I think it boils down to that the EPs don't know what to do with his character. I believe the EPs original intent was for him to be the love interest on CBS. The move changed to the CW changed that. Also, the way James is written is not respectful of the Jimmy Olsen canon. This character comes across as self-absorbed. Remember he called Kara during Thanksgiving while he's with Lucy? The last several episodes, he seems to be whining about he being a hero and that is his destiny. It just runs hollow

My opinion either is kill him off as the Guardian doing some selfless act or restructure him to go back to his roots as a photojournalist and develop the character as he was. Under the current circumstances, I see the actor and Jimmy Olsen being ill served.

Argo

After injury, he can be convinced that all the great things he was doing running CatCo, including raising money for charities, exposing corruption, etc., are more valuable for doing good.

Guardian is the big problem of S2, is the "jump the shark"

I quite enjoyed the Guardian's inclusion in episode 10. I don't think he is impeding on Supergirl so much. She can't be everywhere in National City when crime is afoot. His is just another arc that looks like will now create some additional tension for the show.

I admit It is still hard to believe that Jimmy had always had this deep internal desire to help others and be able to fight villians with no apparent training. But if we can swallow Alex knowing how to fly an alien spacecraft into outer space then we can swallow Guardian's origin,.

Here's the question...he comes off looking and sounding like an egotistical jerk, why?

Why are they writing the character that way? Are they trying to contrast his "heroism" with Mon El's "heroism". Is that the idea? They're smart people, they must know how it looks and sounds to have Kara abruptly end their relationship and he suddenly has to prove something to her and the Guardian springs into life. His feelings were hurt when she rejected him and the way she did it was pretty dismissive. Being the Guardian has obviously made him feel better about himself (hasn't done much for the rest of us though). Bad writing or a larger story playing out? Kara told Winn no. Kara told Adam no. Kara told James no. Kara told Mon El....well she just looked at him in a very tired, disappointed way. Does that all mean something...or are the stories just all over the place? I was disconcerted by Kara's face throughout that last scene.

So, can James be fixed? Is he broken?