Season four of SUPERGIRL returned on Sunday...
And most of concerns from my season three review seemed to be addressed, particularly a return of the Catco work environment and more of Kara in her civilian identity. We also saw a return of the return of the Alien Immigration storyline, along with Lynda Carter as the US President (though it was obvious Carter and Benoist scenes were shot with body doubles and CGI... I am guessing scheduling conflict? Maybe the Carter stuff was shot in L.A.?).
It was an enjoyable episode, with a great opening sequence of Supergirl saving people all around the world. I like the hard lesson Kara had to learn about balancing Hope and Optimism against the irrational everyday growing threat of Fear and Hatred. In someways, the returning alien immigration storyline feels similar to the classic X-Men mutant allegory. Anyway, I am happy to see the return of this story element and have the show wear it's politics proudly.
As usual, the show does not know what to do with James Olson... it could have used his Guardian trial as a platform to explore what makes one a hero? Why is Supergirl hailed while Guardian feared? But no, this plot line was quickly shuffled away aside in favour of exploring Lena's path down the dark side.
Rhona Mitra joined the cast as the villains Mercy Graves, along with Robert Baker playing her brother Otis. They make a fun pair and I think they could bring some much needed over the top villainy to the show...
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyWOR6LHFf8[/video]
We were also introduced to the mysterious Agent of Liberty (played by Doomsday lol), this season's Big Bad?
Alex had some good scenes with Brainy (though why is he always in Human form and not green? oh wait, tv budget...) and the new pacifist J'onn brought an interesting fresh dynamic to his relationship with Supergirl.
As I said, I found it an enjoyable season premiere and I am excited to see where it goes from here.
In other news, the 3 part crossover, entitled ELSEWORLDS, dropped this very intriguing poster today...
...and this pic of Superman dropped the day before...
....hhmmmm.... death of Superman? Evil Superman?