History YMMV / Supergirl2015

** Thus who were not to fond of the DarkerAndEdgier portrayal of the Franchise/{{Superman}}-mythos really tend to like the version of the characters the show portrays, mainly Tyler Hoechlin's LightierAndSofter portrayal of Superman compared to Creator/HenryCavill's dark and broody performance in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' and Jon Cryer's EvilIsHammy performance of Lex Luthor compared to Jesse Eisenberg's often loathed performance.

* FandomRivalry: With the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse, mainly due to differences in tone and theme. This came to a head when the show's crossover with ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' aired a mere three days after the premier of ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Many saw the ''Supergirl'' episode as the superior crossover due to its LighterAndSofter tone and its lack of [[LetsYouAndHimFight forced conflict]]. It was taken even further when the show introduced its own take on Superman in Season 2 and Marc Guggenheim explicitly mentioned that the new Superman would be a kinder, gentler and more overtly heroic take on the character, similar to his usual depiction in the comics. It's almost like he was subtly trying to distance the TV Superman from the modern movie version. Tyler Hoechlin even went so far as to say that Superman doesn't have to be [[DarkerAndEdgier brooding or dark]] to be cool, seemingly taking a shot at the mixed reception to the DCEU version of the character for that exact reason. It did lessen over time, first with Superman's [[TookALevelInCheerfulness more optimistic and cheerful portrayal]] in [[Film/JusticeLeague2017 both]] [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague versions]] of ''Justice League'' and the spin-off series ''Series/SupermanAndLois'' taking several creative cues from the DCEU depiction.

