Supergirl: Season 1 Review

(WARNING: SPOILERS)

At the moment DC has been under quite a bit of scrutiny from both critics and audiences due to the generally grim nature of their recent films, specifically Man of Steel and of course most recently Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. One of the biggest complaints regarding the latter was that it was ‘devoid of humor’. And while I don’t agree with the notion that it was completely humorless, it is still true that the film was considerably much more serious in tone compared to something like the more light-hearted affairs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So for those who weren’t too big on a superhero film, specifically one starring Superman, having that kind of tone, I have the feeling that you’re probably going to have much more positive feelings towards DC’s newest superhero TV series, Supergirl, which centers on Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, as she takes on a crime-fighting lifestyle of her own as Supergirl. The character had originally made her live-action debut all the way back in 1984 courtesy of a spin-off of the Christopher Reeve-era Superman films, Supergirl, starring Helen Slater in the title role. While the film was intended to reinvigorate the franchise following the critical/commercial disappointment of Superman III, the film fared poorly with both critics and audiences and was apparently heavily affected by re-writes and studio interference. Thankfully, this new series is a far more fitting interpretation of the character. Not only does it heavily benefit from an outstanding performance from its lead actress, resulting in one of the greatest superheroines in film/TV right now, but it’s unabashed optimism and heart make it a shining beacon of hope that this cynical world very much needs at this time.  

Right around the same time that her infant cousin Kal-El is sent to Earth by his parents to save him from the destruction of Krypton, Kara Zor-El is also sent to Earth by her mother Alura (Laura Benanti) in order to keep Kal-El safe. However, the shock-wave from Krypton’s destruction ends up knocking Kara’s pod off-course into the Phantom Zone, which she gets stuck in for 24 years. By the time that she finally gets out of the Phantom Zone and lands on Earth, she is still a young girl while Kal-El has already grown up and become the planet’s hero Superman. Because she no longer needs to keep an eye on him, Superman brings her to the Danvers, Eliza (Helen Slater, the original on-screen Supergirl) and Jeremiah (Dean Cain AKA Superman from Lois and Clark: The New Adventures), who helped Superman adjust to life on Earth and subsequently adopt Kara. Years later, Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) has been keeping her powers hidden while working at media conglomerate CatCo in National City as the personal assistant to founder Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart). Despite this, Kara dreams of getting to be like her cousin over in Metropolis. And she ultimately does get that chance when a plane that her adoptive sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) is on ends up getting sabotaged midflight, with Kara forced to reveal her true self to the world in order to save the plane. Despite Alex warning her that she’s put herself in danger by exposing herself, Kara is beyond excited that she’s finally been able to ‘be herself’ for once.

Now that National City is aware of her presence, Kara, with the help of her best friend/co-worker Winslow ‘Winn’ Schott (Jeremy Jordan) and Superman’s former photographer James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), begins to combat crime under the persona ‘Supergirl’, which was given to her by Cat. But it is also during this time when Kara is confronted by the Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO), led by Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), which she learns that Alex is a member of as well. Kara also learns that around the same time that she first landed on Earth, a Kryptonian prison full of the planet’s biggest criminals crash-landed onto Earth as well. To make matters worse for Kara, the majority of the prisoners were persecuted by her mother prior to Krypton’s destruction, meaning that the prisoners are now hell-bent on getting revenge… by taking out Alura’s surviving daughter. As a result, Kara now finds herself having to work with the DEO in order to take down the alien prisoners as well as anyone else that poses a threat to National City, including tech mogul Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) and Kara’s aunt Astra (also played by Laura Benanti due to the fact that Astra is Alura’s twin sister) and her husband Non (Chris Vance). Along the way, both Kara and Alex learn of a major secret in regards to Hank Henshaw, who as it turns out isn’t necessarily who he says he is.  

