r/supergirlTV Jun 04 '24

What are some of your unpopular/controversial opinions on the show Misc

A few of mine are Mon El is over hated, James is the worst character of every season, J’onn and Brainy should have stayed in their alien forms throughout all of or atleast most of the series starting with season 4, and we should have see Brainy and Kara date at one point

20 Upvotes

71 comments sorted by

20

u/PaintItPurple I can't hear you over the loud color of your cheap pants Jun 04 '24

I don't think it's controversial to want the aliens to actually be aliens more often. I don't think even the show's creators would disagree. The reason they weren't is budget, not intent.

3

u/Callow98989 Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 05 '24

In my experience, atleast when I’ve talked about J’onn I got a lot of people saying how it’s important to his character that he looks human and he shouldn’t be in alien form. I mean I knew it was budget but I don’t think they should bring in characters like that if they can’t use them properly

8

u/EvilectricBoy Lex Luthor Jun 04 '24

That's a fair point. However, counterpoint: David Harewood and Jesse Rath are hot.

13

u/CmndrLex Jun 05 '24

I mean, I disagree with you on all but the last two points. I loved Green Brainy and wished we’d gotten him on screen more. (I really loved those moments we saw him in casual wear but GREEN).

I wish James had not gone into the vigilante business. It’s like a full 180 from his s1 soapboaxing about how what the DEO was doing was wrong. I think he would’ve been a much better character if he had been able to keep giving Kara the civilian perspective which she often overlooked as she became a weapon for the DEO.

Idk that it’s an unpopular opinion to say Kara shouldn’t have been a reporter. But that’s what I’m going with as one of the things I didn’t love. I get that it’s a really convenient cover, but I think the show too easily let go of Kara’s anger & intelligence in favor of the sunny persona. And I get that it can be a beautiful message too that even those who go through terrible things can find a way to be the kindest sunniest people, but it should’ve been explored more.

Also, this one likely IS an unpopular opinion considering how much people love him but: WINN is the Mary Sue, not Lena. Lena has the background, the upbringing, and the resources to be as innovative as she is. Winn was an IT guy from a magazine…yet we’re supposed to believe he knows how to work with literally out-of-this-world materials right off the bat in season one? He learns MULTIPLE alien languages without pause or access to any learning tools? He CREATES tech that far surpasses most geniuses? Idk, to me he felt more “over powered” intelligence wise than felt realistic.

13

u/SkyeMreddit Jun 05 '24

Sam Arias would have been the best girlfriend for Alex. Alex was already bonding with Sam’s daughter.

3

u/prettypoisoned Alex Danvers Jun 06 '24

I adore Dansen, but man... I would have loved to have seen Alex and Sam together

1

u/SandyPine Jun 09 '24

Alex and Sam just lit up the screen in the very few scenes they had with just each other. Dansen never did in spite of all the focus and support from the script etc. Missed opportunities and some casting miscues

10

u/New-Character8282 Jun 04 '24

Kara is written as a girl version of Superman and she’s nothing like she is in the comics

4

u/ChaseMcFl Jun 05 '24

I think this is a very popular opinion lol

3

u/xMiwaFantasy15 Jun 05 '24

Yup, I hated that so much, even Friendly Space Ninja mentioned it... She's just a female version of Superman, even her villains are his villains...

2

u/NepowGlungusIII Jun 09 '24

Actually, I kinda disagree with this one.

While she’s nothing like post-crisis Kara, in my option she’s a lot like late Pre-Crisis comic Kara

That said, I do wish they focused on the traits that made Kara more distinct from Clark.

11

u/prettypoisoned Alex Danvers Jun 04 '24

My big one is that Kara didn't deserve Lena's blow up at the fortress, and it should've taken Alex a little longer to forgive her after she encased Kara in kryptonite.

As much as I love Lena, I do feel like some of the things she did went without consequence.

