Supergirl Pilot

Whatever your thoughts on The CW superhero shows are, you do have to give them some credit and that is the shared universe that they have created. While this is not a new thing, especially in television, it is fun if you’re aware of the characters of The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl to have all of them come together to fight evil.

And in Season 3 of The Flash, they created the ultimate crossover as Oliver Queen, Barry Allen, The Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl all came together to fight an alien invasion. The three part episode was a little clunky and required you to recognize multiple characters from multiple shows who are on multiple different seasons. I can't tell you how confused I was when I got to the Legends of Tomorrow episode where I had no idea where Rory from Doctor Who was and there was some weirdly attractive guy piloting the big ship that they had. Also Wentworth Miller wasn't in the episode for some reason but that's getting into spoilers and a longer conversation that this post is not about.

Overall, it still was a lot of fun and great to see these characters come together. There's a pretty fun scene where Barry needs to face off against a bunch of his friends as they have been possessed by aliens and that was a fun way of utilizing the characters.

The episode was also the first real exposure to Supergirl I had.

Supergirl follows the story of Kara Zor-El the Kryptonian cousin of Kal-El, or as you know him, Superman. The first few minutes of the show show a quick origin story of Kara as she is put in a pod being sent to Earth along with her cousin. Her mission is to protect Kal. However, her ship is knocked off course and she doesn’t make it back to Earth for another 20 or so years. By that point, Superman has grown up and become the famous hero of Metropolis and Kara has the opportunity to live a normal life.

All grown, Kara (played by Melissa Benoist) is the secretary for a media mogul names Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart). Kara is living her life with her friend who is obviously in love with her (played by Jeremy Michael Jordan) and she has a good relationship with her sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh) Eventually though, Kara wants more out of her life and she wants to help people. After saving people from a plane crash, she dawns the red cape and the S symbol and takes on the alter-ego of Supergirl with her incredible strength and ability to fly.

Eventually, it is revealed that Kara’s adopted sister Alex is an agent with a secret organization with the goal of tracking down aliens, especially those that have escaped from a downed space prison. A whole slew of villains have escaped from the prison and it’s up to Supergirl to help the organization (headed up an agent by David Harewood) track down and contain the aliens again.

Supergirl is very much the same premise that has been the cookie cutter formula set up by other CW TV shows. Supergirl develops her super heroine identity, is supported by a secret group of people who assist her with their particular knowledge, and she saves the day.

Melissa Benoist plays Supergirl and she actually brings a lot of optimism and fun to the role. Like Grant Gusin, she’s not the strongest actor in the world but she makes the character her own and I enjoyed the first episode or two with her. Like I said, my first exposure of her was her role in The Flash and she is able to both be a cute (and very attractive), adorkable CW girl, while also being a badass. Seeing her fly is both cute and kind of inspiring at the same time.

One of the differences of Supergirl from The Flash or Arrow is the tone. The show is overly optimistic but unlike The Flash, it provides a perspective particularly focused on female superheroes and using the premise to promote a feminist perspective.

I know some people might see that as a bad thing but let me explain. A feminist perspective is not automatically a man hating, let’s burn all bras, fuck the patriarchy perspective. It can be but that is not the main purpose of the perspective. Feminism is merely looking at things from a perspective that isn’t a white, Judeo Christian, straight male view. That’s not to say that view is bad but it does put a certain lens on the way people see things. The Flash and Arrow are not bad shows or anti-women but they were conceived and centered around the experience white superheroes and the things that Barry Allen and Oliver Queen go through are not going to be the same things that a hero like Luke Cage or Supergirl would go through.

I think Supergirl takes the opportunity to see the superhero story from a different perspective. Is it always good? Well, I don’t know, I’m only about three episodes in and a lot of it feels very similar to the formulaic episodes that come out of The Flash and Arrow. It’s a good thing those shows aren’t bad, they’re just formulaic. There are very similar characters, similar plot lines, and similar predicaments that Supergirl finds herself in. Aaaaaaand even though the show originally aired on CBS, it still has that CW stink that even the best episodes of The Flash couldn’t shake. The dialogue is cheesy, all the actors probably started off or could have started off as models, and there still are probably a lot of filler episodes that will probably take the interesting part of the story to a screeching halt.

Something I found entertaining about the first episode (and a couple after that) is the references to the Superman universe. Jimmy Olson is a part of the main cast and Superman is constantly referenced. I have heard that Superman was casted for the second season and that might just be enough to trudge through a first season that I’ve heard takes a little bit to get on it’s feet.

From the few episodes I have seen, I totally understand the awkward opening stage this show probably went through. They’re all new characters, trying to convey (if not a little forcibly) a feminist message, on a different network, probably one that didn't have the audience that the CW provided. But because I like the character, how badass she is, and how great she has crossed over with shows that I do like, namely The Flash, I want to see this show succeed.

So I’m going to keep watching. I might not blaze through it like I do with The Flash as I do have to eventually start catch up on Game of Thrones, however, I wanted to do a post on the slightly awkward start that Supergirl had, but yet still make mention that it has promise.

But those are my thoughts on the pilot (and a couple more episodes) of Supergirl Season 1. Have you watched it? What do you think of it? Should I keep watching? How does it compare to The Flash? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows I should review in the future. If you follow me Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. Well before CBS and then the CW decided to revitalize the character, there was this pile of garbage. Maybe I'll have to give this a review. Enjoy!