Review: Supergirl, "Pilot"

I finally sat down and watched the premier of CBS's Supergirl, television's latest foray into the superhero universe. While there were a lot of positive things about the show, cheesy dialogue, trope-y characters, and nonsensical plot points ultimately weighed down the show's first episode.

At the helm as executive producer is Greg Berlanti, who is currently the showrunner for DC's other successful shows, Arrow and The Flash, both of which air on the CW. Although Supergirl exists in a separate universe from those shows and will not crossover, presumably because they are on different networks, the spirit of the shows are very much the same, so if you like Arrow/The Flash, you'll probably enjoy this too.

On the whole, it's a cheery, upbeat, positive superhero show, much like The Flash. To sum up, Kara was sent to Earth as a 13-year old to protect baby Kal-el, but the explosion of Krypton knocked her pod off course, and instead she arrives on Earth 24 years later, when Kal-el is already established as Superman. So, with no mission, she lives her life normally for many years, until her adopted sister Alex is on board an airplane that's about to crash. So Kara saves the airplane and discovers her true calling as a superhero.

Melissa Benoist is pretty wonderful as the titular superheroine. Her demeanor exudes an optimistic and cheerful attitude, although she does evoke a lot of similar characteristics with Arrow's Felicity Smoak. A lot of similarities. Blond hair in pony tail, glasses, perky, slightly ditzy, kind of nerdy. Hopefully we'll get some three-dimensional character growth in the future.

Kara's motivation to become a superhero is believable -- trying to save her sister, trying to be something more than an assistant. All of the flying sequences were great, and the quiet moment of Kara standing on the wing of the airplane was affecting. It's also pretty refreshing to see someone actually excited about using powers, instead of being all dark and tortured.

Let's talk about feminism. It's wonderful to FINALLY have a female-led superhero show. DC finally beat Marvel at something! "Nice to have someone like that for my daughter to look up to," indeed. Representation in media is so important, and it's great to finally have a heroic lady on screen after dozens and dozens of super-strength testosterone displays.

There's a scene in the show where Kara gets upset that her boss, Cat Grant, has labeled the mysterious hero "Supergirl" instead of "Superwoman." Cat gives a short monologue defending the "girl" in Supergirl, and this is something I'm not really sure how I feel about. True, we shouldn't be saying "girl" like it's a bad thing. It's not. But if there already exists a SuperMAN, shouldn't an equal of his be considered SuperWOMAN? Doesn't this imply that Supergirl is naive, inexperienced, somehow "less" than her cousin? Instead of being able to immediately own the word woman, just like her cousin was able to immediately own the word man? This just seems like a semantics argument, instead of an argument for feminism. Cat's argument would work if the opposition was towards using a name that implied any femininity at all. But Kara was arguing for a word that simply meant "grown-up girl," instead of "child girl," which she is not. Kara's stance is legitimate in that she wants to be seen as an adult, and not as a kid. There's nothing wrong with being a girl. There's nothing wrong with being a woman, either.

Let's back up a bit, and talk about why in the world Superman dropped her off to live with the Danvers family and apparently made no attempt to contact her for YEARS. "What's he like in real life?" Do they actually not talk to each other at all? Seems cold, especially since they are family, and especially since, as far as they know, they are the last two survivors of Krypton. He would know better than anyone what it's like to live as an alien on Earth. I'm sure Kara could have used his guidance, let alone a sympathetic ear. I get that he wanted her to grow up with a normal family and everything, and he couldn't be her full-time babysitter, but you would think that he'd spend just a little bit of effort to help her understand her own abilities and maybe the world she just crash landed on, and maybe helpful tidbits, like, say, the effects of kryptonite. Instead, Superman is just like, "Live with these people now, bye!"

The supporting characters are very lackluster. Alex is a pretty wooden character, and so far seems to have zero chemistry with Kara. There were also so many weird character changes she went through in so quickly it gave me whiplash. First she's a loving, caring older sister, Then she's slightly sinister, working for a secret government organization that monitors aliens like Kara (the DEO). Finally, she suddenly and inexplicably believes in Kara and wants her to be a hero. Why? What changed her mind and made her believe in Kara? Their reconciliation happened way too fast, considering how horribly Alex had acted towards Kara, like telling Kara to not be who she was for most of her life out of jealousy. Like keeping a message from her mother a secret for so many years! I don't see any real evidence that Alex has actual emotional feelings towards her sister. Go away, Alex.

Jimmy Olson is alright, and charming enough to be Kara's love interest.

Speaking of love interests, oh god, the whole "Winn pining after Kara" is already starting to make my blood boil. I hate the "nice guy" trope, where a guy pines after his friend and NEVER TELLS THAT PERSON. They just creepily wait for the girl to fall in love with them, all while expecting to be seen as the "nice guy." The fashion show for Winn was just CREEPY. For all Kara knows, she's just asking for a friend's help on deciding which supersuit to wear. She has no idea that on Winn's side, he's probably secretly ogling her in the tight shirt and short skirt. Gross. "Wow you look really pretty without your glasses." Blech.

Cat Grant is the only other character besides Kara who has enough personality to be interesting, probably due to Calista Flockhart's acting experience. The character is a walking stereotype, however. Type A mean boss who throws coffee away at one sip, doesn't show any remorse about firing people, and actually walks with both hands up in the air (I swear to god I saw her pinkies raised).

Other thoughts:

• I'm okay with suspending my belief about no one being able to recognize Kara without her glasses. It's a comic book given, and it's charming how the show seems to be self-aware of how silly it is.
• It's hard to believe that the only thing that could save a newspaper is a superhero. Cat must not be that great of a media mogul.
• I was glad to see Kara spill her secret to her friend Winn so quickly. I hate it when characters needlessly keep secrets from each other. So annoying.
• Can we please stop using, "Oh my god, you're a lesbian!" "What? No! I'm ____" as a joke?
• Can we also acknowledge the fact that the only reason Winn thought Kara wasn't into him was because she was a lesbian is pretty gross?
• So the motivations for all the villains in the show is to get revenge on Kara because her mother imprisoned them? Doesn't make much sense. Being in prison saved them from dying in Krypton's explosion. Pretty weak.
• The whole premise of the DEO is ridiculous. Why wouldn't they think it was a good idea to enlist the help of an alien to fight other aliens? Why exactly does head honcho Henshaw think she's dangerous? Why are they hunting down a villain, who can fly, with bombs?
• I'm hoping Supergirl gets more agency in the future and becomes a leader, instead of simply being the DEO's tool. 
• "She's not strong enough." "Why? Because she's a girl? That's just what we're counting on." Cheesy.
• I like that the show is moving at a pretty fast pace, revealing Astra as the Big Bad so soon, and implying the villains are planning something big.
• Astra is super hammy. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall, Supergirl's premier was, unfortunately, super mediocre. Granted, I've only seen the first episode, but pilots are supposed to have something that will make you want to come back for more, and I just didn't get that. I love that it exists, and I love that this show will potentially inspire girls and women all over the world. I also am willing to see if the show improves over time, and absolutely believe it has the potential to do so. But as must-watch tv, it's sadly a no for me.