By Corinne McCreeryWelcome back everyone! I’m back too, and apologize for not finishing last season, and will hopefully get the reviews I missed up shortly as well.
With a new season come big changes for the show, with moves of both networks and geography. The change is evident immediately, with the new opening and the new logo. I love the new logo, it looks snazzier than CBS’s did. The new opening feels a bit clunky to me though. I am hoping it gets cleaned up and that the super wordy intro was just for the premiere to catch new viewers up. Aside from the opening, though, the show didn't miss a single beat in quality in the move of networks.
We open right where the last season ended with the celebration party, and pod crashing. We do get an extended pod sequence, which showed me that my worries about the effects budget weren’t founded. We find out it’s an adult man in the pod, but don’t learn who he is, because he’s comatose. If you’ve been following the news you know, but I won’t spoil it until the show reveals it.
The biggest change we see is the introduction of the new DEO office. It’s bright and shiny, and seems like a much better base of operations. After all, a bat bit her in the last one. Poor bat, it didn’t have dental insurance.
Bringing Winn into the DEO is a really good fit, I think, especially since CatCo is seemingly less likely to feature this season. Winn learning Kryptonian because he was bored was great, and so very nerdy. Winn meeting Clark was a joy, though I am a little sad that they cut the line about shaving out.
Kara and Alex’s sisterhood was on display in full force in this episode, no more so than when they’re discussing Kara and Jimmy’s first date. That felt like a conversation my sister and I could actually have.
Knowing that we aren’t going to get as much of her this season, Cat was an inspiration in this episode. Her “Dive” speech was incredible, and reminded me of advice I needed about two years ago, when I did one of those scary dives. I’m going to miss her as the go to role model every episode. However, if you only get two hours of sleep a night, Cat, maybe that’s why you need Bullet Proof coffee so bad.
The various Superman the Movie references made me very happy. Cat’s new assistant, statistical flying and earthquakes in California. All of them made me grin like a fool. Along with the Superman movie references, the episode was chock full of Byrne era reboot references. While I’m not a fan of the Byrne stuff, I’m a huge fan of the creators that came after him. So it was nice seeing a space plane rescue and Cat Grant swooning over Clark. Marv Wolfman would be proud.
James in this episode is the elephant in the room. While I understand what the show is doing with him, it seemed very sudden given the three day turnaround from the finale. I like Kara/James, but I never expected it to last. Mostly, because I’m still holding out hope for Brainy/Kara. I did, however, love James’s interactions with his best friend. Mehcad and Tyler had great chemistry, and it really felt the Jimmy and Clark relationship that I loved from the 1990s.
Speaking of Tyler, lets get to that! Holy amazeballs. I haven’t felt this good about a live action Superman since Dean Cain. Tyler was absolutely glorious. He was the right amount of corn, and the right amount of take charge. Superman was there to support Kara, not the other way around. He asked permission before just jumping in to save the day, he instructed but never commanded, and he gave great life advice. His Clark likewise was unbelievable. This is all I’ve ever wanted from my Superman and Clark. Like Alex, him and Kara felt like real family, especially when she told embarrassing family stories about him. The “I usually say hi.” “Me too.” was just so adorable, and so very much a House of El thing. And can I just say that I’m SO happy that Lois and Clark are together, that she knows he’s Superman and that she worries about him? Again, so many of my early 1990s feelings just explode during this episode. And the fact that we got not one, but TWO winks out of Tyler make me very happy.
Lena was absolutely fantastic. I’m going to say I’m in the camp that’s giving her the benefit of the doubt. She also had what I think was the best line of the episode with: “Some steel under that Kansas wheat.” I enjoy that they flipped her silver age origin around and had her adopted into the Luthor family instead of adopted out of it. In the silver age, she was orphaned after her parents disowned Lex, changed their last name to Thorul and moved to distance themselves from him. In this it’s Lena who’s trying to distance herself from him, rather than being forced into it as a child. I like that, as it gives her more agency. “I’m just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family, do you understand that?” was also a great line, and the cut to Kara’s face as she said it made it even more poignant.
I had a hunch that Kara would become a reporter, though I’d love to see her get sciency, there’s not much opportunity to do that at CatCo.
This season premiere was fantastic, and did what everyone thought was impossible. They had Superman, but he didn’t overshadow Kara. It was still her show, and still her story. I can’t wait until next week. Up, up, and away Superfans!
Corinne McCreery is a Northern California comic book podcaster and fan. She’s been a fan of Supergirl since the early 1990s when she discovered the character through the Mayfair Games DC Heroes RPG, and then Crisis on Infinite Earths. She has amassed an impressive Supergirl collection over the years, including original art and Action Comics 252 and openly gushes about the character whenever given the opportunity. Along with episode reviews, she is the co-host of the Supergirl Power Hour, which is going through Kara Zor-El’s appearances in the Silver Age (and eventually beyond!). You can find her on twitter at @corimarie21 or @sgirlpowerhour and on tumblr at effyeahsupergirl and www.supergirlpowerhour.com. Her two crowning achievements of fandom are that she has Dan Jurgens’s signature made out to Supergirl (acquired by a friend) and has reenacted the Death of Supergirl with Dean Cain.
