This review contains spoilers!
I was so excited for the season 2 premiere of “Supergirl” and although in many ways it met my expectations, there were some things about the episode that I didn’t like. So without further ado, let’s dive into the review of “Supergirl” season 2 premiere episode.
There were two big things that we knew about this upcoming season before the first episode aired, and those were that the show is moving networks and that Superman, played by Tyler Hoechlin, will be not only visiting his cousin in National City but also teaming up with Kara and sticking around for a couple of episodes. And even though it is hard to tell from just one episode if there really will be that noticeable of a change in the show (besides the visual style of the show being more cohesive with other CW superhero shows), just because it now airs on CW, the Superman and Clark Kent presence was felt (and seen) heavily in the episode. I have to say, I was impressed and pleasantly surprised how good of a Superman Hoechlin is and how great his chemistry with Supergirl herself Melissa Benoist was. In the episode, we saw two sides to Clark Kent and two sides of Superman, which really was a great introduction to Kara’s cousin in the CW show universe. We saw the nerdy, clumsy Clark that has a hard time talking to his boss and that knocks people’s papers out of their hands and we also saw the confident reporter Clark, charming Cat Grant, and investigating Lena Luthor. On top of that, we also saw the confident Superman, working alongside Kara to save National City, and the sensitive Superman, who wants his younger (or older?) cousin to tell him about Krypton and his parents. Superman (and Tyler Hoechlin) really was my highlight of the whole episode, but I also loved that the show’s writers and producers really made sure that it still was very much Supergirl’s show, making her the main focus of the episode, which was great, because Superman could have easily overpowered Supergirl and her importance, but didn’t and let her shine.
Speaking of Supergirl or rather Kara, it was really interesting to see her finally starting to figure out who she as Kara, the human girl, is, which will be one of the themes for this sophomore season of the show. Last season it looked like Kara has her human image down and was trying to grasp how to be Supergirl, but with such a big change, becoming Supergirl, came a change in her Kara persona, too, and that prompted her to be back at square one with trying to be Kara. And although I like where the season is going with this story arc and I also really like the slightly more confident Kara and Supergirl, I still kind of wish they had her choose a different carrier, because, in my opinion, becoming a reporter is a bit too similar to what her cousin did. By the way, I wonder what will they do for the theme of season three of the show, once the girl of steel will have figured out how to be both Kara and Supergirl.
Okay, I know this may be an unpopular opinion, but I have to voice it. I absolutely hated the storyline with Kara suddenly deciding to dump James, just because she needs to figure out herself. One of the main storylines of the last season was Kara pining after James and then at the end they finally got together, but now in Season 2, bam, she changed her mind. And it’s not even that some time had passed in the “Supergirl” universe and they just grew apart or that it didn’t work out. No, the second season literary started from the same moment where the first one left off, with the Kryptonian pod crashing on Earth, and at the end of the first season, Kara was over the moon about James. But now, a couple of hours later, she doesn’t want to be with the guy anymore. To me that just doesn’t make sense, and, even though this will probably be resolved in upcoming episodes, it was too sudden of a change and it really threw me off as a viewer. Get it together, Kara, you can figure out who Kara and Supergirl is with James by your side!
Another slight mishap in the story continuity for me was the Winn storyline and how he suddenly was hired at the DEO. I know it was reported that he was fired from CatCo World Wide Media, but it wasn’t shown in the episode and suddenly he was congratulated for officially becoming a part of DEO. So I am still scratching my head at this and trying to figure out if they will address him being fired from CatCo later or what is the deal. Although I am happy that Winn is now a part of DEO, as he as a character has a chance to shine and grow much more than he ever could working at CatCo.
And lastly, I wanted to touch on five smaller things from the episode.
First, I loved how Clark and Kara’s relationship was portrayed and hope that their bond will only grow stronger.
Second, although for now it seems like Lena Luthor is a good character, I have a feeling that with her it will be the same as it was with Max Lord in the last season, we will never fully know her agenda and if she is an enemy or an ally.
Third, the boy in the pod storyline intrigues me, and I am excited to see where they will go with that.
Forth, did you catch the Easter eggs in the episode, for example, the Gotham and Phantom Zone references?
And fifth, the Superman and J’onn J’onzz’s beef about J’onzz keeping Kryptonite in DEO is a very interesting story arc as well, and I can’t wait to see the next episode where it will be expanded upon further.
Highlights of the episode:
• Superman being on the show
• Kara and Clark’s relationship
• Alex’s comment about Superman smelling great
• Winn joining the DEO
• Alex kicking butt when fighting Corben
• Kara and Cat’s conversations
Let-downs of the episode:
• The sudden change in Kara’s attitude towards James
• The show doing a crap job at storyline continuity
• Kara choosing to become a reporter
Quote of the episode:
Supergirl: I used to change his dippers.
Little girl: No way!
Superman: Aaa, not exactly sure you have to tell them that.
Supergirl: I think I really do.
Superman: Okay.