More than any of The CW's DC Comics shows, a lot has changed with Supergirl coming into the new season. For one thing, there's the fact that Supergirl wasn't even a CW series until a few months ago. But for all that's new and different about Season 2, the premiere episode succeeds because it celebrates those qualities that have made the show work from week 1.

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Supergirl: "The Adventures of Supergirl" Photos 10 IMAGES

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The biggest question surrounding the new season was how the shift from CBS to The CW would impact the look and feel of the show. Will National City still look the same now that production has shifted from Los Angeles to Vancouver? Will the special effects quality take a hit given the reduced budget? The good news is that the change in networks seems to have no negative impact on the show. Maybe National City looks a little blatantly less like LA now. But really, the only noteworthy change in terms of set design is the fact that the DEO has relocated from its bargain basement cave headquarters to a sleeker, sexier office building in the heart of National City. So a net gain there.As for the special effects, the show seems no worse off for the move. As much money as CBS poured into the show last year, a lot of the flight shots and action sequences looked pretty stiff and unconvincing compared to shows like The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. The VFX teams on these CW shows seem better at doing more with less. This episode might have been a little more conservative when it came to showcasing Kara and her cousin in flight and saving the city, but the effects-heavy scenes we did get looked perfectly fine.Speaking of which, that's the other big question mark surrounding Season 2 - how will the addition of Superman to the mix change things? I can understand the desire to keep a distance between Kara and her cousin in Season 1. The show needed to define Supergirl herself before worrying abut bringing the Man of Steel into the mix. At the same time, the more show went out of its way to not feature Superman in anything more than background shots or text message conversations, the more it drew attention to his absence.Luckily, this episode made up in a big way for the prolonged Superman drought, as Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin made his debut as both Superman and Clark Kent here. I wasn't necessarily sold on Hoechlin after seeing the initial photos of him in the suit, but he really owns the role. He's insanely charming as both Superman and Clark. The show is clearly drawing most of its inspiration from the Richard Donner Superman movies and the Lois & Clark TV series. Hoechlin's Clark is a bumbling but lovable dork. His Superman is confident, compassionate and almost always smiling. This is a hero about as far removed from Batman v Superman's grim, dour Man of Steel as is humanly possibly. Superman is a character that should inspire hope and optimism, and Hoechlin immediately nails that from his first scene.Hoechlin's Superman works for basically the same reasons Melissa Benoist's Supergirl does. They both have that same warmth and earnest charm. They're both great about contrasting their dorky civilian personas with their superhero ones. And because the two performances share so many qualities, Hoechlin and Benoist play very well off one another. There's a clear, palpable bond between these two characters from the first moment they appear onscreen. I think what always bothered me the most about Superman's absence in Season 1 was the fact that it implied some sort of rift between the two characters (like how Superman shunned Superboy in Young Justice). But thanks to this episode, that perception has been permanently shattered. And best of all, it set the stage for Superman's potential recurring role this season (for now, he's only confirmed for the first two episodes). I'm not sure how hanging around National City is a good idea for Clark, professionally or in terms of his relationship with Lois, but I won't complain.It should also be said that Hoechlin's debut did nothing to distract from Benoist herself, who remains Supergirl's biggest selling point. Kara is shaping up for a strong character arc this season, as she struggles to decide what she truly wants out of life and figure out whether she can truly balance a career, a love life and her superhero responsibilities. As entertaining as it's been to watch Kara play the good-natured but frazzled assistant to Cat Grant (Calista Flockheart), it's just as well she's moving on to bigger and better things this year. Plus, her promotion paved the way for Miss Teschmacher (iZombie's Andrea Brooks) to step in as Cat's new assistant. Hearing Cat scream "MISS TESCHMACHEEERRRRRR!!!!" made me smile almost as much as seeing Superman for the first time. It sounds like Flockheart will be playing a reduced role this season, which is a huge bummer, but I have little doubt the show will make the most of her appearances.The reduced emphasis on Cat may even wind up benefiting the show in the long run. One of Supergirl's flaws is the way it often seems like it's a fusion of two completely different story pitches, one focused on Kara's life at Catco and the other on the DEO. The show hasn't found the proper balance that The Flash has in terms of balancing the protagonist's professional career and their superhero missions. With Winn (Jeremy Jordan) officially joining the ranks of the DEO, my hope is that we'll see Season 2 prioritize that side of Kara's life more and focus on the Catco office a little more sparingly. Especially with the lousy way this episode handled the fizzling romance between Kara and James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks). After an entire season of build-up, it seemed really odd to have Kara decide almost immediately that their relationship is doomed. At this point, I'm ready to see Kara make a fresh start with someone else (a visitor from another world, perhaps?).The supervillain lineup is the main area where Supergirl has tended to fall of the standard set by The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow (and even those series have had their share of lousy villains). Whether this season will reverse that trend remains to be seen, but it's off to a decent start. This week we met Lena Luthor (Merlin's Katie McGrath) and future Metallo John Corben (Taboo's Frederick Schmidt). Lena seems positioned mainly as this season's replacement for Maxwell Lord, and she may or may not emerge as the main antagonist of the season. I was expecting a last-minute reveal that she hired Corben to stage an attack on her life to gain Supergirl and Superman's trust. That may still turn out to be the case, but I appreciate that the writers aren't ready to tip their hand just yet. And at the very least, McGrath has a certain aura of mystery and danger that Peter Facinelli's Max Lord lacked. Schmidt also impressed despite his very straightforward role. I'm looking forward to see what he can bring to the table when he returns as Metallo.Before wrapping up, I should probably make some mention of the final major addition to the cast in this episode, Mon-El (The Vampire Diaries' Chris Wood). But really, what is there to say? The character spent the entirety of his limited screen time lying in a coma. Not that I really would have wanted Mon-El's debut to distract from Superman's, but it is a little strange that this episode seemed to completely forget about the character after the first few minutes.