I'll be the first to admit that I am a:

gamer/
geek/
nerd/
semi-otaku (I do not shy places of the light but do prefer the darkness)/
obsessive compulsive/
INFP

while also playing the roles of an:

intellectual/
teacher/
leader/
husband/
father/
poet/
wannabe novelist/
expatriate/
conservative libertarian/
not quite so God fearing as I should be Christian

I also have the uncanny (or perhaps more common than I realize) ability to utterly decimate TV shows in a matter of days, when I realize I missed an entire season or half-season and the new season has arrived but cannot watch episode 1 of the new season before finishing AND ANALYZING every episode in the previous season to an unhealthy degree... even if I utterly despise the TV show but feel it's necessary for me to watch it because of the above characteristics.

So this leads me to where I was for most of yesterday and most of today, starting on episode 12 of the fourth season of Supergirl and burning my way through to the first episode of Season five. Because I truly hate this show, but feel a sick duty to watch it, as if it did actually improve I would forever feel like I abandoned my civic responsibilities.

I hate the overt politicization of the show. I hate that the values of the writers are crammed down my throat like someone cranking open my mouth with a lever and shoveling eggs down my gullet. And recently I've really just come to dislike the central characters for their (what seems to me) unapologetic narcissism of their values. And what really began to disturb me in Season 4, was that Lex Luthor and Lena Luthor seemed like the best written characters of superhero TV in the past decade, but both are being posed as either anti-heroes or outright villains (obviously, as they should be). But I actually felt more compelled to their stories than I did the central cast, and was actually rooting more often for Lena's small victories against her mother and her moments of defined conviction than I ever did for what seems to be a growing cast of central foils that are entirely one-dimensional.

I should say that I don't like TV shows that prop up values over character, regardless of the values. However, because there is a supernatural element to the DC or Marvel shows, I find an unerring forgiveness for the writers, even though after finishing so many of these shows, I feel like I've just taken a very cold mud bath (so... not soothing).

One show that has differed from Supergirl but seems written in the same way is Black Lighting, but I've felt no antipathy towards that show whatsoever. In fact, generally every episode leaves me hopeful for the next, waiting for the next way the writers can subvert my expectations. It's wonderful (even though Black Lightning's suit is ridiculous - he looks like he should be riding a Harley, not zipping around a town at night with electricity trails). I usually (so far) feel like the way values are proposed in that show are a direct attribute of each specific character, and the writers don't hoist an expectation that the watcher should agree with those values (even though I generally do) in order to have value as a human being watching a superhero TV show.

Anyway, let the new seasons begin. Flash, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Batwoman (I did watch the first episode, but main character is so exceptionally self-involved it's hard for me to really connect), Titans, Pennyworth (holy balls Batman, it was wonderful), and my guilty pleasure Supernatural -- are all starting up now. Quite excited for the fall list of shows.