Super Girl (Pilot)

Super Girl is here!

Last year around the same date as of today, The Flash & Constantine pilot episodes leaked. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, we'll never know but one thing is for sure: it worked wonders for producers as to get a glimpse of what to expect from their target audiences. To many people out there this "leaking issue" is nothing like a new way to approach costumers without investing a lot of money in private screenings for a limited amount of people. Why would you show your product to a few chosen ones when you can show it to the whole world via internet? 

Disclaimer

Before, we move on, I'd like to clarify that  none of the members of the SPAM Alternative team support piracy, we don't post direct/indirect download links, we support the artists behind the camera, which means we encourage you to access any artistic product from official sites and/or stores so please, understand we're doing this review for hardcore comic book fans who want to know in advance if the latest superhero hype is worth trying. Again, don't ask for a download link here because you will not get it. Buy comic books! 

Anyways, if you're still reading this, you already know we're craving connoisseurs like yourself so expect spoilers ahead and don't say we didn't warn you.

Planet Krypton's fate.

Kara Zor El, a female hero making room in a macho heroes world.

Many years ago, CBS said that they didn't want to end up being known as the super hero network (This is because they produced Wonder Woman, The Amazing Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, The Captain America & Doctor Strange TV films in the late 70's) Today, CBS knows for sure that a product based upon a comic book mag can make millions of dollars with ease, so lesson learned and enter Super Girl, the series!

Which Super Girl is the series depicting?

Now, before we get into details about the pilot, do you know your Super Girl? So far in the DC Comics universe we've seen 4 Super Girls! One (and the most popular) is Kara Zor El or Superman's cousin as everyone knows her. The second Super Girl is "Matrix", an interdimensional shapeshifter. The third S girl is Linda Danvers (not to be confused with Kara's secret identity Linda Lee Danvers) and the last one is Cir-El (Superman's daughter in an alternate universe)  Obviously, as we can all expect CBS producers focused on the most iconic S girl of them all: Kara Zor El, AKA Kara Danvers. To the connoisseurs, Kara Zor El was killed in the mid 80's during the Crisis On Infinite Earths story arc and it remained dead in the comic book world until 2004. Now, this series isn't the first time we see Kara Zor El spending on screen time. The first live action incarnation of the character was the palm face 1985 Super Girl movie. 

LOL it took me some time to get here.

Hi, I'm your cousin and I will be your guide.

Since Super Girl is Superman's cousin her story isn't any different from his, planet Krypton is on the brink of destruction (for several reasons depending on which comic book story arc you read) and well, survivors have to be preserved and for reasons unknown they're all sent to planet Earth.  Kara Zor El is to be sent to Earth to ensure Kal El survives the trip and lives to fulfill his super destiny.  Unfortunately, Kara's ship malfunctions due to the explosion of her home planet and it's swallowed by the phantom zone (again, depending on story arcs this zone is the preferred imprisonment space area where Krypton's criminals end their days) Several years go by before she gets to her final destination, so once she does, the world is already aware of who Superman is, and by the way he looks, he's clearly the Superman from the Man Of Steel film.

Once, Kara is taken to her new earth parents (you'll be gladly surprised to find out they followed the homage line set by The Flash by adding Dean Cain & Helen Slater (the original Super Girl from the 80's film) as Kara's stepparents) we're quickly taken to Kara's present day which doesn't look so bright I might say. Kara lives in National City (the series is being shot in California) with her elder sister and works as a secretary for the media conglomerate Cat Co. If you remember the six minute teaser trailer, you can clearly get the picture of Calista Flockhart as her boss (I say yawn, she's not going to be a key character during the series but what the hell, she comes up with the Super Girl nick name) 

Kissing cousins?

Hey Kara! welcome to our family!

The way Kara narrates her origin story reminds of The Flash episode opening, you know, "My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. When I was a child..." So if you're a Flash fan you will feel quite comfortable. The pilot, like most pilots, does not expect you to be introduced to a whole world of complex characters and hidden plots, the idea is to get a taste of things to come, and I'm convinced this series will kick ass.

In a nutshell, the pilot explains the hero's journey in 46 entertaining minutes. As opposed as other superhero stories, Kara wants so badly to embrace her super powers that she's waiting for the moment to show the world what she's truly capable of. Unfortunately, her sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) is keeping her from becoming the female version of her super cousin. For reasons unknown to the viewer, Alex must fly to a conference in Geneva, once the airplane malfunctions, Kara is forced to save her sister by using her special abilities. 

Kara Danvers by day.

Shit's about to get real!

The rescue results in National City media knowing there is an unknown female with super powers and Kara & Alex parting ways due to their different view of the rescue. However, Kara goes on with the idea of going public and with a little help of one of her colleagues she designs different suits for the occasion and begins showing up at various crime scenes with positive results until she's caught by the DEO (Department of Extra Normal Operations) There she learns the awful truth: Once she escaped from the phantom zone she grabbed a space prison with her to Earth, so every alien criminal escaped to different places in the world. The DEO started operations after Superman became Superman and well, all they want to do is to prevent aliens from destroying the planet. The problem is their CEO is named Henry "Hank" Henshaw, if you read comic books you'll know who he is... But surprises do not end up there, Alex Danvers (kara's sister) is actually  an undercover agent of the DEO, hence why she didn't want Kara to expose her super powers to the world. 

