Supergirl - 'Pilot'

I like to open reviews of a new show with an ensemble cast shot, but
apparently the non-Supergirl cast of this show can fuck off, so here at least is a
picture with Melissa Benoist (Kara), Chyler Lee (Alex Danvers) and David
Harewood (Henk Henshaw).

Sent from the dying planet Krypton to protect her infant cousin Kal, teenaged Kara Zor-El does a minor Buck Rogers, getting knocked into the Phantom Zone for twenty-four years and landing to discover that Kal-El has already become Superman and acquired a near-permanent backlighting effect so that he could be any given Superman or none. It's not like it matters, we know who Superman is, the city-trashing, neck-snapping jerk.

Raised by the Danvers family (played in a masterpiece of stunt casting by former Superman Dean Cain and former Supergirl Helen Slater) grows up to be normal, essentially denying her powers, until a plane crash almost kills her sister Alex and she flies into action. Soon, she finds herself caught between her desire to do good and be a hero and Alex's employers at the Department of Extra-Normal Operations, who believe that all aliens are a threat, in part because a Kryptonian prison slipstreamed out of the Phantom Zone behind Kara's pod, packed to the gunwales with antagonists of the week.

Fair play, the hair and glasses transform is pretty good here. I
do wonder why she wears glasses as Kara though, since she
wasn't planning on being a superhero ever.

Aided by her friend Winslow (Jeremy Jordan) and hunky, confident, African-American photojournalist James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), and harangued by her boss, media diva Cat Grant (Callista Flockhart, netting a totally unearned star billing,) Kara struggles to do good in a world that might not want her, against enemies who blame her mother for their incarceration.

Supergirl is a decent enough start to a series, and props for going straight in and beginning with 'Right; you know who Superman is, yeah?' Although without ever using the names Clark Kent or Superman. The show is linked to Man of Steel by factors such as terrestrial mistrust of Supes and reference to the 'S' as the crest of the House of El rather than 'S for Super', and the Arrowverse by writer Greg Berlanti. The level of sunshine suggests that National City is closer to Central City than Starling or Metropolis.

Oh, Silver Age.

<== Clearly separated at birth.

Benoist is the heart of the show, and brings the requisite combination of determination and fun to the role. We might be too jaded to believe a girl can fly these days, but if she did then Benoist sells that she'd really enjoy it. The support is generally good, albeit one note at this point. The pilot is very much Benoist's show, so Alex is worried big sister, Henshaw angry military man, Olsen hunk-casual and so on. I'm delighted by the non-issue of casting Jimmy Olsen as a handsome, self-assured black man, rather than a big nerd or colossal toolbag. And he's clearly still Superman's Pal (although honestly Superman is a bit of a jerk for sending some guy to watch his cousin without telling her.)

Currently, the villain of the week format looks dominant, but the personal subplots aren't too soapy, potential love triangle notwithstanding. The fact that the big bad is Kara's aunt is a bit convenient, but I suppose by the end there were probably only about a dozen people on Krypton and most of them were in the House of El. I'll definitely see ow it goes from here.