Pilot (Supergirl)

"Pilot (Supergirl)"

The pilot episode of the television series Supergirl premiered on CBS on October 26, 2015. It was written by series developers/creators Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg, and directed by Glen Winter. The Supergirl pilot details the origins of Kryptonian Kara Zor-El, whose quest to follow in her famous cousin's footsteps would emerge while maintaining a mild mannered life as Kara Danvers.

The episode received excellent reviews, especially for the performance of the series' star Melissa Benoist. It also became CBS' most watched new series of the 2015-16 television season, and the most watched new scripted series overall by Nielsen, with 12.9 million viewers tuning in and an estimated 19 million over the next week, once delayed viewing is tabulated. It also gave CBS its first successful series to target a younger demo in the 18-49 age group, which is favored by advertiser groups.

Plotline

The story begins with the origins of Kara Zor-El, who is sent by her parents Alura and Zor-El from Krypton to Earth to watch over her infant cousin, Kal-El. Krypton explodes just seconds after her pod takes off, knocking the pod off course and sending into the Phantom Zone. She remained frozen in time in the Zone for 24 years, until she miraculously escaped and crashed on Earth. Kal-El, who had by then gone on to fame as Superman, rescued Kara from her pod. He takes Kara to live with Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers, the scientists who helped him come into his powers on Earth.

Twelve years later, Kara Danvers lives in National City and works as an assistant to Cat Grant, the head of the mega-media conglomerate CatCo. Despite her mild mannered life, Kara yearns to follow in her cousin's footsteps. Her adoptive sister Alex, who stopped by her apartment to prepare for her flight to Geneva, thinks that Kara should continue to remain a normal person. After watching a news report on a plane that is about to crash, Kara realizes the plane is carrying Alex. Using her powers for the first time in years, she flies to the rescue and saves the plane. As news spreads of her heroism, Kara begins to wonder if she could become the hero her cousin is. Alex, however, worries that Kara has put herself in danger by exposing herself to the world. The following day Kara is excited about how fast she has become popular while maintaining her normal identity. She later reveals her secret to her co-worker Winslow "Winn" Schott, who helps Kara perfect her abilities by testing out uniforms and handling police calls, and is dubbed "Supergirl" by Cat, who despite objections by Kara over the name, doesn't know about Kara's secret and only sees her as just an assistant, with Cat stating "What do you think is so bad about 'girl'? I'm a girl and your boss and powerful and rich and hot and smart. So if you perceive Supergirl as anything less than excellent, isn't the real problem you?" The news of Supergirl's actions attract the attention of Vartox, an alien responsible for the attempted plane crash, and had been waiting for the moment to challenge a Kryptonian survivor. He informs his commander that the plan worked.

While flying, Kara is shot down by a tranquilizer containing Kryptonite. She comes to at the secret headquarters of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. It turns out that Alex works for DEO as well, and alerted DEO director Hank Henshaw that her adopted sister had finally come into her powers. Hank informs Kara that when she landed on Earth, Fort Rozz, a prison housing some of Krypton's worst criminals (most of whom were sentenced by her mother, Alura) crashed onto Earth as well. Kara tries to convince Hank that she can actually help round up the criminals, but Hank turns a deaf ear. The next day Vartox lures Kara to an abandoned plant and nearly kills her. When she is rescued by Alex, Kara realizes she is not ready. However, Alex has a change of heart and convinces Kara that she should follow her cousin's footsteps, and receives a message from Alura to continue her mission. Kara and Alex return to the DEO and informs Hank that she is ready to prove she can be a valuable asset by challenging Vartox once again before he uses his heat-generated ax to wreak havoc in National City. In their rematch, Kara causes the ax to explode with her heat vision. Vartox then commits suicide, but warns Kara that he is hardly a threat compared to what she's up against. Her actions convince Hank that Supergirl, with help from Alex, can be useful to the DEO. The following day, CatCo's new art director, James Olsen, reveals to Kara that he knows her secret identity. He actually worked with Superman/Clark Kent at "The Daily Planet"—in fact, he moved from Metropolis to National City by his suggestion to help keep an eye on his cousin. James passes on a gift: an indestructible cape made from Kal-El's baby wrappings.

