Supergirl: Super Potential, But Equally Heavy Handed

My people! How goes it? Hopefully, you’re continuing to enjoy your vacation, if not, welcome back to work! I’m bringing you a rare opportunity that I had to preview a pilot for an upcoming show. I got this opportunity last year with Constantine and I have it again with another show of DC’s creation, Supergirl. Below is a little bit of spoiler material, but it helps you get a feel of the show and the background. If you want to skip it, however, it’s understandable. Don’t expand, just skip to my thoughts on the show.

I think this show has so much potential, but the writing is so heavy-handed it doesn’t give Supergirl the room it needs to solidify herself as a hero. There’s a desperation in the writing that makes you only see her as a female superhero and not a superhero that happens to be a female. When the writing tries to spoon-feed me a message what they do instead of allowing me to be an audience member is treat me as if my intelligence is one that in fact won’t understand subtle queues they should be giving. There are moments that are excessively sensitive and defensive of the fact that Supergirl is a woman. It’s sad because they don’t give her a chance to just be. Instead, they force down your throat that she’s a woman and men second guess her because of that.

Also, CBS has already made it clear that there will be no crossover with The Flash or Arrow. It’s sad, the desperation in wanting Supergirl to make it on her own is really going to limit its takeoff potential. Flash started as a crossover with Arrow as a springboard, and now look at its success. CBS should learn from the formula that the CW has laid down and utilize the universe that the CW has already set up it would help a lot with Kara’s development and give the other shows an opportunity to expand as well. DC started out saying that their TV and movie worlds would be separate, and now it looks like they’re keeping their TV worlds sectioned off as well. More confusion for the fans. Not a good look in my opinion. Greg Berlanti, DC’s TV executive producer, has already stated that he wants the shows to crossover, but CBS has made it clear that (at least this season) they want this show to stand on its own. So maybe they’ll change their minds about it, but for now it’s a no go on the crossover show.

That being said, there are things that I like about the show. Melissa Benoist does a great job introducing us to Kara. She’s fun and has a fresh take on the character. What I like about her is that she has all the quirkiness of Clark but it’s very much her own character. You can see that her character is trying to find her way in the world and step out from Superman’s shadow. It’s only natural this would be the case. It’s probably going to be the same deal for Tim Drake (Robin) in the upcoming Titans series. She does a great job on the pilot and I think she was a great pick.

Another part of the show I’m liking is the character of James (Jimmy) Olsen. You can see that the character has grown from his comic book incarnation and is a useful character that embodies both Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Through some heavy handed hints he’ll be Kara’s love interest in the show. It’s obvious he’s also serving as a surrogate Superman for Kara, but it’s not so much that he doesn’t exist as his own character. What I’m sure fans will miss is that he’s not the same awkward character that he was when he worked for the Planet, but people can’t honestly expect James to be the same character from the comics. It makes sense that he’s grown since his time with Lois and Clark. The reality of it is that, since he spent so much time with them, it’s only natural that his character would take on some of their traits. Lois’ bold, outspoken behavior and Clark’s kindheartedness.

The visuals are great for TV. I love the CGI it’s not overwhelming, and it works. Between the action sequences and the flight sequences, it’s great to see something like this take flight (heh) on the TV. Honestly, the potential for the show is great, but the writers treat the audience like we’re idiots. I don’t like that. Unless they change the writing of the show, it will fail quickly. Who knows, maybe they’ll see the response and try to change things before the premier this fall.  They did the same thing for Constantine, but that show still didn’t make it the way that it should have.