After a six-year run, Supergirl ended Tuesday with its final two episodes. And like so many of the Arrowverse shows, it feels like the series weathered an epoch. Originally devised for CBS, where it aired for one year, the show had a distinctly different feel even as it found its pillars in Melissa Benoist’s Kara Danvers and Chyler Leigh as Kara’s adoptive sister Alex. Once it found its footing, CBS pulled the plug, but allowed it to transfer over to The CW, where it became an Arrowverse show in attitude and, eventually, in truth via numerous crossovers and the eventual merging of narrative realities. Through it all, though, the show retained its sense of justice, compassion, and community.
To commemorate the end of Supergirl, we thought we’d focus on some of the best moments of the series. We found many of them key in on that sense of community as, ultimately, the show was about finding those bonds and the strength within them. With that in mind, here are the 10 best moments from the series overall.
From: “Kara” (Season 6, Episode 20)
(Photo by Katie Yu/The CW)
It is fitting that the first entry on the list is the program’s final moment. After six years of living a dual identity, Kara finally felt secure in becoming one whole person. Well, once she had a couple of conversation on the topic with both Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) and Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath). And though we do not hear Kara say the words, the smile on her face after Cat introduces her as both Supergirl and CatCo Magazine Editor-In-Chief says it all far more effectively. Kara’s grin was always a superpower in its own right, so using it here to announce the end of her secret — and leaving Kara in a position of strength — is absolutely the best image to send off the series.
From: “Prom Night!” (Season 6, Episode 5)
(Photo by The CW)
Season 6 opened with the incredible limitations thanks to COVID safety protocols and Benoist’s extended family leave. But for two episodes, it overcame this by giving Dreamer (Nicole Maines) and Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath) the literal keys to the show as they piloted the Legion ship back to 2009 to obtain a badly needed blood sample from the younger Kara (Izabela Vidovic). But when teenage Kara sees the ship land, the pair create a hilarious cover story on the fly. In doing so, the two characters proved how much they could carry the show. But also, it once again illustrated the magic in Vidovic and Olivia Nikkanen as younger versions of Kara and Alex — two young people who could very easily lead a Midvale-set prequel series.
From: “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)
(Photo by Darren Michaels / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection)
The series’ first action beat is so defining that it continued to become the source of new ideas for years to come, from Alex’s complex feelings about Kara using her powers to Kara’s current ponderings about the moment in regards to the AllStone gauntlets. But in the moment, it was also transformative as the character took charge of her own TV show in a dramatic and fantastic way. Back before Multiverses, Super Friends, or even a costume, Kara dramatically discovered this was her calling.
From: “Elseworlds Part 1” (The Flash Season 5, Episode 9)
(Photo by Katie Yu/The CW)
Kara’s truest self is the enthusiastic dork. And few moments get that across more than when she imitates Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) serious persona during the “Elseworlds” crossover – the only moment on this list not to occur in an episode of Supergirl. Beyond having fun with an imitation of his gruff voice, there’s the smile immediately afterward that is Kara in one shot. Sure, she may use that dorkiness as a cover at times, but this is the mode she’s ultimately the most comfortable in and this goofy handful of seconds in the middle of a big crossover is its best example.
From: “World’s Finest” (Season 1, Episode 18)
(Photo by Robert Voets/Warner Bros)
In context, Barry Allen’s (Grant Gustin) first trip to Earth-38 was meant to create a certain romantic jealousy for Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks). Instead, this fun moment in which Barry brings Kara, Jimmy, and Winn (Jeremy Jordan) ice cream cones at super speed establishes so much of what the two heroes will do in subsequent crossovers. And despite sounding like a pun in regards to Benoist and Gustin’s past, “glee” really is the best word for it. Kara is gleeful to meet someone with powers who seems so at ease with them. Barry, meanwhile, brings the glee because he’s still young and the weight of the Multiverse is not yet upon him. Even without any of its contexts, though, the brief moment – and the scene surrounding it — is a pure dose of positivity.