** Back in the Arrowverse, [=SuperArrow=], aka Kara/Oliver.

** Kara corrupted by the Red Kryptonite has as many fans, if not more, though she technically isn't a villain.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** After the early episodes got some flack for using Kryptonite in place of red sunlight as something to bring Kara down to human level (when it should instead be ''killing'' her), "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" shows that the writers have learned their lesson on that one.
** After the Martian Manhunter's reveal, the character seemed to unfortunately end up in moments of distress that made it appear as though he'd been subjected to AdaptationalWimp treatment. For some of these moments, the reasoning is justified; such as him not want to go full Martian and reveal himself, or when he's already feeling near suicidal and against the White Martian (A species that was to his kind what a wolf is to a rabbit). Other instances though have him against characters who know full well he's a Martian (such as Astra), and he still struggles against opponents that he expectedly should be more than a match for solo. It becomes particularly egregious when the show makes a mention that J'onn is considered to be more powerful than Superman... ''by Superman himself''. His reputation ends up being repaired somewhat when he's forced to reveal himself to stop a Red Kryptonite-fueled Supergirl in the 16th episode and [[CurbStompBattle brings her down in roughly 30 seconds]].
** Throughout the first season, most fans and critics noticed that Winn was much more useful and progressive while working with the DEO and that at [=CatCo=] his talent would be wasted. Season Two has him quitting [=CatCo=] to work there full-time.
** The major (if not the only) issue with Creator/TylerHoechlin's casting as Superman is that he is too young for the character. His debut episode has him explain that adult Kryptonians age slower on Earth thanks to the yellow sun (which is true in the comics canon).
** There was criticism for the lack of women of color on the show - as all the female leads were white in the first season. The second season adds Maggie Sawyer and M'gann, the former being a TwoferTokenMinority as a lesbian too. Later seasons have added Samantha/Reign (played by a Colombian/Cuban-American actress), Kelly Olsen (played by an African-American actress), Andrea Rojas (played by an Argentinian-American actress), and Nyxly (played by a Malaysian actress) as series regulars.
** James becoming the Guardian seems like one for the people who complained about his romance with Kara being dropped, as well as the general complaints about the writers not knowing what to do with him.
** After it couldn't possibly have been more obvious that Astra's death in Season 1 was entirely due to Creator/LauraBenanti leaving for another job, they finally just recast the role of her twin sister in Season 3, opening the possibility that Astra could also come back to fulfill the original plans for her. It also helped that they took the opportunity for yet another CastingGag of a previous Superman-based actor, in this case former [[Series/{{Smallville}} Lois Lane]] Creator/EricaDurance.
** Alex's romance with [[Series/LegendsOfTomorrow Sara Lance]] in ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' seems to address the problems many fans had with ''Supergirl'''s dubious handling of homosexuality, especially after the ShipSinking of Sanvers.
** The writing decisions around the season 3 BigBad Reign--including her [[StartOfDarkness origin story]]--seem to be tailored to the common complaint of ''Supergirl'' having bland, one-dimensional villains (for both its MonsterOfTheWeek baddies ''and'' its season-long [[BigBad Big Bads]], which was not helped by the mishandling of the plot). In a similar fashion, the VillainOfTheWeek for 3x04 received praise for his complexity and depth, and later became a recurring character.
** The episode "In Search of Lost Time" has Kara (influenced by a mental outbreak) giving Mon-El a wild speech that calls him out on everything fans have complained about for a while: Overtaking Kara's own story, how quickly his romance with Kara moved and acting as if he's Kara mentor. Several reviews praised the show for finally facing up to all the issues of the character.
** "Schott Through The Heart" also has him sincerely apologize for lying to her about having been a prince on Daxam, noting that he knows how it feels now.
** The casting of Creator/ElizabethTulloch, who was on her late thirties (born in 1981), as ComicBook/LoisLane after several concerns that a younger actress will be cast on the role especially after the character description released of Lois being in her "early thirties" despite it being very contradictory to the show's timeline (not to mention being yet another example of Hollywood Ageism against actresses that was thankfully averted).
** Part of the obvious rushed writing process of Season 3's second half was that apparently no one thought to let Superman know that part of Krypton, including his aunt, survived. Season 4 starts with him visiting Argo.
** After Season 3 suffered from {{Romantic Plot Tumour}}s, lots of angst, and J'onn suffering from an extreme case of TheWorfEffect, Season 4 was praised for having no romantic leads for Kara, a good mix of angst and lightheartedness, effective villains who actually present a threat without nerfing the main characters, and thoughtful but not narmy political commentary.
** The longer the series went on, the less believable it became that Lena could not work out that Kara was Supergirl. By the end of the 4th series, Lena was shown to have worked out Sam was Reign, Alex was DEO, created Green and Black Kryptonite and fly a Legion shuttle in minutes but couldn't see that Supergirl was Kara without glasses. Fans and critics complained about how this undermined Lena's character. In the 4th season finale, Lex revealed Kara's secret to Lena and his words strongly imply that Lena probably did know on an intellectual level but her fear of betrayal led to her subconsciously blocking it out.
** After two seasons of Brainiac 5's... [[WTHCostumingDepartment less than stellar]] true form, Season 5 finally gives him his iconic green skin, blond hair, and purple costume.
** The 100th episode "It's A Super Life" has Kara experiencing four timelines where she told Lena her secret...and every one of them ends up even worse than the real timeline. This was the show retroactively rewriting the history of the show to justify the hole they have written themselves (and Kara) into by not telling her best friend her secret.
** Comic purists weren't thrilled that Mr. Mxyztplk, long shown as a quirky imp, was made into a typical CW-style hunk, complete with dashing accent. In season 5, Mxy (now played by an older, less attractive man), admits that he was putting on a glamour to woo Kara.
** After having practically everyone disapprove of William and Kara's relationship, "Welcome Back Kara" has him mention that he's moved on from her and is now dating someone else. The following episodes have them working together as professional colleagues with no {{UST}} whatsoever.

* IdiotPlot: The entire plot of Season 2's "Homecoming" relies on every single cast member except Mon-El and Winn taking Jeremiah's extremely easy rescue from Cadmus entirely at face value, let him walk around like normal without even attempting to debrief him first, have no medical examination which would detect that he has a robotic arm, buy into his transparent lie after he's caught accessing the DEO's servers without permission, J'onn making no attempt to read Jeremiah's mind until AFTER it's already become apparent he's lying to them, buying his "fusion bomb" story without proof of any kind, and Kara and Alex refusing to believe Jeremiah could have an ulterior motive. [[CassandraTruth Probably worst of all is how Mon-El and Winn very explicitly point this idiocy out just to be blown off.]]

** Roulette really knows [[LadyInRed how to rock a red dress]] and [[ShesGotLegs show some leg]].

** Similarly, her season 5 suit is something not everyone considers a winner - the red skirt being replaced by blue pants and everything about it darkening to Zack Snyder levels is seen to make her less visually interesting, and it ''ain't'' down to just missing [[ShesGotLegs the legs]].

