Tell-Tale TV Panel: Supergirl Season 2

Supergirl Season 2 featured a lot of changes, including the network it aired on. What was your favorite moment from this season?

Check out what our panel of writers had to say about the season, and join the discussion by leaving your thoughts in the comments below!

Our panelists are:

• Samantha Coley, senior writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Drew Koenig, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Hillary Esquina, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, associate editor for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the season overall? Did moving to The CW help or hurt the show?

Hillary: I think moving it to The CW helped the show in the overall big picture, however we are still seeing some of the same CW mistakes happening. I’d go with a 7.5 for this one!

Drew: 8, whereas the first season sat at a 6.5. For whatever reason, The CW proved to be a better fit than CBS was.

Allison: I’m going to give it at 7. In some ways, moving to The CW helped a lot. Of course, we also lost Cat Grant and James disappeared for no apparent reason.

Samantha: 7. There were a lot of great things about this season, but the things that hurt it stood out in a big way.

What was this season’s biggest problem?

Hillary: There were a few problems with this season, but there are two that constantly bugged me. The first being the way that the character Mon-El treated Kara/Supergirl. This show should be about empowering women and I feel like this season they tried to focus too much on the romance and a “Prince Charming” that they forgot — Supergirl doesn’t need a knight in shining armor.

The second was some of interactions that happened between Kara and Lena. The producers/writers played a lot with the line of “queerbaiting” and female friendship.

Yes, there are a lot of people that now ship SuperCorp, but that is mainly because it’s being portrayed as if that could be a possible ship. The actresses have great chemistry but I think they need to firmly draw the line in the sand.

Drew: I agree that Mon-El was the largest obstacle for this season.

The character by himself might have been fine as essentially a frat boy that’s attempting to find a better way, but they shouldn’t have been paired together. Perhaps if he had been all season what he was in the last few episodes–a supportive, affable puppy dog–then the relationship and Mon-El might have worked, but what we got was a fairly immature and juvenile relationship.

Allison: I really hated how James was treated. The ending of James and Kara’s relationship was so jarring, and it never make sense. Then, he was shoved aside.

One of the issues I had with season one was that Kara had like three jobs — Supergirl, Supergirl at the DEO, and then Kara Danvers at Catco. It was just too much, and while the move to The CW fixed that issue by bringing Winn over to the DEO and having Kara switch jobs to a reporter (thus being at Catco less, also probably due to Cat’s absence), James got left in the dust.

There was nowhere for him to fit, which was a shame because he’s a great character.

Samantha: I completely agree with all of the above problems. Overall, Supergirl‘s strongest element has always been the empowerment of women. And thanks to the addition of Mon El, and the loss of Cat Grant, Supergirl Season 2 really fell short of hitting that empowerment and girl power theme for a lot of the season.

Additionally, James was handled in a way that made me really uncomfortable. Why end their romance so abruptly? Where was James for half the season? Bringing Mon El in when James was a perfectly good love interest that they had built up for an entire season is arguably the worst decision the show has ever made.

What worked really well this season?

Hillary: Hands down, Alex Danvers. I have to hand it to Chyler Leigh who plays this badass role and became extremely vulnerable and loveable this season. It showed just how great of an actress Chyler is, and this is the one storyline that the writers actually got right for the most part.

I also was happy to see more of Jeremy Jordan (Winn Schott) this season!

Drew: Completely co-sign. Alex was the biggest asset to the series to the point that I was far more interested in her storylines than practically any other.

Also, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman worked so much better than it had any right to. That guy is just Superman, through and through.

Allison: I completely agree with Hillary. Alex was absolutely phenomenal this season, and I felt like I knew her a lot better.

I was also happy that Winn found his place in the show as well. He’s thriving at the DEO, and I have really enjoyed exploring his friendship with James.

Samantha: I agree with everyone here, Alex’s storyline, especially for the first half of Supergirl Season 2, was absolutely wonderful. Choosing to have Alex discover that she’s gay along and taking the audience on that journey with her was absolutely beautiful, that representation is so important.

I also think Winn and Clark worked really well too. Winn really hit his sweet spot being the DEO’s resident geekboy, and while I was worried about Clark/Superman, they actually handled him perfectly.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Hillary: To be honest, the biggest surprise to most was probably when Cadmus was revealed as Lena’s adoptive mother, Lillian Luthor. I am curious to see what happens between these two characters, especially moving forward with what happened during the finale.

Drew: I was pretty surprised at the friendship (for lack of a better term) between Kara and Lena. When she showed up at the beginning of the season as possible antagonist, it seemed like that’s all she would be.

Instead, they went for this nice dynamic between the two, even though they’re having scenes together that, if they’re not going for a shipping, I don’t know what’s going on. Who bites their lips at friends like that? I ask you.

Allison: I agree with Drew. I expected Lena to be an antagonist, and I was pleasantly surprised by the friendship that developed between Lena and Kara. Aside from Alex, Kara does not spend a lot of time around women, and so it was great to see her form a friendship with Lena, both as Kara and Supergirl.

Samantha: I think I was most surprised by how well they handled Alex’s coming out. In a good way, obviously!

What are your hopes for next season?

Hillary: For #Sanvers, I hope that even with the reduced screen time for Floriana Lima, it won’t mean they leave another relationship dangling like they have in the past. (Remember Kara and James in the beginning of Season 2?) There are ways to still give this audience-favorite couple a happy ending, but CW doesn’t have the best track record with that.

The Legion of Super Heroes! They have been hinting this throughout the season, and my hope is now they have the opportunity to highlight it. The fans want it, and I think it would be a great arc to highlight the comics.

More Supergirl! I think it is great to build out supporting characters, but the show is named Supergirl for a reason. I would love to see more of this strong female character that audiences have grown to love.

Drew: I agree. As much as I like this season, there needs to be a re-focus on Supergirl going forward. Throughout the season, I think we got less of a read on Kara as the plot spread outwards to Alex and Maggie and Winn.

Also, I’m simply hoping for an outcome with Maggie that doesn’t result in another entry of Bury Your Gays. Literally anything else is preferable at this point.

Allison: I’d love to focus more on Kara.

Samantha: More Cat Grant if they can manage having Calista Flockhart around enough! I want #Sanvers to continue to be handled well. And I want to see Kara being herself again: more reporter stuff, more sister stuff, less romance.

If Kara is going to have a romance, it needs to be handled so much better than the mess of Season 2. I think it would be a good idea to avoid that for a season before trying again, let Kara find herself again on the other side. I’d also really love more of President Marsden!

What did you think of Supergirl Season 2? Share your thoughts in a comment below! You can also check out all of our other season review panels right here. There are more to come!

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