Kara danvers seems honest and open and bubbly but you could know her for 2 years and not know shes an orphan who’s entire family died and her sister is her foster sister and English is not her native language (not even that shes an alien, just that she isnt from this country) and she’s ripped as hell and wants to be a journalist because it’s about service and her mother was p much on the Supreme Court and her father THE most well known scientist and her aunt was a general and shes basically the equivalent of a Princess in her culture and shes actually v religious but it’s not Christian and has anxiety and PTSD and just the fact that Alex seems to know when her Earth birthday is, not even Winn really aware, who’s her best friend and Kara definitely knows everyone else’s on the entire floor like shes an absolute brick wall other than the things that are easily Google-able no one even knows who shes dating or if shes dating anyone and when she does all she says is she has a date (thinking back to the pilot) and she, an alien who has been to several different planets, told winn with a straight face there is no such thing as aliens besides superman
Whereas Lena tells a complete stranger her life story and befriends a reporter within like 2 days and let’s her know all the sordid details about her life and her tragic backstory and her mommy issues and what her relationship with her brother was like and will tell anyone her past relationships and every person knows about her family and that her moms in jail and what theyve done like there is no hiding anyway so might as well share shes a complete open book
Tl;dr Lena Luthor is Professor Open Book and Kara Danvers is the absolute brick wall professor that you dont even realize is the brick wall until Lena starts talking about her wife Kara and you didnt even know they were married or that her brother tried to kill her cousin and her mom hates her wife and her wifes sister is an FBI agent??????? That her wife sometimes consults for??? And her wife can easily kill a man. Like. Lena would be the one to reveal all of this and no one in Kara’s class even knows her age or that she had a wife or anything about her life other than what her favorite food is and that she likes red since she wears it all the time but she is literally the professor everyone loves and goes to talk to for office hours and ends up crying about whatever is troubling them and comes out feeling better and more hopeful only to realize later they found out absolutely nothing from her in return
There is a interpretation of Alex’s characterization that suggests her murder-anyone-who-hurts-Kara mentality would remain consistent, even under that circumstance.
But that being said, and as much as I felt for Kara, I did so LOVE that particular conflict.
The relationships most vulnerable to collapse are those that don’t yet know how they’d react to conflict that calls for one or both parties to confront and resolve the issue at hand. People hurt people. It going to happen in every relationship because none of us are mind-readers and toes will get stepped on, feelings will be hurt, selfishness will flare up. The response to such a conflict is the important part.
I like that Alex messes up. That she’s not perfect, even when it comes to loving Kara. I like that they misstep and hurt each other, because then we get to watch them confront and deal with those issues. We get to watch them prove there really isn’t anything in this world they can’t overcome, nothing that can tear them apart.
Alex can embody the mentality of, “I’ll murder anyone who hurts you,” without being a hypocrite because when she’s the one hurting Kara, she recognizes it and takes those steps to genuinely find a resolution in the aftermath, and she rarely ever hurts Kara the same way twice.
Now. That being said, when people hurt Kara and don’t care about Kara’s genuine feelings enough to resolve the issue, that’s when Alex starts cracking skulls.
Poor, food-hapless Alex. Lena looks like she wants to help you feel better!
I love how this perfectly encapsulates this family: Eliza’s high expectations of Alex, Alex doing her gay best and being a bit of a disaster, and Kara trying to lift her sister up in the kindest way possible.
Eliza is actually so damaging to Alex. And we had them acknowledge it, once, briefly (I believe) in season 2 but it’s never mentioned again. I do think Alex still struggles with it and it shows here so well.
She’s trying to hard to keep up at work and please Hasley and keep Earth safe so she doesn’t have time for freaking cranberry sauce. Yet, when she shows up with the canned stuff she gets instantly judged…
Alex really can’t do anything right and I wish they would address that more because this is real world stuff and I wish they would show us a way to deal with it but also how damaging it can be. Eliza isn’t evil. Eliza doesn’t even bad intentions but that doesn’t mean she’s not hurting her daughter.
They did address this. It was the driving plot of the S1 Thanksgiving ep. Alex got drunk and fought with Eliza, Eliza yelled at Alex, Kara cut in after Alex stormed off to shut Eliza down for blaming Alex for Kara coming out as Supergirl. And later Alex full on asked Eliza why nothing she does is ever enough and Eliza realized she was wrong for how she’d treated Alex growing up.
