Tenderized TV: Why the World Needs Supergirl!

Photo Courtesy of Warner Brothers

Okay, so I’ve been waiting to write this for a while, but I’ve gotten bogged down with my grad school work. Last year Supergirl debuted on CBS, and after seeing an extended preview at the local theater (multiple times during Cinemark’s First Look), I had no desire to see it. The costumes looked a little lame, the humor seemed a bit forced, and the dialogue appeared to contain a bit too many pop culture references. I caught a few clips here and there, but remained unimpressed. That being said, I honestly didn’t give the show an honest chance.

I knew I HAD to tune into the episode featuring the Flash, “Worlds Finest.” I’ve been a big fan of the CW’s Flash (and honestly I really like most of their DC lineup), and loved Grant Gustin’s portrayal of the scarlet speedster. Instantly I was attracted to how optimistic the show was, and determined that the Flash meshed much better with Supergirl than it ever did with Arrow. But still, I didn’t like the costumes, and felt it was a bit cheesy.

However, Supergirl moved to CW for its second season, and I knew I had to catch up, given that a huge four-show crossover was in the works. I discovered that CW was rerunning the episodes from season 1, two at a time on Mondays. I missed the first two episodes, so I purchased them on YouTube.

Holy crap guys!

Yes, it was still a bit cheesy. Admittedly it doesn’t have a great central “Big Bad”,  and it has a bit of a dull romance which chugs along slowly across the season. But what Supergirl lacks in these areas, it makes up for in pure emotion.

Melissa Benoist is quite simply the best part of the show. She travels WITH the viewer on her emotional journey, imbued with optimism, but also tragedy. Whether it’s a bittersweet scene with her mother, or a touching moment with her adopted sister Alex (Chyler Leigh), I can honestly not remember a superhero TV show bringing me to tears quite this much. On the other hand, the vast majority of the time I had a HUGE smile on my face. I fell in love with Kara Zor-El/Danvers within the first 30 minutes of the pilot. I promise you, if you give it a chance, you will too.

The show also embraces BEING A SUPERHERO. This might be done at the expense of having a truly memorable villain every episode, but honestly the show works best when Kara is doing more traditional superhero work, like stopping a collapsing building. That’s not to say there aren’t interesting baddies. Kara’s Aunt Astra (Laura Benanti) provides an emotional challenge, as well as a physical one. Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) starts out Lex Luthor-lite but slowly becomes one of the show’s most intriguing characters.

In fact this is the pattern Supergirl excels at. The show presents archetypal characters, then as it progresses, begins to add layer after layer. No character embodies this more than Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart). Cat is introduced as a stereotypical hard-ass female boss, but is revealed to have very personal regrets and flaws. In the end CAT inspires Supergirl, arguably more that Kara’s cousin Superman.

Speaking of which, Superman does not have a physical presence in this show. This is just fine by me, as it allows Kara to take the spotlight and run with it. There are just beats in Supergirl that wouldn’t work for Kal-El. The most significant difference between the characters is that Kara remembers Krypton. She remembers her family. Due to being lost in the Phantom Zone (where time passes differently), for Kara the destruction of her home planet is much fresher in her mind.

This doesn’t mean that Supergirl is completely devoid of DC characters. The Martian Manhunter finally gets his due, and the story of J’onn J’onzz is also a tragic one, mirroring Kara’s in the worst ways. I don’t want to get into spoiler territory, but suffice to say the character design is fantastic, and J’onzz has some great action scenes to boot.

This brings me to my final bit of praise to heap on the pile. The action direction is, for the most part, spectacular. The DCEU could take some lessons. Yes the fights can get a little out of control, but not every throwdown has to destroy a city block. The show mixes practical effects with some decent CGI, and the heat vision effect is a true standout.

No the show is not perfect. The second season will hopefully address some of these issues. But I implore all of you to check the first season on Netflix. You will smile. You will laugh. You will probably cry. But in the end you will feel decidedly more optimistic than you did when you started. I know I did.

You might not realize it yet, but you need a show like this to give you hope, to inspire children and adults to be their very best selves. In a world filled with a gloomy Man of Steel, a brooding Dark Knight, and even a vigilante with a history of killing folks with arrows, it turns out that a girl with funny red cape is all the world needed to provide a light in the darkest of times.

Isn’t that what heroes are for?