Supergirl's Azie Tesfai on Calling Out Kara's Racial Blind Spots: 'Those Scenes Needed to Feel Uncomfortable'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Tuesday's episode of Supergirl, "Blind Spots". Read at your own risk!]

Supergirlstar Azie Tesfai became the first Arrowverse star to write an episode for one of the franchise's shows with Tuesday night's "Blind Spots." And not only did she co-write (with J. Holtham) the episode where her character, Kelly Olsen, fully becomes the superhero Guardian, but the hour also explored systemic racism, the legacy of racial trauma, and privilege. 

The new episode saw Kelly take things into her own hands and become the hero the people of the Heights needed with advice and encouragement from Arrow alum John Diggle (David Ramsey, who guest-starred and also directed the episode). Kelly was inspired to fully embrace the Guardian mantle after an explosion in the Ormfell building in the Heights left its residents -- mostly people of color -- suffering from a mysterious lung illness, and the Super Friends prioritized the supervillain Nyxly problem.

"To be able to write your own superhero debut feels insane," Tesfai told TVGuide. "And I think the way that we tackled it -- doing it through our guest stars -- felt really important, and doing it over an arc. I joined the writers' room at the end of the year, and I did a little over a month in the room -- every day, from 10-5. And we broke that whole arc – [Episodes] 9, 10, and 12 – as a group. And that felt like the right way to do it, through Kelly's new kind of career and her just being a light for other people. Then there's the reflection of how that affects her, but that felt the best -- that it was multi-episode and was told through our amazing cast stars that came on board."

Tuesday's episode includes tough conversations, including when Kelly tells Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) the hero will miss things because they are different than her lived experience, and so, she needs to listen, and acknowledge she has "blind spots." Essentially, it's -- at its core -- a white privilege kind of conversation for the Kryptonian.

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"Melissa was very much wanting to lean into all of the uncomfortableness and was very vocal about not wanting to protect it and like a white fragility way, which was very helpful," Tesfai said of the support she received from her co-star. "Those scenes needed to feel uncomfortable...I think the most interesting part was more how much people identify Supergirl as the best version of themselves. So, what does it look like when she's not perfect and it's messy, and it's complicated, and she has huge blind spots? And what does that mean for people who have put her on a pedestal? I think that was a surprising realization, and exploring that."

Another major scene comes at the end of the episode, after the Heights residents have been restored to health, and a Fifth Dimensional energy-borrowing councilwoman (the villain of the episode) is defeated. Back at home, Kelly and Alex (Chyler Leigh) have a powerful conversation. Kelly shares the mental difficulties of constantly fighting for something everyone should be fighting for. Alex asks how to support Kelly. 

"Just let me be, and don't push me to unpack it all right now so it can be communicated for you. Hold the space. And love me, without having to understand all of me and all of my experiences. And for now, just hold me," Kelly responds in the emotional scene between the couple. 

"That last scene is so special to me and pretty much stayed the same from the first draft," Tesfai told TV Guide. "They really didn't touch it. And I talked to friends of mine… one of my very good guy friends is in a  same-sex interracial relationship, and he read it and he felt like it resonated with him, which is important to me in their dynamic because they're an aspirational couple that I look up to like Kelly and Alex."

Tesfai said of the two big conversations for Kelly in the episode that the first, with Supergirl, was like one "you have with friends," or with someone "that can contribute to making real big change," while the Alex one was raw because of the characters' relationship.

"Then you have your most intimate relationships where you can say, 'I'm tired. And unpacking this is for you, not for me.' And, 'it's to make you feel comfortable.' In the best scenario, you find someone that can just be like, 'Okay, I'm just here to support you and this isn't about me.' It's rare, and it's beautiful. It's uncomfortable, and I really didn't want anyone watching it to think that these conversations are easy, and that if your friend or partner doesn't have some beautiful resolve then that means that there's something wrong with them...It's a very TV version of it. It was emotional for Chyler and I. We shot the take and we were sobbing. We cried our way through the whole thing, and it was uncomfortable in the best way."

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The actress also noted that the show kept in the scene's as-written opening, where, backed only by soundtrack music, Kelly wraps her hair at home at night.

"We don't have a lot of silence on our show, and being able to wrap my hair, something I do every single night and have that moment of… no words and then have her come into that, we did that as one take every time," Tesfai said. "[Chyler] was outside and [David] Ramsey was in the hallway with a monitor and she was watching me do that. The set was very quiet during the half a day filming that scene. It is an ending that we've never really had on the show. It's not tied up in a perfect kind of bow. That felt really important to me with [the] subject matter and with your relationship. It will be an ongoing conversation in the next episode as well."

Supergirl continues Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.