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Supergirl


Greywind

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I'll give it my five or forget litmus. I was not overly impressed by any part. It seemed rushed and though I thought the character was cute (loved the 'celebratory pizza while watching the news' scene), there was way too much of the waterworks. The supporting cast seemed to be too cookie cutter. All of them. The nerd best friend. The controlling boss. The bigot anti-alien guy. The vengeance filled alien criminal. All of them could very well have been pulled from the Box of Stereotypical Characters and plopped into the plot. Those tropes and stereotypes can be effective if played right. I just didn't get that from the pilot. I enjoyed the fights, though the motion blur is going to become an annoying shortcut if it continues.

 

And was she really worried about bullets when she flew through a burning jet engine. Really?

 

All in all, it was neither good nor bad. A single pilot episode does not a series make, so that's why it gets my five show opportunity to prove itself. In a way, that is what's so disappointing. Considering how much I liked Arrow, Flash, Gotham, and Daredevil, I was really hoping that this would have the same "Wow" factor.

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James Olsen? I don't see it. First, I got the impression that he was a fair bit older than her and took his role to thus be more of guide and mentor. Afterall, she can't apparently use Clark as her Superpowered roll model. So she has to use the next best thing: a guy who apparently knows Sup's secrets and was encouraged to go help her. But I could be wrong. 

 

As to RGN1, I still didn't get anymore than a "just colleagues" vibe until after opening up. She mocked his hobbies at best and very quickly dodge a possible date. I know she already had one lined up but her reaction seemed squirrelly in the "oh not again!" kind of way. All in all, I did not get the "best buds" vibe from them. 

 

Foreign Orchid. 

 

Winn: "Love will just hit you like Ka-pow!"

 

Kara:(while leaving James' office) "Ka-pow."(to herself)

 

Nothing definite, but mild foreshadowing is there.

 

I didn't get "best buds" vibe either (that's her sister) but they were more like "work buds".  Our impressions from their banter differ.

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Melissa Benoist is an absolute delight. She is the best thing about the show, without question.

 

But oh boy everything else was painful. Okay, I take that back. I like this new take on Jimmy, er, James Olsen. He gets to stand proxy for all the advice-giving The Big Guy would provide personally but can't because reasons. That's not a terrible way to go as long as it doesn't begin to feel like constant name-dropping. Unfortunately, that's where the good stuff ended for me.

 

There was so little logic to nearly everything in the show it hurt my brain (I think that's what having my intelligence insulted that badly feels like). In addition to all the things Orchid mentions, there's the whole "I'm the second superhero in the world" thing that really bothered me. I mean, this is still the DCU after all, and a quarter decade after Superman started heroing there were plenty of others out there with wild abilities and fancy costumes fighting supervillains. She is not the world's second superhero, and if she really is then this show is probably not one I'm going to watch. Even if they don't show us Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, or any of the others, the fact that they go out of their way to deny their very existance on any level is like a huge middle-finger to DC fans.

 

And let's see, there's a humongous space prison that crashed on Earth and unleashed hundreds if not thousands of superpowered baddies and we are supposed to believe that the DEO and Superman have succeeded in keeping that a secret from the entire world all this time?

 

The fight scenes and wire-work were pretty awful. Maybe they'll get a lot better as time goes on, assuming the series lasts that long, but at least in the pilot they were just awful. She was floating in that awkward "I'm on wires trying to look like I'm hovering" pose, and the scene where she's trying to keep the axe from slicing her head in half while she heats it up with her heat vision was really poor; I didn't see any sign of muscular strain at all. It was so phony I would have laughed if I wasn't so embarrassed for the actress.

 

And I'm not buying Jeremy Jordan here; he's too good-looking to be taking on the Ducky role.

 

Nor was I impressed with the stunt casting of Dean Cain and Helen Slater. I just rolled my eyes when I saw them.

 

The sister is not convincing in her role, and her one-dimensional DEO boss is one too many after watching Calista Flockhart own that stereotype in Act One. I'd also like to know where Kara got the blue material capable of deflecting bullets. Watch that scene again and you'll see what I mean; the cape would not have been riddled with holes, her blue top and red skirt would have been.

