I watched the Supergirl pilot so you won’t have to

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e saw her flying onto our YouTube screens on 13 May, and since then the First Look of Supergirl has almost reached thirteen million views. Nine days later however, on Friday 22 May – at 3am, to be precise – the pilot episode was ‘stolen’ and leaked online. Some cry Game Of Thrones tragedy all over again; others, marketing scam.

In her recent article for Boar TV, ‘Is the Supergirl first look Supersexist?’, Christine Wong gives a very interesting reading of the First Look, stating how Kara has the potential to become a “great role model for females everywhere, ” that “we could have a real hit in our hands.”

Photo: Flickr / sum.drama

I will admit that the First Look of Supergirl was interesting, but I was still a bit skeptical. So when I read that the pilot had leaked, I had to watch it; I succumbed to the dark side.

Having seen it, I particularly want to emphasise three points. Firstly, despite the fact that I was weak, and extremely impatient, you should not follow my lead in viewing leaked episodes! Secondly, I think we should understand this leak as a Warner Bros/CBS marketing strategy, rather a simple incident. And thirdly, by writing this article, I will hopefully convince you not to watch the pilot just yet, and will boost your interest in this show enough to get you through a couple of more months waiting.

Now, what truly happened?

Nobody knows, to be honest! CBS has refused to make a statement, and the pilot was suspiciously leaked in 1080p HD format and did not contain any watermark. Unlike the leaks of Game of Thrones and Orphan Black, only one episode was leaked, and six months before its original airing date, which means that people will probably not remember it by November.

Since the promotional campaign started only a couple of weeks ago, and no one had ever heard of a Supergirl TV show being scheduled, I believe that the leak has only helped the network to promote it even more.

If you think about this leak, it gives to the skeptics and the comic book fans a good reason to believe in the show, despite how much Smallville was hated. And, in some way, it’s interesting that it was Supergirl – the first female superhero TV show to be aired in the 21st century – that leaked, as if it required such leak to build a solid future audience.

Despite the mystery around the illegal release, I want to reassure you that the quirkiness of the First Look is fully embraced.

Despite its far exaggerated ‘this show is only for girls’ message, Supergirl looks promising for viewers of all genders

There are some production-value mistakes that need to be fixed, but honestly every single superhero TV show needs some time before it can get you hooked.

Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Sky

Now, with only a very small spoiler for those who did not understand this from the First Look: in one episode, the writers were able to go through everything that we know about the Supergirl that we saw in Smallville, and move past it already.

This means that from episode two, we will have a clean slate. In front of us lie hundreds of opportunities to explore the character’s life and her superhero adventures, and all while staying (hopefully) far away from the shadow of the big Man of Steel.

Mark the date: Supergirl is coming in November, every Monday at 8pm on CBS, which would put it against another DC Comics TV adaptation: Gotham.

Supergirl was created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Keisberg (both creators of the CW’s Arrow and The Flash), and Ali Adler (No Ordinary Family). Here is a true super staff who have proved in the past to deliver some quite entertaining television; I think Gotham does not stand a chance.