TV Review--Supergirl Season 2 (spoilers)

TV Review: Supergirl season 2

The TV adaptation of Supergirl finished its second season, and its first on the CW instead of CBS.  It’s not easy keeping the plates spinning on these superhero shows (frankly, The Flash is looking a little peaked after three seasons, but on that later).  Overall, the switch from major network to weblet seems to have improved the show for the most part, providing the show with a more welcoming environment to work in.

A couple of months ago I mentioned a few of the pluses and minuses this season has wrought.  Winn (Jeremy Jordan) got out of the “friend zone” (by that I mean a character defined solely by his status as Kara’s platonic friend), not by starting a romantic relationship but by becoming a tech genius that was only hinted at in season 1, and by being head of technology at the DEO instead of IT support at Catco.  Alex (Chyler Leigh) got a meatier role than just being Kara’s adopted sister, with a new girlfriend (Floriana Lima) and more responsibility at the DEO.

The show also added by subtraction, making the role of Kat Grant (Calista Flockhart) much more effective by sending her to a yurt in Nepal for the season and only bringing her out at the very end.  This not only accommodated losing Flockhart due to the smaller budget, but also helped shift story lines away from boring Catco, Inc. in favor of the more interesting DEO.  Unfortunately the biggest victim of this was Jimmy (excuse me) James Olsen (Mechad Brooks), who was so at loose ends he decided to become a vigilante.  The problem is, who needs a masked vigilante with no super powers when you’ve got Supergirl?

The show also deserves huge praise for finally finding its Superman (Tyler Hoechlin).  It had to be tricky finding an actor with the necessary gravitas but at the same time fit in with the lighter, slightly loopier tine set by Melisa Benoist.  Hoechlin looks good in tights, and his Clark Kent is the best since, well, Dean Cain played the role in the 1990’s.

One of the smaller but ingratiating things this show does is integrate with the past, casting a former Superman (Dean Cain) as Kara’s adopted father; a former Supergirl (Helen Slater) as his wife; and a former Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher) as evil Queen Rhea.  It’s similar to the obvious fondness that The Flash has for the cast of the 1990 version, with John Wesley Shipp, Amanda Pays and Mark Hamill all reprising their roles from a show that frankly few people remember.

Supergirl had a few problems over its sophomore season.  As noted above, James Olsen got relegated to the sidelines, and trying to make him relevant as the vigilante Guardian smacked of desperation.  Pairing him with Winn did provide some nice buddy comedy moments, but the decision that he wouldn’t be a love interest for Kara was accompanied by the sound of squealing brakes.

Finding villains that posed a credible threat to the Girl of Steel was another problem, that the show tried to solve by increasing the number of types of aliens on Earth.  I thought this made things more confusing, and while I agree with the show’s obvious tweaking of current US policy towards immigrants, it became heavy-handed at times.

Probably the most contentious addition was bringing in Chris Wood as Mon-el of Daxum, the love interest for Kara.  He did such a good job projecting vapid sweetness, it was hard to take him seriously as a potential life partner for Kara Danvers.  Looking back, I have to say that as annoying as he was on an episode-by-episode basis, they did a great job of not rushing his development as someone worthy of Supergirl.

There were a few problems with the season finale.  Kara staves off a Daxum attack by challenging Queen Rhea to a mano-a-mano fight, but then the Daxums attack anyway.  Lena Luthor devises a way to drive the Daxums away by filling the atmosphere with lead, which sounds like an environmental disaster for the humans as well.  And after the lead is released, Mon-el immediately leaves the planet; couldn’t they build an air-tight chamber at the DEO with a safe atmosphere?  Couldn’t Winn whip up some sort of helmet Mon-el could wear to filter out the lead?  They were too focused on the romance ending to deal with some of the ways to avoid it ending.

But then, endings are hard.  Consistency is difficult to maintain over a 22-episode season (which is why so many shows do a 13, or even 10-episode season).  The show retained enough of its original premise to start the season strong, then managed to build up the supporting cast without diminishing the contribution of Benoist. 

All in all, it was a successful move to the CW for Supergirl.  My biggest suggestion: if they try to do another cross over with the rest of the CW-verse (and the first attempt picked up the network’s highest ratings ever), try to integrate Supergirl a little better.  The Supergirl contribution was the last minute of the show, and it was shown again at the start of The Flash. 

Oh, and more musical duets with Benoist and Flash star Grant Gustin; those kids have chemistry.