Supergirl: The Complete Second Season

[Michael Scott]

Supergirl: The Complete Second Season



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



“Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Forum Post. The opinions I share are my own.”
​

Movie
It’s not often that a series gets TWO first impressions at things. Usually the first season is the initial ice breaker, and then the powers that be (and the actors) settle into their roles and go ahead until the show gets canceled. Well, Supergirl was originally a show OUTSIDE of the “Arrowverse”, as it was shown on CBS instead on the CW like all the other DC shows. Originally it WAS meant to be a CW show, but The CW didn’t want to take it on at the time, so it got shuffled off to CBS and had its start over there. Season one of Supergirl had a slightly rough start, but being away from the CW actually had its benefits. Characters feel unique for once, and the change up to a girl power show feels refreshing and lighter than your brooding CW variations at the time. Well, CBS and the CW were in negotiations and CBS decided that it didn’t want to keep up the show, and the CW adopted the series into its lineup (and in true “Arrowverse” fashion we get some crossovers to help bridge the gap between the different worlds that were created as a result). Now season 2 can almost be considered a second “first season” as the tone and direction of the show starts to turn just a little bit with the new studio at the helm. This brings in both good and bad point, and unfortunately many of the bad points start to outweigh the good additions and changes to the show.

When we left off last time Supergirl/Kara (Melissa Benoist) has finally come into her own as a superhero. She’s strong, confident, and now becoming just as recognized for saving her own little slice of paradise as her cousin, Superman. Starting RIGHT where season 1 ended, we get to find out just who is in that Kryptonian space pod that’s landed near National City. It turns out there is a Daxamite on board (a sister planet to Krypton, one which was ruled by Monarchs instead of a democracy like Krypton), a lone survivor of the destruction of their two planets named Mon-El (Chris Wood). Naturally Supergirl is a bit suspicious of the newcomer, as Mon-El is your typical selfish Daxomite, but hate soon turns into a love interest, and Mon-El becomes one of the biggest allies in the threat that is coming soon.

Along the way we get to see some new twists and turns in the show. Tyler Hoechin joins the cast as Superman in the flesh, who comes to give a physical hand to his cousin in about 20% of the episodes (he adds a nice flair to the show), and everyone starts to come into their own a bit more. Kara’s adopted sister Alex (Chyler Leigh) branches out and actually finds love in new girlfriend/cop Maggie Sawyer, and with Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) gone from the show, Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) has to take over Catco for her. Not only that but Jimmy has been feeling a bit left out lately, and with the help of tech nerd, Winn (Jeremy Jordan) is transformed into the masked vigilante Guardian.

As I said earlier. With the CW getting ahold of Supergirl it’s almost like the show has had two beginnings. Many of the relationships and arcs of the first season are continued, but the CW has its own distinct flair that is HARD to not see coming. As such, it almost is reinventing itself again for this years show. I ALSO said that there was a mixture of good and bad additions as a result of the changeover. The good. Well, there’s a LOT of fun to be had with the addition of Superman making an appearance here and there, as well as Cadmus coming in to mess things up even more. Cyborg Superman and Metallo are slightly different than historically accurate, but they work within the confines of Supergirl rather than much of the Superman mythos. Action is much tighter, and the CW has CGI with a limited budget down to an art form. The show’s graphics and cgi looks a LOT better even though it’s running on a smaller budget than CBS gave the first season. It’s especially true when watching Martian Manhunter’s true form, as well as watching Supergirl whiz through the sky.

Now on to the negative points that happened during the changeover. Well, the CW is known for suffering from large quantities of angst and interpersonal relationship issues. Usually issues that make a sane person want to rip their hair out, and sadly that CW “angst” bleeds into the second season. The first season of Supergirl was all light and breezy, but this season blends the light and airy attitude that Melissa and crew bring, but adds in emotional drama that just drags the series down. The romantic pairing of Mon-El and Kara was inevitable, but also HILARIOUSLY ridiculous at times. Their little breakup was so poorly written that you wanted to bang your head against the wall, as it follows the “Iris West” mantra of being contrary just to act as filler and add angst until the expected makeup occurs. The same goes for Maggie and Alex. The show introduces the whole same sex relationship fairly benignly, but after a while it just bashes you over the head week after week with the whole “look, we’re being edgy and progressive! See!?” that it gets really old. Word on the street is that the CW recognized a lot of fan backlash for that move and are supposedly taming that aspect down to a more normal tone next season. Last but not least, the CW takes the whole “girl power” thing to extremes, and the results are REALLY cheesy. Instead of coming across as empowering and a good source of female superheroness (see DC’s Wonder Woman to see an example of girl power done right),it just comes off as commercial parody, losing the impact of so many good points that the series has to offer.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Last year Supergirl: The Complete First Season was prey to the same "problem" that happened to the first season of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. For some reason Warner Brothers downsized the amount of discs in the season, compressing all 20+ episodes onto 3 discs instead of the normal 4 like The Flash and Arrow. The discs didn't suffer too much, but there WAS some unneeded digital noise and compression artifacts as a result. Luckily they fixed that by going back to the full 4 discs this year and the series is crisper and cleaner as a result. Colors are bright and warm, with great detail all around, whether it be the stitching on Kara's suit, or the kryptonite powered baddies like Metallo in the darkness of Cadmus's lair. The CGI is still the weakest spot in the show (these shows have a limited budget, and sci-fi superhero genres tend to push that budget hard), and there's some mild softness around people's faces, but the overall clarity for the show is excellent.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix for Supergirl fares much the same as the video. It’s a solid track that mixes in a good amount of activity in the surround speakers with the whooshing of Kara zipping about, or the pulsating hum of an office building at Catco. LFE is appropriately weighty and adds some nice heft in some of the more action oriented scenes. Even though the first season of the show was on CBS and not The CW, the show had the same musical creator as all the other "Arrowverse" shows. Dialog is strong and clean, never under any major faults never is under any doubt for its quality. It's a great track, and fits in nicely with the rest of the CW superhero shows in that regards.







Extras:

• Supergirl: 2016 Comic-Con Panel
• Supergirl: Alien Fight Night
• Aliens Among Us
• A Conversation with Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith
• Supergirl Lives Audio Commentary featuring Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith
• Did You Know facts for fans

Final Score: ​

Supergirl is a bit of a bumpy ride for the second season. The change over from CBS to The CW had a lot to do with it, but don’t get me wrong. I had a very good time with the show, but a good time that had to deal with a lot of frustration from seemingly stupid writing at times. The show suffered with Calista Flockhart gone (supposedly when the show moving to the CW she would have to fly weekly to Canada to shoot, and she wasn’t pleased about that, thus her departure), but it looks like season three will remedy that. Not to mention the up and down writing. Season 2 added a LOT of good selling points, including a bridging to Arrow and Flash that hopefully will create some fun crossover episodes besides the few we got this year. Audio and video are solid, and the extras are a nice increase from last season’s. A good watch, but not a perfect one.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh
Created by: Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, Andrew Kreisberg
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese DD 2.0
Studio: Warner
Rated: NR
Runtime: 968 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: Own on Blu-ray and DVD 8/22/17

Recommendation: Decent Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I enjoyed season 1 but didn't get into season 2..