Now, all this messy hidden reality allows Kara to re think her role in a more serious way than before, and despite Henshaw & Alex's disapproval she insists she must be allowed to help re capture the aliens that she accidentally brought to planet earth on her arrival. 

Feeling that we have spoiled way too much info already, let's discuss the technical side of the pilot episode and let's start by the special effects. The airplane rescue and later fight scenes are executed with mastery, you feel you're watching a big budget movie instead of a TV episode, and while that may not be surprising to some, I might say having Greg Berlanti as one of the executive producers, guarantees Super Girl will be a total success. Berlanti's work in The Flash has been praised worldwide  and the CBS producers sure know where to pick their people to create a realistic looking universe of fictional characters. 

The workout Super Girl suit (an 80's tribute)

This is more like it.

Moving on to the actors department let's say Melissa Benoist steals the show as Super Girl, her super hot in shape body fits Super Girl's suit like no other, and her acting skills deliver a convincing confused alien looking to go out of the closet as the super character she's meant to be. Benoist, being 26 already holds a wide experience in acting. Her TV work CV includes series like Glee, Homeland, The Good Wife and Law & Order. She's also worked in the acclaimed film Whiplash among others. The pilot episode is clearly all about her character so, trying to describe the supporting cast may be a bit unfair at this point.Nevertheless, all we  can say is that they clearly need more development to get to the liking of the audience with the exception of Mehcad Brooks who plays the all too familiar James "Jimmy" Olsen with ease. As for the long awaited roles for Dean Caine (Lois & Clark The Adventures of Superman) and Helen Slater (Super Girl) all we are shown is the flashback moment in which they welcome Kara to their family which rises the question of how Superman met them? what is the relationship he has with them to trust them with his cousin's life?

Does Superman get a mention or two?

So far, DC Comics has set only one shared superhero universe and Superman it's not a part of it, or not until now at least. Such universe is shared by Arrow, The Flash & Legends Of Tomorrow series. Gotham has its own universe and now it seems that the Super Girl universe will at least be related to Superman & The Flash universes respectively. Time will tell, but to answer the question: Yes, Superman not only is mentioned but you can also see him welcoming Kara after the landing and taking her to her new human family. Later Jimmy Olsen mentions him a few times and by the end of the pilot he delivers Kara a package sent with love from her cousin. 

Not only Superman is worth the S.

Voilá! Super Girl ready for action.

Does the pilot live up to Super Girl's legacy?

If the pilot episode has an issue,  is that it is only a pilot, and thus saying it's a master piece or that it sucks badly, makes no sense. The pilot works as every pilot episode does: Introducing the audience to the series main plot, the characters  and that's it. Having watched the six-minute preview released last week is like watching a teaser trailer that may be telling you too much. Fortunately, all the Devil Wears Prada scenes are nothing but a few moments in the overall length of the pilot.

The letdown of only being a pilot is that this also means that the overall plot, that of Kara Zor-El coming into her own and empowering herself is told in the most standardized way: Lead character's quick origin, Lead character's friends and family, Lead character's desires to break free, lead character's people who want to hold her back, lead character's early attempts at reaching her goal, lead character meeting undesirable support cast characters and finally lead character setting her motto by kicking the bad guy's ass.

Super Girl's gallery of rogues.

The alien turd space ship prison.

Happily, one cliché the pilot does not run into is finding a fiancee to our lead heroine. In the past many comic book film adaptations had the wrong tendency of adding love interest characters as a way of saying "hey, this film can also be watched by adults because it has love in it" Her friend Winn, who delivers the one liner in the preview about Kara being a lesbian (assuming that is why she’s not interested in him), also is firmly kept as a friend. Still, I couldn't see the reason why she needs him as a dressing consultant since her elder sister already did that in a previous scene.

Anyways, I’m pretty confident most of these issues are purely because it’s a pilot. Furthermore, after Arrow and The Flash, I trust showrunner/creator Greg Berlanti implicitly. Both his other two DC superhero shows were fun but flawed for the first parts of their first seasons, and then got exponentially better.

Even if this expected improvement doesn’t happen, Supergirl is still well worth checking out because it is fun. The Christopher Nolan excessive darkness environment is not here because Kara loves her powers; she loves helping people, and her excitement is infectious. Maybe that is an idea they took after watching too many dark hero films that lead nowhere but to repetition and cliche. I for one, have always seen Superman, and Supergirl for that matter, as daylight heroes, which means "happy to be your savior" and just because they're glad to be here, doesn't mean we're getting a campy product. 

oops!

Up, Up and away!

In addition, Melissa Benoist steals the show as Kara Zor-El. She’s the physical manifestation of Supergirl's confidence, fearlessness and concerned, strong and vulnerable. Before the pilot I had no idea who she was. In fact, all I knew about her is that some private pictures of her (and many other actresses and artists) leaked in "The Fappening" infamous cloud hacking of the past year. 

Overall, another superhero that gets inside the small screen. CBS are experienced in terms of what it means to broadcast a superhero series. Also, having Berlanti behind the wheel tells you this series means business. Hopefully, the  forthcoming episodes will bring more freshness for comic book fans, and let's hope it doesn't get formulaic copying the already successful Arrow & The Flash series. Agents of SHIELD? Agent Carter? c'mon! nobody watches those turds! Want a heroine empowering women? watch Supergirl now!

Here's the preview trailer: