Supergirl, Season 1, Episode 2: Stronger Together
Yeah, this is kinda still going on for the moment, though unlike the other superhero TV shows I review I don't promise to catch up fully with the season. It'll all depend on the quality of the following episodes. I'll say it for this show, though -- it's better on my heart and my sleeping hours than Constantine. I just can't do horror.
Still, having the first scene be another banal "it's not because you're a woman, Ms. Danvers" scene immediately soured me off the episode. Representing equality and anti-sexism and female empowerment is all fine and dandy. Delivering it with utterly child-like level of intelligence and writing subtlety is a wholly different matter. It's honestly an insult to the viewers watching, and an insult to Hank Henshaw's intelligence that she thinks Kara is complaining because the DEO thinks she's a woman and not because she's, y'know, fucking Supergirl, a Kryptonian godlike alien with super-strength, flight, super-speed, invulnerability, heat vision, arctic breath and super ventriloquism. No. We need to get that "it's not because you're a woman" line thrown in.
Speaking of atrocious writing, don't get me started on the totally random "he he he him him him every woman needs to work twice as hard as a man" generic feminist spiel that Cat Grant randomly goes on a tirade apropos of nothing. They were talking about Supergirl causing problems for the city whilst doing her big, spectacular rescues , and Kara is just pissed that Cat is (technically rightfully) criticizing her alter ego... which isn't the most exciting scene, but it certainly didn't need the most cliched feminist rant thrown into there.
Obligatory but necessary "subtlety of a brick" rant over, now let's talk about the episode proper.
Because, well, it's definitely better than the pilot. There are a fair amount of weaker parts, though -- several of the scenes and sub-plots don't really work that well, and General Astra, the apparent big bad of this season revealing her identity by the second episode ends up being... pretty underwhelming. But I did like the amount of content and themes explored in this episode.
The main part of this episode for Kara's development is that, well, she's learning that she kinda sucks at this whole hero-ing thing. We see her royally fuck up the oil tanker rescue -- twice -- and this ends up being the big headlines that paints Supergirl as this inexperienced hero. Alex tries to get her to train with her in a Kryptonite-lined room where her strength is brought down to approximately human level (which mirrors a scene from the comics where Supergirl received a similar training from the Outsiders) and Alex does have a point. If she's going to be facing other aliens with the same level of power as her, only, y'know, far better trained, she's going to have to train her fighting skills! So naturally she leaves off in a huff. Yes, it's the logically stupid thing to do, but it's a decision that actually makes sense considering Supergirl's mental state at that time.
Her exploding at Cat Grant leading to that awful speech and Cat Grant randomly going into an introdump and apparently humouring Kara with what she thinks Supergirl needs to do ends up having Supergirl recruit Jimmy James and Winnslow to help her 'start small'. Because public opinion is priority over learning how to control her skills? I dunno, that just sounds like a total reversal in priorities.
I do like the nice subtle critique of Superman's solo act, with Kara talking to James about how the S symbol on their chest stands for the El family motto of being stronger together. An absolutely cliched superhero 'we need to team up' speech, but one that perhaps rings true as a criticism against Superman, and definitely fits Supergirl's ensemble team. The talk about how Clark Kent hides his identity from the public by simply wearing glasses and behaving differently is something that's explored many times in the comics -- how it's not just the glasses, but the sheer change in behaviour and attitude and being mostly invisible in his civilian identity. It's nice to see it done in live-action form, though.
The two main plots running throughout the episode -- Supergirl learning to be a proper hero, and the hunt for the dangerous alien Hellgrammite, himself sent by the mysterious Kryptonian conspiracy, ends up coming to a head in, well, what amounts to a coincidence as Hellgrammite chooses to abduct Alex and not kill her like he did the other DEO agents. And despite Alex's speech about training and whatnot, Kara gives her aunt Astra a pretty decent fight up until the arctic breath that necessitates Hank Henshaw going in with that Kryptonite shiv. Which kind of defeats the purpose of Supergirl needing to train. It kinda goes against the moral of the episode, especially when you consider that Astra's far, far more likely to have received combat training while all Supergirl did as far as tactics go is do that spinning judo throw. Supergirl absolutely disregards Alex's talk about training to fight bigger threats and while focusing on maintaining good public image is something she needs to work on, disregarding the arguably live-saving training offers ends up being rewarded with her... basically able to fight on par with an experienced Kryptonian fighter. Um. Yeah.
Let's talk a bit about the side characters, yeah? Cat Grant flip-flops between being hilariously entertaining or extremely annoying. On one hand, her criticism against Supergirl is a pretty well-deserved wake-up call for the aspiring hero, and her insane boss rants are at least hammily delivered. On the other hand, beyond forcing James to use his connection to Superman to try and get an 'in' with Supergirl within a set amount of time is not only a dick thing to do, it's borderline moronic. And having Cat be the super-convenient plot device to administer random plot points is just rather silly.
