Supergirl and Jessica Jones:Welcome to peak Superheroine TV

Rolling Stone

One of the craziest TV twists in recent years: They’ve finally figured out how to do superheros right. Supergirl and Jessica Jonesare totally different stories, from different comic-book universes, yet they both feel like shows that couldn’t have happened 10 or even five years ago. Supergirl is America’s sweetheart, while Jessica Jones is a bad-girl noir detective. When Jessica perches on a barstool to knock back a few with Luke Cage, you get the strange feeling things might get out of hand. And then things get out of hand. Then a littlefurtherout of hand. This is definitely a next-level TV superhero.

Television always had trouble getting comics right – usually by fudging the question of whether they wanted to appeal to the geeks or newbies who just wanted a decent TV version. Eventually the networks cracked the secret: If the geeks ain’t happy, nobody’s happy, because it’s crucial to get the details right. Even those of us who don’t know anythingabout the Daredevil comics want to know we’re entering a TV version that’s true to the original. It’s like the science onThe Big Bang Theory– you don’t recognize the Feynman equations scrawled on the whiteboard on the background, but the comedy depends on being able to trust that it’s the real thing. ABC’sAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. andAgent Carter, Netflix’s Daredevil, Fox’sGotham,the CW’s ArrowandThe Flash– they’re vastly different in terms of visual style and story-telling, yet they take the characters seriously and trust the story. The SixtiesBatmanis a great counter-example of how to go the other way and completely ignore the dark tone of the comics – all you needed was humor, energy and Julie Newmar as Catwoman. (Lee Meriwether? Never that. And Eartha Kitt gets an eternal pass.)

Melissa Benoist is the key to CBS’Supergirl,all plucky zest as she learns how to use her powers. Benoist’s enthusiasm is what makes it work — she’s not one of these neurotic superheroes tormented by her powers, but actually enjoys the process of being awesome. She’s Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, who left their doomed home planet Krypton as a 13-year-old girl. By the time her escape pod got to Earth, after getting lost in the Phantom Zone, her cousin was already Clark Kent. Her earth parents are cleverly played by former big-screen Supergirl Helen Slater (last seen in theMad Menfinaleas Don Draper’s Zen guru) and former small-screen Superman Dean Cain (who spent all those years onLois and Clark bewitched by Teri Hatcher’s cleavage). Now the 24-year-old Kara works for the fabulously nasty media mogul Cat Grant, the long-lost (and never-better-or-even-close) Calista Flockhart, who stomps into the office snapping, “Drunk, 9 a.m. – that’s the last time I have breakfast with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

The Girl of Steel has troubled memories of Krypton – unlike Superman, she actually grew up there – and she makes some endearingly klutzy gaffes as a rookie superhero, like when she accidentally causes an oil spill. (It evokes the image ofCher Horowitz’s immortal “My bad!”) MastermindGreg Berlanti givesSupergirlthe same pop energy he brought toArrowandThe Flash, with a lot of help from his cast. Flockhart gets some of the best lines, claiming she “branded” Supergirl to compete with theDaily Planet‘s Superman scoops. But she’s not impressed with the caped youngster so far, snapping, “This inexperienced idiot has barely had a run in her tights, and yet there she is at the epicenter of danger.”

Jessica Jonesis a whole other beast, with its heart on the dark side. It has the same gritty Hell’s Kitchen vibe as its Netflix (and Marvel) sibling Daredevil,except with an even more troubled hero. She is the epicenter of danger. It’s a daring move since Jones is a character known only to the hardcore Marvel heads – but you’ll know her name now. Krysten Ritter prowls the mean streets as the hard-drinking P.I. in a leather jacket. Ritter brings the devil in Miss Jones, with a real sense of unstable menace – she’s deserved a role this juicy ever sinceDon’t Trust The B**ch In Apartment 23. But the whole cast is great, especiallyDoctor Who‘s David Tennant as arch-villain Kilgrave and Carrie-Anne Moss as a glam lesbian lawyer. SupergirlandJessica Jonesare miles apart in terms of mood – one is an upbeat crowd-pleaser, the other a downer for adults. But they’re both achievements that could only be happening right now.