Catching Up: Supergirl
Warning: Spoilers below
I’m hooked on the CW’s Arrowverse. I realize it’s super corny, and it is basically a prime time soap opera but I love it anyway. (I was hooked on Nashville and Empire for a while, so maybe I have a type.) But I really wasn’t able to get into Supergirl on CBS. A big part of it was my issue. When I was in middle/high school I read the Peter David Supergirl series, the one that featured Linda Danvers. It was dark and twisted, and really probably not a good choice for the CW. I was so surprised by the character of Kara Danvers that I didn’t watch past the first episode.
But then the show got moved to CW and became more a part of the Arrowverse with more crossovers. I just finished season two on Netflix, and I have some feelings.
The Good
- Cat Grant: I really expected to hate the character of Cat Grant. But I actually love her. She’s both boss bitch and bitch boss. She talks about getting drunk at brunch with RBG. And her speech on why the name “Supergirl” isn’t offensive made me literally cheer.
- Lena Luthor: Lex Luthor’s sister, and CEO of the newly renamed L-Corp. Another woman at the head of a mega corporation. Seriously, what’s Earth Two doing that we aren’t?
- Alex Danvers: Supergirl’s sister and her perfect foil. She’s serious and realistic, but not played to the point she becomes a buzzkill. She’s also perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
- Basically all the ladies around Supergirl. Seriously, I love that there are so many awesome women around (and sometimes against) Supergirl.
Elon MuskMaxwell Lord as the the villain. This is seriously what got me through season one. Elon Musk annoys the hell out of me, so seeing a character with his worst traits as a villain made me laugh.- Kal-El in Season 1. You can’t have Supergirl without the dealing with the elephant in the room, her cousin Superman. I love that they had him play a distant IM based mentor for Kara.
The Bad
- Kal-El in Season 2. I absolutely hated that they opened season two with two episodes featuring Superman. It made it feel like the CW thought Supergirl couldn’t carry the show on her own. Although at least they did have Supergirl defeat him later in the season.
- The first half of Season 2. The Superman thing and the lack of a good villain made the first half of the season drag on. It seemed so pointless. I was glad when they brought in the Daxamites to be a worthy foe.
- The romance. The arrowverse in general is pretty iffy on the romance. Barry and Iris is weird (you grew up in the same house), and Felicity becomes a lame character when she’s with Oliver. But the Mon-El and Kara romance is just awful. There’s no chemistry and he’s just flat as a character. It feels like the showrunners felt she had to have a love interest, so they just went with it. Really, they should have made her love interest Lena Luthor. I haven’t shipped characters this hard since Margaery and Sansa.
The Indifferent
Supergirl struggles with many issues the Arrowverse does in general. Corny dialogue, not-so-subtle political messages, and seasons being about 10 episodes longer than they need to be. It doesn’t annoy me anymore here than it does on Arrow, Legends, or The Flash. Supergirl falls in line with the way I feel about the other shows. I know it’s not particularly good, but I find myself hooked anyway.