Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Supergirl episode “The Gauntlet.” Read at your own risk!
Kara and her friends did their best to track down Nyxly before she captured the Courage Totem, but unfortunately, the Supergirl team was a little too late. While Kara did manage to split the totem, as an unintended side effect, the villain and hero are now psychically linked. I couldn’t help but audibly sigh when the link was revealed, because it seems like The CW series’ final season is channeling Season 7 of The Flash in the worst way possible.
Supergirl fans unfamiliar with the latest season of The Flash may not know this, but a bulk of that season centered on Barry's empathy, his love for Iris, and the power of the two combined. It was a solid message, right up until The Flash used that empathy and love to defeat enemies, resurrect dead characters, and all sorts of other silly stuff that really affected the quality of the season for me. Now, after Kara rejected Lena's offer to try and sever her emotional link to Nyxly, I fear Supergirl will take the same path.
Again, it’s not necessarily the message that empathy and understanding can win the day that’s bad. It’s that it led to non-confrontational resolutions on The Flash that many found boring, and the same could be true if Supergirl does something similar. I personally don’t watch superhero shows to see characters talk out situations with their greatest villains and come to a mutual agreement. I want to see some blows exchanged.
This is the final season of Supergirl, and the series teased that Nyxly’s magical prowess makes her Kara’s greatest enemy to date. Now, instead of some massive duel that will push Melissa Benoist's character to the brink of destruction, the writers may be foreshadowing the key to defeating Nyxly is understanding her perspective and feelings. Some people may ultimately like that outcome, but as someone who already lived through The Flash Season 7, I’m a hard pass.
It’s not a sure thing that Supergirl will turn out this way, of course. Kara and the Super Friends still will have to fight Nyxly for the other totems in the coming episodes, so it’s possible there will be many more battles to come before the series finale. And who knows, perhaps the Supergirl writing team found a way to make Kara’s emotional link with Nyxly riveting, and we’ll get some real insight about both characters in these final episodes. Or it could be Supergirl’s version of Barry’s fight with the Speed Force in The Flash, which ended with characters living in a dimension with the Speed Force, so she wasn’t lonely. Trust me, Supergirl fans don’t want an equivalent of that storyline.
Supergirl airs on The CW Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. As always, continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on what’s happening in the Arrowverse, such as the latest on John Diggle and how his most recent appearance didn’t really do much to clear up the mysteries about his future in the franchise.
