Supergirl: Not even awesome villains could save The Flash crossover episode

Tonight, fans who have been begging for a Supergirl/The Flash crossover ever since Supergirl debuted on CBS last fall finally got their wish. While there were some highlights in the highly anticipated crossover episode, the bad outweighed the good.

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Let’s start with what the episode got right, shall we?

The good: Silver Banshee and Livewire really shined in the crossover event. In a show where weekly villains usually have no depth, developed back story or anything to make them interesting in general, this episode really stepped things up a notch in the evil-doer department.

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Also, there’s no denying it, Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist have great onscreen chemistry. So much so, I almost forgive the fact that the writers have given Kara yet another person to have weird sexual tension and flirt with.

Which brings us to the bad.

1. Stop trying to make James and Kara happen — it’s not going to happen!

If this was Mean Girls and not a superhero show, the Supergirl writers would be Gretchen Weiners and the Jara ship is the equivalent of fetch. For crying out loud, is this show really still pushing the James/Kara romantic story line? There’s a new superhero in town who happens to be an attractive male, so of course James is green with envy. In fact, that should be his villain name. Green Envy.

More: Why Supergirl‘s James Olsen has totally got to go

And I’m not the only one who is so over this forced ship. Fans have spoken out about it over and over.

(Side note: James’ reaction to finding out Barry is a superhero from another universe is standoffish, but Winn’s is adorable.)

2. The pop culture references

While normally I’m all for an occasional real world reference craftily slipped into a fictional universe, this episode was oozing with so many it was beyond cheesy. From Beyoncé to Taylor Swift’s squad and back to Mariah Carey and Ramona Singer, it was just too much. The references went overboard and made it seem like the show was trying too hard to be clever.

However, it did make me giggle when Cat said, “You look like the attractive yet non-threatening, racially diverse cast of a CW show,” in a nod to the fact that everyone seems to think that Supergirl would be a better fit for The CW than CBS.

3. The villains need new stylists

While the story and action involving Livewire and Silver Banshee were OK, in the grand tradition of Supergirl villains, they kinda looked like crap.

I get it, I get it, it’s a comic book adaptation. But with all the money that’s supposedly dumped into Supergirl‘s budget, you’d expect Silver Banshee to look a little more like a supernatural being than a Cobra Kai member dressed up for Halloween.

Now let’s take a moment to talk about the plot holes in this specific episode. For one, how is it that Cat recognizes Siobhan under 12 inches of Silver Banshee pancake makeup, but Kara glides by undetected by putting on a pair of spectacles? It makes no sense.

It’s also a little strange that Supergirl is impervious to bullets and fire, but Siobhan’s Silver Banshee scream can render her unconscious and bleeding — while Livewire easily absorbs it. Then there’s the fact that James is struck by a strong bolt of electricity, but survives completely unscathed.

Now that Season 1 of Supergirl is coming to a close, we’d hope by now that the series would have kinks like plot, character story lines and overall aesthetics of the show ironed out. How does Supergirl production continue to overlook these huge details?

What did you think of The Flash/Supergirl crossover?