That’s why the subsequent Thanksgiving/mid-season-Eliza-centric eps touch on the issue like this; it’s an update, of sorts. By no means perfect or ideal, but they exist to show Eliza IS trying, and because of that, Alex can let the small things like the cranberry sauce roll off her back now.
They opened up the dialog between them in S1. In doing so, they characterized their relationship to allow Alex to confront Eliza on the issues that cross a line.
Again, they’re not perfect and they never will be. But Alex was vindicated for all the shit Eliza put her through. That’s the only reason she and Eliza’s relationship can look the way it does now.
Kara Danvers totally makes an appearance on Sesame Street as Supergirl
Kara as Supergirl, with Elmo and Grover and Big Bird (definitely with Big Bird) talking about how to deal with bullies.
Kara in her suit and and cape with that smile on her face that makes people smile back whether they meant to or not and kids trust her instantly, talking about adoptive families and getting along with your siblings. And no she can’t say who her adoptive family here on earth is, because they need to stay safe but she can talk about how much she loves them, just like she still loves her biological family even though she misses them every day. She can talk about the times it was hard fitting in with a new family and how sometimes someone might say something hurtful (and how sometimes that someone was her) but how family means talking and forgiveness and understanding and love whether you were born into it, or you found each other (and maybe she goes home that night and she and Alex don’t talk they just hug tighter than usual and Alex’ eyes are suspiciously shiny when she steals the remote).
Kara with her chin up and her shoulders squared and her voice not shaking at all (J’onn gives her a nod when she comes back to the DEO and a quiet “good job, Supergirl,” that means everything) talking about being far from home and trying to adjust to a new culture and a new language and how it hurt when people made fun of her and how they live in a big world where a lot of people have to leave their homes sometimes for very bad reasons and how sometimes all it takes is someone holding out their hand and saying “you can sit with us at lunch” to make things a little better.
Kara kissing Elmo on the top of his head and Elmo giggling, and then floating up to hug Big Bird so he doesn’t have to bend down.
Kara definitely being invited back.
Kara and Sesame Street
Reblogging again for the heartbreaking commentary. The Sesame Street episode I never knew I always needed.
I consider it canon that in the universe where Supergirl and Superman are real, the Muppets are real also, and Superman has sung ‘Rainbow Connection’ with Kermit at least twice.
I went to work for Cat Grant because I thought working in a media company run by a powerful woman who actually shapes the way people think would be the way that I could make a difference but instead I just fetch layouts and coffee. […] I’m not normal, I have the same powers he does. I can lift a bus, stop a bullet. Alex, I can fly.
This makes that scene in episode 2 even more poignant, because its not just Kara asking her big sister to have faith in her, its Kara asking the person she hurt, the one who means so much to her that she would give up everything for, to trust that she won’t make the same mistake again.
Imagine you are in a small, tiny closet that is literally skin tight, and you also have several bleeding knife wounds. The closet is on wheels and its mobile. You’re also very claustrophobic and experienced quite damn bit of trauma so they’re literal triggers for you.
You’re also someone who’s in public service and wired to help people. You have no idea when this will stop, and you will remain alive but barely, and the closet is the only thing keeping the knives in so they wont slide out and have you start bleeding uncontrollably until you die. It could be anywhere from a few days to a few months to a few years to forever. You cant go home or to work or even distract yourself with a meal, your choice of comfort, so all you can do is focus on the pain and the terror.
This is what happened to kara this past episode. How well do you think she was thinking when all of this happened
Do you remember when you were afraid to show Lex your little inventions? That you would hide them from him until they were absolutely perfect? Do you remember what he would do? Yeah. He’d say they were cute and I should make them in pink. This is exactly what he was afraid of. That you would outshine him.
okay okay okay but like, can this please be Lena’s arc for the season?
If S2 was ’Is Lena Luthor evil?’ (no) and S3 was ‘Is Lena Luthor right?’ (yes, but also no?), then I’m really hoping S4 isn’t so much ‘Can we trust Lena Luthor?’ but rather:
Can Lena Luthor trust others, even if she’s not in charge?
Cuz I love her but Lena doesn’t play well with others. She doesn’t ever really pick a side because the only team she’s ever known to be safe is her own.
Throughout the seasons, we have seen Lena’s circle grow beyond her isolation: at first we only saw Kara, then we get an old friend in Sam and Ruby, through which Alex got incorporated into that family as an Auntie for Ruby, and she’s expanded her circle to James. You could even argue she’s taken Eve a little under her wing. And if she counts you as one of Her People, she is Ride Or Die.