 

I'm also really tired of the everyone-has-kryptonite trope that any series about Super-whatever seems to require. You'd think that in 75 years writers would have moved beyond that plot crutch.

 

I could go on and on but I'm depressing even myself. Ms. Benoist single-handedly saved the pilot from being 100% garbage. I will watch the next couple of episodes to see if the production redeems itself.

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I enjoyed it, for the most part. I liked Melissa Benoist a lot. I liked Jimmy--James!--Olsen. He's not the Jimmy Olsen I know, but I like this version. I even liked Callista Flockhart as Cat Grant, which I didn't think I would. Yes, she's playing a cliched obnoxious, condescending, demanding boss...but she completely owned the part. She's powerful, rich, hot*, smart and she hasn't got time for anyone who doesn't live up to her standards every minute. I'd hate working for her, but the character works.

 

Winn (the office friend/confidante) not so much. The villains not so much. I understand that they're setting up a supply of superpowered adversaries, and it's probably better than Smallville Mutant du Jour concept, but still...it feels a bit forced. Kara's aunt as the Boss Villain? Oh hell no. I concur with whoever said she's a terrible actor. She is.

 

And it felt like a lot of telling and not much showing, but that's typical of a lot of pilots. I hope they'll do better as the season progresses. But it's got potential, so I'll keep watching. And I love that it's NOT GRIMDARK. I love that Kara loves using her powers, and helping people. She doesn't have a tortured backstory to justify heroing--she just wants to help people.

 

Overall, it wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be. But it was pretty good, easily good enough for me to keep watching.

 

 

*To some people, perhaps. Not to me. Tastes vary.

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[T]he scene where she's trying to keep the axe from slicing her head in half while she heats it up with her heat vision was really poor; I didn't see any sign of muscular strain at all. It was so phony I would have laughed if I wasn't so embarrassed for the actress.

 

That they didn't re-shoot the scene because the actress adjusted her hand-hold on the axe speaks volumes about the production quality, to me.

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I'm kind of crossing my fingers that the pilot was a rush job because the execs wanted changes, and that the next few episodes will show some quality improvement. I'll likely give it the whole season to see where it goes. If the pilot's what the current creative team is capable of, it may require staff changes before improving.

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I have mixed feelings towards pilots.

 

On the one hand, I realize that they aren't always the best representation of what to expect from a new series because it is usually produced as a one-shot deal with a crew that isn't necessarily the one that will work on the series, with an FX house that is rarely the same FX house that will handle the series work (Zoic is famous for getting pilots but never getting the series, or at least not for long). The actors won't have the benefit of having settled into their characters and so on. I mean, I get why you can't really judge a series from its pilot.

 

However, the unfortunately reality is that both audiences and studio execs judge the future prospects of a new series on the basis of the pilot. If the pilot doesn't impress the execs (and test audiences) then the front 13 don't get greenlit. If the pilot doesn't grab a big audience right off the bat, then the back 9 won't get greenlit and you'll have yet another series that never made it past 13 episodes. The pressure to attract an audience is intense for a pilot, so it can't afford to suck.

 

And there are plenty of examples of pilots that were absolutely superb. Perhaps the finest example of the last decade is the (2-hr) pilot for Lost, which was better than a lot of big-budget feature films. The resources invested in that pilot paid big dividends and launched a cultural phenomenon. I firmly believe that it is the job of the pilot to convince me to tune in to the next episode. And it is the job of the next episode to convince me to tune in to the next, and so on. In a way, the entire process hinges on the pilot to get it all started on a positive, successful note.

 

Despite its impressive ratings, it remains to be seen how well the Supergirl pilot succeeded in capturing an audience that will stick around through at least the "mid-season finale".

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Numbers flopped pretty hard this second episode viewers wise. No Big Bang Lead in to carry it. 

That said, the episode itself was still pretty enjoyable to me. I winced and sympathized with Supergirl's little 'ooops' there with the Tanker.

 

I'm still loving the fight scenes in this.

