The first season of Supergirl served as an origin story for Kara Danvers (Kara Zor El) played by Glee's Melissa Benoist. Kara's backstory was told in the first few minutes of the series premiere, and then during the opening credits for pretty much every episode thereafter. She was a pre-teen on Krypton when she was sent on a separate ship to Earth, with the expectation that she would protect Kal-EL, who would, of course, grow up to become Superman. Her ship was blown off course and got stuck in the Phantom Zone, and by the time she reached Earth (still as a pre-teen), Kal had grown up and was living as Clark Kent and Superman. Kara was sent to live with the Danvers family in National City, which includes her sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh) and mother Eliza (played by Helen Slater, who played the first live-action version of Supergirl in the 1980s), and a missing father who worked for the same government organization that Alex new works for Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), under the leadership of Hank Henshaw (played by Homeland's David Harewood) that tracks alien activity on Earth.
Adult Kara works at Catco worldwide media which is run by Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart in a much different version of the character as was portrayed on Lois and Clark) as a lacky/flunky/assistant for the overbearing Grant. She is joined by Jimmy Olson (played by Mechad Brooks) who in this version knows the identity of Superman and that Kara has powers, and Winslow "Winn" Schott (played by Jeremy Jordan). In the first episode, an event that somewhat plays homage to the original Superman movie as well as a scene in Superman Returns) occurs, which requires Kara to reveal the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, but she is able to maintain her secret identity as Kara Danvers. From there, the show becomes a "freak-of-the-week" procedural, much like the show Smallville, with Kara having to track down wayward aliens who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Intertwined with the procedural stories was a larger arc that involved the character Maxwell Lord, played by Twilight's Peter Facinelli who was a Lex Luthor-type foil to Supergirl.
For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, which is not surprising given that the show was shot on digital and had a big enough effects budget that the CGI looked nearly movie-quality. The extras include 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 15-minute portion of the Comic-Con panel, a featurette on one of the characters that kind of acts as a spoiler as the identity of the character is not revealed right away, a 10-minute featurette on the look of Krypton on the show, and a short gag reel. Not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.
Overall, the show is very good. Benoist does a great job as the series lead portraying Kara/Supergirl as idealistic even if somewhat naive. The first season of the show did have a bit of a different feel in season one than it would have for the rest of its run because it aired on CBS and was shot in Hollywood as opposed to the other Arrowverse shows that aired on The CW and shot in Canada. The show was confirmed to be in the Arrowverse, on a different Earth, when Grant Gustin (from The Flash) made a guest appearance partway through the season. The first season had a good run of guest stars, that included stars from both Smallville and Lois and Clark. Some of the guest stars included Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan, Brit Morgan, Italia Ricci, Laura Vandervoort (who played Supergirl on Smallville), Emma Caulfield (from Buffy), and more. Benoist's husband (at the time), Blake Jenner, also appeared in a guest starring role, which is a bit creepy to watch now given what has come out about their relationship since then. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that sets up the season two storyline (which was not a guarantee the series was going to get at the time the season finale aired) while leaving some story arcs unresolved. If you are a fan of the other Superhero shows, especially The Flash, then you will probably like Supergirl, as it has a fairly similar tone to The Flash. The writing is mostly good but can get a bit soap-opera-like at times. It is definitely worth watching.
Adult Kara works at Catco worldwide media which is run by Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart in a much different version of the character as was portrayed on Lois and Clark) as a lacky/flunky/assistant for the overbearing Grant. She is joined by Jimmy Olson (played by Mechad Brooks) who in this version knows the identity of Superman and that Kara has powers, and Winslow "Winn" Schott (played by Jeremy Jordan). In the first episode, an event that somewhat plays homage to the original Superman movie as well as a scene in Superman Returns) occurs, which requires Kara to reveal the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, but she is able to maintain her secret identity as Kara Danvers. From there, the show becomes a "freak-of-the-week" procedural, much like the show Smallville, with Kara having to track down wayward aliens who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Intertwined with the procedural stories was a larger arc that involved the character Maxwell Lord, played by Twilight's Peter Facinelli who was a Lex Luthor-type foil to Supergirl.
For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, which is not surprising given that the show was shot on digital and had a big enough effects budget that the CGI looked nearly movie-quality. The extras include 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 15-minute portion of the Comic-Con panel, a featurette on one of the characters that kind of acts as a spoiler as the identity of the character is not revealed right away, a 10-minute featurette on the look of Krypton on the show, and a short gag reel. Not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.
Overall, the show is very good. Benoist does a great job as the series lead portraying Kara/Supergirl as idealistic even if somewhat naive. The first season of the show did have a bit of a different feel in season one than it would have for the rest of its run because it aired on CBS and was shot in Hollywood as opposed to the other Arrowverse shows that aired on The CW and shot in Canada. The show was confirmed to be in the Arrowverse, on a different Earth, when Grant Gustin (from The Flash) made a guest appearance partway through the season. The first season had a good run of guest stars, that included stars from both Smallville and Lois and Clark. Some of the guest stars included Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan, Brit Morgan, Italia Ricci, Laura Vandervoort (who played Supergirl on Smallville), Emma Caulfield (from Buffy), and more. Benoist's husband (at the time), Blake Jenner, also appeared in a guest starring role, which is a bit creepy to watch now given what has come out about their relationship since then. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that sets up the season two storyline (which was not a guarantee the series was going to get at the time the season finale aired) while leaving some story arcs unresolved. If you are a fan of the other Superhero shows, especially The Flash, then you will probably like Supergirl, as it has a fairly similar tone to The Flash. The writing is mostly good but can get a bit soap-opera-like at times. It is definitely worth watching.
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