“Supergirl bad”. A bold statement from this weeks villain, but not exactly an accurate one. It’s not that Supergirl is necessarily bad it’s just that it’s been average at best, until the last few episodes that is. This first season has hit some air pockets along the way but the writers have been starting to take The Flash route to pull it out of its nose dive. By turning to the source material they’ve slowly brought in fan favourite characters like Red Tornado and the Toy Maker in to live action for the first time and now with the much anticipated Bizarro added to that roster this week’s episode is no exception.
In the aptly titled “Bizarro” sleazy Maxwell Lord see’s the experiment he’s been working towards throughout the last few months finally come to fruition making an exact copy of super girl to do his evil bidding. The idea of a bizarro version of a Super person goes as far back as 1958 in Superboy Issue #68 but was mostly played for laughs as the complete opposite, hello is goodbye, up is down, right is wrong. Here though this Bizarro is a tragic figure more sympathetic than goofy, Lord has turned an innocent amnesiac Jane Doe and she’s struggling to deal with the horrific things done to her. It also catapults Lord from smarmy jerk with a God complex to full on kidnap and torturer of innocent women when it’s revealed that his is the seventh girl he’s attempted this transformation with.
In the meantime; to keep things a little lighter Kara and Cat’s estranged son Andrew attempt to go out on a series of dates but as always are interrupted when trouble calls. Continuing the opposite theme Cat continues her bi-polar behaviour and it seems to be grateing, this week she’s buying Cara coffee remembering just the way she likes it and being supportive of her sons blossom romance with her assistant. It’s like they want to lighten and humanise her but only when the plot calls for it, otherwise she just reverts back to her cold selfish self. Plus with Jimmy, Wynn and now Andrew vying for Kara’s affections it’s getting just a little ridiculous, especially when they are actively listening to her love woes and giving her advise. I’d believe a girl can fly over this romantic fantasy BS any day of the week.
The success of these latest superhero shows sit on the shoulders of their stars and Amell, Gustin and now Benoist are all incredibly likeable talents. Benoist’s cutsy charm and fiesty determination make her the shining light of the show and keeps it on the air. She was great as both good and evil Supergirl until her evil self sustains facial injuries and takes on the blue hues cracking look of the comic book counterpart.
With Bizarro Supergirl having equal powers (though slightly opposite) it really shows that most superpowers displayed in this show are used with no purpose other than to just to liven up the battle. Fire breath against cold breathe didn’t work in the first battle yet they do it again, punching an opponent and speeding over to the other side of them only to punch them in the exact same way defeats the purpose of speeding away in the first place, and with her constantly battling equally powered foes the endless getting knocked away only to zoom back and continue fighting becomes redundant.
You never really see Superman perform hand to hand combat but the shows budget causes them to go back to that which can get very repetitive. The flying special effects work is a little touch and go and look best when battling something static, like catching a plane or stopping a train things I’d like to see the show focus on rather than the same kind of equal powered villains every week.
Already half way over, this season seems to have flown by and during that time is only just starting to find what it wants to be. It’s no surprise then to find out that we’ll be seeing heroes unite later in the year in a Flash/Supergirl crossover to hopefully give the show what it takes to soar.
Review by Dylan Boaden.
