Maggie Sawyer, Supergirl

Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima)

Maggie was introduced as an openly lesbian cop working in the National City Police Department’s Science Police branch. In her first episode we found out she dated an alien named Darla in the past, and she told Alex she had a date with an unnamed woman, who was seen in the following episode, and only credited as “Maggie’s Girlfriend”.

In season 2 episode 5 she told Alex that her girlfriend broke up with her, which lead to Alex questioning her sexuality and finally coming out to her at the end of the episode. In 2×06, after Alex came out to Kara, she kissed Maggie who rejected her and offered to be her friend instead.

In season 2 episode 8, Alex came out to her mother. At end of the same episode, Maggie appeared at Alex’s apartment with pizza and told Alex she realized that life was too short to not kiss girl she liked and they kissed.

Alex and Maggie become a couple starting with season 2 episode 9, with Alex officially calling Maggie her girlfriend, and they had short story arcs and scenes together as a couple in every episode after that (between 2-5 minutes). Alex introduced Maggie as her girlfriend to the group (2×12), and her parents (2×14). They celebrated Valentine’s day together (2×13), and exchanged “I love you”s (2×19).

In the season finale, Alex proposed to Maggie, and although we did not hear her say yes, Maggie’s smile implied she accepted.

For the portrayal of Alex, Maggie and their relationship, Supergirl was nominated for the “Outstanding Drama Series” GLAAD Award (and lost to Shadowhunters – Freeform).

Double Standards

There is a noticeable difference between the treatment of Kara and Mon-El, a heterosexual pairing between regular characters, and Alex and Maggie, a lesbian relationship between regular characters. Alex and Maggie get significantly less screen time, less on-screen intimacy and romance.

Episode 2×12, promoted by Entertainment Weekly as “Alex/Maggie centric Valentine’s Day episode“, focused instead on both Mon-El and his relationship with Kara.

Unlike Maggie, Mon-El also gets more significant screen time, story arcs and development outside his relationship. Maggie has the least amount of screen time compared to all other regular characters on the show. Between 2×01-2×17, Maggie only had 57 minutes of screen time, compared to James (1h 8min), Winn (1h 40min), J’Onn (1h 54min), Mon El (2h 29min), Alex (3h 5min) and Kara (5h 52min). She was also missing from episodes 2×18 and 2×20.

Season 3

Supergirl was renewed for season 3, to air fall 2017. When the casting for Maggie was first announced prior to Season 2, she was announced as a recurring character, only to be promoted to series regular closer to the start of season 2. The character was continuously underused throughout the season outside of her relationship with Alex.

And after a full season building up the Alex/Maggie relationship, Floriana Lima was bumped down to recurring cast from series regular in Season 3.

Floriana Lima also tweeted after the announcement that the role of Maggie was only meant  for one season.

Appearances:

• 18 episodes. In season 2, missing from 2x01, 2x02, 2x18, 2x20

Female love interests:

• Maggie's Girlfriend (Shauna Haracka, lesbian, guest, 1 episode)
• Darla (Kaylee Sapieha, lesbian, guest, 1 episode)
• Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh, lesbian, regular)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Regular)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.