The same thing is seen in a lot of shows. Why doesn't Arrow call Flash in whenever a problem beyond his abilities appears? Why doesn't Shield call in the Avengers? Why doesn't.....

The gave a stupid in show answer, but it's also something that you just have to deal with. That question is not unique to Supergirl. Also no one can be a true hero if you call in help every time something might be above your abilities. You're not risking shit if you call in help whenever you life might be at jeopardy. Also, she has Jimmy Olsons little help beacon as backup in case she does fail.

That's not to say Supergirl is good. I'm still debating whether or not to bother watching the next episode or not.

 

Same reason as to why Batman doesn't have the Justice League clear Gotham of every villain, though. That's just something you have to roll with in comic book stories. The whole concept of Batman falls apart once you realize that every problem he has ever had could be solved with one skype call. It wouldn't even take all that long. Green Lantern, Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter could all wrap the whole crime element up in like a few hours tops.

Or crime in general, really. Given all the powers that the Justice League fields, if they were even slightly proactive, crime would be mostly reduced to illegal movie downloads and parking violations.

But you don't, same here.

 

Batman shows usually at least start with him being the only superhero mentioned. And, although I've always found it difficult to accept "badass normals" fighting next to genuinely super empowered individuals (seriously, consider some of the scales here -- when you start making supers immune to bullets, able to fly at supersonic speeds, etc., no amount of martial arts hand waving really means anything anymore), a lot of creators do a good job keeping Batman relevant. By which I mean that I can enjoy what I'm watching without screaming "bullshit" at the television. In any case, at least with Batman it seems there is usually some thought given into how the Justice League should be introduced and when Batman should run solo and I can respect that there was an effort on the part of the creators to do things right.

TL;DR The show gave a stupid answer and no, I don't have to deal with it. One more reason -- not the only reason -- why I don't have any intention of giving it any more time.

 

You "have" to deal with it if you want to "enjoy" any superhero show. Of course, your other option is to throw a fit about such a small thing and not enjoy any of the shows. There are plenty of others reasons not to watch Supergirl, you took the weirdest one and ran with it.

Another valid point is this. Superman isn't going to be available all the time. If Supergirl doesn't improve her abilities on the harder obstacles she's never going to learn or improve, and she'll always be a shitty superhero. When Superman isn't available(Because you know, he's dealing with his own shit) Then Supergirl has no choice but to die because she has no experience actually dealing with shit that matters.

The whole, "I don't want Superman coming in to fight my battles for me" makes complete sense if they didn't throw in a good chunk of feminist shit in.

 

Wait, is Supergirl set in Metropolis or some other city?

 

It's set in National City, not Metropolis. Clark flew over once to help Kara out, though.

 

The pilot was good, but now... its like a bad edition of Smallville.

 

Okay, I suppose it makes a bit more sense if she's in a different city.

It's just that I don't like many of the things that CBS has done with the show (Was there a need to change the pronounciation of her name?). The protagonist herself rubs me the wrong way, all that time watching her cousin be a hero and she never once thought to do the same thing?

I could go on for hours but I won't. The show gets a 1.5/5 from me. If only CW hadn't turned it down.

 

I can actually understand why she never used her powers. She came to Earth as a child, not an infant, so she's aware of her status as an outsider, and she's presumably looked up how the Earth reacted to Superman when he first showed up. Plus, spoilers for a recent episode,

Spoiler

after what happened with her foster father, I can see her foster mother being a little more heavy on the whole 'no using powers' thing, which might have influenced her further.

And, of course, once her sister got into the DEO she probably also encouraged her to keep a lid on things, as was actually implied in the first episode.

That's not to say that the show doesn't have problems, but Kara's not being a super until now kind of makes sense (this assumes, of course, the lack of a support structure for heroes like JL or YJ, but based on what we've seen so far I think that's a safe bet).

 

So what rating would you all give the show?

 

Wait, Kara grew up watching Clark? Isn't she older than him?

 

Clark was already Superman when she arrived on Earth as a child due to some time dilation wormhole thing.

 

2-2.5/5

Very very average right now.

I'd give Flash and Arrow about a 3.5/5 probably.

 

Spoiler

So the latest episode confirmed what was already fairly obvious - Henshaw is the Manhunter. He actually looked pretty good, and I think they've set up a good base with the character. Overall the episode was okay, not great but w/e. Hopefully they start moving out of the setup phase soon.

 

Guess now that one of my favorite characters is in it I'll have to fully watch the show.

 

Also the fact the Manhunter is around now means while Clark has probably been around for a while, the Justice League probably isnt even an idea yet - considering the pilot blew off the ideas of aliens - even with Superman being known...

