Supergirl Review: Damage (Season 3 Episode 5)
Supergirl Season 3 Episode 5 “Damage” gets at least one thing right this week, the title. This episode damages the show as a whole, and leaves the audience disappointed at Supergirl’s continually squandered potential.
I want to love Supergirl the way I used to, I want to believe in this show, and draw hope and inspiration from its stories. But those are really difficult things to do when the show is so clearly disrespectful of its audience.
With the evolution of Maggie and Alex’s relationship, and the clear queerbaiting way that Supergirl has written Kara and Lena it’s quite clear that there isn’t a single LGBTQ voice in that writer’s room.
Chyler Leigh and Floriana Lima have done a magnificent job portraying these characters; they’ve given beautiful, realistic performances. The problem here isn’t the portrayal, but the sloppy storytelling and lazy writing done behind the scenes.
There are hundreds of realistic ways to dissolve a relationship, and a disagreement over having children is one of them. Both Alex and Maggie’s points of view on this issue are completely valid, but its unrealistic to take these two all the way up to wedding showers without having this conversation.
Alex: Even when everything else, whether it was boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever, when that was blurry, the part of me being a mom, that’s always been crystal clear. And if I deny that, I’m going to feel it forever.
When Supergirl has Alex not knowing crucial things about Maggie this far into their relationship, it doesn’t read as Maggie being a private person. It reads as a lack of care put into this relationship during the construction of these scenes. It tells the audience that the writers don’t care about realism, or dynamic storytelling.
It tells us that Supergirl wanted a queer audience and then once they got it they didn’t care about treating it with any respect.
Had Supergirl not written in the engagement/wedding while being fully aware that Lima would be leaving the show in the future, a lot of this might be forgivable. Relationships end, actors leave shows, and life goes on. But fast tracking this relationship only to throw it off the track completely a handful of episodes later is a true slap in the face.
With Supergirl ending the relationship between Alex and Maggie over the issue of having kids, I do hope that they eventually follow through with that. Alex’s story and validity as a queer character shouldn’t end just because her relationship does. She should get to experience more relationships with women, and eventually, if the show lasts long enough to do it right, Alex should get to become a mom.
Meanwhile, the story between Kara and Lena is one that would be quite enjoyable if every moment of it wasn’t living in the shadow of the Supergirl Cast’s comments from SDCC 2017.
It isn’t that hard to show respect to an audience, but for Supergirl it appears to be a monumental task.
Lena continues to be one of the best characters on Supergirl as her struggle to maintain morality and goodness in spite of her family and her past makes her complex, interesting, and admirable.
Lena: You know, all I ever wanted to be was good.
The way Lena’s and Kara’s stories have interwoven with Samantha and Ruby’s is also really enjoyable to watch as the ladies all become closer, while Samantha’s plot begins to reveal itself.
Having Samantha become a part of their little found family is going to make for a heart-wrenching dynamic as she evolves into the comic book character she’s based on.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- The James/Lena set-up is about as subtle as a brick. I can’t be mad at it however, because it does at least give these two characters something to do that isn’t completely revolving around Kara.
- Both Kara and Lena facing off against Edge, but neither of them following through or being able to follow through with taking him out of the game is kind of frustrating. I can’t wait for his actions to have real consequences. Plus, I think it would be kind of cool to have seen Supergirl go full dark side and take him out. How long will Supergirl have Kara dance back and forth over the lines of morality this season?
- I do like that Kara’s solution to Alex’s relationship ending is to take her home. More Eliza please!
- So Samantha is bullet proof! I mean there’s no reasonable explanation for the bullet still being in her jacket after they show the angle at which she’s shot but hey, more powers!
- I still miss Cat Grant.
What did you think of this episode of Supergirl? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
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Supergirl airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.
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Samantha Coley
Samantha (she/her) is a social media specialist by day and a sci-fi junkie by night. As a freelance writer and podcaster, she also enjoys live-tweeting, blogging, good music, and better television. Her current favorite television shows include Star Trek (yes, all of them), Riverdale, and Stranger Things and there will always be a place in her heart for Battlestar Galactica, Leverage, and The West Wing.