From: “Immortal Kombat” (Season 5, Episode 19)
(Photo by Dean Buscher/The CW)
Whether you ship Kara and Lena or not, their friendship took on an intensity akin to a television romance – something the show occasionally recognized visually if never within the text itself. And that intensity would lead to a bad break-up when Lena learned Kara was Supergirl. In the fallout, Lena would try to develop technology to make people less deceitful and Kara would develop her own issues around living with a secret. We also got a pretty great 100th episode centering around it.
But all of that is just context for this moment in Lena’s lab, when she finally puts aside her pain and comes to understand why Kara never found the right time to tell her. The pair resolve to finish Lex (Jon Cryer) for good and smile at one another again. Not only is it a huge relief, but a reminder of just how central this relationship (romantic or not) became to the series.
From: “Far From the Tree” (Season 3, Episode 3)
(Photo by Dean Buscher/The CW)
David Harewood is one of show’s great pillars. He effortlessly switched from playing Hank Henshaw in the pilot to Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz from the next episode onward, establishing a caring and thoughtful father figure for both Alex and Kara across the first season. As it happens, family is very important to J’onn and nothing encapsulates that more than when he tries to rescue his father, M’yrnn J’onzz (Carl Lumbly), who has been imprisoned by White Martians for the last 300 years. The elder J’onzz refuses to believe J’onn is really J’onn, and it takes some telepathy and a special memory of J’onn’s Martian daughters for M’yrnn to accept the truth and embrace his son. It’s a scene made all the more incredible by Lumbly, a phenomenal actor who first gave J’onn a voice on television in the 2000s Justice League cartoon.
From: “Changing” (Season 2, Episode 6)
(Photo by Liane Hentscher/The CW)
It takes place far from any of the show’s standing sets, instead using an outside location for Alex to tell Kara her truth … or at least the truth she’s starting to understand. It’s a foundational moment for the series as so much of Alex’s journey centers on trying to incorporate that truth into everything from her work at the DEO to finding a way to fit her first girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima), into her life. It would also continue to matter once she had to nurse a broken heart while still trying to adopt a child, something which would not come to pass until just a few episodes ago. But beyond what it meant for Alex, it was huge for an audience still needing to see what it means to come to terms with this and, even then, still not have all the answers when your sister starts asking questions.
From: “Nevertheless, She Persisted” (Season 2, Episode 20)
(Photo by Bettina Strauss/The CW)
To a certain extent, the first season of Supergirl was a different show. Beyond airing on another network, it had the ongoing dramatic tension of Kara’s boss, Cat Grant, forever haranguing her. Sure, it was an ultimately supportive thing, but her inability to ever say Kara’s name right always reminded you that she only had so much bandwidth for her junior employee. Then, in the second season, she was gone as Flockhart declined a long-term stay in Vancouver when production moved north. We did get a few more appearances from her, but none more moving than when she said “Go get ‘em, Supergirl” as a still-grieving Kara left her office to go do some super-business. It finally confirmed that Cat (an ace reporter in her own right) knew the truth and understood what it meant to mentor “Kira.” It’s unclear how long she knew, but it makes watching the early seasons again a more appealing prospect to see when Flockhart decided the character made the discovery.
From: Too Many Episodes To Name
(Photo by THE CW)
For all the Earth-saving battles, plots twists, Multiversal changes, and struggles of the heart on the show, Supergirl was really about Pizza Night. Whether it was just Kara and Alex, or all of the Super Friends gathering at Kara’s apartment — and whether it was pizza, Chinese takeout, or a homemade potluck — the sense of close siblings and camaraderie among a chosen family will be the programs most lasting legacy. Sure, nothing big happens in moments like these, but the space to have them is at the heart of what Supergirl really fought for across the show’s six seasons: a space where you’re most valued loved ones can be at ease.
What was your favorite moment from the six seasons of Supergirl? Tell us in the comments.
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season 6’s final 5 episodes are now streaming on The CW site; season 1 through season 6 (episode 7) are streaming on Netflix.