 

Some folks are complaining about the 'girl power' stuff and feminist message. You know,something, I have a lower tolerance threshold for Political correctness than many. But if the heaviest handed bit we get is the old "have to work twice as hard to get half as much" thing, I'm good. Yes, it's about girl power, but GIRL is in the name. Really, it's like being surprised that Captain America might love his country.

 

Watching Kryptonite being used on a bad guy was kind of fun :)

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They should remember this is GIRL power not GRRL power (how I heard Batgirl in a recent animated described). Supergirl embraces the fact that she is a girl (after Cat Grant helped her with that). She owns it. She doesn't hate herself for not being male. Recognizing that there are differences is not feminism (in fact, it's rather the opposite of feminism).

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I am writing this as I watch. Obviously my initial reaction was sour so take my continuing reaction with a grain of salt as it has been colored by that view.

 

Exposition! Exposition is expository. Now if only they told us something new. I know Flash does this as part of their lead in each week, but they keep it trimmed and as part of the intro. I felt like I just watched two Flash style intros in a row for this. I hope that was just a directing error.

 

The obvious quip at the start about testing her just because she was a girl was stupid and insulting. And why does this testing ground have a random glass drawing board with random equations written on it out in an open testing field? And how is it that Supergirl's 'breaking the sound barrier' cause that glass to shatter while have almost no other effects on the land or people?

 

I did like growing pains struggle to put out the fire and the talk about Superman. And while the ripping of the tanker makes sense, it doesn't make sense when thinking that supergirl should have done that the very moment she started moving the ship. And having it happen after the fact was just a spiderman level of bad luck and ill press. The follow up montage of her learning to be responsible was a bit cliche but acceptable. But it makes me wonder how those two guys, James and RGN1, actually get their normal work done. But C'est la vie.

 

While going head to head with her sister, Kara mentions how she just found out about Kryptonite a week before. What?! That is just plain stupid. And given that even a small rock of the stuff is enough to kill Superman, how are they doing a power dampening field with the stuff while not actually harming her? This seems like a comic book style blunder, too. But that doesn't make it any less of a blunder. That said, I at least do appreciate the story telling aspect of it. But maybe it would be better to use something like "Red Sun Radiation" rather than our favorite green rock.

 

Next, how did her Aunt spend all that time on earth and never come to learn of Kryptonite from Superman's exploits? And why in the world would her Aunt pretend to be reasonable and compassionate for a moment while going toe to toe with her? She wasn't friendly at the start by any means and obviously had no intent of ending it nicely either. So why do that?

 

How is it that the soldier man had a knife that could harm her off hand? Was he expecting to go up against a Kryptonian like Superman or Supergirl on this one adventure or is he like Batman and just permanently has it with him? Because there was no way he knew about Supergirl's aunt. Next, why the heck did he pull it on her in the first place? Even when grabbed by the neck he has no particular reason to think it was a Kryptonian holding him. If anything that knife would have just broke to pieces 99 out of 100 times. So it is just stupid to have had that whole scene.

 

And why in the world is Kara not telling her cousin that they have one more relative on Earth? I think that is something he not only should know about because he is THE premier here but because they just increased their Kryptonian survival rate by 50 percent! That is big news Clark deserves to know. But this show must completely ignore any common sense when it comes to contacting Superman because, you know, reasons... :rolleyes:

 

The Romantic entanglement angle is being set up more and more. RGN1 and James seem to be well set up to be struggling to be Supergirl's on-again off-again romantic partner.

 

When it comes to the actors I still think Calista is doing well. Most of her scenes do well to push the various personal narratives and act as good exposition without being actual narrative exposition. James is still doing well. And while not as bad as in the first episode, the Aunt is still awful. I think she should be stuck to doing the roll best suited to her: the emotionless computer hologram. Finally a good role for her.

 

Foreign Orchid.

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How is it that the soldier man had a knife that could harm her off hand? Was he expecting to go up against a Kryptonian like Superman or Supergirl on this one adventure or is he like Batman and just permanently has it with him? Because there was no way he knew about Supergirl's aunt. Next, why the heck did he pull it on her in the first place? Even when grabbed by the neck he has no particular reason to think it was a Kryptonian holding him. If anything that knife would have just broke to pieces 99 out of 100 times. So it is just stupid to have had that whole scene.

