catchmeyuriposting

We see Kara partying and self-destructing at the start of the movie, and we have a strong emphasis about how she wants to find a home. Then that messaging kind of disappears in the face of talking about what being good and strong can look like. It doesn't have to be warm, and it doesn't have to look soft.

We can SEE Kara internalizes what Rutheye says in the cave, and that it leads her to going back to Clark and seeking a home with him.

I can't find the post again, but I saw someone say that there was no connection between Kara feeling like she has no home, and pushing forward the "you don't have to be nice, but you have to be good" sentiment. The two themes seem disconnected, and that the moment with Clark at the end feels shoehorned in.

What if, and hear me out, Kara never STOPPED seeing the world that way? What if when it comes to everyone around her, she vehemently practices what her parents told her? Instead, she stopped being good to herself. The things her parents told her to be for others, Kara completely removed herself from the equation. Everyone else deserves it, but Kara does not. She tells Rutheye that Clark sees the good in everyone, and she sees the truth. Kara doesn't see the good in herself. She thinks she sees she's too broken and damaged.

She got to a point where she thought she's no longer good, but she NEVER stopped protecting those who couldn't protect themselves. After the family betrayed her and she's still in the house with Krem, she takes a long look at the antidote right in front of her... and immediately leaves it behind when she hears Rutheye screaming her name. Kara sets aside her mission to find Krem's antidote to save the young girls and Rutheye. But Kara stopped seeing that in herself. She didn't let herself see that she's still doing good, and she's still protecting others. She thinks she failed in doing that, but she didn't. She refuses to see it. She stopped seeing the good in herself.

In a way, keeping her distance from Clark is how she thinks she's protecting him, and I think she believes she doesn't deserve him caring about her.

So when Rutheye tells Kara she's not always kind, but she's good... I think it gave Kara the ability to realize that despite how much she harms herself, and damaged she thinks she is, she also deserves to be kind to herself, and to be strong for herself. She deserves to let other people lift her up, and be good to her.

Kara never ever went through a point where she has to learn how to save people. She does that every second we see her on screen. We see how much it hurts her when she can't save the family, despite the fact that they betrayed her. She doesn't even get mad at them. She understands the system they were forced to live in.

This even applies to Clark. Yes, she calls him names, but she is so empathetic of the life he's lived, and you can see how much she loves that about him. At first Kara insults him for being a nerd, but there's such a strong fondness you can see in her expression in the way she talks about him. I think she pushes him away because she doesn't think Clark should waste that on her. She thinks she's too broken for him. He's good. She doesn't think she's deserving of it.

Kara had to learn how to save herself, and how to forgive herself for something that was totally out of her control. She had to learn she's also deserving of the grace she gives everyone else. I think that's why she goes back to Clark. He's the person who's consistently tried to make space for her. He always tries to be good to her with as little judgement as possible. But up until the end of Supergirl, she wasn't willing to let herself embrace it. Kara says to Clark at the end, "he's just.... we're just happy to be home." In that moment, Kara makes the deliberate choice to stop excluding herself from being deserving of good, and that she can start letting other people show up for her as well... especially with the person who sees the good in everyone no matter what.

As my therapist has been saying for years, "be kind to yourself." While it's not the exact wording from the movie, I think the sentiment applies to everyone who's experienced trauma, and I believe that's the realization Kara came to through Rutheye's kindness and empathy.