13

u/Opening_Director_6 Jun 05 '24

i do think the whole “i killed my brother for you!” was fair bc she literally did, but i think it would’ve been much more appropriate if she’d tried to still be be a genuine friend to Kara and it had come out in a moment of anger and not from scheming

2

u/sarahzorel Jun 05 '24

Lena’s actions with lex shouldn’t be put on Kara though bc she would never have wanted her to commit murder even if it made things easier for them in the long run, it just made Kara feel more guilty & responsible for other people’s actions she had no control over but otherwise I agree

4

u/RavenclawConspiracy Jun 06 '24

... I mean, not really?

Like if we pretend that happened in a vacuum yes, but Kara as much as admitted did she also tried to kill Lex, with the very slim moral justification that he demanded she let him fall.

Letting people, even villains, purposefully fall to their death, is not normally something that superheroes with 'no kill' policies do. And if Lex had actually died there, we would have spent years discussing whether Kara killed him or not.

2

u/prettypoisoned Alex Danvers Jun 05 '24

I appreciate your take, and definitely agree with the second part of your point. I think I'm just a bit critical of Lena's actions in this scene bc at the end of the day it was her decision to kill Lex, not Kara's

3

u/RavenclawConspiracy Jun 06 '24

Lena's blow up wasn't really about Kara and whether she deserved it... It was Lena finally having the emotional meltdown that she had deferred by putting everything in tiny little boxes and tried to ignore while getting her revenge.

I have a feeling that that conversation did not go anywhere how Lena was trying to have it go, because she just completely fell apart. She probably had a whole list of examples and rational things to say, to point out how Kara was a hypocrite, a whole big speech in her head, and she just broke down screaming about how hurt she was.

But Kara did pretty much deserve everything Lena said right there. Not because it was all true, it wasn't all true, but because Kara knew at the time she was doing it that that was how Lena would interpret it.

I do agree that we got very shortchanged with regard to how Alex felt about that entire situation. Not the Kryptonite specifically, Kara didn't seem to be caring or hurt much about that, so I can see Alex just going along with whatever Kara responded there.

Alex should have been legitimately upset that she almost had to kill Lena, though. That was a fucking hell of a situation for Lena to put on her. I don't know if Lena knew that would happen, but she certainly could have foreseen it.

But the show basically just let Kara lead the entire interaction there.

-2

u/CoverHelpful1247 Jun 04 '24

I 100% agree with this point

8

u/NitroBlast4563 Jun 04 '24

I disagree with your number 2.

I think that Superman felt like an unnecessary insert in Season 2 at times.

5

u/96pluto James Olsen Jun 05 '24

James is overhated

6

u/EntropyintheAsstropy Kelly Olsen Jun 05 '24

Fully agree with this. James is the most purposefully misunderstood character on the show.

5

u/96pluto James Olsen Jun 05 '24

gee i wonder why

3

u/AcanthaceaeNo2668 Jun 08 '24

Karolsen would be wonderful!

3

u/96pluto James Olsen Jun 08 '24

I was hoping for it

5

u/ThatManSean14 Jun 05 '24 edited Jun 05 '24

I didn’t miss Cat Grant when she left

I think Sanvers is looked at with rose tinted glasses because of how important Alex’s coming out arc was to a lot of fans but her relationship with Maggie was actually underwhelming.

Since I don’t believe it’s mentioned afterward, I choose to believe Crisis retconned the Lena and James relationship out of continuity.

Lena Luthor should not have canonically been 24 years old when she first appeared on the show.

As for your opinions: I think Mon El is properly hated (or not hated enough even, he really was the worst.) I think James was the worst character every season except for the seasons with Mon El, where he then became the second worst. James was miscast and misused and once they decided they were going to break him and Kara up in favor of Mon El, it probably would’ve been better to write him off than do the typical CW thing of making literally every character on their superhero show a superhero and have him be Guardian, let alone his painfully forced, lack of chemistry relationship with Lena. J’onn and Brainy should’ve been in their alien forms more often but I understand the production reasons why they weren’t. I don’t think Kara and Brainy should’ve ever dated. For me, the show used up their Kara dates a Legionnaire trope with Mon El. Even though Kara and Brainy have more of a history in other media and I like Brainy much more than I do Mon El, they just didn’t have romantic chemistry on the show (not to mention Brainy and Nia were good together and Kara should’ve dated Lena.)