But if you’re not? If she questions whether or not you trust her? Especially if you are standing in the way of her solution to the problem to protect Her People? She will cut you out, like she did Supergirl. Her inexperience with friendship means that if you make a mistake that breaks her trust once, she’ll write you off completely. It’s all or nothing with her. Like she got so tunnel visioned about fixing Sam, that she wouldn’t consider that Supergirl had good reason to be upset about her making Kryptonite. Was Lena right last year about needing Kryptonite? Sure. But was it also completely understandable that Kara was upset that Lena was making it without her consent and maybe acted rashly because of that? Also yes, and Lena still has taken a long time to understand that. I’m not completely sure she does grasp why Kara was so afraid, even if she’s inching towards some forgiveness.
And if you look at Lena’s track record- she goes rogue all the time. She didn’t loop in Supergirl in the Diamonds Gala ep, or the Medusa virus. She didn’t listen to Kara and went after Jack by herself. She leveled a gun at Morgan Edge’s head, because she definitely didn’t trust the authorities or even Kara and Sam to prove her innocence. Even the way that she protects Her People (Sam, James, Kara), she’s betting her life, career, and wealth on her ability to find a solution without consulting about anyone else – even the person she’s helping (see: buying Catco).
And look, there are legit reasons for why she’s like this. There’s her name: growing up, her wealth made it impossible to trust if people just wanted to be friends because of what she could do for them. Even if she was the adopted one (which also set her apart from the other Luthors. Lex was the only one who cared about her). And then Lex went crazy and then it was who wants to be associated with a Luthor? Not many, that’s for damn sure.
But also sometimes it’s because she’s just head and shoulders smarter than everyone else in the room and she’s just operating on a different level than everyone else. Lena’s always been the isolated genius in the room, CEO at a young age, surrounded by mostly white old men. She’s a tinkerer, someone who is constantly trying to find solutions to fix societal problems (world hunger, children’s hospital, making it bearable for aliens to blend). Alien technology? No worries, Lena Luthor can fix that. And 95% of the time, Lena Luthor is right.
But smartest is not always best. You can be 100% right and still completely wrongheaded about it.
And the overarching message of Supergirl is that love binds us all and we are stronger together.
For better of for worse, Lena is hyper-independent, because her life experience of being surrounded by liars and abusers of power has made her suspicious of others’ motives. With all the resources, wealth and smarts to back it up, her self assurance almost borders on arrogance, because she’d rather just work alone than in a group project. She doesn’t trust other people when she’s not in control, and that’s actually a great place for character growth.
What I would like to see for Lena, what I am hoping that bit at the end with her nod to Supergirl meant, is an arc of growth for her to forgive more, to trust more, be less of a wildcard and more a part of the Superfriends. It will force her to be vulnerable (which Katie always does well with), and it introduces a hell lot of conflict into the story when they all inevitably make mistakes, without questioning if she’s good and beating a dead horse.
I wanna see Lena learn how Stronger Together works. Relationships are work because it’s a two way street, but they are worth it in the end. I want that for her. I wanna see her pick a team.
I really want her to be able to open up to the world around her past what she deems necessary
they do work differently but i mean kara does have the senses and the intellect to move fast enough but the thing is a) she’s super strong and invulnerable so along with moving that fast she’s also hitting that fast (whereas with barry like. we saw in season 1 he had to be so careful not to destroy himself in the process) and you know what she’s also hitting? the floor with her foot. Think about how you run–kara has to keep her feet as light as possible on the floor so she doesnt create craters
also, kara has to then concentrate on that, along with not accidentally getting distracted by anything her senses may tell her–she kept those glasses for 10 years not as a disguise but as a tool–they were to keep her vision in check so that she doesn’t worry about losing control and having to focus on that every single second
also bold of you to assume that Kara “youngest person entered into the science guild and I helped my father with his work and was doing Calculus in pre-school” Zor-El doesn’t do physics and a whole bunch of math such as but not limited to (some of these aren’t explicitly said but others actually are in the Supergirl tv show comics)
a)how fast she can go without cracking concrete
b)how much force she can exert upon a moving car without completely smashing it
c) how to weld a building that was crumbling so that it would be structurally sound after she was done with it
d) how much heat she can correctly put into coffee so it doesn’t boil over like that one time
e)how hard she can step without breaking the ground
f)how fast she can fly without breaking the sound barrier
g)all the shit she needs to do to make sure civilians aren’t hurt during fights; also includes the correct way to catch people SO THEY DO NOT GET WHIPLASH. VERY IMPORTANT. PEOPLE CAN DIE KAREN.
