Expectations vs. Supergirl

I follow the Arrowverse shows on DVD. As far as I know they're not on any of the free channels here and even with three of us in the house we don't watch enough television to justify shelling out for a larger package. What this means is that through spoilers, people grumbling or celebrating online and just plain cultural osmosis, I tend to know a fair bit about these shows before I see them.

That's not usually much of a problem for me but it does mean that I tend to have a lot of expectations going into a new season.

So, anyway, my favourite Arrowverse show is Supergirl. I loved the first season and I dread the second without having seen any of it yet.

Its Mon-El, okay? I've heard too much about Mon-El. Its not that I particularly ship Kara and James Olsen, though it does baffle me that after all that build-up in season one they're just going to let that drop, but every single word I have seen written about Mon-El makes him seem like exactly the sort of toxic, controlling masculinist dickhead that season one spent so much damn time calling out.

Also, I know there's going to be a severe shortage of Callista Flockheart.

All hope lies in me liking Maggie Sawyer, I think.

Obviously, this is all speculation and maybe Mon-El isn't as bad as I've been told, maybe (impossibly) I won't miss Cat and her undeniable sexual tension/mentorship with Kara and all will be well? If nothing else it'll be interesting to see how impressions I've had so long to form match up to the reality.

Eh, there's the crossover to look forward to, at least.

I'm really certain I'm going to hate Mon-El.

What Supergirl has to teach us about handling rejection

[SPOILERS for the first season of Supergirl, mostly character stuff.]

Because, in all seriousness, this show might have the most healthy and real portrayal of handling rejection I have ever seen in a mainstream TV series.

Winn loves Kara, a fact he keeps from her for a variety of reasons both spurious and legitimate (seriously, he displays several motives for this behaviour and not all of them are just insecurity, which is a step in and of itself). He copes with this in a bunch of ways, not all of which are healthy like outright trying to sabotage her attraction to James Olsen at one point but largely he seems to have resigned himself to the fact she isn't attracted to him. Then there's an incident involving his father which is hugely traumatic for Winn and he realises he's been bottling up his feelings out of fear and Kara is right there so he comes out and tells her how he feels.

And she rejects him flat, being as kind about it as possible but a clear and definite rejection nonetheless. To my surprise, what follows is Winn dealing with the situation like an emotionally mature adult.

He sulks for a couple of episodes, which is more than fine. I think sometimes we mistake a negative emotional reaction for a bad one. He mopes, he avoids Kara for a while but he never displays any cruelty towards her. There is no attempt on his part to “get back” at her, only to give himself the space to deal with his feelings. He commiserates with James Olsen over a drink, even opens the conversation to broach James' own frustrated feelings towards Kara. Hell, in that last point he's actually correcting his behaviour from earlier in the season, letting go of the jealousy he felt when Kara was paying romantic attention to James earlier in the season which provoked a downright unworthy and malicious outburst from Winn.

(Actually, as an interesting sidebar, Kara has a substantially similar storyline to Winn where she expresses interest in James only to find out he's already in a relationship and it plays out much like Winn's does.)

A couple of episodes of awkwardness later, Winn is brought back into the main plot. Kara asks him for help and he resists for a moment, continuing to feel the awkwardness that has influenced his behaviour since his big confession. He breaks in about five seconds but not because of his undying love of Kara. The writing has been clear: he may not be over her but he sure as hell respects that she doesn't feel about him the way he feels about her. No, he does it because the weird and insane world of Supergirl is the thing he lives for and that's actually something he and Kara have in common.

You ever have a fight with a friend and end up breaking the ice over some interest you share? Some TV series or sport you have in common; the antics of a mutual friend; or just bringing up an old joke?

Yeah, this is that. It might not seem like the most logical way to cap the story but it feels real and that's important.

And throughout it all the fact that Kara said no is never questioned or brought into doubt. It isn't seen as a golden opportunity for Winn to “prove his love” through all those charming behaviours films romanticise and real women call stalking. He never sets out to change her mind and he sure as shit does not try to wear her down with persistence.

Oh God, persistence, the worst myth Hollywood has ever brought us. Decades of movies, television and other media telling young men that all that stands between them and a “yes” is persistence.

Which is psychological warfare, by the way.

So what we have here is a case where not only is the female character's agency respected but the emotional reaction of the male character is not oversimplified or downplayed. His negative reactions are completely legitimate and he gets to experience them, which is genuinely important in its own right. Lesser writers, I think, would be tempted to teach the lesson of how to handle rejection by having Winn experience only the “good” reactions: the respect, the reconciliation. Instead, Winn gets to sulk, gets to be a little ungenerous, gets to have a little drink to drown his sorrows which is all a lot closer to the actual experience of rejection and thus something that young people watching the show can learn from more effectively.

It is okay to be sad about being rejected. It is okay to want to take some time away from the person who rejected you. It is okay to commiserate with your friends. It is absolutely compulsory to respect the rejection. Working through our negative emotions is a perfectly healthy thing to do and Winn's reaction here is basically a masterclass on how to do this without being a dick about it. 