** After a praised fourth season, the series suffered this again with Season 5. This season was heavily criticized, with the main criticisms being about ArcFatigue involving Lena's plot and the "fight for her soul" (in the words of the showrunner themselves) by Kara and Lex, which lasted the entire season, and also about RomanticPlotTumor involving Kara and William Dey, who many accused of having no chemistry and stealing precious time from others characters. It didn't help that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the production of the last episode, making the season end without its planned climax. As if that wasn't enough, thanks to Crisis, some of the plot of Seasons 1 and 3 fell under CanonDiscontinuity.

** Characters throw out pop culture references like there's no tomorrow, but they feel more like the writers going WereStillRelevantDammit than being genuinely funny. Having Indigo talk about how she "wanders the same realm as [[VideoGame/CandyCrushSaga Candy Crush]]" feels really forced and cheesy, considering she's a serious villain.

** The first trailer for Season 5 has Kara say the accomplishments of last season don't matter because people are so fixated on their technological devices... something ''completely unrelated'' to what happened in Season 4 outside of the anti-alien message boards. It's even worse when you realize her narration is over scenes of people hanging out while looking at their phones, receiving emails on their monitors at work, and what seems to be a young teen [[FauxHorrific slowly riding down a sidewalk]] on a [[WereStillRelevantDammit hoverboard]] while looking at a video game on another device, which is presented as somehow meaning ''nobody in the US'' cares that the president of the United States was arrested for working with Luthor. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, Kara; everything is utterly dystopian now compared to before...]]

** Lena during her villainous stage in Season 5, had Hope violate Eves body and overwrite her mind. It was never explained what happened to Eves personality. She also was prepared to reveal Kara's identity to the world without any concern for Kara's family and friends becoming targets for Supergirls enemies.

** Kara's sister lambasting her for ''saving a crashing airplane'' because it revealed the existence of her powers, made many people roll their eyes and brought back some unfortunate flashbacks to Pa Kent critiquing Clark for saving a bus of schoolkids in ''Film/ManOfSteel''. Especially since Alex herself was on the plane, something that inexplicably goes completely unacknowledged by either of them.

** The first trailer for Season 5 has Kara say the accomplishments of last season don't matter because people are so fixated on their technological devices... something ''completely unrelated'' to what happened in Season 4 outside of the anti-alien message boards. It's even worse when you realize her narration is over scenes of people hanging out while looking at their phones, receiving emails on their monitors at work, and what seems to be a young teen [[FauxHorrific slowly riding down a sidewalk]] on a [[WereStillRelevantDammit hoverboard]] while looking at [[UpToEleven a video game on another device]], which is presented as somehow meaning ''nobody in the US'' cares that the president of the United States was arrested for working with Luthor. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, Kara; everything is utterly dystopian now compared to before...]]

** After a praised fourth season, the series suffered this again with Season 5. This season was heavily criticized, with the main criticisms being about ArcFatigue involving Lena's plot and the "fight for her soul" (in the words of the showrunner themselves) by Kara and Lex, which lasted the entire season, and also about RomanticPlotTumor involving Kara and William Dey, who many accused of having no chemistry and stealing precious time from others characters. It didn't help that the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the production of the last episode, making the season end without its planned climax. As if that wasn't enough, thanks to Crisis and the large amount of {{Retcon}}s introduced in Series/SupermanAndLois, much of the plot of Seasons 1 and 3 fell under CanonDiscontinuity.

** Kara's speech about hope in the Season 1 finale. To some, it's the most ridiculous TastesLikeDiabetes claptrap imaginable, but to others Melissa Benoist actually sells every bit of it.

