Supergirl #2.22 Review: “Nevertheless, She Persisted”

Before getting into the review of the Supergirl season finale “Nevertheless, She Persisted,” KryptonSite would like to thank Louis Rabinowitz for being around to write reviews for the site for these two seasons. Sadly, Louis is off to university in the fall, so if anyone would like to hop in and join the KryptonSite team to write reviews, please leave some comments! Our thanks again to Louis for doing such a great job – you’re always welcomed to return!

Verdict: A solid season finale packs both an emotional punch and some impressive spectacle, though it’s a little too overbalanced for its own good.

Review:

Here we are, at the end of Supergirl’s second season. It’s been an odd season of television that’s alternated between inspired and hopelessly generic, embracing both the unique voice Supergirl can offer while retreating somewhat from the individuality that distinguished it back on CBS. It hasn’t lacked for ambition, except for that run in the middle of the season where Mon-El briefly took centre stage and everything deflated into standard superhero territory. But for all its faults, it’s managed to broaden out this show’s horizons considerably. It’s no longer been just Kara’s story – it’s Alex’s, J’onn’s, Mon-El’s, Maggie’s, Winn’s and James’ too; sometimes to a fault, as Supergirl has often lost sight of its central heroine and her emotional journey. If all of that sounds inconsistent, then that was Supergirl season two: a rollercoaster, for better or for worse.

A season finale has to be a thesis statement on a season – one that summarises what kind of journey we’ve been on over the past episodes as that journey comes to an end. It’s why I like season one’s finale so much, because that was the perfect encapsulation of the messy but deeply heartfelt feel of that debut run. In that respect, Nevertheless, She Persisted is an interesting capper to season two, because it feels much more in keeping with season one. It’s Kara’s story once more, and even with a final set-piece that gives every super-powered character in the roster a chance to shine, her emotional journey consumes so much focus that almost everybody fades into the background. Given how Kara has so frequently become a supporting character in her own story this year, that’s an interesting creative choice, and one that mostly pays off. This show is best at delivering powerful emotional moments when Kara is at their centre, as evidenced by a final act of heart-to-hearts that embarks on an impressively committed campaign to making you cry, and it’s arguable that the act of foregrounding Kara is a good thing full stop; one that gets Supergirl back to focusing on the heroine that defines it, as it should. The question is whether sufficient groundwork was really there for the emotional journey that Kara faced this episode.

Back at the end of season one, Supergirl essentially explained what Kara would be learning in season two: how to live as Kara Danvers rather than solely as Supergirl. Her choice to become a journalist and to break off her budding relationship James got that more personal character arc in the right direction at the start of the year, but from there on, the show kind of lost focus on that. Much more time was spent on Kara’s romantic drama with Mon-El, and while that can be argued as fulfilling the ‘Kara Danvers, not Supergirl’ remit, it wasn’t really the kind of drama that defined her as an individual. With those shaky foundations, Nevertheless, She Persisted was always going to have to force things a bit to put Kara back at the show’s centre. The premise of her arc in this finale of struggling with the idea of having it all is the clearest example of that, as it feels like something that has been transparently invented for a big season finale breakthrough as opposed to being built to across the course of the season; there was never much time spent on the struggle of her double life year, for instance, as she could flit between the DEO and CatCo as she saw fit. Equally, the choice to pin the focus for this on Mon-El is a debatable one. This is something, admittedly, that’s had about as much build-up as it could possibly have, but making it the most important facet of Kara’s arc only underlines the way in which her relationship drama consumed so much of her personal journey this year with only the occasional journalistic diversions to break it up. A season finale is always going to inherit the flaws of the episodes that came before it, so these problems aren’t surprising – they’re just the ways in which Supergirl has stumbled with its lead character this season manifested more clearly.

