Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Supergirl Season 6 episode "Lost Souls." Read at your own risk!
Supergirl has been in the Phantom Zone ever since Lex Luthor sent her there in the Season 6 premiere, and as expected, getting Kara back to Earth has been a struggle for her friends. The efforts to rescue Kara started out as entertaining, but after the latest attempt that went awry, it's starting to become a real boring affair for me.
Without question, the latest attempt to rescue Kara was the most frustrating. Supergirl actually had her own way out of the Phantom Zone but refused to leave without her father, Zor-El. In fairness, she also didn't want Nyxly to escape, but one would think Supergirl had some other options in the moment rather than breaking her latest mode of escape.
The latest episode marked three straight episodes that Kara has been in the Phantom Zone, and with two time-traveling episodes around the corner, it's looking like Kara could spend the next two weeks there as well. For those keeping tabs at home, that would make five episodes in which Kara could potentially be in the Phantom Zone, or a fourth of the final season episode total.
Of course, we don't know for sure Kara will remain in the Phantom Zone these two upcoming episodes, though the synopsis for the second part of the time-traveling event "Prom Again!" makes it sound like that will be the case.
Part two of the flashback episodes pick up where things left off - Young Kara (guest star Izabela Vidovic) experiences kryptonite for the first time, Nia (Nicole Maines) and Brainy (Jesse Rath) are trapped by invading aliens, and a young Cat Grant (guest star Eliza Helm) may be the reason Supergirl never gets out of the Phantom Zone.
The Supergirl Phantom Zone storyline started as something interesting, but it's quickly devolved into a mostly formulaic structure that may upset fans. Beyond the predictable method of Team Supergirl trying and failing to bring Kara back, there's the obvious downside of Kara missing out on meaningful interactions between characters. You know, the type of interactions that audiences would love to see in a final season, but instead, it's a lot of these characters going on about how much they miss Kara.
This would be fine for me if Kara's Phantom Zone story was some epic adventure, but thus far, it's been disappointing. Most scenes consist of Kara hiding out amongst a bunch of gray rocks and contemplating her next move with Zor-El. Sure there's some heartbreak bound to happen if and when it's discovered Zor-El won't leave the Phantom Zone with Kara, but at the current three episodes in, that's not a fantastic payoff worthy of keeping Kara off Earth for so long.
It's been said that the point of this storyline was to make a connection between Supergirl and the real-life isolation many felt during shutdowns in 2020. Truth be told, it's a storyline I would've felt was brilliant a year ago as I was going through it, but now with the world opening back up, I'd sooner leave those memories behind. I just think in the final season I'd rather see Kara interact with her friends and sister and not spend too much time hiding behind rocks.
Supergirl airs on The CW Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Have you been disappointed by Kara's extended stay in the Phantom Zone thus far? Let us know in the poll below, and read up about how some fans got angry recently about another scene from the final season that was left out.
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