Supergirl first impressions

Last night I finally sat down and watched the first four episodes of Supergirl (or the first three and the fifth, since the DVD and Wikipedia disagree on episode order) and I am absolutely besotted by this series. Reasons for this, in no particular order:

It passes the Bechdel Test multiple times every episode. Now, I'm the first to say the BT gets used as a moral absolute far too often but its a useful critical measure in cases like this.

I love that Cat Grant (Kara's boss in this version) is shown to have a businesswoman persona and a family persona instead of being all business all the time. She's a nuanced character who could so easily just have been a cardboard cut out heartless capitalist. Oh, she has heartless moments, sure but there are moments of genuine affection she has for people and the look in her eyes the first time she meets Kara as Supergirl is an amazing insight into her character, kudos to Calista Flockheart for selling that moment.

Speaking of semi-evil capitalists it does my old heart good to see Max Lord in one of these things.

Kara's skirt is a decent length. I don't mean this in a prudish way, I mean it in a “I remember the pre-Sterling Gates Supergirl comics” way when artists couldn't help themselves from using the mini-skirt to draw panty shots. We don't want that, we don't want that even more than the 1980s costume with the headband that the pilot episode activitely mocks.

The series has a much better excuse for all these random villains running around in the immediate vicinity than The Flash managed. Plus, this is a world where Superman has been around for a decade so the writers don't have to waste time on origin stories if they don't need to.

Kara has multiple mentors: Cat at her job, James Olsen (yes, that one) in her superhero life and her sister in another aspect of her superhero life. Hell, just the fact that Kara has multiple emotional and professional support systems is amazing.

On the subject of James “Jimmy” Olsen, there's so much to say: I love that he's trying to make something of himself away from Metropolis and Superman; I love that he has some interesting anxiety issues based on being “Superman's pal”; I love that for a change he isn't portrayed as a completely witless stooge; and, um, well...

… oh, will you just look at this cutie?

I like that they're using the DEO instead of ARGUS. I mean, I like Amanda Waller well enough but four live actions Amanda Wallers might be too many Wallers.

I don't even hate this version of Lucy Lane and I always hate Lucy Lane. I don't love her but she's tolerable. I will not be entirely disappointed if she never ends up blindfolded and in a fight with a kangaroo (long story...).

I absolutely love the way the series addresses the issues facing professional women through Kara/Cat scenes, both with Kara as Supergirl and Kara as Kara. Its does it in non-preachy ways that don't seem accusatory towards the male audience (which, sadly, is a problem for making the male audience empathise if they feel under attack at the same time they're being educated). Since they're generally conversations between two women it doesn't come off as a confrontation but as an older woman looking out for a younger one. That is a type of relationship, specifically of female friendship, we really need to see more of.

This is a damn fine show. 

You'll believe a girl can fly (on a TV budget)

Yes, I'm biased!

So news has hit the internet that a Supergirl TV show is being developed by the makers of Arrow for CBS. For the usual sketchy, probably not accurate plot announcement here's the Newsarama article.

Now, as keen as I usually am to rag on DC Entertainment's film offerings (for, I feel, legitimate artistic reasons) their TV offerings have traditionally been rather higher quality. I grew up watching Batman the Animated Series which is still held up as the defining take not only on Batman himself but on numerous other Bat-characters. Hell, DC still publishes that version of Batman in the Batman Beyond digital series. More recently, Smallville was a great modernising of the Superboy concept, albeit one that spent its opening seasons under the delusion it could beat Buffy at its own game.

Looking to the future the trailers and leaked pilots for Flash and Constantine are generating good buzz (haven't seen them myself).

Oh, and Newsarama insists that an I, Zombie series is already filmed for release before the end of the year. Now, I flat out loved the I, Zombie comic and I'm more stoked for that than Supergirl getting a series, but still...

Honestly, it does surprise me that this hasn't happened before. Smallville had a perfectly functional take on Supergirl and they tried to spin-off more marginal guest characters like Aquaman and the Legion Of Super-Heroes to varying degrees of abject failure.

I've no research on this point but think about it like this: apart from Superman himself and Batman is there a more recognisable superhero in the world than Supergirl? Plus “Superman... but a girl!” is an elevator pitch you can get out before the doors close.

Not that interest in the character is entirely based on her gender. If you take the more-or-less consensus canon of the character as read what she has over her famous cousin is that she's an actual alien. Superman's alien nature is entirely biological but she was raised on Krypton, she isn't culturally human as Clark is. Fish out of water humour and wry outsider perspective ahoy!

This might be nothing, of course. Lots of series enter development and DC is a little notorious by now for announcing such projects before anything is certain (the aforementioned Aquaman and Legion projects, as well as a Blue Beetle series that never happened). Still, DCE is making a lot of TV content now and aside from Gotham this is the biggest property in the running.

Colour me hopeful.