“Supergirl” Episode Review: It Takes Two

Supergirl moves to The CW with an auspicious and fun-filled season 2 premiere, wistfully titled “The Adventures of Supergirl.” Kara’s cousin Clark Kent visits National City to investigate Lena Luthor, Lex’s sister who is implicated in a major disaster. Grant gives Kara a deadline to decide her new career, while Kara and James hit a snag in their relationship.

Supergirl certainly came back swinging. In roughly the first five minutes, we get an upgraded headquarters for the DEO, an infinite improvement in effects and action scenes, and oh yeah, Superman. Tyler Hoechlin’s Man of Steel is no doubt attracting viewers to this episode, and with all the pressure on his shoulders- seriously, imagine playing Superman- Hoechlin does a bang-up job with both Clark and Superman. He gives Clark a more dimensional personality rather than the typical boy scout, while his Superman is more human, an interesting reversal for what fans expect and a great comparison to Kara/Supergirl.

Lena Luthor’s introduction was also a fun twist, starting her out as a cold and calculating business woman, written off solely because of her family, only for her to turn out to be a remorseful, good-hearted figure, despite gunning down the man who tried to kill her in cold blood. But her assassin, Corbin, was resurrected by a mystery woman who seems to be working for Project Cadmus, putting a fun twist on the episode.

Elsewhere, Kara essentially screwed with fans’ expectations by putting her relationship with James on hold. While this was clearly done to get us back to the status quo, it was poorly set up that the two were having problems. Kara bailed on their first date to save a space shuttle and James says there’s something wrong? Contrivance, much?

But the episode had a poignant moment with Kara realizing her true calling is to be a reporter and Grant reveals that she had that pegged for Kara from day one. It was a touching scene and also draws more parallels between her and Clark, not to mention give viewers plenty of material from here on in.

“The Adventures of Supergirl” was a very promising start to the season. Clearly, The CW is loving their new hero and giving the show every chance it can to spread its creative wings.

“Supergirl” airs Mondays on The CW.