Spoilers Supergirl - Season 1

[DWF]

My thoughts on this are basically the same as they were the first time I saw it It was...ok. A bit bland, a bit annoying but with some good stuff, and Supergirl herself is pretty good (as is Jimmy Olsen). Her guy friend from work was inoffensive, although kind of forgettable. The action was also pretty good, especially on a TV budget. I hope we get more of the character who imdb calls "The Commander" (he's the one who was giving orders to the villain of the week over video in the truck. I liked the actor in his (somewhat minor) role in Warehouse 13, and it would be cool to see him again.

As for the bad stuff, I hated the generic "you shouldn't be a hero" stepsister. She was giving me a big "Johnathon Kent in Man of Steel" vibe after the plane incident, which is not a good thing. The fact that she also betrayed Kara (which is also kind of a betrayal of Superman, who gave Kara to the Danvers family probably trying to avoid something like what the stepsister did with the government) was also pretty bad.

You understand though that she told her so that Kara wouldn't get caught by the very agency she works for?

 

[DigificWriter]

I hated the generic "you shouldn't be a hero" stepsister. She was giving me a big "Johnathon Kent in Man of Steel" vibe after the plane incident, which is not a good thing. The fact that she also betrayed Kara (which is also kind of a betrayal of Superman, who gave Kara to the Danvers family probably trying to avoid something like what the stepsister did with the government) was also pretty bad.

1) She's not a stepsister; she's a foster/adoptive sister (and, no, that's not arguing semantics)

2) She said the things that she said because she was trying to protect Kara and keep her safe, not only from the Fort Rozz prisoners who had grudges against her mother, but also, as was already pointed out, from her own boss and colleagues

 

[kirk55555]

You understand though that she told her so that Kara wouldn't get caught by the very agency she works for?

Considering the fact that she betrayed Kara to that agency, it doesn't matter. Plus, I'm pretty sure she was against Kara being a hero anyway, and keeping the agency away was just part of it. If she cared that much, she would have warned Kara about the agency, not helped the agency catch her. She works for an agency that hates aliens (including Superman), and did nothing to stop them from catching Kara. Her loyalty is obviously to the agency, not Kara. I mean, yeah, she acted as Kara's cheerleader at the end, but it doesn't excuse her actions against Kara earlier.

I'd really like to see what Superman has to say about a member of the family he sent Kara to betraying her, since putting Kara with the Danvers was to protect her and give her a normal life (although he obviously suspected she might be a hero, and seems to approve of it), not to have one of the Danvers sell her out to a government agency.

Heck, if the Danvers (the parents) are alive, i'd like to see what they have to say about the adoptive sister's actions. I doubt they'd be too happy, based on the fact that we know they're allies of Superman.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Seemed the same as the leaked version.

There were maybe two scenes lasting a couple seconds that might have been new, but more likely, I'd just forgotten them for the other times I watched this.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Interesting origin story, though it felt too G-rated. A superpowered alien woman lives in the shadow of his world-renowned superhero cousin and tries to find her own place in the world. Her adoptive family once dissuaded her from doing any superheroics and practicing her true potential, so she has a moment of self-doubt and insignificance, but she ultimately embraces her superhuman abilities and decides to be a protector of humanity.

I see they went with Kara instead of Linda. So in Earth years, she's about 47 years old, give or take a year? (She was stuck in the Phantom Zone for 24 years when she was already 13; then she grew up on Earth like any normal human girl.)

If this series exists in the same Berlanti DC-Verse, that would mean Superman had been around before all those other metas started appearing in Central City and Starling City.

Yay! I have a new show to add to my primetime Monday lineup.

 

[DigificWriter]

So in Earth years, she's about 47 years old, give or take a year? (She was stuck in the Phantom Zone for 24 years when she was already 13; then she grew up on Earth like any normal human girl.)

She's 24. She spent 24 years in the Phantom Zone, during which time she never aged), and then spent an additional 11 years on Earth after she arrived.

BTW, this timeline puts Superman at 24 years old when he finds her and 35 in the present.

 

[Thestral]

13+24+11=48.

She's chronologically in her late 40s just like Steve Rogers is in his 90s and Khan is centuries old and Avatar Aang is 112 and Phillip J. Fry is 1000-something and... it's a pretty common plot device.


Very enjoyable pilot and a nice breath of air after The Walking Dead. Benoist is really fun and all the supporting players do a nice job. Lots of Superman references as expected but not so many that it felt overdone. Looking forward to where this goes.

 

[sojourner]

If this series exists in the same Berlanti DC-Verse

It's not.

 

[tomalak301]

I liked it but I really didn't like the Boss. For a show like this, I'm not sure if the added Boss drama is needed. Still, Benoist is fun and despite the sister betraying sister but then making up trope, I found the episode overall very enjoyable.

 

[DigificWriter]

13+24+11=48.