Now I’ll fully admit that while I very much appreciate this show’s decision to take on a more light-hearted route compared to the current DC films, at the same time it should be noted that the show can be quite a bit cheesy at times in terms of its dialogue. So if you’re someone who gets rather annoyed with shows pulling a lot of modern pop cultural references, you’re probably going to have some issues with this show because there are quite a few from time to time. However, even with that in mind, I really have to stress the fact that this show’s biggest strength is that it very much wears its heart on its sleeve and that it truly delivers in regards to the thing that, at least according to Man of Steel, is represented by the S insignia on Superman and Supergirl’s suits; hope. Almost every episode this season featured a particularly inspiring moment that really showcased what it truly means to be a hero without being hokey in any way. And to me that has always been one of the strengths of the superhero genre; when heroes like Spider-Man, Supergirl, Superman, or Captain America convey the heroic morals that help make them the iconic staples of the pop cultural landscape that they are. However, there have been quite a few people out there who have argued that this series has way too much of a ‘feminist’ agenda. But you know what? Bollocks to those critics because can’t we just be happy that a show like this exists? One that gives young girls an excellent superhero role model that they can look up to? After all, when this first premiered last October, it was the first female-led superhero show in quite some time, 13 years since the short-lived Birds of Prey and more than three and a half decades since the original Wonder Woman series starring Lynda Carter back in the 70’s (note: the 2011 Wonder Woman pilot doesn’t count on account of it never airing on TV).  

Of course a great superhero show/film wouldn’t be complete without a terrific lead and Melissa Benoist is absolutely fantastic in the role of Kara/Supergirl. Not only is she an incredibly lovable and charismatic lead but she also very much conveys the poise and inner strength that goes into making Kara such a terrific hero as well as the personal turmoil that comes from her being an ‘outsider’ on Earth due to the fact that she’s an alien. But Kara isn’t the only badass ‘Danvers’ on this show. Chyler Leigh is equally terrific as Alex and the relationship between the Danvers sisters results in them being one of the best sister duos on TV at the moment. Benoist and Leigh work off each other so well and you really can sense the genuine sisterly bond between them even when that relationship is strained sometimes, like when Alex is forced to kill Astra and then struggles to tell Kara the truth for a few episodes. Obviously there’s a bit of a love triangle that forms between Kara, James, and Winn over the course of the season but it’s not like this is the main focus of the series. Not only that, but these two are very much more than just your standard ‘superhero love interests’. Mehcad Brooks’ Olsen is quite frankly the best on-screen interpretation of the character to date, and not just because this one technically gets more to do plot-wise compared to other ‘Jimmy’ Olsens (especially the one that was in Batman v Superman and was shot by terrorists in the scene where Lois travels to Africa). Like Benoist he is very charismatic and the two do have a nice chemistry with each other. As for Jeremy Jordan as Winn, I’m sure quite a few of us can relate to his, shall we say, ‘struggles of being stuck in the friend-zone’ in regards to his relationship with Kara. But aside from that, Winn also has a particularly memorable episode arc in Episode 10, ‘Childish Things’, when his father AKA ‘Toyman’ (Henry Czerny) breaks out of prison and re-enters his life.   

Initially I’ll admit that I was rather unsure about Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant at first because it seemed like she was playing it way too over-the-top as Kara, Winn, and James’ sharp-tongued, tough-as-nails boss. Thankfully, that didn’t end up being the case and Cat becomes yet another one of this series’ great characters, especially in regards to any of the scenes between her and Kara (or as she constantly mispronounces it, ‘Kyra’) when the latter is Supergirl. And of course I can’t forget the one character that arguably changed the most over the course of the season; David Harewood’s Hank Henshaw. Early on in the season, a mystery began to develop over Henshaw’s ‘true intentions’. In Episode 2, ‘Stronger Together’, a major twist occurred as, during one scene, his eyes began to glow red. While at first it may have seemed like he was going to become a villain, instead the series ends up going a different, and quite frankly really awesome, route. In Episode 7, ‘Human for a Day’, he reveals to Alex that he’s not Hank Henshaw but instead J’onn J’onzz, the last surviving member of the Martian race. Yes, you’ve read that right; they brought in Martian Manhunter into the series and it ended up being an excellent plot twist. For one thing, it’s awesome that the series brought in another alien protagonist to work alongside Supergirl. But at the same time, the show also does a fantastic job of conveying J’onn’s own struggles, namely the ‘survivor’s guilt’ that comes from being the last of his kind. Episode 11, ‘Strange Visitor from Another Planet’, goes through his tragic backstory and how he was helpless to prevent an alien race known as the ‘White Martians’ from wiping out the rest of his kind, including his wife and two daughters. It’s quite a powerful and emotional backstory and conveyed perfectly by David Harewood in his performance.    

