Supergirl is back! The wait has been far too long, over the summer excitement has been building for her return, each week we would get a new piece of casting, theories on how the show will crossover with the other Berlanti shows and then the big news, Superman.
Thought impossible, after the embargo from DC executives of major characters being used on TV and being reserved for the movie-verse, it’s amazing to see the Man of Tomorrow back on our screens. Indeed while it is fantastic for such an A-lister to turn up, the writers are graceful enough to balance his introduction and still maintain that this show is about Kara, AKA Supergirl.
The Maiden of Might has had little time it seems between the series to adapt, it seems that there has been no break here; unlike with Arrow and Flash we just launch into the next day. We also get an answer to last season’s cliff hanger of what is the crashed pod; sadly it was not Streaky, which to me, is a huge missed opportunity, because Laser wielding Cats are hilarious.
With the move from CBS to CW, a few sets had to be changed due to the show joining its other stable mates Flash, Arrow and Legends in Vancouver. This is handled quickly and with a few quick gags here and there, the main plot is a little thin, but that’s fine as its just there as background dressing to the vibrant palette of new characters and location added to this super sub.
There is a significant change in the tone of the show with more scenes in broad day light, without that odd filter from last series to hide the flying effects, while the show was never as dark as Arrow; it’s nice they seem to be moving National City more into the hopeful looking place. In this episode there are plenty of strong performances, especially between Melissa Benoist and Calista Flockhart, each time they are in the room together it’s fantastic, either hilarious or inspiring and it helps drive the struggles of Supergirl home.
Now then, for the big guy, Superman! Loved almost all the time we spent with Tyler Hoechlin’s interpretation of the last son of Krypton, this is a Superman I can understand. Superman is there to inspire Kara and guide her when needed, without over shadowing her. For example when assisting with the crashing suborbital vehicle, he asks if she needs help rather than arrogantly taking the wheel. All the main elements of playing Clark Kent and Superman you would expect are present here and wonderfully acted out. The only exception was a few flat moments between Clark and Lena Luthor or with him and Hank, but these are momentary blips in an otherwise great interpretation. It’s also wise that his time was predominately shared with Kara at every opportunity and wisely balanced by having her mirror similar actions i.e. both using heatvision at the same time or parting the shirt to show the S symbol.
The episode is also chock full of great references and has great pacing throughout, a few nice nods included along the way such as the time Lex caused an earth quake or the relationship between Cat and Clark.
Issues
Now not everything was perfect, Winn was never in a win situation, at any point he seemed to just be frankly out of place. The star wars reference was a particular groan moment and came across as lazy. The forced romance between Jimmy, ”Lord of the Silky Smooth voice” Olsen and Kara, came off as weird more than anything and so far it continues to be a drag on the show. It’s something that for me doesn’t flow. The villain for this episode had little time to develop or be interesting but since there was so much going on its hard to fault them for this.
Opinion
All in all it’s been a great start to the series for Kara Danvers and hopefully continues to be on the up, up and away!
