Why So Blu?

Supergirl: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray Review)

Last year, of all the Arrow-verse superhero shows, Supergirl was the highest rated in its inaugural season. But, unlike the others, it was on boring old dull CBS which pulls in the biggest network ratings. While great for the DC shows, it was poor for CBS. Plus it was an interesting show, so of course they had to pull it. Luckily, it took a little bit, but it logically found its right home on the CW where it became their second highest rated show. Unfortunately, since production moved to Canada, it had to jettison one of its strengths in Calista Flockhart. But, better to have the show with minimum contributions from her than no show at all. Supergirl’s second season comes to Blu-ray on August 22nd and you can pre-order this nice little set by clicking the Amazon link following this review.

Film 

Having left the safety of being Cat Grant’s assistant at Catco Worldwide Media in order to figure out what she really wants to do, Kara Danvers continues to work with Hank Henshaw aka Martian Manhunter and her adoptive sister Alex at the DEO as Supergirl – protecting the citizens of National City and searching for her missing father Jeremiah and the secret research lab Cadmus. Along the way, she will team up with her Kryptonian cousin Kal El – aka Superman – to battle new DC Super-Villains both terrestrial and extraterrestrial, as she strives to balance her personal life with friends/allies James Olsen, Winn Schott and more with her busy life as a new Super Hero.

Supergirl returns and feels like she is able to get a breath of complete fresh air in her new CW digs. The show’s seconds season feels like its allowed much more freedom than before just by being on a network. Also, certain shifts and different people in bigger seats over at the DC division at Warner Bros have allowed for that. For example, before the Geoff Johns takeover, we’d have probably never seen Superman on the show, and here he is right off the bat! Tyler Hoechlin is quite a joy as Superman, giving a more unique modern take that feels like a relief after what they’ve had to put Henry Cavill through on the big screen (He’s probably a really good Superman, but the material just hasn’t been there for him).

Also, Supergirl was allowed to be a REAL part of the Arrow-verse. Not just the barely getting in there Flash crossover from her first season. She’s an integral part of Heroes Vs Aliens and its great to see her spar off and match wits with the likes of Oliver Queen, Sarah Lance and the rest of the gang.  We are also treated again to the amazing chemistry of her and Barry Allen (Honestly though, what female in the verse DOESN’T have chemistry with Grant Gustin. Oh yea, the one that matters most lol). The musical episode proves to be a really great bit of fun for the characters in both playing in a different world and singing the tunes. My only gripe with Supergirl’s crossing over is that her show is strictly used for setup to have the crossover actually take place in someone else’s show. Her show is not even essential to Heroes Vs Aliens (The end tag scene is even repeated in The Flash, rendering it useless), and the musical crossover doesn’t truly happen until The Flash episode that followed. My biggest request though, is UNLEASH THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER! Cross him over!

Our returning cast all gets to have some wonderful arcs here in this season. Alex, Supergirl’s sister, finds herself through a romantic relationship and Jimmy Olsen tries his hand at being a vigilante. Martian Manhunter gets to have more of his past explored. We are also introduced to some new characters like Lena Luthor, Lex’s sister. Katie McGrath is actually top notch here as she has a presence you want to believe and trust, but that you also keep a little bit apprehensive. She’s coming back as a regular next season too. You also get the incredibly awesome nostalgia casting of Teri Hatcher (My favorite Lois Lane of all time) as the season’s big bad, to go with Kevin Sorbo and Lynda Carter. Next season promises us Erica Durance (Another former Lois Lane). The worst of all this, might be Supergirl’s arc herself, which invites in Mon-El, which appropriately got labeled “Mon-Hell”. This guy is a complete douche-noggin and its not like the shows is trying to show that, they actually think he’s something special. Its an unfun bit of misery that really can hamper things in the second season. Hopefully he’s gone though. HOPEFULLY he’s gone though. YOU HEAR ME JOHNS, BERLANTI & CO – HOPEFULLY MON-EL IS GONE GONE GONE GONE!