Now I will fully admit that when the first trailer for this show debuted online, I was rather skeptical about it. I wanted to give the show a chance but it seemed a bit too ‘corny’ for my taste. However, once the reviews started to pour in and it was clear that the show was doing really well with critics (Season 1 graced an impressive 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though on that note it seems like the general response is more in line with how the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was received prior to the Winter Soldier twist), I was finally convinced to check it out… and I’m glad that I did because it’s become one of my favorite shows on TV. And heck, I’d even argue that it’s up there with some of the best comic book shows on TV right now. Sure it can be rather cheesy at times as a result of it being more family-friendly than other comic book shows out there but at the same time there’s not really anything wrong with that. Like I’ve been saying all throughout this review, this show is particularly special because it does away with cynicism in favor of heart and inspirational themes/messages, something that society very much needs nowadays in a world as harsh as this one. And thanks to a terrific lead heroine in Supergirl, played perfectly by Melissa Benoist, this show very much conveys all of the qualities that make the superhero genre great. Hopefully this means that we’ll end up getting another season of this excellent show because it would be very much warranted. While the finale did effectively conclude quite a few of the plotlines from Season 1, there are still quite a few questions left unanswered, including the reveal that Kara and Alex’s father Jeremiah may still be alive and the big ‘teaser’ at the very end when another Kryptonian pod crash-lands on Earth carrying a currently unknown being.

Season 1 Rating: 5/5!

Alright, now it’s time for me to list my favorite episodes from this season. First off, here are 4 honorable mentions…

LIVEWIRE

Originally the fifth episode of the season, this episode ended up getting moved up a week, resulting in it taking the place of ‘How Does She Do It?’, which admittedly was a rather lackluster episode. This switch was primarily due to the Paris attacks, as certain scenes in the latter episode ended up mirroring reality a bit too much. Interestingly enough, though, ‘Livewire’ clearly was intended to be released around Thanksgiving as the events of the episode do take place around the holiday. But even with that in mind, as well as the fact that this switch did result in a few continuity problems once the next episode premiered (which were thankfully only an issue for one episode), this was a pretty good episode; definitely the series’ best up to that point. In this episode, Kara faced off against the electrical-powered villain Livewire (Brit Morgan) while Alex and her mother worked to fix their relationship after the latter was shown to be rather frustrated at Alex for letting Kara come out as Supergirl. The end result is another great comic-book TV series episode directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who has also directed plenty of great episodes for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

RED-FACED

Kara finds herself taking on some very big anger issues in this episode, which also sees her taking on a military android, Red Tornado, which ends up going haywire. And to put it simply, Kara goes to some rather extreme places in this episode. She snaps at Cat after she, as per usual, mocks her, she begins to develop jealousy over James’ relationship with Lucy Lane (Jenna Dewan Tatum), and she starts to really express frustration over her status as an ‘outsider’ on Earth. This episode does a really nice job at having us sympathize with Kara as she’s going through all of this and the climactic battle between her and Red Tornado ends on a particularly intense note as Kara unleashes the full extent of her heat vision on Red Tornado, with all of this set to a montage of the low points in her life (e.g. saying goodbye to her parents on Krypton).

BIZARRO

As the title suggests, this episode gives Kara her own villainous doppelganger just like her cousin in the comics. In this case, however, her ‘clone’ is a young woman who had previously been in a coma but was brought back to life by Maxwell Lord and experimented on in order to turn her into a mirror image of Supergirl. What follows is a series of epic action sequences in which Kara has to fight her double and by the end, things actually start to get rather emotional as a result of us actually feeling sorry for the ‘clone’ after all that she’s been put through. It is also during this episode where Kara starts to develop a romantic relationship with Cat’s son Adam, played by Melissa Benoist’s real-life husband Blake Jenner (who’s excellent in Everybody Wants Some!, by the way). While I’ll admit that I wasn’t that big on the idea of the show trying to add in another love interest for Kara, who’s already got potential love interests in both James and Winn, there’s no denying the excellent chemistry between Benoist and Jenner. And at the very least, the series doesn’t go too far with trying to start a relationship between Kara and Adam. Once Kara realizes that a relationship between them wouldn’t work given her identity as Supergirl, something that she doesn’t reveal to him, she’s the one who ends up breaking it off.