* UnfortunateImplications:
** [[http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/supergirl-hero-we-need-and-deserve-227456 This review of the pilot]] notes that, for everything it gets right about female empowerment, there are no women of color in the main cast, straying uncomfortably into a white, straight view of feminism.
** As unpopular as Kara/James was, [[http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/supergirls-thanksgiving-menu-includes-deadly-alien-246554 some fans]] are still uncomfortable with an interracial romance being ended for barely any onscreen reason in favor of Kara hooking up with another white guy (definitely doesn't help that he's a former slave owner).
** [[https://creators.co/@amyoates/4211559 This article]] sums up a lot of people's feeling about Mon-El and his romance with Kara - specifically, that her character arc this season is more about making him better so he can date her as a reward.
** [[http://www.theyoungfolks.com/television/101723/supergirl-how-james-olsen-has-been-wronged/ This article]] goes into very specific details about the implications behind James being so OutOfFocus during the second season, especially in light of the fact that Mon-El has gotten so much screen time at the expense of even Kara.
** [[http://www.withanaccent.com/2018/06/08/white-feminism-is-killing-the-arrowverse/2/ This article]] criticizes the lack of diversity of women the series has and that the attempts to diversify the cast were very poor; either they were background characters who ended up almost, if not totally, forgotten (M'gann, Roulette), or white actresses were cast to play them (Maggie Sawyer being portrayed by a tan Italian actress although Maggie was reimagined as Latina). The article also criticizes that white characters are put to fight against villainous people of color, like Roulette and the Worldkillers. Season five attempts to rectify this (the older sister of the {{Race Lift}}ed James is now a regular, and while not a superhero, is definitely one of the good guys.)
** The writing of Kara and William's romance has been harshly criticized due to some problematic clichés used. [[https://www.cbr.com/supergirl-kara-new-love-interest-william-dey-problem/ Aaron Young in CBR]] stated that the romance starting with them hating each other and William being a jerk to her (even as a facade) is promoting a relationship element that ends up in toxic relationships and that it promotes the idea that toxic men are actually nice if someone looks hard on them. While ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'' retconned him as not meeting Kara before, the relationship still has its problems. William asks Kara out and Kara plainly stating No (to dating) but William continues to pursue her and his attempts are encouraged by Alex, who basically tells Kara to date him. This comes off as a guy who has been rejected but doesn't take no for an answer being rewarded with a relationship with the object of his affections. The fact that this happened in an episode that aired on International Women's Day was pointed out [[https://meaww.com/supergirl-season-5-episode-14-william-dey-kara-melissa-benoist-pressured-date-wrong-message-women by several reviewers including]] [[https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-09/supergirl-dating-fan-outrage/ the Radio Times]].

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Siobhan intends to sell a story to Perry White about Supergirl letting a villain go free. You'd expect that when an affected Kara distracts her she would hide the e-mail from her computer (or at the very least, close the lid). Instead, Siobhan leaves it visible. It's unclear whether she knows Perry White at all, but it's implied that he's just as unwilling as Cat to accept someone who goes behind her employer's back.
** President Olivia flies to straight to National City to respond to the Daxamite invasion.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The President to land somewhere nearby, go to a heavily fortified and secret location, THEN communicate with the Daxamite Queen, or at least arm Air Force One with some sci-fi shields and weaponry to make it a genuine threat.\\
'''Instead:''' The President flies straight up to the Daxamite mothership with no protection whatsoever except a couple of standard fighters, contacts the Daxamite Queen and threatens her, and to nobody's great surprise Air Force One is effortlessly shot down by the Daxamites, killing everybody on board except for the President herself and Cat Grant who was saved by Supergirl. The only thing that keeps the President out of TooDumbToLive territory is that she happens to be an alien resilient enough to take a plane being blown up and a several thousand foot fall like it's nothing. [[LampshadeHanging Even Kara herself]] lampshades how stupid this was.
** Mary, Winn's mother, takes apart one of the Flying Monkey robots that attacked the DEO, finding out who built it in the process.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Mary to tell the rest of the DEO what she's found and where to find the one responsible, letting the group catch the villain easily.\\
'''Instead:''' Mary steals a gun from the DEO storage and heads to the villain's lair, without any backup or even notifying anyone where she is going.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' Mary to shoot the villain during the numerous opportunities she had to do so.\\
'''Instead:''' Mary just stands there pointing a gun at the villain.\\
'''Result:''' Naturally, Mary gets captured and used as a hostage to force Winn to come to them, forcing the DEO to rush off to save her at the villain's own lair, with the villain well aware they are coming and thus prepared to face them.
** In the season 2 finale, Lillian Luthor reveals that she knows she is Supergirl. When Kara asks her why she didn't tell Lena, Lillian tells her that Lena will work it out herself and hate Kara for hiding the truth. Kara ignores this coded warning and spends most of the next two seasons actively hiding her identity from Lena. She even mentions Lillian's warning when discussing Supergirls issues with Lena. When Kara finally does tell Lena, it is far too late, as Lex already told her, and as per Lillian's warning, Lena now hates Kara and wants revenge.
*** Subverted however. Based on the alternate timelines seen in "It's a Super Life" on the idea of Kara telling Lena she's Supergirl, it was actually the right move.

