Supergirl Season 5, Episode 1: Can Lena and Kara repair their relationship?
Supergirl returns for its 5th season with big revelations and pants! But can the girl of steel repair her relationship with Lena Luthor?
Season 5 of Supergirl has arrived! As teased by the cast and show runners, one of the main arcs of this season will be the friendship between Supergirl and Lena Luthor. After Lena found out about Kara’s Supergirl sized secret from none other than her diabolical brother Lex, can their relationship ever be repaired?
The first half of the premiere found Kara struggling with telling Lena the truth that she is Supergirl, afraid of the repercussions after having lied for so long. Meanwhile, Lena has been burying her emotions in VR simulations that allowed her to take out her suppressed anger. A very Luthor thing to do.
But finally Kara can take it no longer and when Lena shows up at her Pulitzer Prize ceremony the reveal that was more than 3 seasons in the making finally came. Kara revealed her secret to an emotional Lena who walks away without saying a word. Kudos to both Melissa Benoist and Katie McGrath for that scene, the emotions they played were so raw and the scene was so well done.
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It seems Lena was planning to give Kara’s secret to CatCo to publish for the world to see, but Kara revealing her secret to her made her pause. Instead, Lena chose to keep Kara’s secret (for now) and gave an emotional introduction speech. It was a very sweet moment, and if this wasn’t a CW drama show you would almost believe everything was going to be fine now.
Of course, since this is a CW drama show nothing is that simple. Supergirl shows up at the end of the day to talk to Lena and gives her a watch that will allow Lena to contact her whenever she needs her. The two women seem to be friends again. But it is only after Supergirl leaves that Lena’s real intentions are shown.
Despite the fact that she hasn’t revealed Supergirl’s secret to the world, Lena hasn’t actually forgiven her. She’s still angry and hurt and a Luthor that has been hurt is more dangerous than a caged animal.
Lena makes the metaphor that Luthors are like scorpions who sting when they’re betrayed. She’s going to use Supergirl’s trust in her to her own benefit and for her own ends. It’s going to be a rough season clearly.
The audience can see Lena going down the wrong path and you almost want to scream at her to turn around before it’s too late. Also, I’d like to point out that the ending of the fable of the scorpion and the frog isn’t great for the scorpion either…
Lena going down a park path isn’t a shock, her name is Luthor after all. And star Melissa Benoist has compared Kara and Lena to Clark and Lex several times. But the fact that it isn’t shocking doesn’t make it any less painful.
Lena was a character who always wanted to do and be good. She tried so hard to fight against her family’s legacy, going so far as to rebrand the family company, building hospitals, trying to cure cancer, and helping to save her friends and the world on multiple occasions.
Lena was holding on to her goodness and humanity with every shred of power in her being and this last betrayal from her best friend may have officially pushed her off the edge. The question is, can she come back? She hasn’t done anything unforgivable yet so there’s still time.
Given the way that she ended this episode, it’s safe to say things may get worse before they get better. Lena will likely get close to doing something unforgivable, if not completely crossing that line, but will she stop herself in time and will Kara forgive her?
The truth is, Kara is essentially a paragon of goodness and she loves Lena dearly so I would bet that there isn’t anything Lena can do to her that Kara would not forgive. However, if Lena ends up doing something that hurts innocent people or Kara’s friends that may not be so easy for even Kara to forgive.
Lena is hurt and angry now, but she isn’t her brother. While it’s possible that she may really go fully off the edge, it is also entirely possible that once her anger starts to fade she will realize that deep down she doesn’t actually want to hurt Kara. Especially since Kara did willingly reveal her secret to Lena herself. That fact could make all the difference in the end.
It is very likely that before this point Lena’s plans will have gone too far, and even though she’ll regret it and be fully back on Team Supergirl it will be too late. By then she won’t be able to stop what she’s set in motion and it may cause a lot of pain.
With technology being one of the issues the show is tackling this season, what are the chances that Lena’s new VR system – aptly called Hope – will somehow be used against her? Either the system will become too smart and take on a life of its own (it already offered to help her kill Supergirl) or it will be hacked by someone and used for their own purposes.
It will be interesting to see if by the end of the season we get a reversal of the current dynamic, with Lena’s secret plans being revealed to Kara and Kara being the one who is now angry and betrayed. Either way, my bets are on Lena being back on Team Supergirl by the end of this season.
However, even if she never forgives Supergirl and does continue down a dark path it will still be a lot of fun to watch. As anyone who has watched Merlin knows, Katie McGrath does an exceptional job of playing the aristocrat with daddy issues who goes to the dark side so I can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Would you like to see Lena turn dark or are you hoping Kara and Lena repair their friendship? Let us know!
Supergirl airs Sundays at 9pm EST on the CW.