SOLITUDE

Helen Slater wasn’t the only former Supergirl to appear on the show. This episode, ‘Solitude’, introduced the villain Indigo, a cybernetic being played by Laura Vandervoort, who played Supergirl in the show Smallville. While Indigo admittedly looks like a direct copy of Mystique from the X-Men films given her all-blue look, she does end up being a pretty memorable villain for Kara to square off against. This episode also sees Kara traveling to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, which is a pretty cool Easter Egg for comic-book fans. And boy does this episode end on an emotional note. After two straight episodes in which Kara was led to believe that J’onn killed Astra, Alex finally reveals to her that she was the one who killed Astra but didn’t tell her because she didn’t want to lose her sister’s trust. Needless to say the shot of Kara hugging Alex while reaching out to hold Hank’s hand after she’s been angry at him for the past two episodes definitely elicits quite a lot of feels.  

And now, here are my Top 5 favorite episodes from Season 1 of Supergirl

5. TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY

Lexi Alexander, who directed a different superhero project in 2008 with Punisher: War Zone, helms this episode titled after the iconic mantra of ideals that Superman always fights for. And while her Punisher film may have attracted a generally mixed to negative response from both critics and audiences, she did a really damn good job with this episode of Supergirl. The fight sequences in this episode in particular are pretty awesome, as Kara fights the ‘Master Jailer’, an alien prison guard from Fort Rozz (the prison that crash-landed on Earth) that has been hunting down and killing some of the prison’s escaped inmates. But this episode isn’t titled ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way’ for nothing. By this point in the series, the DEO had arrested Maxwell Lord following the incident with Bizarro. But as a result, the media has started to investigate into his sudden disappearance, which leads James to question Kara over the ethics of her and the DEO holding him captive without due process. And even though Lord’s actions against Supergirl do justify his capture in a way, at the same time James makes perfectly legit points in regards to Kara going a bit too far with this whole situation to the point where it could be argued that she’s not really acting that ‘heroically’. In short, this episode heavily benefits from excellent direction and the great ethical debate that spawns from it.

4. FOR THE GIRL WHO HAS EVERYTHING

This particular episode is based on the Superman storyline ‘For the Man Who Has Everything’ by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Similar to what happens to Superman in that storyline, this episode sees Kara attacked by a plant known as the ‘Black Mercy’, which puts her in a catatonic state where she ends up stuck in a fantasy in which Krypton wasn’t destroyed and both her parents are still alive. There’s even a brief appearance by a young Kal-El, who up until this point has only appeared in this series (in his adult state as Superman, for the record) via off-screen cameos. Meanwhile back in the real world, after realizing that they just can’t pull the plant off of her, Alex is forced to enter Kara’s ‘fantasy’ a la Inception in order to get her out. This leads to quite an emotional scene in which Alex tries to convince Kara to return to reality as she is being subdued by Kryptonian guards. Not only does this moment do a great job of exemplifying the strength of the sisters’ relationship but it also features some of Benoist and Leigh’s best moments performance-wise of the entire series. But even after Kara is freed from the Black Mercy’s control, that doesn’t mean that the episode is over yet. After learning that Non was the one who unleashed the Black Mercy on her, she confronts Non while Alex and J’onn fight Astra. But before Astra can kill J’onn, she herself is killed by Alex. When Kara arrives to have one last moment with her aunt, J’onn covers for Alex by saying that he killed her, a lie that carries on into the next two episodes. And while it does mean that Astra no longer poses a threat to them, this also puts to rest any chance of her being redeemed, which the series was beginning to imply via her ‘attempts’ to save Earth after unsuccessfully trying to save Krypton.   

