Supergirl Ace Reporter Television 

Five Thoughts On Supergirl‘s “Ace Reporter”

By | April 25th, 2017
Posted in Television | % Comments

It’s been, what, three weeks now? But Supergirl is finally back and ready to kick off the lead in to the season finale. But first, an episode that tries to rectify a weird plot point from three episodes ago, a guest star wasted on half baked material and a sideplot that goes nowhere about side characters that aren’t interesting anymore! It’s like it never left.

Spoiler alert, but I shouldn’t have to warn you about that. The surprises aren’t exactly worth it.

1. Thank Rao For That Break or Let’s Talk About Kara’s Apartment

What a break that was. Three weeks. Three weeks of freedom from the bloated, half-interested storytelling of this season of Supergirl. I almost wanted to cry when I found out. It may seem harsh, but I genuinely did feel so much freer in those weeks where I didn’t have to bother watching or writing about Supergirl. This season has been an utter mess and I cannot wait for it to be over.

That being said, if they’re gonna pull me back in, I better start at the beginning. So it’s been three episodes since Kara got fired from CatCo and I don’t know how long that translates to in universe time, but I’m assuming it’s been a couple of weeks. Where the hell has Kara got the money to pay rent? Because she went from an assistant to a junior reporter. That’s not much a salary. And then, to top it all off, the show has the gall to claim that her deluxe loft apartment that’s bigger than my entire house right now is rent controlled?

I genuinely wonder if any of the Supergirl writers live on Earth because that is some bullshit.

2. Back On That Reporter Spin

Buried under like four different plotlines in this episode (despite it being the one the title alludes to) was an actually interesting story thread. I was almost expecting this to be a Supergirl-less episode and for it to focus on Kara and her ingenuity and drive to help Lena leading her to solve the episode’s mystery using her investigative skills alone. We… almost got that and what we did get was close enough.

This season has gone back and forth on the whole reporter thing and sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it really hasn’t, but this episode did a good job of swinging it back around and getting Kara back at CatCo in a way that felt justified. This wasn’t just a case of Kara wanting to be a reporter so she can write sweet puff pieces on her friends, but actually showcased some investigative journalism. And while Snapper Carr is still more of a caricature than a character, they softened him up a little bit here and that final scene really worked.

And they best part of it all? There was only like two scenes of Mon-El. Get in, son.

3. Lena & Kara, A Tragic Romance In The Making

This episode once again proves that Melissa Benoist has more chemistry with Katie McGrath than she ever will with the walking Hollister mannequin that they cast as Mon-El. Sure, this episode continued the “No, they’re both straight, we swear” gimmick by bringing in Lena’s ex-boyfriend, this episode was all about the connection between Kara and Lena.

I know that they’re trying to pull a Smallville and are showing Kara getting close to a Luthor and becoming a close friend with her only for the devastation to kick in when Lena embraces her Luthor-ness either at the end of this season or in the next season. It’s very obvious what they’re doing here. But that still won’t stop me from thinking that Kara should be with Lena instead of Mon-El because that final scene between them? Where Kara actually comforts Lena after she suffered a major loss? And that embrace?

Trust me, I know from experience, that was gay as hell.

4. Jack Spheer, CEO of Silliest Name In National City Corp

You know, I feel bad for Rahul Kohli here because this is a pretty big moment for CW. Kohli is the best part of iZombie and getting him to crossover into other CW shows is really neat. It’s just too bad that he’s literally just playing the bad guy from Big Hero 6. Yeah, I know that Biomax and Spheer are from the comics and they translated them here mostly unchanged, but… c’mon.

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This was a very standard Monster Of The Week kind of episode and while I appreciate the lengths they went to make it a mystery for Kara to uncover, the reveals were telegraphed a mile away. It really did a disservice to Kohli who’s bringing way more charm than this show deserves only to not even be met halfway with the writing.

There’s an interesting nugget of an idea, playing with the themes of free will and sacrificing humanity for transhumanism and the costs inherent to that, but this show just isn’t skilled enough to really pull that off. And it ends up feeling like a waste of Kohli.

5. What Is This Lyra Subplot?

Can we talk about this? Because this is like the third time they’ve tried to have the episode’s B-plot be about Lyra and like… I think this show wants me to care about her? And Winn’s relationship? Which is really not going to happen, guys. This relationship has had zero setup and no sense of chemistry whatsoever. The two of them are going at it like horny teenagers without even a semblance of an emotional connection. It’s been weeks and I still cannot tell why either of them care about the other.

And it sucks because now Winn’s only contribution to the show is to go through the same motions each episode. Remember that brief time after he was mad about being “friendzoned” by Kara and before this when he actually felt like an important cast member whose technical skills were valued? Now he exists to be Lyra’s Boyfriend whenever she comes up on the CW Roulette Of Shitty Subplots.

And don’t even get me started on James. This is the first time in what feels like half of the season where he’s gotten more than one scene in an episode and it’s to… be mad at Lyra so she feels bad about overreacting. I don’t know who’s making the decisions over in the CW, but they really need to cut out a lot of the chaff if they want Supergirl to survive past the next season.


//TAGS | Supergirl

Alice W. Castle

Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears her, Alice W. Castle is a trans femme writing about comics. All things considered, it’s going surprisingly well. Ask her about the unproduced Superman films of 1990 - 2006. She can be found on various corners of the internet, but most frequently on Twitter: @alicewcastle

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