Ships! We all have them. We all discuss them—or argue about them. There are ships that we wouldn’t touch with a hundred-foot pole. There are ships that we will read a million coffee shop AUs for. Shipping, in and of itself, is not an inherently bad thing. It’s just when people start attacking the actors, creators, and each other where things get bad.
Sometimes, these ships wars can turn a fandom so toxic that you just want to avoid it. Sometimes, shippers are the nicest part of a fandom. But what if you prefer a character to just *gasp* … stay single? When I look at Kara Danvers of The CW’s Supergirl, I’d rather the writers didn’t keep trying to force her into a romantic relationship.
The Arrowverse, it can be argued, has an issue creating love interests for their main characters. While series like Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Black Lightning found their romantic groove for their main characters, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) remains a stubborn outlier. Yes, there have been attempts at romance over the years, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Mon-El (Chris Wood) being chief amongst them, but they never really worked.
Yes, it’s frustrating for fans, as many would prefer a romantic relationship between Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) and Kara more than anything else. Part of that comes down to chemistry, because McGrath and Benoist play well off each other, and also the writing, because there was time and effort put into this relationship in a way that Kara’s romances haven’t seen.
Whether or not Supercorp should happen is not the point of this article. Would it be nice? Sure. Would it make sense? Given the context of their relationship and rebuilding their friendship in season six, I don’t see why not—something that can’t be said of other options at this point. Will it happen? If it hasn’t happened at this point in time, I don’t think it will. But who knows? I could be wrong.
Lena and Kara. (Katie Yu/The CW)
The real question here is: Should Kara even have a romance? There’s also William Dey (Staz Nair), and hints have been heavily dropped about something between them going forward. On paper, William Dey is not a bad match for Kara, but here’s the issue with all of Kara’s romances in the series: They’re not foundational to her or, at least, they haven’t become so.
Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, all of these shows have a romance that is either foundational to the plot or becomes so over time. It’s developed. It’s grown. Sometimes, sure, it starts off forced, but over the course of episodes and seasons, it grows as the characters do and as the writers get into the rhythm of writing this romance.
Did any of us ever expect John Constantine (Matt Ryan) and Zari 2.0 (Tala Ashe) to get together? No. But the writers saw something between them and explored it—same with Alex (Chyler Leigh) and her romances with Maggie (Floriana Lima) and Kelly (Azie Tesfai) on Supergirl. They grew and weren’t forced.
The main issue with Kara’s romances in Supergirl is that they become everything she is. It’s all the other characters talk about around her when not talking about taking down the Big Bad. Look at when Kara had her crush on James. Look at her romance with Mon-El in season two. It tends to consume her when it shouldn’t.
It should be a facet of her, because the thing about Supergirl is that there are relationships more important than romance: the bond of sisterhood between Alex and Kara, the paternal role J’onn (David Harewood) plays in their lives, and the friendships Kara has with Lena, Nia (Nicole Maines), Brainy (Jesse Rath), and Winn (Jeremy Jordan) over the course of the series. These are the most important relationships in the series and shouldn’t be overshadowed because Kara has noticed an attractive guy.
Season four of Supergirl remains possibly the best season of the series, if only because those were the relationships at the forefront of the narrative. Those were the people who challenged Kara and allowed her to grow. And, yes, it was refreshing to not have Kara defined by romance or heartbreak. In fact, she thrived best without that.
Ultimately, Supergirl should go the way of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and have Kara find her own fulfillment within herself, like Rebecca (Rachel Bloom). There would be something great in seeing a hero choose themselves and the relationships around them, instead of having it come down to a romance spurring them forward.
The Arrowverse has a lot of great love stories. If Supergirl is having a hard time developing one of those for its main character, then that’s okay. Kara’s life is full of love, and maybe we need to see that rather than focus on romance for the sake of it.
(featured image: Dean Buscher/The CW)
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Published: Jul 20, 2020 09:54 am