Another superhero show will debut this fall when Supergirl comes to CBS. Last week the network gave audiences their first look at the show, with a six-minute extended preview that drew mixed reactions. Many were thrown off by the tone and frivolity of the trailer causing debates across the internet. A week later the entire pilot episode coincidentally was leaked onto the web and it shows that people may not have as much to worry about as they might have feared. Supergirl’s pilot episode lays the foundation for a series people may enjoy.
The pilot begins with a voiceover by Kara Zor-El, played by Melissa Benoist, recounting her final moments on the unstable planet, Krypton. Narrating the beginning of an episode is a staple of Greg Berlanti’s other shows Arrow and The Flash, however the voiceover seems more natural in this instance. Kara is Superman’s cousin and was sent to protect and watch over him on Earth. She was sent on an escape pod moments after Superman’s, but was thrown 24 years off track by the exploding planet. The result is she barely aged, while Superman has fully grown and already become a legend on Earth. We catch up with Kara in her twenties working as an executive’s assistant and knowingly ignoring her powers, since being a hero is her cousin’s deal. She uses her special abilities for benign tasks and ignores her true potential, but it really isn’t explained why.
The extended trailer didn’t serve the show well, as it plays a lot better in real time. There are still moments of overt cheesiness, but the show will surely be more universally accepted than many have anticipated. The moments in the trailer that felt like Working Girl or The Devil Wears Prada were actually already shown in the preview, leaving much of the episode to the discovery of her new identity. There are multiple references to her being a “girl” in the world. However, it fits the tone of the sub-genre that they are aiming to create. As advertised, the action is engaging and they waste little time before getting into full blown comic book action.
When Krypton exploded it knocked Kara’s ship into the Phantom Zone, an intergalactic dimension that serves as prison for Krypton’s worst criminals. She spent the majority of her time there in suspended animation, until an unknown event dislodged her from the wormhole. However, the prisoners that were locked up escaped along with her, which will be the first season’s supply of baddies for Kara to battle week-to-week.
Melissa Benoist definitely stands out from her supporting cast, in or out of the costume. Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal) seems to be having fun with her campy role as the owner of the newspaper that Kara works for. Hopefully, Flockhart tones down the character and makes her feel a little more three dimensional, or we will simply be waiting for Kara to get in costume and fly out of the office every episode. Mehcad Brooks (True Blood) plays James “Don’t Call Me Jimmy” Olsen and is one of the biggest deviations from the source material. He does possess the good heart of Olsen and serves as the wise sage, who seems to be more in contact with her cousin than she is. Weird.
Ali Adler, Greg Berlanti, and Andrew Kreisberg, have crafted another show that fits the mold of the other DC universe that they have created over at CW, particularly The Flash. This is essentially the Superman story, with a gender swap and it actually works better than expected. It will definitely standout on CBS’ schedule this fall, since there is nothing like it currently on their roster. Being on the network means a bigger budget than their DC counterparts on the CW. The effects and action were close to cinematic and it is hard to imagine how they will top themselves in that department week-to-week. There were also several shifts of tone that is jarring, however for a pilot episode it was surprisingly engaging and self-confident. There are also some fun twists thrown into the Superman mythology that leave many questions to be answered throughout the season. Is it great? No. But it is does have a few moments of flat-out comic book fun, that should satisfy most fans of superheroes on TV.
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