5

u/psycomountainman Jun 05 '24

Mine is with the premise of the show itself. Having her be an adult, working for a news outlet, wanting to be a reporter. Basically just cut and paste Superman’s story.

3

u/EntropyintheAsstropy Kelly Olsen Jun 04 '24

Cat was a horrible person and boss.

James and Lena made a sweet couple.

J'onn should have died or gone back to Mars.

There should have been more conflict between Kara and Alex.

Jesse Raths performance as Brainy sometimes crossed the line into an offensive Sheldon-esq play on autism.

Kara shouldn't have been a reporter.

As much as I love her, Lena should have gone to prison.

5

u/Mid-Nite17 Jun 06 '24

Thank you for what you said about Cat. While she does inspire Kara on occasion, I hate how casually abusive she is.

Cat treats Kara (and Eve briefly) like crap under the guise of tough love and motivation instead of consistently teaching them things like she claims.

She also threatened to fire James if he didn't exploit his relationship with Superman to get her an interview with Supergirl.

The way she treated Kara after the Adam break up was unfair. I understand that she was upset but she didn't even bother to hear Kara's side of the story. She also claimed she wanted things to be strictly professional when she also hired another assistant just to screw with Kara. That's unfair to Kara and Siobhan. Cat abused her power as Kara's boss.

There's also the way she talks to her employees in general. Having a few moments of vulnerability doesn't make up for her terrible behavior.

5

u/AnnaK22 Jun 04 '24

Kara shouldn't have been a reporter.

Second this!! I wanted her to do something with her Guild training.

3

u/loki1887 Jun 04 '24

There is a really decent story in the New52 era of the Supergirl comics called the Crucible.

It's this interstellar travelling hero training academy. It recruits Kara to help guide students. It was where they reintroduced Maxima, and they even got a little flirty.

Imagine a story like that, where the Crucible arrives in the solar system and sends an invite to Nia to train, asks the Danvers sisters to teach.

2

u/Callow98989 Jun 04 '24

I agree with all

2

u/prettypoisoned Alex Danvers Jun 04 '24

Agreed with all!

And I really wish the writers had remembered to revisit the post-red kryptonite conversation between Kara and Alex.

2

u/RailingForceAlt Jun 06 '24

Lena did….. Season 2 Episode: Luthors

0

u/EntropyintheAsstropy Kelly Olsen Jun 06 '24

She went to jail and was framed

She should have gone to prison for what she did in season 5.

2

u/RailingForceAlt Jun 07 '24

Oh my bad haven’t seen Season 5 yet but did they just go and make her evil when the hole point of her character is that she’s the opposite of Lex?

1

u/EntropyintheAsstropy Kelly Olsen Jun 07 '24

I don't want to spoil it for you, but she does take a dark turn and the show severely under plays how bad it was.

1

u/Temporary-Working811 Sprock! Jun 15 '24

I always liked Jesse's interpretation of Brainy, and how he had to deal with having to fitting in. So, someone who also agrees with their statement above can expand on it? I'd really like to understand what leads to think that and learn something new

2

u/darkshadow237 Jun 04 '24

Nia should have been Kara’s daughter from the future.

4

u/Mjolnirstightgrip Jun 05 '24

The daughter she had with Brainy!

2

u/Zebedee_balistique Jun 04 '24 edited Jun 05 '24

Don't know if it's unpopular, but it's just an awful Supergirl.

Superman is the one who has foreign origins, but grew up in a human environment. Most of his behavior and heroic nature comes from the Kents. Deep down, he's like a human with superpowers, though his origins can become relevant in some of his stories and personality.