What Nevertheless, She Persisted does get very right with Kara is with conclusions. No matter if Kara’s arc got lost and wandered off somewhere in the middle, what we got here was a very satisfying end to her emotional journey this season that brings her to a genuinely new place in her development as Supergirl. The focus on Mon-El, while inherently a problem, becomes a benefit with the moral dilemma of using the lead device to drive off the Daxamites at the expense of losing her boyfriend. It’s a dilemma that works because it hits upon the same strengths as Resist did – it’s never really a question that Kara will make the sacrifice, and it’s a nice sign of Mon-El’s substantial development across the year that he’s almost instantly willing to give himself up to save the world. This allows the episode to dispense with the shallow ‘either/or’ of it all and instead focus on the personal pain of making such a choice, even if it is morally and rationally the right thing to do. Kara pushes the button with little hesitation, but we know that it really, really hurts for her to do so. Melissa Benoist is as good here as she’s been all season, openly and tragically articulating Kara’s turmoil at sending away Mon-El and willingly cutting off her own happiness, and triumphantly resolute in her battle against Rhea, and it just shows the need to give her the substantive and varied material that her always-excellent performance richly deserves. That magnifies her heroism all the more, showing her ability to sacrifice and put away her own personal suffering for the greater good of others, and it fits within a wider pattern of Nevertheless, She Persisted, which is her resilience in the face of adversity. It’s there in the title, and represented quite clearly in her ability to overcome Rhea’s Kryptonite, so it’s not the most subtly executed theme, but Supergirl was never a master of subtlety in the first place. It’s satisfying to see Kara Danvers, genuine hero in the classic mould with none of the moral ambiguities or extended brooding of the other CW heroes, and to see Supergirl so openly celebrate that kind of selfless heroism. This gets back to the core appeal of the character as she was introduced in the pilot and depicted for much of season one where she was at the centre – as someone defined by her ability to overcome and keep going no matter what, most of the time with a smile on her face. She doesn’t end Nevertheless, She Persisted with a smile, but there’s a sense that she’ll get back to that, soon enough. Kara Danvers isn’t the sort of person who stops smiling for long.

Kara received an assist from the returning Cat Grant last week, and another fresh face last seen at the start of the season popped back up here to help out – Superman! Tyler Hoechlin’s incarnation of the character was a surprise hit in how it tapped into the essence of Superman as a bright, optimistic symbol of strength with the experience and gravitas to help the less experienced Kara out of any superhero scrapes, and that’s certainly the case once more. Well, eventually. Superman returned to the fray not as hero, but as a villain last week, and that set the stage for the big opening fight of Nevertheless, She Persisted with the Kryptonians locked in a no-holds-barred showdown. It’s not actually necessary for the narrative given how easily Clark snaps out of it after, but when you have a set-piece this good, it’s hardly worth complaining. Even as the fight begins to overdose on slow-motion punches like it’s a round of Injustice, it’s never less than thrilling to see Supergirl fight Superman in live action with effects impressive and realistic enough to genuinely sell it. I gather some people aren’t happy that Supergirl won, but in a narrative world that began with the Girl of Steel and one that seems defined by her worldview, it seems fitting that she won against Superman for all his experience. It’s also a nice touch that Superman is so humble and conciliatory about Kara’s emotional and physical superiority compared to him, safe in the knowledge that he could defeat just about anyone apart from her. These are not the sort of things that bother Superman.