They could hint at the JL in future seasons tho with the MM I guess.

 

Well, yeah. If the JL was around, Supergirl, being a direct relation of Superman and in regular contact with Clark, would definitely have become a member as soon as she started heroing.

 

Just saw the latest episode and had a horrible thought. If Kara can't get with Jimmy Olsen maybe she'll go for her boss. On another note, the problems between her mother and her aunt seem like a bad fanfiction cliche.

 

Depends on what scale you're using.

Quality show with good story-telling and character development? 1.5 or 2 out of 5.

Fun show where you can turn off your brain and just enjoy an hour of entertainment? 3 out of 5.

A few things I think it has going for itself are a few of the actors. Supergirl, I thought, was cast rather well. She's not "model" gorgeous or sexy, but rather, girl-next-door cute. It makes the show more believable in the sense that you could see this young woman living down the street from you.

Calista Flockhart is a typical professional actor and does well in her spot. Unfortunately, I think her character sometimes steals the show. That's not the fault of the actresses, but of the writing, IMO.

One BIG surprise, for me, was Peter Facinelli. I've only seen him in the Twilight movie, so it was pretty fun watching him play Maxwell Lord. I think he's done a great job with the character. Especially since I don't sit there and go, "Look, there's Carlisle Cullen" every time I see him (meaning he's playing the role in a believable manner).

 

So, after my initial disappointment in the first two episodes, have been slowly catching up, now having finally seen the crossover with the Flash, and I have to see, it's gotten better. Not exactly...good but better than the initial episodes. It can be fun as long as one doesn't take it too seriously.

The show still has problems, imo. In direct comparison to the Flash, it has the better main character. Kara is just more enjoyable to follow than Barry as a main character, although both have their drawbacks, but in exchange for that, the Flash has the vastly superior side cast in Caitlyn, Cisco and Wells. I guess Cat is on the same level, since she is pretty fun, even if her constant name-dropping is getting old really fast and the Martian Manhunter has his moments, but he is not all that interesting outside of his promise for an eventual Justice League.

Jimmy, Lana, friendzone and Alex are just not that interesting or compelling compared to Cisco and Caitlyn, let alone Wells.

Honestly, another big flaw is in the villains. Don't get me wrong, the Flash's villain of the week villains are just as cheesy, if not cheesier, and yeah, most of them are forgettable and lame but it does have these standout villains like Zoom and Thawne, the overarching villains of the season, especially Thawne/Wells who was just so unbelievably fun and compelling to watch scheming. he just had so much charisma and he garnered respect. Supergirl, in comparison, just doesn't have that. Her aunt didn't amount to anything and her uncle is just generic as hell and the rest are just cheesy and lame.

It has fewer moments of excellence or pure awesome, which are needed in order to make up for the corny and mediocre fillers in-between those moments. Flash has had a lot of stupid and corny shit but we get something great every now and then, whereas Supergirl just doesn't deliver those very often.

For example, episode 18? That was just amazing. Yeah, it had it's cheesy and corny moments, like the firefighter helping Supergirl up or the citizens pleading for her life, but the outstanding chemistry between Barry and Kara outright made my evening. It was just a pure joy watching them interact with each other, becoming fast friends and being just pure dorks, it was a blast. Whenever those two were just being silly and nice, I was smiling like a fool.

If anything, it makes me want to cry that Supergirl and Flash are in different dimensions, which means they will most likely have fewer crossovers than Flash and Arrow do. Really hoping something will be done to take care of that issue, because honestly, both shows would be much better off with more exposure to each other.

A more subjective complaint from me, is that Supergirl is also a bit more disappointing because it had more potential than Flash or Arrow ever did, to me personally. Supergirl, an alien who comes from a vastly technologically superior and different culture, after losing her whole planet and everything she knows, with the one familiar face being her cousin whom she actually does not know because he was a few months old the last time they met, who also knows shit about their culture, well, there was amazing potential with that and they just never exploit it.

Overall, I'll give it a 2.5-3/5. It definitely has potential still, I think they can do some great things, as long as they keep the awkward and forced romance to a minimum, develop the sidecast a bit more, don't rush through most story lines and plotpoints so quickly and most importantly, introduce a high calibre villain because the ones they have now are just not cutting it, be it angry fuck prejudiced generals, the weekly lame villain or Maxwell Lloyd.

That's another thing, they are just clinging too much to the Superman thing. What with Jimmy Olsen, a Lane, their poor man's Luthor, Supergirl working for a news agency and so on. They should do other things, explore more.