If you’re like me, you’ve decided to tough it out and finish watching this season of Supergirl on the CW. I say tough it out because this season has really taken its time getting to the point. For most of us, the big reveal of who Reign is wasn’t all that big, and watching Supergirl get beat down time and again was hard to do. In addition to the full season arc of Reign and the Worldkillers, we had to slog through Lena Luthor verbally abusing Supergirl and then being all chummy with Kara because somehow she still hasn’t put two and two together and realized that her BFF Kara is her anti-friend Supergirl. We even survived the poorly written plotline in which Mon-El is back from the future with a wife and a best friend who want to save the future by saving the past, but as soon as the problem looks solved they’ll go back to their own time…but not all of them, because Mon-El still has feelings for Kara, so let’s just ditch the wife and go back to our old girlfriend. After all of that we have definitely earned a wrap up of some sort.

Let’s jump in, shall we? (Here there be mild spoilers, dear reader.)

Our finale puts us right back in where the previous episode left off. With Sam going under to find the mystical Kryptonian “Fountain of Lilith” that will somehow strengthen her and diminish Reign’s strength. Meanwhile, the DEO plus Supergirl, her mom, and the Legion must save the city as it crumbles from Reign’s attempt to terraform it. M’yrnn sacrifices himself, as he said he would last episode, and J’onn is forced to save people while pushing down his heartbreak over his father’s death. We see Sam trying to ignore her dead mom, who is trying to guide her to the right fountain, because she could be a mirage sent to distract and sabotage Sam’s mission. But most importantly, we see the final showdown with Reign and finally get to lay this plot to bed.

While I’ve been waiting for this Reign arc to end, I’m not sure this is the ending I wanted. The episode felt like it was trying to include as many of this season’s arcs they as they could in one hour, as if the producers weren’t sure that they were getting renewed and wanted to wrap up everything. In the time left over from the wrap up, we get some new things, like Winn going to the future to stop Evil Brainiac. However, the final showdown with Reign was, surprisingly, anticlimactic and dissatisfying. I found myself glancing at how much more time was left in the episode, and trying to figure out what they were going to throw at us in the end to link into next season (which was a very vague 15-30 seconds at the tail end of the episode). I wanted an epic showdown, with cool gadgets and beautifully executed plans. What I got was a lot of emotional filler and yet, somehow, more than once during this finale I found myself saying “do we really have time for this?”

There were definitely some things that could have waited until next season. After all, Alex’s desire to have a family has been an arc for almost two seasons now, and waiting a little longer to fully address that would have been better than the scene where Lena told her things would be easier after they got rid of Reign, which everyone could have told her. And then, Alex ends up rehashing a conversation she’s already had with J’onn and trying to leave the DEO so she can finally get what she wants, but instead she gets a promotion that will somehow still allow her to do things “on [her] own terms.”

Since the show was renewed for a fourth season, we know this isn’t the end for our friends in National City. So where do we go after this finale? Obviously, season four will clarify whatever it is that Lena is doing with Ms. Tessmacher and the Harun-El, as well as that super vague ending of a naked Kara/Supergirl in what looked like Russia. After all of Lena’s arguing that she isn’t her brother or her mother, it’s starting to look like she’s heading down the evil Luthor road and taking James’ adorable assistant with her. I feel like this can only go poorly for everyone involved, and further damage the friendship between Lena and Kara.

Personally, I’m hoping that Alex will end up with the family she’s wanted to start since season two. I would be incredibly unhappy if next season is just Alex being overwhelmed as the new director of the DEO. That’s been done in so many shows and I really just think that after kicking her down for two seasons with the whole Maggie thing, it is time we let her be happy and have as many babies she wants. I just want Alex to have some happiness that is solely her own; I feel like it would continue her development away from her and Kara’s mutual dependence.

Whatever happens in season four, I’ll just try to be happy that Reign is gone. She is gone, right?

Rating: Two Worldkillers out of three

Stray Thoughts:

• James Olsen: you can’t keep saying “Way to go, Clark” every time Superman is on TV; you’re going to out him and that’s super not cool. Clearly no one gave him the secret identity talk before he became Guardian.
• “We never showed you Star Wars? Not a single star war?” is now my favorite line from this show.
• Reign coming back with all three Worldkiller powers again feels like when a videogame villain suddenly comes back full force when you had almost beaten them.
• Glad that fixing the past to fix the future still has consequences, but also why are we only discussing Brainiac (the evil one) as a very distant relative?
• Not so great: Winn’s still sad about Dimos, who literally just got character development last episode so they could hardcore Red shirt him.
• Can Cat Grant come back, please?