Kara's ending, in isolation, made sense as a narrative conclusion for the character and was nice to see.
But during the course of the season and rest of the finale, in service to a clunkily executed power theme and a plot that made little sense, they systematically undermined everything about Kara that made her a remarkable character.
She failed to live up to her motto of Hope, Help, and Compassion for All multiple times throughout the season in ways that were head-scratching. The loss of her father was undone and the ways her unfathomable loss shaped her were glossed over. Her experience as a part of a minority group that was just viciously targeted by a state-sanctioned hate group two seasons ago was invalidated. Her rich relationship and complicated history with her sister was abandoned.
And worst of all, for me, when push came to shove and it was important for Kara to take a moral stand against her sister in the way that Kara has never faltered before, in a way that has always been inspiring because it is difficult, she just... caved. She couldn't say no for apparently inexplicable reasons.
Kara took steps backward this season that we'd never seen before, they were not justified by the circumstances, and they certainly did not serve to celebrate the character in the final season of her show.
They wanted to tell a story about how we all can be heroes.
But instead of demonstrating the ways that everything Kara is inspires people to rise up, to become more, they made Kara less.
And not only does that make me doubt the belief they have in Supergirl as a character, as an icon, and in superheroes in general — it makes me doubt their hope in the very people they were trying to inspire.
