she's a leading lady

[usuallyhats]

Friends, I really love Supergirl. Here are some reasons why, plus a few things I love less about it.

1. KARA IS THE GREATEST. I love that she is positive and optimistic, and that that doesn't mean she can't also be angry, or sad. And that she's cute and sweet but also really physically powerful. And she is so brave and so determined to do the right thing and I love her so much. <3 I also love her costume, and especially it has those sort of loop things at the end of her sleeves that go round her hands. Probably there is a word for these.


2. CAT GRANT IS ALSO THE GREATEST. I love that they're avoiding so many evil ladyboss clichés - like, she can be mean, but she's also supportive of other women (sometimes THROUGH being mean <3), she's clearly a feminist, not the cliché of the powerful woman who rejects feminism because eh, she's doing fine. I was so pleased that she got to be a good mother: the thing that really sold this to me as more than just the show throwing it in as a surface thing was Carter's line about how Kara is almost as good at Settlers of Catan as Cat is - that's such a lovely specific detail that says so much about their relationship. And her speech in 1x08 about giving up Adam made me cry, especially the bit about how she had to face the realisation that it might be what was best for him. I love that she accepted that having made that choice, she had to live with it, because showing up now and insisting on being part of Adam's life would be about doing what she wanted, not what was best for him.


3. Continuing on the Cat Grant theme, I am SO EXCITED for her to be on team Supergirl. Don't let me down here, show! Relatedly, I loved the little moment in the Livewire episode where Cat is clearly instinctively sheltering Kara from danger. <3


4. Still on Cat, I laughed so hard at the ice/smarties fakeout this episode. I really like that the show can have us find her funny without diminishing her as a character.


5. Moving on from Cat, I really love this version of Jimmy Olsen. And given that his main strength so far is "great at recognising and talking about his feelings", it's especially great that the show decided to cast a black actor. Also I am not usually into canon het romances but he and Kara are super cute and should definitely kiss.


6. I also like Lucy a whole lot and would love to see more of her (as long as it's not for purposes of love triangle) - I really enjoyed her getting to help out this episode and would love her to be a full member of Team Supergirl.


7. ALEX DANVERS. WHAT A GOOD. One thing I especially like about Alex is the costuming choices the show makes for her - she's in uniform a lot, and when she's not, she's generally wearing something practical and dark coloured, which feels really right for her character, just as Kara's cute dresses/skirts/high heels etc work for her.


8. I was spoiled for the Hank revelation, which I'm sad about, but it was still pretty cool, and I love that the show didn't drag it out until we were all tired of it (something Supergirl is pretty great at in general). I also loved him really cheerfully mentioning his telepathy and friendship with Superman to Alex - it really feels like he's been dying to tell her who he really is and is so relieved to have done it. :D


9. I am unexpectedly really interested to see what they're doing with Maxwell Lord and have been trying to work out how it fits in with what I remember of his Justice League International characterisation.


10. I have a lot of feelings about the choice to cast Helen Slater and Dean Cain as the Danverses and how it's reflective of the show choosing to embrace parts of filmic superhistory that are generally dismissed by parts of fandom as being silly or cheesy. (That reveal was one of the three separate times the pilot made me cry.)

Things I don't like: I am really sad that there are no recurring women of colour, that's such a shame, and something that I hope gets corrected down the line. It also desperately needs some queer characters - ideally I would like Jimmy/Kara/Lucy to be a thing, but I am approximately 100% certain it won't be. :( And I am SO DONE with Winn at this point - he's had his moments, but he's just been so awful to Kara these last two episodes that his character either needs to change course dramatically or disappear.