3. HUMAN FOR A DAY

After exerting too much power during her fight with Red Tornado in ‘Red-Faced’, Kara finds that her powers have been completely drained. For the first time in her life she is mortal (e.g. she gets a cut when picking up broken pieces of glass and comes down with a cold while at work), which becomes even more of a problem when an earthquake occurs in National City at the same time. This episode sees Kara at her most vulnerable, unable to help anyone as Supergirl in the midst of this city-wide crisis. But at the same time, this episode very much proves that not all heroes wear capes. With no ‘sign’ of Supergirl, Cat sends out a broadcast to the people of National City inspiring them to be heroes in their own right, a scene which is powerfully juxtaposed with Kara, despite not having any powers, confronting a mugger in a convenience store and effectively talking him out of it. This was easily one of the best episodes of the season in regards to how it addressed the concept of what it really means to be a hero. And of course, this was also the episode that finally revealed the secret behind Hank Henshaw’s true identity. When Alex finally confronts him over his connection with her father, who her mother reveals had worked for the DEO at the time of his ‘death’, ‘Hank’ reveals that he’s not Hank Henshaw but instead an alien refugee, J’onn J’onzz, who was saved by Jeremiah when the real Hank tried to kill him.

2. FALLING

AKA a far superior take on the ‘superhero turns evil’ storyline seen in Superman III, ‘Falling’ sees Kara start to take on a more abrasive and selfish persona when she ends up getting exposed to synthetic kryptonite developed by Lord. She vengefully gets her work rival Siobhan (Italia Ricci) fired, alienates her friends (e.g. insulting Lucy in front of James after the two had just broken up), and instills fear in National City by throwing Cat off her office balcony and saving her at the last second, subsequently forcing Cat to publicly denounce her on the air. While Kara is thankfully ‘cured’ by the end of the episode, her reputation with the people of National City is strained considerably as a result of her actions. And that’s quite frankly what makes this episode so great. Instead of things immediately and unrealistically returning to normal, as was ‘sort of’ the case when it happened with Superman in Superman III, it takes a few episodes before National City comes to trust Supergirl again. But as shown in the final scene between Supergirl and Cat, optimism still wins out in the end as Cat assures Supergirl that she believes that she’ll restore National City’s faith in her, even though it won’t be easy.

1. WORLDS FINEST

Yeah I know it’s an extremely obvious choice but at the same time there’s really no denying that the best episode of this season was the cross-over which saw Supergirl team up with Grant Gustin’s Barry Allen AKA ‘The Flash’, who ends up in Kara’s ‘universe’ as a result of him breaching the void between their respective universes. Together the two team up to combat the double threat of Siobhan, who has become the ‘Silver Banshee’, and Livewire, who Siobhan breaks out of DEO custody in order to take down Supergirl. While it may seem like this cross-over seemed inevitable given the fact that producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg developed both Arrow and The Flash for the CW, the fact that Supergirl was on a different network, CBS, initially made it look like it wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully it did and we got one heck of a great episode out of it. Benoist and Gustin have exceptional camaraderie (they had previously co-starred together on Glee) and there are plenty of great moments throughout the episode, most of which obviously involve the two of them interacting with each other. One particularly great moment is during the final battle as the people of National City are shown to have finally regained their faith in Supergirl when they ‘protect’ her from the two villains. And finally, as many have no doubt pointed out, this superhero crossover event is obviously much more light-hearted and upbeat compared to the then-recently released Batman v Superman.

But for me, the best part of this episode isn’t something within the episode itself but is instead the fact that it convinced me to finally start watching The Flash. As embarrassing as it will no doubt sound, I’ll admit that I hadn’t watched Season 1 when it first aired and although I tried to watch a few episodes before the Supergirl crossover, I wasn’t able to in time for the episode. But thankfully that changed once the episode aired and Gustin immediately won me over with his portrayal of the Flash, proving to be just as charismatic as Benoist is as Supergirl. In the days following the episode’s premiere, I then proceeded to watch the first two episodes of The Flash on Netflix and was immediately hooked… so much so that I got the complete First Season on Blu-Ray at Best Buy for only $15. Quite a great deal if you ask me. So not only was this episode a really fun crossover between two of DC’s great TV heroes, but it also finally got me out of not watching The Flash, another excellent current superhero TV series. And that is ultimately why ‘Worlds Finest’ is, in my opinion, the best episode of Supergirl’s excellent first season.