‘Supergirl’ spoilers: Expect plenty of Kara flashbacks
When the pilot of “Supergirl” takes place, we have come to a time when Kara Zor-El has decided she is tired of living her life in the shadows! As a result of that, she finds herself a costume and goes out to start conquering the bad guys and helping her city.
However, we know that before this decision was made, there was a young woman otherwise known as Kara Danvers who was living in seclusion, and tried to keep up the pretense of a normal life. Are we going to see some of that side of the character, as well? It at least sounds like, and per executive producer Ali Adler’s comments to Entertainment Weekly, we could flash all the way back to her childhood to show more of how Kara first started to understand that she has some of these abilities:
“We’ll absolutely see some flashbacks of her discovering them, because she was 12 years old when she landed here, and she didn’t have these powers on Krypton … Kara hasn’t used these powers very much or very well. There will definitely be a learning curve at the beginning of the season.”
One of the things that is different and interesting about the “Supergirl” concept as a series is that it is very much different than “Arrow” or “The Flash.” We’re not really dealing with a widespread origin story here, at least in that she already knows some of what she is capable of, but not necessarily how to control it. While it may be the beginnings of the Supergirl character, we are picking up in a world that knows that there are people out there already capable of superhuman abilities.
“Supergirl” premieres in October, and everyone seems reasonably aware of what some of the expectations are for the series from potential viewers.
csaver
July 4, 2015 @ 2:27 pm
Probably the biggest sticking point of the whole Supergirl narrative of this show is the timeline. She’s 12 years old and she loses EVERYTHING…her parents, her friends, her planet…then comes to Earth and the one reason she came is now irrelevent. And then she is told to not use her powers, because who needs a coping mechanism at that point, am I right??
Kara starts this series as an adorably geeky screw up apparently with self esteem issues (gotta score that 18-35 demo) who doesn’t use her powers at all? Not even in private? It makes no sense on the surface. The whole “wanting a normal life” throwaway line just doesn’t cover it IMHO.
Can the writers come up with a reason? Sure. It’s a comic book show. ANYTHING can be fixed. But it must be complete and profound. Otherwise, the whole character of nerdy but adorable Kara developing into strong, confident all powerful Supergirl is just a too contrived fantasy for the CW demo. (Yeah yeah….ALL superhero stories are contrived, but there are contrivances, and then there is straight up blatant manipulation.)
Oh, and the “no Superman” thing is going to wear out really fast unless they give a really really good reason why he isn’t stopping by to say hi. The whole “she has to learn it on her own” tack they might go down doesn’t cut it. She’s not learning how to ride a freakin’ bike here. She has the strength of a god and she has lasers coming out of her eyes. If a 24 year old woman suddenly wanted to learn how to shoot a machine gun, wouldn’t you want someone around who KNEW how to shoot a machine gun to show her the ropes? Its public safety.
Does Superman have to show up? No. Just give a reason why he doesn’t. A good reason. Actually, considering the power levels involved here, make that a VERY good reason. And sooner rather than later.