J. R. DePriest 
:EA DATA. SF:10 Years Ago, One Superhero Show Paved The Way For The New DCU
As Kara, Benoist refreshingly didn’t try to make Supergirl into a snarky girlboss, but instead, imbued her performance with a “who me?” kind of relatable charm. Again, you can’t prove that David Corenswet and James Gunn took notes from this show, but Benoist’s Kara has a lot more in common with Corenswet’s Clark Kent than she does, say, Milly Alcock’s new Maid of Might.
Supergirl was delightful. Almost every Arrowverse show was great but Supergirl is just so authenticly earnest.
Smiling thinking about how we saw Superman's boots for like ten episodes before they finally gave us Tyler Hoechlin.
The show also fleshed out Kara's human family, adding Alex and spending time in her childhood with flashback episodes. Her mom was played by Helen Slater, of Supergirl movie from 1984 fame. Her dad was played by Dean Cain who got sidelined after he went full Sorbo—a coincidence, I'm sure.
They also invented a brand new transgender superhero, Dreamer who has been carried over to the comics and was given a big role in DC's Absolute Power event. Nicole Maines has written and is writing a bunch of Dreamer centric comics. The Supergirl TV show made that happen.
Melissa Benoist met her future husband in the show, Chris Wood. The less said about her abusive first husband, the better.
And John Cryer was shockingly good as Lex Luthor.
