It stands for Hope.

Superhero TV shows have some identity issues. Constantly being asked to prove they’re mature and meaningful, as a genre, it looks like modern shows want to follow the trend of their big screen family.

Jessica Jones is looking dark and filled with distressing plotlines, Daredevil is filled to the brim with brutal fight scenes, Arrow has more angst going on than most Young Adult shelves in the bookstore. The Flash is probably the only one that’s consistently filled with optimistic characters and hope, but as a spin off from Arrow, it’s still tied in on that CW angst tinged universe.

Supergirl is a breath of fresh air. A show that is so earnest, so sincere and positive, that it’s easy to overlook the flaws which run through it. This is a show that’s coming through the tradition of The adventures of Lois and Clark on television, (Dean Cain even playing Kara’s adoptive father) and silver age heroes of comics. It’s goofy and silly, and entirely aware that it is about a woman who can fly, shoot beams out of her eyes and throw cars around.

It also isn’t afraid of just being ridiculous about the fact that everyone will be comparing Superman to Supergirl. When your first scene has the iconic baby in a rocket, then it just pans left off the screen to show Kara Zor El being put in a second one, you know that the creators are aware of the comparisons. And they’re fine with playing with those.

But anyway, the episode has a child Kara be sent off to earth to watch over her baby cousin. They blast off, but the explosion from Krypton sends the young supergirl spinning off into The Phantom Zone, within which, time has stopped, only to be released twenty years later.

When she finally reaches Earth, Superman has been around for decades, and probably doesn’t need Kara’s protection. He then places the child Kara with an adoptive family.

Fast forward to her own early twenties, and Kara is now her own adult, working at a media corporation for Cat Grant, and trying to find her place in the world. Her foster sister, Alex wants Kara to have a normal life and hide her powers for her own good.

This comes to a head when Kara stops a crashing plane that, coincidentally, has Alex on it. From there, we get a sequence where Kara teams up with her work buddy (who also has a crush), Winn Schott,  who helps her design a costume and start fighting crime.

The appearance of a second Super Hero has the media, led by Cat Grant, in a tizzy. It also catches the attention of the Department of Extranormal Affairs. Which is where Alex works. So now we have the reveal that Kara didn’t leave the phantom zone alone, she was followed by a space prison full of Kryptonian Kriminals who are now starting to make trouble. It’s up to Kara to prove she can be a hero and face down these bad guys!

The whole thing is laced with schmaltz and supportive messages, including some very heavy handed messages about sexism and expectations of women. And where it could be incredibly cheesy and awful, Melissa Benoist as Kara is absolutely wonderful. She has this sense of charisma that means she just radiates positivity. You can’t help but go along with everything she says.

It’s a hopeful, cheery representation of superheroes. No neck snapping here.

I know there’s been some criticism of the idea of something like sex and the city with capes. And from some of the themes in the episode. There’s a running undercurrent about Kara’s lovelife, and you can see where those ideas are being floated around. It is there, but this is a take on finding yourself that I can get behind. Kara has to figure out who she is, in this world where she doesn’t belong, and that’s a good story hook. Not everything needs to be grim super fights and betrayals. An overarching plot where the hero is defining themselves? Sign me up.

Supergirl is not great yet. Some of the schmaltz is very much the style of a show trying to find out how far it needs to go in characterisation, and it’s world building is gonna be fascinating, but there’s not enough yet to see how things will play out.

It’s not a required watch yet.

But, like its protagonist, it’s so very hopeful.

(Picture related)

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