A Casual Review of Supergirl, Season 1

The previews for Supergirl had me afraid of the worst. However, I have a soft spot for the character, so I gave the pilot a try, and it was much better than I expected. I ended up watching the whole season and then began anxiously awaiting news of Supergirl’s cancellation or renewal.

 

But Supergirl wasn’t always good, so let’s get the bad out of the way. Episodes focusing on the Department of Extra-Normal Operations taking out a one-off baddie were formulaic, some special effects were awful (Red Tornado, anyone?), and a couple actors in minor recurring roles were torture to watch. Thankfully, however, the core cast and many others were excellent.

Which brings us to the good. The core cast always impressed, but no one was better than Melissa Benoist. As Kara Danvers, she’s dorky and lovable, and as Supergirl, she’s tough and inspiring. Somehow, Benoist (and her costume and makeup wizards) achieve a compelling distinction between the two. When J’onn J’onzz the Martian Manhunter shapeshifts into Kara (“For the Girl Who Has Everything”), Benoist does a good job mimicking the way he walks and talks. And when she turns into Bad Supergirl, she demonstrates fifty shades of wicked that’s pure joy to watch.

This last was in “Falling.” After a dose of Red Kryptonite, Supergirl develops a nasty attitude. She rebels against her boss, gets a co-worker fired, claws her sister’s emotions to shreds, and eventually goes full supervillain, torching a police car, laughing maniacally, and aspiring to godhood. The episode is an example of why I insist the superhero genre has more to offer than much supposedly highbrow art. When Kara finally returns to herself, she’s in tears over what her dark side has done. It’s heartbreaking and insightful. Anyone who has ever behaved horribly and regretted it later knows this shame.

 

Many other favorite moments are sprinkled throughout the season. I especially like it when Supergirl has a typical Superman moment but does it better. Kara has a background story nearly identical to Kal-El’s, rescues a crashing airplane, faces baddies from the Phantom Zone, works in mass media, is coworkers with Jimmy Olsen, talks to a hologram of a lost family member, loses her powers, adjusts her glasses nerdily, rips open her shirt to reveal the big S, and even has her own Bizarro. In fact, Supergirl does a lot that has been done by Superman, but the execution is such that it’s never as annoying as it tends to be for Superman and never feels anything less than wholly her own.

It helps that the Big Boy in Blue, while not far away in Metropolis, gets shunted aside every time he tries to step into the spotlight. He’s got a bad case of backlight in the intro, and when he does come to National City to save the day in “Myriad,” he’s still a distant blurry dot in the sky when a psychic attack incapacitates him and he divebombs into the city. He spends the rest of the season lying on a gurney with only his boots visible!

But who needs him anyway? Supergirl saves the world without him, and I enjoyed watching it happen as much as I’ve enjoyed the best of Superman on the big screen (Man of Steel, parts of Superman II) or the small screen (Lois & Clark), and a great deal more than the worst (Superman I-IV, Superman Returns). When director Zack Snyder can’t make a sure bet like Batman v Superman perform to industry expectations, maybe it’s time to give Superman a rest and let his cousin take over.

As I write this, however, the future of Supergirl is uncertain. As I understand it, the show did all right ratings-wise, but only all right. CBS has announced plans to renew all its freshman series but has been oddly unforthcoming on specific plans regarding Supergirl, so there is speculation it could move to the sister network The CW. I don’t care which network it’s on, I just hope Supergirl gets another season. It deserves it.