For the rest of the episode, Superman becomes the chipper and wise mentor of the first two episodes, and he fulfils that role well by continuing to provide the familial perspective that only really Alex can match in the main cast. There’s an intimacy and ease to their interactions that really sells their shared heritage and united worldviews of truth, justice and the American way, but Superman is distinguished by the fact that he’s done it all before. His advice to Kara has more emotional weight than the platitudes that often come out of pep talks of this kind because it evidently comes from 12 years of lived experience similar to Kara’s (it also helps that Superman’s mythology is so familiar to us, so references to Zod and Lois Lane are something that can be thrown in as legitimate emotional groundwork despite the fact that these are just people who are talked about). Tyler Hoechlin continues to be a legitimately great small-screen Superman defined by his sincerity and humility, conveying his heroism through his every word and action rather than any outsize displays of his power – it’s clear that this is just who he is, and he doesn’t have to struggle to reach that ideal of heroism anymore. His part in the final showdown is also an interesting gambit on the part of Supergirl, because it so clearly makes him a supporting figure in a battle royale with a handful of familiar faces helping out, from Martian Manhunter to Miss Martian to the Luthors. Perhaps the most unique thing about this Superman is that he’s willing to pitch in and do his part without needing any of the glory that comes from being centre stage. It’s a reminder that, for all its flaws, this show can portray compelling heroes who are unequivocally good and kind people who happen to suffer from the same emotional struggles of the rest of us.

Nevertheless, She Persisted is a flawed finale, and its flaws lie in the difficulty in balancing Kara’s emotional journey with the wider context of the show. Despite the strong focus on the ensemble this year, the finale does a haphazard job of putting an end to their respective emotional journeys. Alex’s proposal to Maggie, for instance, is a great emotional pay-off, but it’s the first scene the couple have shared together in the entire episode and therefore comes from nowhere. It’s the same case with the return of M’gann, which is cathartic and leads to some fun action beats, but also unearths one of season two’s weakest ideas, which is her Romeo and Juliet act with Green Martian J’onn – without development, the two are suddenly star-crossed lovers now and know each other intimately despite the short time that M’gann was actually around back at the start of the season. Lena and Lillian get a moment of mother-daughter reconciliation as Lillian finally recognises her daughter’s intellect, but the deep complications of their past together can’t be explored as they’re packed into a plot purpose of creating the lead device after one emotional scene together. These are bits and pieces of good stories, but they’re crammed into an episode that can barely fit them, which means their intended emotional impact doesn’t quite land. It’s the problem with the highly back-loaded nature of this season that meandered before stampeding to a packed-out conclusion, which is that it didn’t have time to spread out these conclusions to give them all a time to breathe.

On the whole, this was a satisfying ending, even if it lacked the thematic weight and originality of last year’s finale. It ably mixes emotion, with Kara’s arc taking a traditionalist approach of the hero coming to terms with personal sacrifice and affirming their selfless commitment to helping others to great results, with spectacle of the kind that’s very impressive for a CW budget; the CGI pile-up of the final act is a surprisingly convincing medley of a lot of complicated characters. Season two wasn’t the run of television that its first eight episodes promised it could be, but it’s still been a very enjoyable continuation of Kara Danvers’ adventures that has allowed Supergirl to hold its own on a channel packed out with other heroes. Last season, CBS hadn’t made a decision on renewal and the show remained in limbo, but this time around, Supergirl has the security of knowing it’ll be back for a third season in the autumn. By the end of the finale, Kara Danvers’ journey isn’t complete yet, and there’s plenty more to come until she becomes the hero she’s intended to be. But she just made one big step forward. With any luck, Supergirl will follow suit.

Odds & Ends

• Our first season three tease: Mon-El’s pod is sucked into some kind of wormhole in space! I’d really like to imagine this is a dimensional breach that will lead him onto Earth-1 and a spot on the Legends (they have a white guy vacancy with Rip gone!), but he probably ended up in another bit of space, or something. Happy trails, Mon-El.
• And a villain tease: a third Kryptonian was sent to Earth on the day of its destruction, only this one was sent from the evil part of its planet by Death Eater impersonators who promise that the baby, of undetermined gender, will reign over Earth eventually. Nice. Sounds fun. Good intentions, I am sure.
• Cat knows Kara is Supergirl! Cat knows Kara is Supergirl! So good I said it twice!
• I’m excited to find out what excuses there will be for Cat and M’gann leaving at the start of season three. They can’t just turn to camera and point out they’re not series regulars, can they?
• Next week: nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing until October. :(