Time doesn't exist in the Phantom Zone, so she stayed 13 years of age for the entirety of the 24 years she was stuck there.

It's the "Once Upon a Time" principle, where Charming and Snow are exactly the same age as their daughter because they spent 28 years existing outside of time.

 

[davejames]

They added Kara actually saying "Superman" to the opening narration. In the leaked Pilot she never said his actual name.

Actually she's always said his name at the start of the pilot (I've rewatched it many times). Not sure why everyone seems to remember it differently.

And I didn't notice anything else different from the original version either, other than the addition of the credits.

 

[davejames]

Considering the fact that she betrayed Kara to that agency, it doesn't matter. Plus, I'm pretty sure she was against Kara being a hero anyway, and keeping the agency away was just part of it. If she cared that much, she would have warned Kara about the agency, not helped the agency catch her. She works for an agency that hates aliens (including Superman), and did nothing to stop them from catching Kara. Her loyalty is obviously to the agency, not Kara. I mean, yeah, she acted as Kara's cheerleader at the end, but it doesn't excuse her actions against Kara earlier.

As suggested in the episode, the agency already knew about Kara, which is why the sister got hired in the first place. The only "betrayal" was the fact the sister never told her, but as the DEO's main focus was on either keeping tabs on aliens or stopping the more dangerous ones, it doesn't seem like it was that serious a betrayal to me.

It's not like we're talking about some super sinister evil operation here (or something like what Amanda Waller is in charge of on Arrow). And they released Kara moments after capturing her, so she was clearly never in any real danger from them.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I enjoyed this overall. I laughed out loud when she crashed into roadside earth. I liked how this moved along without plodding. The VFX look great. It's cute semi-fluffy fun. So far, I want to see more.

Benoist is well cast. Needless to say, this is way better than the 1984 film. Nice, but brief appearances by Slater and Cain, hope to see more of them.

 

[davejames]

I also like how much time she spent in costume. Too many superhero series in the past have minimized the in-costume time. Hopefully that won't be the case here.

Yeah I really like that as well. I always found it frustrating when Cain or Reeves would only show up for a few fleeting moments in costume to save someone, and then get right back into their street clothes for the vast majority of the episode.

But it seems like nearly every behind the scenes pic someone posts from this show has Benoist lounging around in the costume, so I get the impression she must spend a lot of time in it, which would be cool to see.

13+24+11=48.

She's chronologically in her late 40s just like Steve Rogers is in his 90s and Khan is centuries old and Avatar Aang is 112 and Phillip J. Fry is 1000-something and... it's a pretty common plot device.

Perhaps, but those other characters still existed in a normal universe where time flows normally, while Kara was stuck in an entirely different dimension or universe where time seemingly stopped completely. So at the very least, I think there's enough wiggle room here to suggest that, chronologically, Kara is still very much 24.

 

[DigificWriter]

So at the very least, I think there's enough wiggle room here to suggest that, chronologically, Kara is still very much 24.

There's no 'suggesting' involved. She IS explicitly 24 in the series, because time doesn't exist in the Phantom Zone and so she didn't age until she made it to Earth.

 

[crookeddy]

Still only 6.2 on IMDB and the pilot is a low 6.9. Do we expect this score to go up?

 

[Guy Gardener]

But time existed outside the Phantom Zone, which is how baby Kal-El caught up with his cousin and lapped her.

Baby Kal-El was a 24 year old man, when he met his 13 year old cousin again who was 13 years old when he was born, and it was 24 years since since she was 13, meaning that his 13 year old cousin was biologically 13, but 37 years old chronologically 12 years before she saved the plane when she was 49 because the present is a precise date, and her birth date is a precise date, even if she left the universe for almost half her life.

I'm also wondering what "there is no time in the Phantom Zone" means using bad imaginary science, since if there really was no time, Her ship wouldn't have been able to get in there or tow fort Roz out, and what's up with this method of imprisonment anyway? Were the Prisoners immortal? Were they capable of living lives in prison (bad science like in Voyager Year of Hell) or were they in a stasis like existence where solid time kept them immobile?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Still only 6.2 on IMDB and the pilot is a low 6.9. Do we expect this score to go up?

The Demographic the showrunners have to be after is educated/professional women, aged 20 to 40? That doesn't sound like your imdb message board crowd, does it?

The IMDB nerds are the scum who already watched the leaked pilot 6 months ago.

 

[Maurice]

Andrew Kreisberg mentions here that Dean Cain filmed alot more for that scene that was cut. I am assuming his credit was based on what was filmed.

Typically, credits are negotiated, not based on time in the show or anything like that.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I enjoyed watching this. I felt a dopey grin on my face through most of it.

It has the usual pilot problems of throwing a lot of elements into the sink. Some elements, like the DEO, I might have held off introducing until later. (I could imagine a midseason finale where the DEO and Alex's secret is revealed, for instance.)

Benoist is charming as heck.