NS: Supergirl so far

[lucean]

Greatest of greetings to everyone,

As I was watching the latest episode of Supergirl series and pondering the many thing within it, I wondered if there is interest here in discussing those facets of the show seen in these three episodes so far.

Now to begin, it must be said that Supergirl is an extremely diificult show to discuss as it does carry a lot of expectations and needs with it.. That isn't negative thing in itself, but ti does lead to people giving it praise because they want it to succeed and others being overly critical as they feel it is too pampered. And as a guy, especially white straight guy, I will freely admit that there are representation issues I do not get, so I will not even try to touch on how well they succeed in those aspects. Then to my general comments of the three episodes that no one asked:

-Some of the actors are really killing it on the show for me, especially for Kara and James, who are really working to elevate the, at times, really hammy writing.

-Speaking of the main character, I am really torn on her. I do think Benoist is doing a great job in giving her depth, yet at the same time appraoch to writing her is the kind of a superhero I hate, with about a fifth of the time each episode so far being people standing around telling Kara how awesome she is while she doubts herself. I really hope they manage tone that down as it starts to feel just too special at some points.

-While the ratings are still good, they are seeing a slide downwards in a weird way. The viewership from week 2 to week 3 stayed pretty much the same, but they took a big in ratings, especially the 18-49 demo rating. Supergirl is a really expensive show to produce, so it might not have as much leeway some other shows in this regard.

-Man are they banking on that romantic triangle-quadrable from the very beginning. Like apparently betting all on it. Having said, I do really like the sibling relationship being so central so far in the show, although to the same breath it is nice to see another show telling us men and women can never truly be friends as one of them is inevitably in love with the other.

-The action sequences have been pretty hit-and-miss to me so far, especially in the latest episode. There's been some really great ones, especially in the pilot and initial sequence with Reakton, but then there has been some really clunky ones, like the wire fight with the aunt.

-Speaking of villains, this show has bizarre approach to them. Reakton was supposed to be someone Superman couldn't beat, yet I couldn't figure out why or where did he get that suit that made him as powerful as a Kryptonian yet needed someone else to fix after breaking really easily. Or the established big bad of the Auntie General, who Kara fights to pretty much a standstill and judo-flips (??) in their first fight despite the aunt being a trained Kryptonian soldier who has lived on Earth for a decade. What exactly is the tension in Kara's next fight with her as Kara is getting better and the Aunt is apparently not really a good fighter?

-I realize that my comments above sound negative, but I am not really hating it and third episode was already a lot better, even if a lot of it couldn't sustain any kind of critical thought. It is a show that is still finding what it is about besides a message which it shouted a lot during the first two episodes. In a really weird way, for me, what hampers it most is that it almost willingly carries Superman's shadow constantly while telling us that Kara is rising above it and finding her own way. It causes a lot of the discussions to be really weird and referential, but hopefully they will start sorting that out and figure out what they really want to be, which seems to be something between ridiculous camp of Flash and severity of Arrow. Which will be a difficult thing to balance.

-While I realize we are going to see a lot of DCU in the show if it goes on, I will admit that I am slightly bothered by how deeply the show has cut it self off from that mythology so far. I have little doubt, though, that we are going to see the Amazonians and Atlanteans in the show at some point as well as someone from the Batclan. For me the interesting question is who that someone would be as while Batgirl is the logical choice, I will admit that I would be interested in seeing Nightwing make his presence known.

-And okay, I have to ask this. The Girl speech in episode one, that was bizarre right? As show wasn't really saying that it's okay if an adult woman doesn't mind being called a girl, but rather that if the adult woman has issues with, maybe she is the one with the probelm?

Comments

[draganoche]

It's alright to criticize the show, it definitely has weakness that need to be dealt with like the action/effects and some fairly clunky/forced events though it has good points as well like the supergirl team which works fairly well.

[zapbiffpow]

Speaking of the Batclan, I don't think that's going to happen. I heard there was an embargo on Batman and Wonder Woman during the Smallville years (up to now) - I guess this ban bleeds over to the Supergirl series as well.

Basically, the CW Trinity is Flash (unintentionally OP'd symbol of hope, like Superman), Green Arrow (gravelly-voiced gadgeteer, like Batman), and Hawkgirl (mythologically-backed ancient warrior, like Wonder Woman). Which I actually have little problem with, on a recent realization.

[locuatico]

I'm not sure about Hawkgirl, though. it could also be Vixen.

[zapbiffpow]

Oh, yeah. They probably might do the Thanagarian thing for the Hawks.

[silverhammerman]

My understanding is that the Hawkpeople are going to have the reincarnation backstory, which doesn't necessarily preclude roping in Thanagar, but doing both seems overly complicated.

[reveen]

The problem with the action scenes is that it's hard to have convincing superhero smackdown like you saw on Man of Steel on a television effects budget. So they're stuck trying to make Supergirl seem actually Super within the bounds of traditional TV fight scenes.

[razsolo]

I am enjoying it but there's definitely room for improvement and one of those improvements would be dropping the constant Superman references without being able to actually use him. Episode 3 for me was by far the weakest, and I'm hoping that we can get past it moving forward. If they're not able to actually USE Superman, it's just hanging a big ol' lampshade on it bringing him up constantly. I mean is there any reason Kara can't just zip over to Metropolis for a pep talk instead of having to get Jimmy to tell her what her cousin thinks constantly?

There have been a couple of hokey SFX moments but I think no more than the Flash has had, and when the SFX are good they're quite good imo....I'm willing to stick it out for a while longer, I feel like it has enough heart to compensate for its shortcomings at the moment :)

[liliaeth]

Actually I thought episode 3 was the perfect way to handle that they couldn't actually use Superman.

They gave a perfect reason why Superman won't show up whenever a fight gets a bit too difficult for Kara to handle, without making Clark look like a bad guy, since he's respecting her wishes.

Much better than having them send him off to the phantom zone, or to outerspace in order to keep him out of the way.

[locuatico]

I do wonder if they are going to do something like that in a later season. a "Supergirl is now Earth's champion" sort of thing.

[janegray]

I wish I could watch this show :(

They'll probably start showing it in my country in one or more years.

[panelsarewindows]

I was kinda eh on the first two episodes. There was nothing really wrong with them (except for the kinda predictable plotting/hammy dialogue which you kinda expect from this type of show) but nothing really grabbed me in.

I actually really liked the third episode however. I really liked they way they handled superman, establishing and using him while also addressing what many people (including myself) probably think, that Supergirl is just second-rate Superman. Also, his final message to her is abit of a cop-out (as in we never see him, plus he'll 'stay out' of the show), but it's completely in character for how Superman would behave.

Another thing I really like, which I didn't expect to, is Jimmy Olsen. I like that he's been established as Superman's pal, and the pressures of trying to break away from that are actually part of his character, instead of just being the 'cool-mainstream-A-list-character-man'. I also really like Cat Grant.

Of all the superhero shows currently on, I wouldn't say its the best, but I would say its the one I'm most interested in, and curious to see where they're going. I have hope for the show, for now at least.

[ozaline]

I think the aunt was taken by surprise by Kara and more so by the krptonite, she'll bring her a-game next time.

I didn't find Kara's argument that National City would look like an easy target if Supergirl called in help very believeable.


The show also tries a bit too hard on the feminism at points trying to appear feminist instead of letting the story and characters speak for themselves.

Minor quibbles aside though I love the show.