Beginning today, we're taking a look at CW's 4 DC Comics adaptations as they hit the holiday break. We won't discuss Fox's Gotham & Lucifer, as we haven't followed either series of late.
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Subject: Supergirl.
Season: 3rd.
Airs: Mondays, 8 pm (ET), returning January 15.
Original rating (2015): A-.
Where we are: During season 2, we were introduced to Mon-El, rebooted from the comics as a Daxamite prince (Chris Wood). He & Kara (Melissa Benoist) fell in love, but at season's end, Mon-El, because of a bomb laced with lead (Daxamites are weakened by lead the same way Kara is vulnerable to Kryptonite) used to drive off an invasion fleet from his homeworld led by his mother (Teri Hatcher), who'd killed her own husband, Mon-El's father (Kevin Sorbo) to further her own agenda, was sent off-world in a pod. It veered off course an into a black hole, which landed Mon-El in the 31st century.
Comics fans know that the 31st century is home to the fan-favorite Legion of Superheroes. In a twist only Greg Berlanti and his team could come up with, it was decided that Mon-El would marry Imra Ardeen, aka Saturn Girl. Comics fans know that Imra actually was married to Lightning Lad in the books, but we're not sure if Garth Ranzz will appear here.
Meanwhile, Kara's adoptive sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh) came out of the closet in season 2, and entered a relationship with National City police detective Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima). That came to an end a few weeks ago, as Lima had been previously reported as leaving the series. Aside from a brief hookup with Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) during Crisis on Earth-X nearly 2 weeks ago, Alex is still dealing with that split, so both sisters are dealing with heartbreak, but Kara's got it worse now.
See, a new face on the scene, Samantha Arias (Odette Annable), recently discovered she's really from Krypton, too, as the Worldkiller, Reign. Reign & Supergirl engaged in their first battle in the mid-season finale, leaving Kara in a coma.
When the series returns on January 15, well......
Unfortunately for fans of Supergirl, CW has screwed the pooch, if you will, with the announcement that Legends of Tomorrow, displaced from its Tuesday perch come next month to make room for Black Lightning, and, presumably, after that, the returning iZombie, will share the Monday berth with Supergirl for the rest of the season. Legends returns February 12 after 4 weeks of Supergirl, and the plan seems to be for 9 weeks of Legends, which means Supergirl would then return to finish out the season on April 16, and if it's a 20-episode season, Supergirl would have 7 episodes left by April, meaning it would end its season on Memorial Day. I for one don't like this move, as it says that CW is unwilling to break up its Friday combo of Jane The Virgin & Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, when plugging Legends in on Fridays would be a perfect counter to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD over on ABC.
Meanwhile, J'onn J'onzz (David Harewood) was reunited with his father (Carl Lumbly), with each having assumed the other had passed on. This goes against the long-established comics canon that J'onzz was the Martian equivalent of Superman. The idea here was to try to put some depth to the character, and it's working, actually.
Pros: J'onn's backstory being deepened is a welcome change. Samantha/Reign was developed nicely over the first 2 months of the season. Thing is, most folks can anticipate the ending.
Cons: Kara should not have had to deal with so much drama and negativity so quickly. The season's other big bad, Morgan Edge (Adrian Pasdar) is so 1-dimensional, it isn't funny. He's being posited here as an analogue for Lex Luthor, which is why Edge is targeting Lex's sexy sister, Lena (Katie McGrath). Lena, in turn, may have developed feelings for Kara's ex, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), per the last episode. And all that sisterly bonding among Kara, Samantha, & Lena will dissipate, sooner rather than later.
Creatively, Supergirl is trying to avoid the same pitfalls that befell The Flash & Arrow in their 3rd seasons. However, ending the 1st half on such a downer was only a harbinger of what would come the rest of the week.
Current rating: downgraded to B-.
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