Supergirl - 'The Adventures of Supergirl'

A face! It has a face! AND IT'S SMILING!

Okay, true believers(1), it's that time again when the DC series start up again and we all get to wonder how Oliver Queen can function in society with so little sense of humour, what exactly goes on in Barry Allen's head when he comes up with his 'plans', and whether Kara can move beyond being defined by her relationships(2).

Well, wonder no more, at least on the last one, as 'The Adventures of Supergirl' brings us Supergirl and Superman teaming up as equals, and Kara deciding that actually she kind of prefers her cupcakes at a platonic distance(3). We also get to meet a new potential industrialist villain, in the form of Lex Luthor's sister Lena. Ostensibly in the business of cleaning up after her bro's anti-Superman rampage, she comes under suspicion when she cancels her flight on a pioneering space-plane which proceeds to asplode. The cousins leap into superaction (with Clark in particular demonstrating that, tensile strengths notwithstanding, you shouldn't try to pull a crashing plane to a halt because it looks plain goofy) and then later come at Lena in their civilian roles as Clark Kent, ace reporter and Kara Danvers... his buddy.

Honestly, his hair isn't quite different enough, but I did at first mistake Tyler
Hoetchlin for Patrick Fischler, so props for that.

The show quickly establishes Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoetchner as Clark Kent, which is a role about as far from Alpha Derek as it's possible to get. As Superman we get to see that he takes the same genuine joy in saving people as his cousin - after their first super team-up to save the doomed space-plane, Kara explains: "That was awesome! I mean, that was terrible, but it was awesome." - if not in Kara letting people know that she used to change his diapers. We get little snippets of other interactions - Alex has a bit of a supercrush, while Clark is clearly, if you will, Catnip; Clark and James are bros, while Kal and J'onn are at odds over the DEO's possession of weaponised Kryptonite(4). Wynn wants to ask questions about how being a Kryptonian works, that clearly felt too personal with Kara.

I mean, I don't think we can be entirely sure of anyone who opts for this colour
scheme. That lipstick on that skin in that office; it's all a little bit noir.

Lena protests her innocence, and indeed it turns out that the saboteur of the space plane is an assassin gunning for Lena, possibly on orders from Lex, bringing in armed drones and bombs while the Supers work to protect her. Is Lena completely innocent? Well, if I'm honest I can never entirely trust Katy McGrath post-Merlin (okay, not evil in Jurassic World, just incompetent and horribly, horribly eaten(5),) but for now she seems cool, and we have sinister Cadmus science lady to worry about, who swoops the assassin out of hospital (after Lena shoots him in an act of public defence) and turns him into Metallo.

The big revisions of the season are that the DEO has shifted to its airy, downtown office instead of the DEO-cave, as mentioned that Kara has done a complete 180 on the whole James Olsen smooching thing, and that Kara has opted to write her own job description - as invited by Cat in the finale - as 'reporter'. I like that this decision follows her working with Clark, rather than just being inspired by him, as it emphasises her finding her direction rather than following someone else's.

'The Adventures of Supergirl' does much to buld on the strengths of season one, as well as introducing a full-body Superman who does not disappoint. Of particular note is that at no point is Superman given any kind of priority over our hero; they are natural equals, and Kara's move into journalism is a step to equalise their civilian identities as well, an area in which Kara has traditionally lacked the confidence she brings to superheroing.

A good start to Supergirl's sophomore year and to this year's run of CW DC series. And speaking of running, on to 'Flashpoint'.

(1) Yes, I know.
(2) And whether the Legends can continue to triumph over their own incompetence, but that doesn't pick up until next week.
(3) To revisit an old analogy.
(4) My immediate thought on this is that, not only are there Kryptonian baddies out there, but... Well, the government knows about Kryptonite, which means someone is always going to be holding. Might as well be a more-or-less friendly agency.
(5) I mean just... unnecessarily so, to the point of torture porn.