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The 3 Biggest Missed Opportunities in Supergirl Season 3

The first two seasons of Supergirl cemented the show as a Monday night staple for me: flawed but fun, with campy superhero battles and cozy couch snuggles

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The first two seasons of Supergirl cemented the show as a Monday night staple for me: flawed but fun, with campy superhero battles and cozy couch snuggles. Its themes of strong family ties and positive friendships have largely been genuine enough to balance out some of the more bland villains, boyfriends, and plotlines.

And then there's Season 3, which started out fairly strong! But wow, did things take a turn. I thoroughly enjoy this show and find its brand of silliness charming, so it pains me to say that Supergirl full-on jumped the shark in ridiculousness before the end of this season. (Reign flies through the center of the Earth to cause earthquakes? Really?) That's disappointing all by itself, but what makes this blunder hair-pullingly aggravating is how close this season came to being something great.

Early on, multiple arcs had me pumped-it looked like fans could bank on there being some big, exciting reveals in store. Instead, these intriguing storylines fizzled out at best, or cheapened the season as a whole at worst.

Three particular disappointing story arcs stand out as weak spots where the season could have soared if only things had played out a little differently. 

(1) No reveal that Lena knows Kara's identity

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(1) No reveal that Lena knows Kara's identity

By the final third of Season 3, I was so convinced that an "I've always known" moment was coming between Lena and Kara that I was pre-celebrating. In several instances, it seems pretty clear that Lena at least suspects it and is waiting for Kara to tell her the truth-she challenges Supergirl on not being friends with Sam (which Kara is), daring her to argue the point.

Later, after Supergirl has been waxing poetic about secrets vs. trust in regards to Lena's kryptonite, Lena straight-up asks for Supergirl's real name. It comes across as more of a rhetorical question-one she totally already knows the answer to. Like an adult asking a child with chocolate all over their face who ate all the cookies.

However, my "smoking gun" comes when Lena and Kara (as Kara) finally interact for the first time in weeks, running into each other in an elevator on the way to visit Alex and Ruby. Lena seizes the opportunity to admit that she is only working with Supergirl out of necessity and that she can't trust her, even casually quoting "never meet your idols." Blindsided, Kara stumbles through a hasty defense of her alter-ego. Lena is unfazed by Kara's deer-in-headlights expression, smiling and switching topics as the elevator doors open.

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