Review: Supergirl Pilot

Okay, so I saw the leaked Supergirl pilot.

Now, let me get this off my chest now and honestly state that I didn't expect anything near groundbreaking or world changing in entertainment. I expected a light, frothy and upbeat look at superheroes after a series of progressive darker and more cynical stories.

And what I got was a light, frothy and upbeat look at superheroes, which was a good thing!

Now, there are some negatives, that I'd rather get out of the way first, rather then having them dumped at the end of the review:

* the acting overall, is average to below average. I'm sure if this is just because it's the pilot, or if it's simply a bad choice of actors, but asides from Kara Danvers herself (played by a peppy and likable Melissa Benoist), most of the performances are rather paint by the numbers, and nothing to write home about. Jeremy Jordon as an annoyingly vaguely metro sexual Winslow "Winn" Schott, Calista Flockhart as the bitchy Cat Grant and Chyler Leigh as Kara's earth adopted sister Alex Danvers are the prime offenders, with Jordon feeling pointless (why have an annoying sidekick type when Jimmy Olsen is standing right there and could do all that Schott does in this episode while being cooler and overall more likable at it), Flockhart feeling stereotypically bitchy as a Cat Grant that feels like a Lifetime Movie of the Week version of Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada, and Leigh is very stiff as Alex Danvers, a character who gains few sympathy points when her backstory, which is being recruited by the mysterious DEO due to her connection to Kara and telling Kara to keep a low profile and generally expressing vague envy to her adopted sister), makes her rather unlikable. But Jimmy Olson was cool, which is nice to see. Don't know why they couldn't dress him more professionally, instead of a suspiciously tight looking shirt over the surprisingly muscled Mehcad Brooks. I don't know, felt vaguely fan servicey.

Other then that, the VFX work is spotty, at times looking great, at others fake. The fight sequences are awkward, coming across like a low budget kung fu film what with all the obvious wire work. Hopefully, subsequent episodes will have better constructed fights.

But asides from the negatives, I think that overall it was enjoyable. Pacing was a tad fast, and the dialogue rather exposition heavy and you can't go two seconds without Superman being mentioned (A necessary evil in a pilot about a Superman spin-off I suppose), but overall it was cute, Kara was very likable and relatable, and I think her and Olson have more chemistry (far more then she does with Schott), and I liked that it didn't try to hammer home some feminist propaganda or anything, but rather tell a universal moral about embracing what makes you you, and learning to define yourself by your actions and not what others tell you. It's a good message for anybody, not just girls.

So yeah, overall, I can see this working as a series. Hopefully the supporting cast gets better as time goes on, but with a lead like Kara, I can see this working and I can imagine myself watching more then one episode.

3 out of 5. A nice spirit and tone with a well cast lead, but supporting characters, pacing and VFX need work.