James Olsen apparently has his own subplot where his move to National City is him trying to outgrow Superman's own shadow and trying to be known more than 'that dude who's buddies with Superman'. Really it's just a cheap excuse to have him stay in the setting and not return to the Daily Planet (like Cat threatens to do), and the subplot with him having to deliver a Supergirl interview to Cat while Kara is initially unwilling is easily the weakest point of the episode. Winslow doesn't do much and hasn't outgrown the "awkward friendzoned nice guy" mould. He meets James and pathetically tries to outshine his perceived competitor, but Winslow has like two minutes of screentime in the entire episode.
The DEO scenes are pretty bland, beyond the nice special effects in the initial missile test run and the highway chase with the Hellgrammite. Alex is also pretty bland, just showing up to deliver what the plot requires of her, be it initiating physical training from Supergirl or showing up to be a (bland) supportive sister figure or simply be a damsel in distress. She gets progressively awesome near the end when she kicks Hellgrammite in the balls and stabs the bug alien with his own stinger, and the scripting for her near the end becomes more tolerable.
Hank Henshaw is also extremely generic, just your usual hardcase tough-love military unit leader who in the end knows which side he stands for, proven by the Kryptonite shiv rescue. His eyes also glow red, implying something more sinister. Anyone who knows Hank Henshaw's identity in the comics can probably take a hint just what's going on, because unlike Caitlin Snow, it appears that Hank already has his Cyborg Superman powers. (Or clever foreshadowing for something else that I've been spoiled about, which I'll try not to bring up until when/if we reach the episode where things are revealed.)
The villains of this piece is pretty generic. The Hellgrammite is very loosely based on a minor yet awesomely-named Superman enemy, a scientist turned bug-monster. Here it's been reimagined into a race of aliens called the Hellgrammites (now why a race of aliens has the same name as a species of insect on Earth is an odd question, but I guess it's the same reason why a race of aliens has the same name of a certain noble gas from Earth). The Hellgrammites here are these bug-people with mouths that can open wide and gross all Predator-like, and it basically confirms that non-Kryptonian aliens were stuck in Fort Rozz as well. And they can sprout these cool giant wasp stinger things from their palms all Terraformars style. Also despite being alien bugs they eat DDT. Just 'cause. The Hellgrammite doesn't really get to fight Supergirl, though, and it's just treated as another alien for the DEO to hunt down. And it's Alex that takes him out, by kicking Hellgrammite in the balls and then stabbing him with his own stinger.
Can I just say how absolutely hilarious it was for Alex to win against the scary bug alien by kicking his balls? Because that was hilarious. Also equally hilarious is the scene where Kara goes to save a cat from a tree... only for Fluffy to turn out to be a snake.
Hellgrammite doesn't want anything to do with the whole Kryptonian conspiracy, though, and is gang-pressed into it by Astra's people. And, well, Astra... is extremely generic and unimpressive. Revealing your main villain's identity as the main character's aunt by the second episode might be a bold move, a nice inversion to how most shows hide or merely only hint at the main villain's identity from the protagonists and/or the audience... but Astra's arrival is extremely flat. Yes, that action scene is absolutely impressive, but Astra herself is extremely generic. There was a bit when Kara remembers Astra from her childhood and a bit of family angst going on, but any interest ends up being shut down as Astra goes for the generic doomsday villain route and just rants about mysterious plans for taking control of National City for unclear reasons. Like Alex and Cat, Astra suffers really badly from shitty stereotypical dialogue and lines, and perhaps is the one that suffers the most.
Also, Kryptonite is apparently something discovered relatively recently, because Supergirl is only aware of it a week ago, whereas the mere existence of something that can hurt her causes Astra to freak the fuck out.
We get allusions to Kara's life on Krypton, which is fun. There's the whole speech about the S symbol, there's the nice flashback to Kara remembering her mother catching criminals (including the Hellgrammite), and there's, of course, the whole thing in the end where Kara gets her own interactive Space Mom AI, a staple of any Superman-related fiction. It's cool.
We get a lot of references to Superman this episode. He gets called by name a couple of times, Cat Grant name-drops Lois Lane and Clark Kent specifically, as well as Perry White. Alex mentions Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Maxwell Lord of all people gets a cameo, and apparently he's going to get a bigger role in this season. Now which version of Maxwell Lord we'll get, and whether he'll be a shifty good guy or flat-out a villain remains to be seen.
It's still not the best of episodes. I don't mind the formulaic villain-of-the-week format, nor do I mind the two interlocking plots of Kara getting her feet wet and trying to work on both her actual fighting skills (as oddly handled as it was) and her public standings. But the weak James subplot, the weak performance and underwhelming reveal of Astra, and relatively bad scripted lines from Cat, Alex and especially Astra makes me not enjoy this episode quite as much.
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