Supergirl’s second flight in the Arrow-verse is one that ultimately leads to success, but has its share of both improvements and stumbles along the way. Its great to see her to be an actual piece and bigger contributor to the CW puzzle. I say again, there was no greater joy than getting to see her once again get to share time with Barry Allen, but even moreso that she got to be initiated into have a role with the major group. The third season will not be one of transitioning to a new network with less budgets or having to prove itself on CBS, so it potentially could be the show’s strongest yet.

Episodes

The Adventures of Supergirl

The Last Children of Krypton

Welcome to Earth

Survivors

Crossfire

Changing

The Darkest Places

Medusa

Supergirl Lives

We Can Be Heroes

The Martian Chronicles

Luthors

Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk

Homecoming

Exodus

Star-Crossed

Distant Sun

Ace Reporter

Alex

City of Lost Children

Resist

Nevertheless, She Persisted

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail:  Supergirl’s second season comes with an image akin to its first season and up to snuff with the other CW shows. Like always, the Blu-ray provides a step up from its HD broadcast appearance.  Motion, crispness, sharpness improve. Detail is very high.  The show is probably the brightest looking of all the other Arrow-verse programming and that lends itself to a wonderful looking image.

Depth:  Background and foreground imagery have a nice spacey relationship with good clarity. The second season has a real nice 3 dimensional work going on here, especially during some in air and flying sequences.

Black Levels:  Blacks are deep and inky.  No crushing witnessed.  Good shading and no real detail lost in the darkness.

Color Reproduction:  Coloring is rich and vibrant here.  Unlike her contemporaries, Supergirl’s city is bright, tropical and features lots of poppy colors, including her blonde hair.  Blues, reds, yellows…everything looks beautiful.

Flesh Tones:  Skin tones are natural with a consistent appearance throughout.  Facial details are window-clear in the bright image, displaying make-up, lip texture, wrinkles, stubble and more.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Portuguese 2.0 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Dynamics:  Supergirl flies into Blu-ray with a terrific 5.1 presentation.  The mix is a great balance of the score/music, vocals and sound effects.  Things punch up and get effectively loud during some intense battle sequences but also let up for a lot of office and apartment scenes with dialogue taking the lead.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension:  Crashing, explosions, blasting, punching and much more (Including some dance beats) all thump your subwoofer.

Surround Sound Presentation:  Mostly front focused, there is some great ambiance and enhancements that feature in the rear speakers.  Front channels give a good toss around playing with movement and distance emanating from the screen.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is loud, crisp and provides excellent clarity.

Extras 

Supergirl: The Complete Second Season is a 4-Blu-ray Disc set that comes with an UltraViolet Digital copy code of each episode and an insert booklet.

Disc 1

Supergirl: Alien Fight Night (HD, 10:06) – Goes in discussion and behind the scenes on the episode “Survivors” that featured the alien fight club.

Disc 2

Audio Commentary

• Supergirl Lives! – With Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith

Disc 4

Supergirl: Aliens Among Us (HD, 19:56) – Focuses on the alien characters that make up Supergirl’s world as well as the visual effects that bring them to life.

Supergirl: 2016 Comic-Con Panel (HD, 28:26) – You know the drill on this one. The full panel from 2016 SDCC.

A Conversation With Andrew Kreisberg and Kevin Smith (HD, 3:55) – Kevin Smith talks about directing an episode of Supergirl, also talks a little a bit of his first Flash episode too.  Its audio only with clips of the show and stills.

Supergirl: Did You Know? – Funny little tid bits, goofs and facts from interview sessions.

• Superman Baby (HD, :33) 
• Martian Manhunter Needs a Zipper In His Suit (HD, :49) 
• Kara Eats All The Brownies Out Of The Ice Cream (HD, :44)
• Mehcad Brooks Collects Cultural Antiques (HD, :45)
• Chyler Leigh Crashes David Harewood’s Interview (HD, :28)
• Melissa Explains Using Her Powers On the Show Without The FX (HD, :46) 
• We Really Want Superman Back! (HD, 1:40)

Summary 

Supergirl continues flying high in its second season, even if some things are a bit of a mixed bag (Ugh, stay away from Earth, Mon-El). This Blu-ray release comes with a terrific audio and image presentation just like the previous release. It comes in a nice little package that is up to snuff with all the other DC shows and has a couple more cool specific bonus features giving it a little leg up.