** Kara {{Squick}}ing after Cat suggested that Supergirl may be Superman's girlfriend becomes funny because her adoptive parents were both played by [[Film/{{Supergirl}} a former Supergirl]] and [[Series/LoisAndClark a former Superman]].

** A change within the series that was disliked is that Supergirl in Season 1 was her own character, while on Season 2 she is too absorbed on Mon-El.

** Some fans are upset that Kara told Nia her secret identity in less than a season, while Lena had to wait almost three seasons to find out from someone else. Others feel that it's entirely justified, given that Nia was a budding superheroine. A lot depends on how people feel about the importance of secret identities in the first place. There are also those who are more upset about the fact that, despite Lena being friends with both Supergirl and Kara Danvers for years, she never saw through the ClarkKenting (though, admittedly, a Luthor who never sees through ClarkKenting is kind of traditional).

** When Mxy appears to save Kara from Nxyly, it would've been awesome to see a pair of {{Reality Warper}}s going all out. Instead, they throw a couple energy blasts back and forth, then Kara gets freed and they fly away. Granted, this may be a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot, since a full-on RealityWarper battle would've required serious CGI, but it still would've been amazing to see more than we got.

** James Olsen. Many found him boring, wishy-washy, and nothing at all like the endearing character of the source material (with Winn being considered a better Jimmy Olsen than this version). In Season One, his ShipTease with Kara was very poorly met with fans blasting the two for having no chemistry at all. Then he becomes the Guardian which was regarded as a weak attempt to do something with him, along with his role as a poor man's Batman given his [[TheCowl Cowl]] dynamic with Supergirl but being extremely generic as a superhero, and then he goes OutOfFocus. ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'' even had a TakeThatScrappy moment where the Earth-X version of him gets abruptly killed off by Earth-X Oliver.

** Has some crossover with the ''Series/Merlin2008'' fandom due to the appearance of Katie [=McGrath=], who plays a similar role in both shows as a friend of the title character [[FaceHeelTurn who later turns against them]] (though in Lena's case she eventually turns back). It got even more pronounced in Season 6 when Lena, like her character on ''Merlin'', discovers she has magic.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In "How Does She Do It", Winn gives an ActionFigureJustification about the toys on his desk, calling them "figurines". While this is PlayedForLaughs at the time, implying Winn is a {{Manchild}} in denial while also being a MythologyGag for his comic book counterpart, the reveal that Winn's ''father'' was Toyman, that he murdered people, and that Winn fears becoming like him, puts his dislike of the word "toys" in a heartbreaking light.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In "How Does She Do It", Winn gives an ActionFigureJustification about the toys on his desk, calling them "figurines". While this is PlayedForLaughs at the time, implying Winn is a {{Manchild}} in denial, when it is later revealed that Winn's father was already notorious for murdering people as Toyman, and that Winn fears becoming like him, this distancing himself from toys makes a heartbreaking amount of sense.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In "How Does She Do It", Winn gives an ActionFigureJustification about the toys on his desk, calling them "figurines". While this is PlayedForLaughs at the time, implying Winn is a {{Manchild}}, when it is later revealed that Winn's father was already notorious as the villainous Toyman, and that Winn feared becoming like him, this distancing himself from toys makes a heartbreaking amount of sense.

** During Barry's first crossover appearance, Winn brings up the idea of an Earth where they're all evil, to which he replies "Been there, it sucked." This referred to Earth-2, where just a few characters had their morality switched, little knowing that a couple years later we'd be introduced to Earth X, where the local versions of the Arrowverse heroes are ''Nazis''.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/JonCryer, who is best known for comedy like ''Film/HotShots'' and ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'', is an amazingly effective and villainous Lex Luthor. He only makes jokes for himself, and they're usually about gloating over whatever scheme he's just pulled off, usually to the heroes' faces.

* FoeYay: Manchester Black's final words to J'onn before his death? "You're beautiful."