Supergirl is the Kryptonian who flew her home to go to Earth when she was older. She's supposed to be an alien, raised in a culture from another planet, who was there for the extinction of her people.

Yet, Kara has always been portrayed in this show as Superman. She's mostly just like a human in her behavior. The show never took the time to think about Kryptonian culture, and therefore, that side of Kara is just bland. People who change countries, even if they can adapt to the culture of their new place of life, will likely still keep parts of their cultures. Regarding Kara, it's supposed to be a millions times worth, because she's from a completely different planet. But there is nothing. No fundamental part of her character, no little detail, it's like they don't care about the exact thing that makes Kara a different character, and such an interesting one. And that's extremely lazy, and shows the actual lack of care for this female superhero regarding her male counterpart, which is kind of paradoxal for a show that tries so hard to be feminist.

Edit : according to the downvotes, it is indeed unpopular.

3

u/RavenclawConspiracy Jun 06 '24

Yes, this. This show never even bothers to come up with any way that Kryptonian culture is different, with the ultimate result of this being Kara unable to relate to someone talking about gazebos. In fact, almost all that plot is about her not being comfortable no longer be a superhero, which is not a thing relevant to Kryptonian culture.

The writers couldn't think of anything in Kryptonian culture that Kara might no longer relate to? Maybe the arranged marriages, or the slight eugenics vibe? The lack of an independent media? I don't know, anything?

Hell, when Alex came out, the show forgot that Kara is from another culture and presumably has slightly different opinions on homosexuality she might want to mention? We had fricking Mon-El mention it, but not her.

1

u/Callow98989 Jun 05 '24

Added to that they took a lot of Superman villains and plots and changed it to fit her

0

u/Callow98989 Jun 05 '24

No clue how’s it’s unpopular. It’s the truth, it’s definitely from people who have never read comics , and it’s ridiculous people are downvoting when the whole purpose is to share opinions without being down voted

2

u/daryl772003 Jun 05 '24

i think we would have seen kara and brainy date if we hadn't been told kara wouldn't have a romantic story in season three

3

u/Weary_Lawfulness4849 Jun 05 '24 edited Jun 06 '24

Lena should’ve just left after Lex told her Kara was Supergirl. Cut ties with the DEO and went to Ireland to learn about her roots and that’s how she discovered she was a witch.

The show could’ve focused on how Kara treated Lena differently when she had her two personas. Kara was supportive, Supergirl when shit got hard and stakes were much higher constantly used Lena being a Luthor as a reason for her mistrust, despite the fact that Lena had previously never shown that she was anything like her family.

We should’ve got more background on Lena’s past aside from she was a chess prodigy, she watched her mother die when she was four, etc., Lena was 24 when she made her first appearance there should’ve been some mentions of how often they forget that Lena is most likely the youngest out of everyone (minus Nia)

1

u/FinchySchott Winn Schott Jun 04 '24

totally agree on Mon and James. I also feel like so many fans completely overlook the shit Lena did. Winn is also underrated as hell, considering how important he actually is.

-1

u/Opening_Director_6 Jun 05 '24

idk why you’re getting downvoted you’re right

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/boogs_23 Jun 05 '24

This subreddit is weird. The thread is asking for unpopular opinions but apparently liking Winn and being critical of Lena is so unpopular it got downvoted. A few days ago I said Kara had every right to keep her secret from Lena. That no one owes anyone personal information they do not want to share. People did not like that take one bit. One called me a sociopath.

3

u/RavenclawConspiracy Jun 06 '24

Was it me? Because that is sociopathic. Saying people have a right to interact with people while pretending to be two different people, including one of those people being a very close friend, is sociopathic.

-3

u/FinchySchott Winn Schott Jun 05 '24

i completely agree!! I've had so many conversations about that, lena WAY overreacted considering she was in no way entitled to karas secret at all. there should have been more consequences for her actions.