h)all the math she needs to do to figure out distance ie how fast she needs to go to get from one point to the other/fastest route (think how airplanes go but without the worry of running into another airplane)/ HOW FAST SHE CAN GO IN NATIONAL CITY WITHOUT HURTING PEOPLE BECAUSE GUESS WHAT EVER HEARD ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULDN’T GET NEAR AN AIRPLANE ENGINE IT’LL SUCK YOU IN NOW IMAGINE THAT BUT WORSE WITH KARA’S FLYING AND SENDING EVERYTHING SCATTERING EVERYWHERE
i and most importantly)how much pressure she can give for ultimate hug
ALL OF THIS HAPPENS WITH ONLY SECONDS TO CALCULATE WHILE ALSO DOING CONVERSIONS SINCE THIS ISN’T HOW SHE LEARNED MATH SO SHE HAS TO CONVERT EVERYTHING INTO EARTH TERMS
i mean i know you’re intending to make this funny but speaking as someone who absolutely should know a language and have that accent down pat and is their heritage and is horrible at it–it’s really not that funny
and it’s even worse for Clark, because these are the people who are supposed to be his family, the people he was supposed to grow up with and they’re just so alien to him–kara downplays a lot of it since she was told constantly to fit in, and he didnt see her that much but now he’s with his own people and he’s standing out like a sore thumb–his accent, his manner, how he holds himself, idioms that he just doesnt get, references that go over his head, he’s supposed to belong and he doesn’t, and we see in Myriad that Clark thinks like a human
these are supposed to be his people, and even among them he’s an outsider. and it’s another way that kara and clark are alike because at this point–kara’s not really fully one of them either. she’s gone through too much, experienced things that none of them ever had to, not even close–she was the last, more so than even clark, she had to live with feeling like she failed her parents, with being an orphan and growing up in a strange and foreign planet and all that entailed, had to constantly hide and protect
they’re good and kind and wonderful but they don’t belong. not really. not really anywhere tbh–but that’s what it means to be a child of two worlds
It’s funny that we talk about Alex’s complete lack of care
for her own safety but like
Alex’s sister is a god.
Straight up, can fly, shoot lasers out of her eyes, stronger
than Hercules, the stuff out of mythology kind of god with less than stellar control
and this is who needs her—hugs without hesitation when she sees her struggle to
have the control to pet a cat and break a boys nose during her first kiss. And
it is Alex’s choice to hold her hand
when Kara could pulverize her bones into literal dust, to comfort her when she’s
upset and could hug her when Kara could so very easily bend her in half—to be the
metaphorical good man in a storm when all of Kara’s senses are going haywire
and there’s so much to process, so
much she doesn’t know—the trauma of being the last of her people, of being
completely overwhelmed. Every touch is a possible death sentence or body cast
in the making.
This is Alex’s sister. Alex is responsible for a fucking god
and is a god’s lodestone, her tether to
mortality (not humanity. She is not human,
but there is a reason why red!Kara is
her worst self, and it is not only Alex who is preventing that
from being reality—so much of it is Kara herself, making her own choices and it
would be a disservice to Kara to suggest otherwise—but it is a lot Alex that keeps that from happening).
And Alex does all of this without fear, without hesitation,
without concern.
And it’s a two way street—physical danger? Kara can get her out of it. Of course
Alex has a reputation for being reckless even for a DEO agent—look at
who loves her.
House on fire? Kara would rush in to save her. A scream of
distress? Or even a simple spoken word? Kara would come flying to save her. Jump
off a building? New meaning to catch you when you fall. Someone shooting at
you? Her sister is bulletproof. Try
it. And sure Kara didn’t know about Alex at the DEO—but what I said about Alex
asking for help still applies.This is Kara, her favorite person in the world–not Supergirl (her words, not mine)
This isn’t to say that Alex is using or taking advantage of
Kara—again, it’s a two way street, and alex would also do anything for Kara.
But. It is definitely going to skew
her perceptions of what is ‘safe’ when your safety net is a god
Especially since—and here’s the real kicker— “The story is
only a tragedy if the god loves you back”—I’ve seen this said plenty of times
about Kara’s love interests, but god.
If that applies to anyone? It’s alex. Alex, who’s life has slowly become some
kind of Greek tragedy because of her love for her sister—and her sister’s love
for her.
Alex has the love of a god. And like everything in Kara’s
life—it’s only ever bound to end in tragedy.
Question of Smoke 