I watched the Supergirl pilot last night. Mostly I liked it. There's a lot to be said about the show, positive and negative, and certainly some judgments should be put off until they have a few more episodes under their House of El coat of arms and find their feet (so to speak).
But given what I've discussed on Read 'Em & Weep!, I would be remiss not to mention immediately: here we have the rare, and well-done, example of the Maternal Narrative for a major superhero.
Conventionally Kara Zor-El owes most to her father Zor-El, brother (and thematic twin) to Jor-El, Superman's father. In the earliest version of Supergirl as an ongoing character, Zor-El was, like his brother, a brilliant scientist. He saved Argo City and its inhabitants from the destruction of Krypton, and, when even that remnant was doomed, he put young Kara in a spaceship he had created and sent her to Earth. Her mother did nothing of note, and the amount of thought that went into her characterization can be seen in her name: Alura. She was alluring. Presumably that's why Zor-el married her. We get it. (Later it turns out that Zor-El also invented a Survival Zone Projector, twin to the Phantom Zone Projector, and saved himself and his wife.)
On Earth, Superman immediately takes charge of his younger cousin, insisting she not use her powers in public, treating her as his "secret weapon," and subjecting her to a series of tests (which she undergoes willingly or unwittingly) before he permits her to take on a public role as Supergirl. She accepts this with little or not complaint - he is, after all, an older male relative, and therefore in loco parentis.
Subsequent iterations of Supergirl rearranged a lot of these details, but Zor-El's preeminence was rarely threatened. Alura did get her shot in the New Krypton arc of Superman stories (2008-2009), ruling the Kryptonians of New Krypton after her husband's death, warring with Earth, and generally being unpleasantly aggressive. (Yes, I would use the same phrase for a male in her position. And I feel like I should add "Not that there's anything wrong with that....") In my opinion, the story was a disaster on several levels, especially showcasing Superman's utter failure - finally given a second chance to "save Krypton," he bungles it completely, a fact that leaves him oddly unaffected. Alura dies along with virtually all the other New Kryptonians, and this more commanding and influential depiction of her sinks without a ripple. (Fun Fact: Zor-El has his own Wikipedia page. Alura appears in the List of Minor DC Characters page.)
If I remember the origin of Supergirl in The New 52 correctly, Zor-El - although very different in personality - once again builds a spaceship and sends Kara off in it. I believe Alura was a little more active than usual - fighting violently with her husband to stop him. It didn't make much of an impression on me. In any case, Zor-El survived in an amnesiac state as the supervillain Cyborg Superman, so he's still around. Alura? Not so far.
The TV pilot takes a completely different approach which centers Alura and her relationship with her daughter Kara. It appears that Zor-El is still a scientist and built the spaceship, but in the departure scene Alura seems to be calling the shots; she has the plan, and she's explaining things to Kara. Years later, when the inevitable hologram-from-Krypton appears, it's Alura talking to Kara about her hopes for her daughter, and her pride in her.
