'Supergirl' Season 5: Is the show normalizing the toxic relationship between Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers?
It was in the second season of 'Supergirl' that we were introduced to the frosty Lena Luthor (played by a spectacular Katie McGrath).
Broken, guarded and crisp, Lena didn't want to open up to anyone. She had suffered enough betrayal in life.
And then came the impulsively sweet Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist), who managed to break down those walls.
Yet, there's one mistake that Kara made—She didn't tell Lena about her secret identity as Supergirl—and she has paid for it heavily.
But was it such a big mistake?
Lena's diabolic brother Lex (Jon Cryer) revealed this crucial bit of information to her before dying, with the obvious intention of hurting his sister. He emphasized the fact that Kara would have never come clean to her either.
Naturally, Lena was furious and angry about being betrayed by another person she had considered her best friend. But it is understandable.
This animosity festers inside her and, finally, in season 5, we lose a part of the Lena that we had learnt to love. She's just a vengeful woman, who wishes to extract her pound of flesh from Kara, at any cost.
And yet, she never pondered why exactly Kara kept this a secret from her. She knows Kara would do anything to save her at any cost, even if it means putting her own life at stake.
In one of the episodes of Season 5, she even manipulated this good-hearted tendency of Kara's. It's the basic superhero's rite of passage to not tell anyone about their secret identity, especially the ones close to them, as they want to protect them. Yet, Lena is continuously portrayed as 'an angry, broken woman'.
The guilt was overwhelming, and Kara finally confessed to Lena, explaining sincerely why she had kept the truth from her. We could see the numerous emotions Kara went through, as she was afraid of losing her best friend. Kara's seen the pain Lena has gone through, and never wished to inflict the same trauma on her. And moreover, as revealed in the episode 'It's A Super Life', it would not have worked out well for Lena, had Kara told her about being Supergirl.
Friendship is supposed to be two-sided. However, Lena is intent on hurting Kara. She wants her revenge, and she's conveniently forgotten all the times Kara was actually a good friend to her. She's so consumed by anger and hatred, that she will do whatever it takes to hit back at Kara, who she knows would never hurt her. In a rather blinkered manner, she is keen on making her feel the same amount of pain that she did. If this isn't highly toxic, what is? For a long time, the show seemed to normalize this level of abuse as a sort of weak defence for Lena, 'as she had been hurt by too many people in her life'.
For crying out loud, she left Kara encased in ice with the epic line, "I wasn't a villain. You shouldn't have treated me like one." Well, you're acting like one, Lena. You don't leave someone to die, just because they don't tell you about their secret identity.
So it's a relief that Kara has finally stood her ground and told Lena off. In the episode 'It's A Super Life', after exploring various timelines where she tells Lena the truth, Kara realizes that she can't be the only one trying to save her friendship with Lena. She tells her that she will not feel guilty, and if now Lena continues to wreak havoc with Lex, she will deal with her, just like she does with any other villain. Cheers to that, Kara. About time, as Lena's smouldering vengeance was getting rather unnerving, to be honest.
Fans seem to echo this sentiment. One tweeted, "Well, I hope Kara's words get stuck in Lena's mind. I'm happy that Kara is moving forward because the truth is that she never did something wrong, Lena is overrated all this time."
Another wrote, "Actually Kara has risked exposure for Lena twice now when she flew Lena without changing into her suit after Lena was poisoned. So even more implications on how important Lena is to Kara."
"Abt the 100th episode of #supergirl I’m so glad to finally see Kara not give Lena excuses for her actions. Bc clearly, there is no timeline where Lena doesn’t make Kara feel like she is undeserving of forgiveness and like a bad guy," a fan tweeted.
Another fan wrote, "Kara tells her the secret right away => Kara's friends & family get killed. Kara tells her after a while => Lena betrays Kara. Kara doesn't tell Lena at all => Lena becomes a villain and kills Kara"
Let's not forget how Lena even threatened to kill Andrea Rojas's boyfriend, if she didn't hand over the medallion. So basically, you turn murderous and manipulative when your friend hides something from you—even when they have a good enough reason? Can we *not* normalize this?
Now, she's teamed up with Lex. Going by the promos and synopsis for the next episode, Lena is going to go ahead with her evil plans.
'Supergirl' airs on CW Sundays at 9 pm.