#I just kinda look at the rebloggers (who consist of people in the fandom I harbor a great deal of respect for) like.

[lesbianusahana]

Actually now I’m kinda curious

If you can, reblog after voting! I’d like to see what the general consensus on this topic is.

[tinnefoil]

Feelings about Supergirl Season 1 versus Season 2

Since there is some interesting (albeit again non-rebloggable) discussion going on about season 1 versus season 2 of Supergirl, I thought I would collect my own thoughts on it. 

I’m a very erratic tv watcher. I check out most superhero shows (well particular the DC comics ones) at least a bit, because I have a bit of a background in the comic fandom. I also drop in and out of it. I used to watch the first few seasons of Smallville faithfully and then became a very irregular watcher, like, I usually tuned in whenever there was something very special happening (for example, Lois first episode, Clark as reporter first episode, Aquaman episode, Green Arrow first episode, that weird Lex dreams of an alternate life episode), I almost exclusively watch the Captain Cold episodes of Flash. I tried watching Arrow when it started, but it was just too much of a departure from the comic book characters, especially since I always followed Arrow/Canary in the comics. 

In that context, I watched most of season 1 of Supergirl (I actually only recently at a rewatch discovered that I had somehow missed episode 3 when it originally aired). IMO there were things about season 1 that were boring and that I didn’t like or were childish. But there were a lot of things I really liked. I liked the big focus on female villains. I think the strongest aspect of season 1 by far were that Max and Astra were really, really, really good villains. And to me the biggest flaw of season 2 is actually by far that Cadmus is weird and erratic and has stupid plans and that Rhea was introduced too late into the season (and for all we know, her final masterplan might still suck). 

I think the main reason why I bothered to stick with season 1 was J’onn since I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Martian Manhunter in the comics and I was floored that a live action tv show was doing him. And that I really enjoyed Cat for the entertainment value. 

To me both season 1 and season 2 have their upsides and downsides. Both have some brain breakingly terrible episodes. My liking of Karamel came mostly by default. I watched season 2. I examined which episodes entertained me the most (Mon-El falsely accused to have attacked the president, Mon-El at CatCo, Kara and Mon-El captured by Cadmus, the Medusa virus episode) and it turns out, most of them it was because of the Karamel storyline. 

I don’t like every Karamel episode and I’m not afraid to call out the ones I don’t like. But in general, fairly Karamel centric episodes have fared much better with me that non-Karamel centric ones (for example: to this day I haven’t fully seen Martian Chronicles. I WANT to like it. It has J’onn/M’gann stuff, I has Alex/Kara stuff, both things and relationships I really like. But lord, I just can’t watch this episode. And I have tried several times. It just bleeeeeeeeeeeeeds boredom to me. It feels like the infamous cheap bottle episodes from when the shows ran out of budget.)

I think the less Kara centricity of season 2 has given us J’onn/M’gann and Sanvers, two things I consider very positive changes. The main thing I wish I could have back from season 1 is a character as strong and fleshed out and charismatic as Cat (sorry, Lena is nice, but she isn’t nearly that, and while Mon-El entertains me and even if I overlooked that I would rather have a female character for that, I think the writing for Cat was way more thought out and consistent across the season) and better central villain arcs. 

I also really like that season 2 Kara is not as meek as season 1 Kara. I actually didn’t dislike season 1 Kara, but looking back and comparing her to season 2 Kara, season 1 Kara is just way over the top, it becomes grating. Her simpering over Clark/Superman is the worst. I can kinda see when people complain about season 2 Kara spending more time serving other people’s storylines, but in retrospect, they made season 1 Kara that meek and helpless to justify the strength of other characters, which kinda doesn’t really sit well with me either. 

I’d like to note, I don’t really consider myself a “badboy” fan. In fact, I consider myself somebody who is super, super picky when it comes to “badboy” characters. I hate the majority of fandom’s favorite badboys (such as: Damon, Logan, Chuck, Spike), or at the very least they bore me. As in, I don’t care. Their backstory episodes bore me. I’m a big fan of “cool motive, still murder” (I didn’t really watch much of the Kai storyline of VD, but I have a feeling that he probably would have fallen into this category for me, like, yeah, nice, but I’m not that impressed; I also thought the Klaus/Caroline chemistry was amazing, but I still thought the Klaus storyline was kinda stupid and I could never get into The Originals). 

I keep trying to pinpoint how come Mon-El doesn’t really trigger this response with me. I think a large part of it is that he doesn’t whine as much/doesn’t self-pity as many of the others do. And then there’s the fact that lo and behold, he hasn’t randomly meanspiritedly murdered people (well aside from indirectly the guard on the ship, but hey, Kara too killed Parasite to our knowledge). And, I love SciFi and I love Teri Hatcher, so I’m actually interested in the backstory he brings (I swear Teri Hatcher is like a 50% bonus to why I like Karamel, just like Dean Cain’s Jeremiah was the only thing that had any emotional resonance for me in the Cadmus storyline, even with how stop and go the story has been written). 

Would I watch if Mon-El left/was written off? Hmm, that’s hard to say. I think it depends a lot on whether by then they would have introduced other characters I’d be interested in following. Yes I like the regular cast. But like I said, Astra was a huge part of why I liked season 1. I’m one of those weird people who actually cares about plot and not just about character relationships. I don’t watch “coffee shop shows”. I want a large plot where I’m actually interested in what happens next. So, I could picture myself stop watching even if he was still on the show if I thought the plot was boring/the writing was weak. Just like I could picture myself continue watching if they found something else to entertain me in a similar way. 

I see a whole slew of ways that Karamel could break up or Mon-El be written off that would be really satisfying and tragic and cool to watch. And I could see myself sitting in the first row and praising that writing. If the ending was shitty that would probably bug me, but then again, I think that goes for most instances of bad writing (ie the bad writing for James/Kara really bothered me even though I wasn’t deeply invested in their couple, but I’m invested in some amount writing consistency, which is why I keep hoping that James/Kara will be addressed again eventually, even if it were only to lay it to rest in a more satisfying way). I would be really pissed if they fuck up Sanvers. I’ll be really pissed if they make Rhea a really pathetic villain because it would make me feel like villain-wise the entire season was a total waste of time. I get grumpy over the way they write and don’t write the sort of political/social parallel stories. 

I care about good, interesting, entertaining stories more than I care about couples being together. A think a really epic and emotional separation can be amazing. Of course stable couples can be amazing too. If it’s a good story I will watch. And if a story entertains me, I’m more likely to like the couple that is attached to it.