Supergirl Is Unemployed: How Does Kara Pay The Bills After Snapper Carr Fired Her From CatCo?

As noted by Hollywood Life, several episodes ago on Supergirl, Kara managed to get herself fired from CatCo when Snapper Carr didn’t like her blogging a story he had killed. Since then, the CatCo storyline has largely been dropped by the writers. While this might make viewers wonder whether the producers are dropping the “Kara as plucky young reporter” idea entirely, another question is just how Kara is paying the bills with no income.

This kind of thing happens a lot in television shows. Characters with low-paying jobs – or no job at all – seem to somehow get by just fine in major metropolitan areas of the United States. On Friends, several of the characters seemed to do nothing but hang out in their apartments, all of which were in terrific locations and well furnished.

Even the other CW superhero shows often tend to ignore the gritty reality of things like paying the bills or even going to the bathroom. Over on The Flash, Barry and crew have locked up any number of supervillains/meta-humans in their Star Labs prison, but the cells they put them in make no sense. There’s no bed, no chair and – most importantly – nothing that looks like a toilet.

Yes, viewers do have to sometimes suspend their disbelief when watching any show. Not one really thinks the radio battery on Gilligan’s Island could really have lasted that many seasons or that Moe would have eventually figured out it was Bart on the phone.

And an even more baffling than Kara’s ability to get by without money is the fact that people can stare her and Supergirl right in the face and not realize they are the same person. Come on, she even has the same scar on her forehead! Worse, the writers on Supergirl don’t even try to provide a plausible explanation, like previously unmentioned Kryptonian mental powers that block recognition.

All the same, it’s still hard to understand just how Supergirl is paying her bills these days. Did she have tons of savings? Certainly, she must save lots of money on travel costs since she never needs to take a cab or plane. Was her adoptive family secretly independently wealthy? The house they lived in certainly doesn’t suggest that.

So how is Supergirl making ends meet these days? Well, she is living with Mon-El who – unlike Kara herself – does have a paying job as a bartender – sorry, mixologist. So maybe he’s paying the bills, although this would be very out of character for Kara and certainly wouldn’t make her the independent woman that the writers try to depict her as.

This leaves the only viable alternative. Kara/Supergirl is actually getting a paycheck from the DEO. J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter has added her to the payroll. Of course, they could have been doing this all along without letting the viewers know about it. But if this is the case, it brings up another interesting point.

If Supergirl – unlike her cousin Superman– is actually getting paid by the federal government through the DEO, then technically she’s under an obligation to follow the orders of the President – as played by Lynda Carter. So if Supergirl is ultimately given orders she has to disobey– and it seems likely with the President secretly being a shape-shifting alien – Kara could get fired from her only remaining gig.

Of course, there is always the chance the producers will return Supergirl to CatCo somehow. This might make more sense for the character, given that not long ago Kara swore that being a reporter was essentially her dream job. Taking her away makes her seem weaker.

[Featured Image by The CW]