 

 

Henshaw has a mostly complete list of the inmates of Fort Roz.  He always knew that there was at least one actual Kryptonian among the prisoners and probably what she looked like.  Even if he didn't know what Astra looked before, he knew what her identical twin sister looked like from her holographic messages to Kara so once he saw Astra, he'd know what she was.  

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In the golden age comics, they had multiple kinds of Kryptonite with a range of effects. Blue was beneficial to Kryptonians. Green, kills. Red had a random effect each time (depending on the writer, this was fantastic or a flop). Gold would remove their powers. I heard DC has kept the kinds of K down these days, but using a teeny bit of gold to make that dampening field would have been a nice hat tip. But then, if they want to change it to a killing field with a switch, green makes more sense. Though gold could remove powers permanently (if that's what the story needed, see "Once There was a Superman". I never found the second part, but always assumed he either got his powers back in it, or the editor said, "Now we see what the world would have been like if Superman had picked up that red and golden rock that day. Be thankful that this is merely a what-if and there really is a Superman!").

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While going head to head with her sister, Kara mentions how she just found out about Kryptonite a week before. What?! That is just plain stupid. And given that even a small rock of the stuff is enough to kill Superman, how are they doing a power dampening field with the stuff while not actually harming her? This seems like a comic book style blunder, too. But that doesn't make it any less of a blunder. That said, I at least do appreciate the story telling aspect of it. But maybe it would be better to use something like "Red Sun Radiation" rather than our favorite green rock.

 

Next, how did her Aunt spend all that time on earth and never come to learn of Kryptonite from Superman's exploits? And why in the world would her Aunt pretend to be reasonable and compassionate for a moment while going toe to toe with her? She wasn't friendly at the start by any means and obviously had no intent of ending it nicely either. So why do that?

 

 

Foreign Orchid.

 

Kara's sister explicitly states early in her fight with Supergirl that the government has been keeping Superman's vulnerability to kryptonite a carefully guarded secret.  So, not having been exposed to it previously there is no reason either Supergirl or her aunt should be aware of it.

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So Clark being the loving and good guardian he is supposed to be just forgot to mention to Kara in all her years that she should be wary of the essentially single thing that is highly lethal to their kind. While I am not saying it is impossible, I just don't think it is likely. 

The Aunt has been out and about for over a decade. Somehow her organization has been operating without her ever coming across the one item that is deadly to her kind. Okay, also possible I suppose but just seems unlikely. Even more unlikely when we think about how seemingly abundant it is in the Superman universe (despite claims to it not being abundant in said universe). 

As to the soldier having a kryptonite knife on him at all possible times: that is approaching JL levels of Batman-style paranoia. Okay, so it is possible, just crazy.

Foreign Orchid.  

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I think one angle they're going with to excuse Superman's distance (When the real reason is because they can't have him showing up thanks to movie dictates, and they don't want him solving all of Kara's problems for her) is the old "he's made enemies and doesn't want to bring them to her door step". Of course, that plan, if it's legit, is kind of shot now that Supergirl has a whole prison load of her own  enemies that can kill her, but hey... television.

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Checking out the viewership on wiki, I am quite surprised by the total volume of viewers. I didn't realize the show garnered almost 13 million viewers for its pilot nor the nearly 9 million for the second episode. Those are powerful numbers. Gotham never achieved 9 Million - not even for its pilot. And Gotham did great compared to The Flash which garners 3.5 million but is on cable. Granted, each series is pocketed into different expectations because one is cable, one is broadcast, and one is a semi-broadcast station. Still, I imagine if Supergirl can maintain 8 to 9 Million an episode it will be staying around for some time to come. 

 

Foreign Orchid. 

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Yup...

And I'm hearing some folks say that Supergirl is surprisingly family friendly. More than one parent (Fathers as well as mothers) is saying things like "Hey, a show I and my daughter can watch together"

 

For all my complaints about plotholes, love triangles, and how I would have done this or this differently.... we are in the golden age of live action superhero television my friends. Let's enjoy it while it lasts

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