Obviously, that’s difficult – and it should be. Things ought to be a little rocky between them, for a time. But they should be allowed to struggled toward something that looks like progress, and not be stuck on an endless wheel of secrets and the same constantly repeated argument. Do I 100% think that Supergirl understands precisely how poorly this storyline was handled? Probably not. Do I think it’s on a better path now? Yes, and I’m willing to follow and see where their story goes next.
The intercutting of Kara’s standard hero speech about hope and the power of real connection to the folks refusing to exit the Obsidian Tech virtual world with Lena’s plea to Andrea to choose her better angels was masterfully done, and honestly something that gives me a lot of hope for where the show will take this character in future. Lena isn’t a villain. She’s maybe not a hero the way Kara is, and maybe her path will, of necessity be one that’s a shade or two darker than her friend’s But, she can both choose and do good. We’ve seen it, and by all rights, we should see more of it.
And, honestly? As a final image for the season, I can’t ask for a lot more than Kara and Lena joining hands on the promise of taking down Lex.
“Immortal Kombat” also does a fairly serviceable job of wrapping up a lot of Season 5’s messiest storylines. Since the promised “dangers of technology” plot basically turned out to be “technology gods can literally kill you inside virtual reality” in the end, I don’t think anyone will weep over the story of Obsidian Tech and its VR contact lenses (hopefully?) coming to an end. The members of Leviathan are all imprisoned in what appears to be an air tube from a banking drive thru, Alex gets a supersuit of sorts, and Eve Tessmacher gets a fresh start, thanks to a literal character reboot.
Unfortunately, despite the defeat of both Leviathan and Obsidian Tech, Lex Luthor is neither captured nor imprisoned, and will be back to attempt to kill Supergirl another day with a new and improved weapon. When this same situation – a Big Bad ending the season triumphant – happened on The Flash, the unexpected twist felt fresh and exciting. Here, it feels like a threat. The prospect of Lex potentially dominating Supergirl Season 6 as he has this one is the sort of punishment that literally none of us have asked for, but now may well be getting whether we like it or not.