“Cat Grant is arguably the only character who captured the essence of feminism in everything she did, and the advice she gave to Kara was always so empowering, thoughtful, and was really for empowering the fans and women everywhere. Without her, there was really no filling the void because no character could have ever lived up to Cat, but the writers didn’t even attempt to”
can i just say that i’m a slut for supergirl angst? like, kara zor-el remembers krypton. she’s not removed from it, like clark. every person she ever knew, everyone she ever passed on the street, went to school with is dead. the first boy she had a crush on in school- dead. the first girl she kissed, red-faced and young and embarrassed- dead. yorin, a student in her father’s lab who would keep sweets for her in his pockets.
dead
(she spends 3 months doing the calculations; her birthday is september 22 in earth time. this is what she tells her foster-parents when they ask why she’s holed up in her room, doing complex astrophysics.
krypton was destroyed in february and she mourns silently and alone)
the culture, too. she tries to teach clark kryptonese but he can’t buzz the words correctly in his throat, he can’t twist his tongue around the syllables all the way and he sounds wrong. she tells him the name Rao with reverence and he repeats it with flat incomprehension and she wants to cry and rage because she was supposed to teach him these things. she was supposed to pass krypton on to clark, but she’s twenty years too late.
her angst about not protecting her cousin is valid, but it makes more sense that she’d feel more about not being able to teach clark his heritage. clark may be superman, but kara is the last daughter of krypton.
Bonus:
Not even the sky is the same here on Earth. Everything is too yellow and blindingly bright. Her eyes have grown accustomed to the light, but there is a reason she like sunsets and sunrises the best.
She doesn’t know how to explain the animals that existed on Krypton. Oh, she tries, but there are just no words. None that can describe the breadth of diversity that was Kryptonese flora and the fauna because they’re too different, too alien to truly understand their beauty without experiencing it.
(”No, it was more like…It’s so…”
“I guess you kinda had to be there, huh?”
“Yeah. I guess.”)
Even the landscapes are beyond description. She tried painting a few a couple times, but the closest she got was only an echo of the real thing. A child’s memory that faded along the edges before her talent could catch up.
And even if she could draw the sharpest image of her planet, it would still be missing the sound and touch of the place. The way the air tasted and the feel of the dirt between her fingers. She doesn’t know how to capture the way the rain trickled down in a storm or how the winds sang against the spires of Argo and Kandor. And then there was the hum. Everywhere on the planet, there was always this slight vibration that she can’t quite describe, like a constant heartbeat thrumming from the ground all the way to her fingertips.
It’s not just the people, but the physical place that Kara misses. The one place that Kara will always belong to without question, where she doesn’t have to fight for the right to exist or justify her place in that world. It was her birthright. Her home.
Krypton.
She says the word as if doing so would breathe life back into it, as if her repeating it is the only way it can stay alive. It only exists now in softened images in her mind, in poisoned fragments of rock that are lethal to touch, and in the broken family links of the House of El.
Kara Zor-El, last true child of Krypton. There will be no one else after she is gone.
no one asked you kay
what the fuck no why get these feelings away from me
Interesting thing to note: of the times we’ve heard Kryptonian on this show, it’s always been Kara or J’onn speaking it. Clark understands but is never shown to speak it (which is a typical language thing with 2nd gen bi-cultural kids).
Just more things to think about in fannish spaces, since the show seems to have abandoned Kara’s Kryptonian backstory and how it informs her character in the narrative these days.
Well one, thank you, the balance has definitely one of my goals for the blog lately.
And two, I relate thoroughly.
Between Katie’s addition to the cast and her chemistry with Melissa and the mess surrounding Kara and Mon-El, there’s not much room for Kara as her own person.
I think one of the biggest problems within the Supergirl show and the Supergirl fandom is too much emphasis on romance and not on the characters themselves and their other kinds of relationships. Or perhaps… just not enough of the other stuff along with the romance.
From my Kara-focused world, I’ve seen stuff just about her turned into a “yes, and then Lena comes in and does x, y, and z!” or “and THIS is why she doesn’t belong with Mon-El!”, just as I’ve seen stuff about Kara and Alex but Lena is always there too or Maggie is always there too.
And as someone who loves romance but who values the strength, non-romantic relationships, and independence of characters more, it’s kind of exhausting.
I feel like I ship a rare pair and it’s Kara x Autonomy.
As much as we complain about the show’s writers not giving Kara her own storyline apart from a love interest, as much as we complain about a lack of Danvers sisters scenes, we’re doing the same thing they are.
You cannot tell me that Alex Danvers doesn’t know Kryptonese. That while Alex was teaching her everything of Earth, that Kara didn’t teach Alex her language. That they didn’t stay up late, looking at the stars, and Kara said every word into relation of what they saw.
You cannot tell me Alex doesn’t speak better Kryptonese then Kal-El. Because it is something she actually wanted to learn and support of because of Kara.
Alex couldn’t give her her planet, her loved ones, or her life back, but she could talk to her in her language.
You know, Kara also doesnt have many friends (that we see) so her draw to Lena is as this person who is finally voicing everything Kara’s been feeling.
Im awkward.
Im inexperienced.
My family is crazy.
And Kara is like, finally, someone who gets it. Someone who says it outloud. And so she looks up to her. Shes drawn to her.
The strongest woman she knows. A person living a parallel life to Kara’s and finding success and giving Kara that extra courage to act.
Be a reporter.
Write that article.
Take a risk.
The complement and compatibility is outrageous and so perfect i want to scream.
Kara’s obsession w food also makes a lot if sense when u remember that for kara, until she became supergirl there really wasn’t much physical activity she could do that gave her endorphins bc she wasn’t using her powers and just normal everyday activity does nothing for her like is there anything other than sex and food that would do much? I am not an expert on the subject so idk but when you have Massive PTSD and need stress relief and physical activity doesn’t work and all your other senses are constantly dialed up to a bajillion it makes sense Kara loves food
you know what I’m most pissed about the CW Supergirl?
they really could’ve just make Mon El a comic relief, like make him an explorer who landed on Earth by accident. (like in the comics)
no drama, no relationship angst, none of this heterosexual bullcrap.
just an alien doing everything hilariously wrong while occasionally providing the DEO with some critical info.
“Kara, why is that monster with glowing eyes vomiting human beings all over the side of the street?” “Mon El, that’s a bus.”
“Why are Earthlings always eating metal?” “What?” “Teenagers, there’s always metal on their teeth. Can humans digest metal?” “Mon El, those are braces.”
“Winn! I learned another language in my spare time!” “What did you learn?” “Klingon, I’ve heard it’s the language of the Nerds. Where is the Nerds? Is it like the USA?”
Season 2 should have been about Kara growing increasingly more uncomfortable with the DEO and how they operate and it should be her pushing back and growing as her own hero, not just a tool for them to use. They should address the DEOs xenophobic origins and how to remake it into an organization that helps displaced aliens as much as imprisons ones that might do harm.
It should be Kara confronting Alex about all their unspoken issues about family and their connection and “everything I’ve done has been to protect you!” “I never asked you to do that!”
It should be Kara trying to make some alien friends. Maybe go to a rally. Her feeling discomfort because she doesn’t want them to know she’s supergirl either, because apparently she’s a polarizing figure in the alien community, and now she finds she isn’t totally honest in any of her lives.
Kara wanting to come out and having to deal with everyone’s disapproval
Question of Smoke 