Meanwhile, in another part of the universe, the news of Vartox's death reaches his commander, revealed to be General Astra, Alura's identical twin sister and Kara's aunt, who represents a different Kryptonian House with the letter "O" on her shield. Astra has plans to take over the world and kill Kara so she can make her niece pay for her mother's sins. It is also later revealed that she believes she is trying to "save" Earth, as its inhabitants were using up its resources too fast, as with Krypton.

Production

In a commentary by the producers, the opening scene featuring the baby Kal-El took 30 takes. The top floor of CatCo building was shot in the same studio that was used in The West Wing. The apartment in the pilot did not included a bathroom, which was done in case the series was not picked up. The bar scene was inspired by a real life incident by one of the producers. When Kara and Winn went to the top of the building, the producers were expecting clear skies, but it was hampered by smog and hotter temperatures. The Diner's name was named in honor of a DC Comics writer. The scene in which Cat made a statement about Supergirl was inspired by a quote made by the head of Warner Bros. Television. The plant where Supergirl and Vartox first do battle was shot in San Pedro, California but the producers' plan to extend the fight scene beyond the plant was scrapped. The scene where Alex tends to an injured Kara was a nod to Chyler Leigh's previous series Grey's Anatomy. The rematch scene took two days of filming in the Mojave Desert. The final dialogue scene featuring Kara and James was shortened. The producers also note that Alex Danvers was created for the series, as she does not exist in the comic series. The producers also enlisted real-life Los Angeles news reporter Rick Garcia and Leyna Nguyen to make cameo appearances in this episode, and plans to utilize more media news talent from the Los Angeles area in the series.

The twist in the final scene featuring Astra was a last minute addition by the producers, as she was also created for the television series, along with her background that featured another Kryptonian House without the "S" in its shield, which will also add to Kara's family background in future episodes.

The song "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots is used in the episode.

Casting

In January 2015, it was announced that Melissa Benoist had been cast as Supergirl.

Reception

Ratings

More than 12.96 million viewers tuned in to see the episode, making it one of CBS' most watch scripted dramas of the night and of this season, tying it with NBC's Blindspot as the top-rated series premiere of the 2015-16 fall season.

Reviews

The episode received positive reviews, praising Melissa Benoist's take on the character and the well scripted storyline.

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a B-, and notes in his assessment of the review, "I’m glad Supergirl exists and I want it to succeed. If it never becomes anything more than a solid superhero genre show with a female lead, that’s more than fine, especially since that lead is fantastic: The best counter to all my complaints is that Benoist makes it all work. The redeeming magic of perfect casting. Her performance embraces, internalizes, and sells the character’s contradictions and paradoxes. She makes Kara feel real, she wears the costume proudly and easily, she’s joy and complexity at once. Supergirl begins to fill a shameful void that needs to be followed with cleaner, more artful wins. It will most likely come from original creations — the next Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the next Veronica Mars — or adaptations of edgier, more contemporary properties that can allow for more creative daring, like The CW’s excellent iZombie or (hopefully) the upcoming Netflix series, Marvel’s Jessica Jones. The frustrations of Supergirl remind us that super-powered super-people often make for problematic vehicles for exploring issues of Otherness, diversity, race and gender – especially intrinsically flawed comic book brands beholden to the values of another era and bound by franchise restrictions. “Can you believe it? A female hero. Nice for my daughter to have someone like that to look up to.” Yes, that is nice. Now, we need better."

Cliff Wheatley of IGN gave the pilot episode a 7/10, praising Melissa Benoist's performance as Kara and the fun take on the Superman mythos.

In a review from The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Feinberg said, "CBS' Supergirl shouldn't have to be a feminist landmark, but it is."

Caroline Siede of The A.V. Club gave the episode a positive review, giving it a B. With the exception of the Kara backstory, she was pleased with the executed fast pace of how well the episode was structured: "While Supergirl is a little more grounded than The Flash, this premiere establishes the show’s appropriately upbeat tone and sets up more than enough threads to explore across its first 13 episodes—and hopefully many more to come."

Stacy Glanzman of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 5.0 out of 5 stars.

External links

• "Pilot (Supergirl)" at IMDb