Wow, a title with three consecutive “esses”. But I digress..ess… … precious.
Supergirl
Like the titular character, the show is young and trying to find its place in a world that already has a bigger, better Superman. It has potential, though. The writers know the good material out there; brainiacs and bizzaros, For the Girl (Man) Who Has Everything, doing a CW The Flash cross over, their universe already having a Superman and Martian Manhunter. They seem to be “going for it”, but they’ll have to wait like 2-3 seasons to find something to really grab a hold of. For now, its a major/minor comic book cranked through the CBS “hour drama” presses. That means safe, predictable troupes like how they always need each other to complete any task or a scene showing Supergirl reminding herself she’s just a young woman trying to make it in the big city with her bestest buddies. Really, really, really, really, dumb relationship drama. Not just romantic, but familial and fraternal as well, leaving you to wonder how these people can maintain an emotional connection with anything capable of greater feeling than a puppy. You know what? Krypto moving in. I’m just putting it out there, CBS. Its a free one. Enjoy.
After all that, there is hope. I mean, Indigo ain’t no small thing and they did link her back to Coluans and the Brainiac line. That they knew enough to reference “For the Man Who Has Everything” (even though the execution removed what was powerful about the graphic novel) which means someone on the staff knows the greatness in the universe. They are going to do a CW cross over with The Flash (!!!). That is one seriously gutsy move, no matter how much it actually does make financial sense to do it, doing it is hard work. Sure, it can easily be written out of each other’s cannon now that the Flash can travel to different Earths, but, and we’re going a bit meta here, it can lead to something H U G E. Well, for me. At the beginning of Arrow season 4, Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim made the biggest of a string of Easter eggs teasing Green Lantern on Twitter. When Supergirl and Flash (the latter of which is a spin-off of Arrow) get together, that means Supergirl will have some universe access to the Lantern Corps. Phew. That string complete, my true wish: Red Lantern Kara. Look it up. With several episodes pointing out her inner rage she keeps suppressed, this cool, cool story line looks possible. An even more super Supergirl sought out because of her angst, anger, and frustration of being a foreigner in a world made of cardboard that simultaneously begs for her help while forcing her to live in the shadow of her cousin, while she is cursed with only normal human levels of emotional control and power. It would even make sense of the changes in For The Girl Who Has Everything. Hahaha!
Geez, listen to that crazy. Soonest they could do it effectively would be maybe season 3. I would say it would never happen, but if they are recognizing the success of The Flash enough to make a meet up, maybe a little bit of that gonzo concept style will rub off. Really, that is the only thing standing between this show and greatness. Well, that and the acting.
I know I keep referencing The Flash in this post about Supergirl, but it just sets itself up as a great comparison. While the The Flash has Jesse L. Martin’s acting chops keeping the cast respectable, the best Supergirl has is Calista Flockheart playing a character as flat and uninteresting as the nutrition label on a bottle of water (Editor’s Note: I had something way meaner first). Seriously, she spends the better part of every episode looking like she’s calming herself down after seeing a ghost. THAT’S the depth of her character. The scripts keep calling for interesting twists but without the ability to demonstrate deep and interesting character choices in extremely small moments, I find myself waiting for David Harewood to get near some fire and see if they left in that weakness. ‘Cause he’s a Martian. And I’m bored. Now, its season one and, minus Alley McBeal, there is almost a blank acting resume across the cast, so growth should happen now that they’ve made the big times. But, like Metallica, if they decide they’ve made it and lose the hunger, they’ll stagnate at a point where interest wanes after the last gimmick has been broadcast.
If, however, they can get past the boring, monotonous CBS YA model and maybe even take it into new, more fun directions, like say, poking fun at her feminist overtones, forcing no-win situations and the life with those consequences in a non-cautionary tale sort of way, or even just finding a sense of humor in one of their many super serious characters, they maybe on to something great. The materials are all there. The work, it seems, is finding the craftsmen capable of turning them into something worthwhile. Until then, they’re a DC comic on CBS. They ain’t goin’ nowhere.