Now, full disclosure to start with: I’m not the world biggest fan of comics. There, I’ve said it. Nevertheless I have a life-long love of superheroes on TV and film dating all the way back to re-runs of the 1960s Batman, as well as first-run episodes of The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman which were still running when I was little. I especially loved the first three Superman films.
So, spin forward several decades and even though I’d heard Supergirl series one started out as a major hit for CBS, I approached the show with real trepidation, as it had been a long time since I’d enjoyed Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman on BBC 1 in the 1990s. While I enjoyed it, the pilot episode didn’t fully grab me, but I persisted with the rest of series one, and by the time series two came around I was hooked. My love for the show has only grown since then. So, let’s look at some of the best episodes from across the show’s run.
Series 1 Epsiode 1: Falling
What made the show so special? Well, its star is a good place to start: Melissa Benoist was brilliant at bringing to life the many facets of Kara’s personality, perfectly demonstrated in Series 1’s ‘Falling’, where—after exposure to artificial Kryptonite—Kara starts to become over-confident & ends up in total hostility to everyone. Benoist captures the remorse and guilt the restored Supergirl feels, knowing that she’s going to have to work doubly hard to regain the trust of the people of National City, in particular the little girls and young women who saw Supergirl as a shining beacon of hope and symbol of women’s empowerment.
Another early standout episode is ‘Supergirl Lives’ (directed by Kevin Smith, who also wrote the script for Tim Burton’s unmade Superman Lives), which paid affectionate tributes to some of my all-time favourite shows, such as classic Doctor Who and Moonlighting.
Series 6 Episodes 5 and 6: Prom Night! And Prom Night Again
Series 3 brought us ‘Midvale’ (essentially copying the Smallville format of seeing our hero before they donned that red cape), although it had problems: it’s a crying shame there was never a full-on prequel spin-off as the two leads were brilliant. However, we did get to revisit the past again in two of my favourite episodes, which—thankfully—put things right.
The series 6 two-parter ‘Prom Night’ & ‘Prom Night Again!’ had a lovely early-era Buffy meets Back to the Future vibe to it, especially as it was (mostly) played for laughs—some of my all-time favourite televisionepisodes are the funny ones like the Star Trek classic ‘A Piece of the Action’ and The X-Files’ ‘Small Potatoes’ and ‘Bad Blood’. I sincerely hope we’ll be able to revisit the worlds of young Kara, Alex and Kenny in some shape or form one day—a deep dive into Kara’s backstory, leading right up to the moment flight 237 to Geneva got into trouble, forcing her to use those amazing super-powers for the first time in years. I just didn’t buy the reasons given in the show for why Kara rejected her powers for so long; it would be nice to know what events forced her stop using those truly incredible superpowers.
Series 6 Episode 20: Kara
The last momentous episode obviously had to be the extended grand finale, simply named ‘Kara’. I’ll never hear the Pat Benatar classic ‘We Belong’ from 1984 (the year the ill-fated Salkind-verse Supergirl film was released) in the same way again, much like Simply Red’s ‘Holding Back the Years’ will always remind me of Rodney and Cassandra’s wedding in Only Fools & Horses. Prepare to shed a tear or two…
Like Star Trek: The Next Generation, the show really found its feet, establishing its own identity; growing out of the long shadow cast by its truly huge predecessor, while being totally respectful of those origins. And, like great Star Trek, the allegorical storylines shine a light on serious matters in a fantasy/sci fi setting.
What makes Supergirl so special?
I get the distinct impression the show was made by fans for fans, and it certainly seemed like the antithesis of sister ‘Arrowverse’ show Batwoman. The show is full of myriad affectionate Easter eggs, with multiple nods and references to the Super-family, as well as other fantasy and sci fi classics like Back to the Future, Buffy, Star Trek and Star Wars. In addition to the Easter eggs there were a wealth of familiar faces from the various Super-verses over the years: Helen Slater, Dean Cain, Teri Hatcher, Lynda Carter, Jon Cryer, Sarah Douglas, Laura Vandervoort, Erica Durance and I’m sure many more that I can’t remember. The show even introduced new characters who are now part of the DC Canon, such as Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) and the pioneering Nia Nal (Nicole Maines).
My only real criticism of the entire show is that it failed to give Kara her equivalent of Clark’s Lois—there wasn’t much romantic chemistry between her and James Olsen (thankfully they resolved to just remain firm friends). Some other chaps from the show got close to her but ultimately, they didn’t stay around for various reasons.
Now, more than ever, I think we need the return of Supergirl. Maybe the if the new DCU Supergirl film (out next year) does as well as it deserves, it may start the ball rolling on a new iteration of Supergirl.
So how to sum up the whole show? I think an episode from Series 1 perfectly sums everything up: ‘Stronger Together’. The show is very Trek in showing us that if we all put our differences, prejudices, etc. to one side, collectively we can. achieve truly great things. You don’t need super-strength or the ability to fly to achieve great things and make a real difference. Maybe that’s all pie in the sky, but if you dream of a better future, dream big!
If you do decide to take the plunge, you will believe a woman can fly…