, in HER last act, Lillian showed that she was, indeed, something of a loving, caring mother.  

To me, the other problem was these last two episodes...some of the scientific superhero speak and plot points felt nonsensical, and inconsistent.  It's as if the writers were just out of gas creatively at this point, and they just wanted to push the series across the finish line.  And I think that the series suffered from this the whole season.  Blame COVID or not, it threw all the plans into a tailspin, and they had to do serious re-writes to get this season moving.  Plus, with Melissa Benoist now a new mother, her time is now being diverted to parenthood, and probably scaling back on network TV for the time being.  So, they had to try and cram a story that they felt would be worthwhile in order to get this last season in.  I am not sure it needed a 20 episode slate...I think they could've wrapped it up in half the time.  Arrow's last season was only 10 episodes...most of which they spent on giving fan service by bringing back elements of the past before Ollie had finally met his demise. So, with this extra length, I don't think they did themselves any favors.  

The last half hour DID bring us the Legion, though they really didn't DO much, but give us a Mon-El appearance, as well as a returning Winn.  Plus, throw in Jimmy Olsen, and we got to fanboy and fangirl out.  For ME, though, was the return of Cat Grant.  The series to ME, wouldn't be complete without HER return, even if only for a scene or two.  What we got was great satisfaction to me----she got her company back, promoted Kara, and kicked Kara in the ass to get her to see that she didn't need a dual ID to make a difference.  It allowed Kara to finally embrace herself, and step out into this world a more confident woman and hero.  After all, look at the changes to Lena from the time the episode started...Lillian's death, and her look at the wedding.  Only thing missing from Lena there were vampire fangs and a black cape.  They totally went goth with the woman.  She looked like Fairuza Balk from The Craft. 

That brings me to my other point I want to make.  I know for the last few years, there were MANY people who felt that Kara and Lena should've been THE couple on this show----but, folks, I gotta tell you something---was NEVER going to happen.  First and foremost---Kara admitted WAAAAAY back in the pilot episode that she was NOT gay to Winn.  I seriously doubt in the 6 years we've watched Kara Zor-El, that any of that changed.  I think that so many (and a good chunk in and in support of the LGBTQ audience), felt it was obvious they were in love.  I guess my eyes saw something differently:  that you could have two strong, powerful, successful women be JUST best friends....bordering on sisterhood.  I never saw a romance angle from either of them, and considering the baggage they brought to the table and the amount of mistrust from last season----no.  Now, I know many will say that "Yeah, but things change, and it was just SOOOO obvious that they were into each other".  That's what you were hoping for.  But it never would've properly served THE STORY, people.  You can fanfiction these two to your heart's desire---but they were NEVER becoming a couple.  And before anyone hops on their soapbox about representation for minorities...you HAD a LGBTQ couple on this show with Alex and Kelly....you had the first trans heroine in Dreamer...plus...you look at a powerful businesswoman like Andrea Rojas...Kelly and Jimmy themselves, and J'onn...M'gann, and many others.  There was good chunk of representation all the way around on this show.  If the relationship doesn't serve the overall STORY, then it's just shoehorning it in for fanservice...and that's a DISSERVICE to the characters and the writers.  So....you can dream and fantasize all you want.  But they're friends...leave it at that. 

Either way, I am going to miss Supergirl.  She often times was a bright spot, without getting overly too heavy on the drama and topics, but the last couple seasons saw them tackle some tough issues, and at times they got just a tad too preachy, and that can turn off audiences.  But for the most part, it was wonderful to watch the Girl of Steel in action for 6 years, and it's hard to say goodbye to yet another Arrowverse show...as 3 have now left the air (yes, I consider Black Lightning an Arrowverse show, though he never really interacted with any other characters on HIS show).  The Flash continues to be the elder statesman show, with Legends now taking over as the "little brother" show.  So, we bid farewell to another member of the Arrowverse "Big Three", as Kara Zor-El takes her final bow.  

What did all of YOU think of these final two installments of the Maid of Might?  What did you think and feel about the series as a whole overall?  Will you miss Supergirl?  Subscribe and leave a comment below.  

For the final time....UP, UP, AND AWAY!!