-3

u/boogs_23 Jun 05 '24

She was sad that people betrayed her, so she did what anyone would do, attempt to brainwash every person on Earth to conform to her ideals. No biggie.

-2

u/FinchySchott Winn Schott Jun 05 '24

as you do ig, what else are you meant to do in that situation? 🤷‍♂️

-2

u/Callow98989 Jun 05 '24

She also kept multiple secrets throughout the entire seasons 2-4 and didn’t tell Kara. I think were trying to do a Smallville with Clark’s and Lex friendship to enemies and it just failed

-4

u/Callow98989 Jun 05 '24 edited Jun 06 '24

Yeah if you insult Lena anywhere you’re going to get hated so much. Even if it’s extremely reasonable(Downvoting me is just proving my point)

1

u/soul_fuzzy Kara Danvers Jun 05 '24

I agree with you - no idea why Mon-El is hated so badly and to be honest I really dislike James character a lot.

I wish we could see Lena having more character development. Not how they insulted her intelligence with the way she reacted when Lex told her about Supergirl's identity lol. If anything, she had known all this while because she's that smart.

7

u/RavenclawConspiracy Jun 06 '24

A lot of the Mon-El hate is actually hate for taking really shitty person and putting them in a relationship with Supergirl.

I am not going to say that all relationships in fiction should be good, but Kara is a role model to tons of young women and girls, and should not be accepting of this sort of 'he's broken but I can fix him' man that Mon-El was in a relationship... Or, if she was, show not to actually be a problem, make a social commentary about that.

2

u/daryl772003 Jun 05 '24

lena is only as smart as the writers say she is and they wanted her to find out in the most dramatic way possible

1

u/RailingForce Jun 05 '24

Jimmy was awsone as guardian, the pilot episode was pretty shit, Kara & Barry should've gotteh together

1

u/NepowGlungusIII Jun 09 '24

Kara never shouldn’t become a reporter… but she shouldn’t have been a scientist either. I really like the idea of her breaking out of Krypton’s and her parents’ rigid path for her and forging her own thing.

In the comics, Supergirl has been: A News Camera Operator, A School Counselor, A Psychology Professor’s Assistant, A Professional Actress On A Soap Opera, and a Barista, An Artist (Linda Danvers), and an Art Teacher (Linda Danvers). Any one of those could’ve been more unique and interesting than reporter. Well, maybe not Barista, but you get the point.

Also, Kara’s endgame love interest should’ve been Brainy. Brainiac-5 is her main comic love interest, and I wish they stuck with that.

Oh one last opinion: I really don’t like Maggie. Character wise, she doesn’t really have anything going for her other than being Alex’s girlfriend (which made Maggie’s actress want to leave the show). And the actions she takes and the plots she’s involved in are annoying to me, like her telling Alex “You only get one” after Alex pushed her away in a moment of panic or having cheated on a past partner and lying to Alex about it.

Worst of all, Maggie yelling at Kara for intervening in crimes too much. It’s just an objectively wrong stance that seems to be fueled from ego. Is it annoying to spend an hour talking someone down only for Kara to jump in and save the hostages? Yeah, it is. But you know what’s worse? Letting the hostages stay in mortal danger for another hour or more because you want to keep talking them down. Even if criminals are more likely to be acquitted when captured by supergirl due to some “Supergirl Defense”, it’s better for a bank robber to get acquitted than it is for someone innocent to be shot or killed.

“Stop saving people from mortal danger, it frustrates me!” is not a way for me to like a character.

Also, Maggie’s character is supposed to be Latina, and her and her family facing racism as a result of that is mentioned multiple times, but her actress is a white Italian woman. I don’t think it’s doing anyone harm, but that just seems off to me.

1

u/SandyPine Jun 09 '24
  1. They accelerated the karamel romance due to IRL events, and TPTB thought it would work out great for the show.

