Written by: Kevin Berge
This year on Supergirl, Kara learns... Kryptonians are still the worst. (Image Courtesy of: bleedingcool.com)
Quick Take: Supergirl Season 3 proves that the series is still growing with more interesting storytelling and more emotional conflicts. While the writing still stumbles at times, the cast is the driving force behind making this show stronger with each subsequent season.
Supergirl Reviews: Season 1 | 2
***This review will focus on all the events of the third season, containing spoilers for all episodes. If you watch Supergirl and plan to watch this season but have not done so yet, do not read ahead until you have caught up.***
I have been rooting for Supergirl since it first started airing, and it has been rough going often. Trying to play on the Superman canon is tough, proven by the less than successful Smallville. It can lead to this show feeling corny and incomplete as if it is trying to do too much with a TV budget.
However, the biggest issue that held back this series from the start was its attempts to be socially aware. A female-led superhero show is rare, so it understandable that this show wants to use its unique platform with honest good intentions. No one involved though has had the subtlety or tact needed for that vision.
Season 3 still shows those holes in the writing, but it finally feels like the series is finding its footing, not pushing the narrative to suit ham-fisted messages but rather taking a more nuanced direction with the messages on top of a stronger central narrative.
Nothing in this season shows that better than the season's strongest episode "The Faithful". This season introduces Thomas Coville, a radical human priest who worships Kara as a savior of Earth. This episode not only introduces a running theme of religion in the season but also does so with tact.
Coville and his followers are dangerous and misled, and this becomes a bigger issue down the line. However, here all that matters is that Kara can help these people and treat them with compassion even as she tries to sway their hard set faith. It's the strongest thematic storytelling the series has ever done.
While this season has its share of clunky thematic episodes, it is balanced out by a central story that has layers and weight. In particular, the season does impressive work establishing newcomers Sam Arias (Odette Annable) and her daughter Ruby before revealing that Sam is Reign, making her the most interesting villain in the series to date.
***This review will focus on all the events of the third season, containing spoilers for all episodes. If you watch Supergirl and plan to watch this season but have not done so yet, do not read ahead until you have caught up.***
I have been rooting for Supergirl since it first started airing, and it has been rough going often. Trying to play on the Superman canon is tough, proven by the less than successful Smallville. It can lead to this show feeling corny and incomplete as if it is trying to do too much with a TV budget.
However, the biggest issue that held back this series from the start was its attempts to be socially aware. A female-led superhero show is rare, so it understandable that this show wants to use its unique platform with honest good intentions. No one involved though has had the subtlety or tact needed for that vision.
Season 3 still shows those holes in the writing, but it finally feels like the series is finding its footing, not pushing the narrative to suit ham-fisted messages but rather taking a more nuanced direction with the messages on top of a stronger central narrative.
Nothing in this season shows that better than the season's strongest episode "The Faithful". This season introduces Thomas Coville, a radical human priest who worships Kara as a savior of Earth. This episode not only introduces a running theme of religion in the season but also does so with tact.
Coville and his followers are dangerous and misled, and this becomes a bigger issue down the line. However, here all that matters is that Kara can help these people and treat them with compassion even as she tries to sway their hard set faith. It's the strongest thematic storytelling the series has ever done.
While this season has its share of clunky thematic episodes, it is balanced out by a central story that has layers and weight. In particular, the season does impressive work establishing newcomers Sam Arias (Odette Annable) and her daughter Ruby before revealing that Sam is Reign, making her the most interesting villain in the series to date.
In the future, everybody wears black leather because what else would they wear? (Image Courtesy of: allocine.fr)
I have many complaints about this season. It would be nice to see this show branch out from repeatedly relying on alien threats mainly from Krypton, and the third act reveal that Kara's mother was alive felt unnatural. Plus bringing back Mon-El was a mistake as his character will always limit Kara.
Mon-El was brought in originally as a romantic interest for Kara, but it was hard to ever believe in their connection. Luckily, the season makes the smart decision of maturing Mon-El by having him come back from the future where he became a member of the Legion with Imra Ardeen (Amy Jackson) and Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath).
While he is made a better character by this development, his role slowly devolved back to romantic interest for Kara. Even if he is more mature, he still has no clear connection with Kara. It does not help that Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood have little on-screen chemistry despite being a couple in real life.
In the climactic moments of this season, too much time is spent on their returning romance while the Worldkiller threat is awkwardly rebuilt toward the finale. There's a mess of strong and weak writing muddled in the home stretch that could have been avoided with smoother pacing earlier in the season.
Still, the crux of this series is that everything is made better by the cast, particularly Benoist. Chyler Leigh and David Harewood are also strong in this season with Alex wrestling with her desire to start a family and J'onn finding his father before losing him.
It is possible this show will never reach the heights it should based on this cast and premise because of the scattered writing, but Supergirl is steadily improving with time. It is the only CW show that can say that even if the reason for that is partially an abysmally low start.
It helps that the finale of the season really felt like a strong reset. Mon-El went back to the future while Alex was given the role of Director as J'onn took on a more active hero role. Lena was set up as an interesting threat going forward. Other than taking away Winn from the group, it really felt like everyone was in a better place than before.
For better or worse, Supergirl stands out and does not feel replaceable. It is on the precipice of a breakthrough that will come with just a few more tweaks. If the show can slow down and give its characters more space to breathe and face more interesting threats, this series can be the best on The CW.
Mon-El was brought in originally as a romantic interest for Kara, but it was hard to ever believe in their connection. Luckily, the season makes the smart decision of maturing Mon-El by having him come back from the future where he became a member of the Legion with Imra Ardeen (Amy Jackson) and Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath).
While he is made a better character by this development, his role slowly devolved back to romantic interest for Kara. Even if he is more mature, he still has no clear connection with Kara. It does not help that Melissa Benoist and Chris Wood have little on-screen chemistry despite being a couple in real life.
In the climactic moments of this season, too much time is spent on their returning romance while the Worldkiller threat is awkwardly rebuilt toward the finale. There's a mess of strong and weak writing muddled in the home stretch that could have been avoided with smoother pacing earlier in the season.
Still, the crux of this series is that everything is made better by the cast, particularly Benoist. Chyler Leigh and David Harewood are also strong in this season with Alex wrestling with her desire to start a family and J'onn finding his father before losing him.
It is possible this show will never reach the heights it should based on this cast and premise because of the scattered writing, but Supergirl is steadily improving with time. It is the only CW show that can say that even if the reason for that is partially an abysmally low start.
It helps that the finale of the season really felt like a strong reset. Mon-El went back to the future while Alex was given the role of Director as J'onn took on a more active hero role. Lena was set up as an interesting threat going forward. Other than taking away Winn from the group, it really felt like everyone was in a better place than before.
For better or worse, Supergirl stands out and does not feel replaceable. It is on the precipice of a breakthrough that will come with just a few more tweaks. If the show can slow down and give its characters more space to breathe and face more interesting threats, this series can be the best on The CW.
