Tag: Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)

Supergirl – Red Faced

Supergirl Red FacedPlaying catch up with the Supergirl series so only watched this episode last night.

It’s another solid entry in the series – Supergirl is recruited/forced to battle the new Red Tornado android to test its capabilities against insurgents, a test mandated by General Sam Lane (Lois and Lucy’s dad). Due to having already had a stressful day, Kara loses her temper, totals the Tornado and knocks some wiring loose allowing it to go rogue, something with General Lane blames her for.

There’s another parallel story – Kara needs to learn to control her temper both as Cat Grant’s assistant and as Supergirl, working out what’s really making her angry (the fact that she’ll never have a normal life) before being able to use that anger to her advantage. She and Cat bond a little more while Max Lord makes a short appearance, slowly growing his role as villain and yet potential love interest for Kara’s sister Alex. And then there’s the mystery about Hank Henshaw which the internet has already spoiled.

Like I said, another good episode – Supergirl grows a little more, General Lane is a xenophobic arsehole and Red Tornado makes his on screen début – but I did have a couple of problems with it, mostly about dear old Reddy.

Sadly, unlike any of the other aliens/bad guys featured to date on the show (or even Supergirl herself) Reddy looked like nothing more than a man in a suit:

Red Tornado

and not a very good one, either. Nothing about the character’s design said “android” – it was just a suit, a fact that was reinforced when Max Lord lifted the severed arm up as if it were made of polystyrene; the prop clearly had no weight to it. Reddy was described as a prototype, though, so I’m hoping if and when he returns, he’ll look a bit better.

And I’d put money on his return, as well, as despite Kara blowing him to bits at the episode’s end, Red Tornado has a long history of being destroyed and rebuilt which inevitably leads to scenes like this:

JLA146_welcome back reddy

Androids get all the love.

 

Supergirl – Livewire

Only just caught up with this episode as I was away on the weekend.

Another strong episode, sticking with the theme of Supergirl learning about her abilities but also working with others, in this instance teaming up with Cat Grant in order to bring down Livewire who was inadvertently created by both of them – by Cat who pushed her to be meaner and more aggressive, and by Supergirl whose Kryptonian physiology gave Livewire her powers when they were both struck by lightning. And on top of that, Kara’s foster-mom Helen Slater popped by to unfairly berate Kara’s foster-sister Alex for not looking out for Kara.

Supergirl meets Supergirl
Supergirl meets Supergirl

There’s more as well – the growing potential for the love triangle between Win, James and Kara; and the secrets about what happened to Alex’s dad and his links to Henshaw and the DEO – but this is mostly about Cat and Kara bonding. For perhaps the first time, Cat actually appears to be a human being and is a bit more sympathetic . . . and there’s also the hint of a possibility of a maybe of a bit of foreshadowing where Cat might end up guessing Kara’s secret ID. That, I think, would be for the end of the season.

It was good a episode even though they did what so many other shows do and parallel two stories – Cat and Kara’s relationship alongside Alex’s and her mothers – just to drive the message home. It was a little jarring, too, that Kara knew Lucy Lane but that – I’m pretty sure – is because this episode was rearranged in the schedule due to the terrible bombings in Paris the other weekend.

Supergirl Episode 2 – Stronger Together

I didn’t expect to be reviewing each episode as it came out (and I make no promises that I will) but I guess it’s interesting, for me at least, to see how this show grows.

Stronger Together wasn’t bad on the whole – the cast all did what they needed to as well as they could – and the storyline of Kara beginning to get to grips with her powers and responsibilities after a couple of big missteps worked. I hope the whole “start small and build up” continues for a while rather than the show saying “Well, we showed her stopping a store robbery so we can tick that off the list” and jumping straight ahead into her preventing global meltdown or something. Relationships are building with Hank Henshaw appearing to slowly accept Supergirl, although the potential love triangle/jealousy thing between Kara, Jimmy (sorry, James) and the other guy she works with seems a little forced. I say “the other guy” because until I looked him up on imdb, I wasn’t even sure of his name as he’s had that little to do so far; discovering his name – Winn Schott – and recognising that as an alias for the Toyman in the comics makes me wonder if something more is going to be done with him.

Supergirl Episode 2

Calista Flockhart’s Cat Grant delivers a speech about how she, as a woman, had to work a damn sight harder to get where she is today and I’ve no doubt some areas of the internet will grumble about that, proclaiming the show as pushing some liberal/feminist agenda. Get over yourselves – everything Cat said is true and if something like this goes even a tiny way to improving or encouraging equality for women, I’m all for it.

A couple of things did irk me – the flashback to young Kara on Krypton basically saying “Oh, mother, I want to grow up to be just like you” just came across as too sickly sweet: do any but the most annoying and precocious of children speak like that?

The fight between Kara and Alura featured them both flying/hovering within a warehouse – the show’s had a good use of special effects so far, but two actors/stunt doubles fighting on wires is always going to look just like that and, for a moment, made the show look a little cheaper.

Still, by and large this is enjoyable so far and is still finding its feet so I’m definitely sticking around for a while.

And if you’re wondering about Supergirl, you could do worse than check out the wonderful blog by Ty Templeton where he tells you

Supergirl in Four Panels

Check it out here.

 

Supergirl – First Episode

Supergirl

Finally caught up with the first episode of Supergirl and was pleasantly surprised.

It suffered a little from being the first episode – cramming all the back story in as quickly as possible, setting up the characters with broad brush strokes – but on the whole it was more than a little enjoyable. Melissa Benoist was pretty much perfect in the role, coming across as enthusiastic and willing to learn, despite the obstacles in her way and it bodes well for the rest of the series.

The only real niggle I had was the references to “he” and “him” when they clearly meant Superman; it seemed they were going out of their way not to mention the name. Oh, and the last scene where Kara’s evil aunt is revealed as the threat behind it all was hammed up terribly.

Still, like I said, an enjoyable first episode.