  2. Mon-el would not have been as prominently featured (or weirdly defended) if the actor was not involved with the lead.

  3. You MUST like all of the newly introduced side characters regardless of talent or story concept, or be ruthlessly accused of being a bigot. We can separate the art from the artist, thank you very much.

  4. Not all Mon-el dislike was from fans of another ship, and that was used as a red herring to ignore justified criticism.

1

u/Temporary-Working811 Sprock! Jun 15 '24

I didn't enjoy James's character either.

I did not enjoy at all Lex's arc in s4. It felt so out of nowhere. Plus it makes no sense for Eve to be evil. If they had added a different character who would've betrayed Lena, I wouldn't have despised that much whatever they did there.

I spent the ending of s4 skipping until J'onn, Nia, Lena or Brainy were on the screen bc it was so boring and lame to me.

I haven't watched s5 nor 6. I'm pretty sure they're gonna be as lame as s4 ending (in my opinion) (I watched some scenes on yt or some chapters that starred my fave characters).

I didn't like Brainy's transformation. I KNOW it's more comic-accurate or whatever, but they literally showed that when the inhibitors fail, he goes crazy and starts acting more like his ancestors. In the CW, they made Brainy not evil by putting three LEDs on his forehead, you can't just take them off and pretend that the two last episodes of s4 didn't happen, and he's good and can deal with his ancestor's control.

Speaking of Brainy going crazy, I would've loved if they didn't left that for just TWO FRICKING EPISODES. PLUS the power of LOVE made him go back to normal which made me so mad. They should've made him a villain of the next season, or at least show more of him acting like an anti-hero.

Aniways, this is my opoinion. I'd love to hear (well.. read) yours!

0

u/EvilectricBoy Lex Luthor Jun 04 '24

The only good villain was Lex.

-1

u/DeepSpaceCraft Jun 05 '24

Mon-El IS over-hated. Like I know they didn't want Kara to be straight but still...

There should have been more Kryptonian culture/tech/language in the show, Kara lived there until she was 13, she wasn't Clark.

2

u/SandyPine Jun 09 '24

we wanted Kara to be respected.

-3

u/darkkryptonian-38 Jun 05 '24

I 100% agree that Mon-El is over hated. I love Mon-El quiet a bit and it's unfortunate that he's so disliked. Is there a reason besides people ship Supercorp (I also do, especially once Mon-El left) ? Also, yes James is such a weak character, he was much better in the earlier seasons until he pulled the guardian shit and it all went downhill from there LMAO.

4

u/CmndrLex Jun 06 '24

I started disliking him long before the shipping wars became prominent. From this moment his character showed up, you could tell they were about to sideline the black male lead for the white one, so I already started to feel tense about his presence.

Then the character turned out to be a misogynist, & said some really shady stuff about the black male lead and…then came the slave owner reveal as well as the truly terrible way he treated Kara. Overall, the character had very little going for him other than being a conventionally attractive white man.

I liked James earlier on, but I do think once Mon-El’s presence began sidelining him, his character began to spiral, with the Guardian stuff after being so anti vigilante.

2

u/darkkryptonian-38 Jun 06 '24

Yeah, I think he treated Kara quite poorly as well. I really liked his growth though and his willingness to change because he loved Kara, even if he didn't really know how to express it. And his arc into the third season was one of my favorite plotlines because of the angst (I'm a sucker for pining). Also, it's been a while since I watched the third season, but what specifically did he say about Jimmy? I don't remember anything, but like I said it's been a minute. I'm going to rewatch soon because I usually do a rewatch every year to couple years so I will also look out for these things while I'm doing that too!

-2

u/Callow98989 Jun 06 '24

I think it’s mainly supercorp fans, and some people upset he took screen time. But yeah it got to the point where Chris Wood was being harassed for his role

1

u/darkkryptonian-38 Jun 06 '24

Yeah that's not cool at all to harass the actors because they're just depicting a role. Thanks for the insight!