Superman & Lois
We have reached the final two episodes of the first season of "Superman & Lois." This has been a solid first season and a pleasant surprise for me. Let's wrap things up.
"The Eradicator"
Janet: "Lois, do you have any idea what this is all about?"
Lois Lane: "Yeah. Shor version, Morgan Edge is taking over people's bodies and using them to destroy Metropolis."
Janet: "Well, that's terrifying."
Lois Lane: "Janet, we need to tell people what's going on."
Janet: "Okay. And it's probably best coming from you. There's a mic in my press kit."
It's been three weeks since anyone has seen Morgan Edge but the DOD still has a presence in Smallville. The local paper is writing stories that Sam Lane thinks are riling up the town and is upset Lois isn't stopping Chrissy. Things are tough all over with Main Street businesses closing and the Lang-Cushings ran out of town. It's not a great time for Edge to show up in Metropolis.
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| Steel, baby. |
The penultimate episode of "Superman & Lois" does a great job of ratcheting up the tension in every aspect of the Kents' lives. The DOD is still in Smallville because Morgan Edge is still out there and no one knows where. The town doesn't really love government occupation with zero answers. Who would've thought?
I really enjoy how the show has made Smallville a focus of this first season. If there was one thing I wasn't expecting from this show was commentary on kind of the shuttering of small towns in middle America, but "Superman & Lois" is giving us that. Four businesses have closed on Main Street and more are poised too. This is happening now as businesses that have been the life's blood of many of these small towns move overseas. With Edge and the prosperity he promised gone and the DOD setting up shop, people are fleeing Smallville and it makes sense. "Superman & Lois" are approaching this at a surface level, which makes sense, but it's nice to see them tackling stuff like this.
It's nice to see Clark and Lana get some one on one time in this episode. We haven't really seen much of that in this first season, which I thought was kind of weird. They are best friends from childhood. Ex lovers. I really was hoping we'd see this relationship explored more in "Superman & Lois" since we really haven't seen it from this angle before. But we've got more of Superman and Lana together more than Lana and Clark. It's a short scene but it works really well. Tyler Hoechlin and Emmanuelle Chiriqui have great chemistry but in a different way than the chemistry between Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch. They do a great job of conveying all that history and though it seems like Lana is still set on leaving Smallville, you can tell that Clark's words have an impact on her.
That's right the Lang-Cushings are leaving Smallville and I still am not sure what to make of this particular plot point. The turnaround from like fractured family to loving family ready for a fresh start feels kind of jarring. The actor who plays Kyle is pretty likable which helps sell it as does the scene between Kyle and fellow firefighter Tamera. We learn that some of the Smallville firefighters weren't keen on a woman of color joining the team but Kyle stuck up for her and believed in her. It's a nice moment and I'm sure it had the neck beard brigade up in arms which is just a bonus. Sarah's freak out when her parents tell her they are moving and the nasty things she says to them comes a little out of left field for me. All this because she doesn't want to leave Jordan? OK girl.
The episode doesn't lack for action. Tal Rho/Edge returns and he's absorbed the Eradicator so he can create new Kryptonians without the machine and X-Kryptonite. The fight in Metropolis is great. They are really working that special effects budget. Seriously. This is some of the best work I've seen on any CW superhero show. I really appreciated how Superman was focused on avoiding property damage and protecting civilians while fighting these Kryptonians. Whoever is writing "Man of Steel 2," let's take note of this. Steel gets some nice kick ass moments in this episode. His hammer hitting Leslie Larr is maybe one of my favorite moments of the series.
It's nice to see Lois doing what she does best. I really enjoy how this show has portrayed journalists and journalism. I like how Lois is not getting in the way of Chrissy doing her job even though it is making life difficult for her father. She is up front with the people of Smallville about Edge being in charge. And even though she's in the same situation that saw her doppelgänger get murdered, she doesn't hesitate to take the mic from Janet and try to put the citizens of Metropolis at ease.
The teenage aspect of "Superman & Lois" is still where it struggles for me. It makes zero sense that Jonathan and Jordan would just go to this party and ignore their grandpa's calls when they see what is happening on TV. I don't care about the relationship between Jordan and Sarah. And I care even less about the burgeoning relationship between Jonathan and Tegan, the girl who was pumping him for information in the last episode.
The episode ends really strongly with Edge appearing in the road before the car that Sam is driving with Jonathan, Jordan and Sarah. They crash into it and it is crazy. Jonathan tries to shoot Edge with gun loaded with Kryptonite bullets Sam has in the glove compartment but he's too slow. Edge takes off with Jordan and uses the Eradicator to place the soul of his father, Zeta Rho, in Jordan. It makes sense that the first season of "Superman & Lois" is going to end with a father/son showdown.
Grade: A-
"Last Sons of Krypton"
Lois Lane: "You still haven't gotten looked at, have you?"
General Sam Lane: "I will, I will."
Lois Lane: "You go take care of the world, I'll take care of my family."
Edge has placed the spirit of his father, Zeta Rho, into the son of his brother, Kal-El. When Superman shows up to save Jordan, he is not prepared to come to blows with his boy. Things look grim when Edge resurrects Krypton's Defense Council. Superman & Steel are able to get ahold of Jordan, where Lois enters his mind. Can she reach her son before it's too late?
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| Mine fight. |
The overarching theme of the first season of "Superman & Lois" has been family. The season began with the Kents sort of fractured. They were having trouble connecting with Jordan which prompted the move to Smallville, hoping that this move would be just what the family needed. The season finale brings this full circle and shows that while it's been a bumpy road, the Kents ultimately made the right decision.
In the series premiere, it is shown that Jordan Kent has some anxiety and depression problems, which is extremely timely. I have those same issues and a lot of my friends do too. We haven't touched on that for a few episodes, but I thought it was really interesting how Lois tied Jordan being possessed by Zeta Rho to Jordan's mental health struggles. I think it makes a lot of sense because Lois knows that Jordan has struggled with worse things in his mind than Zeta Rho and she is sure that her son can overcome this, too.
I have spent a lot of these recaps really going hard for Bitsie Tulloch and I have to continue one last time in season 1. She really is a revelation and she should have gotten an Emmy for her work this season. I know that the Academy would never give a nomination let alone a win to a superhero show on the CW, but that doesn't mean it's not deserved. Her speech to Jordan when she finally reaches him in his mind is spectacular and she pours everything into it. These are the words of a mother to her son and you really feel it. It leads to a great moment of Jordan and Jonathan floating in the air and embracing, which I really, really loved.
Clark isn't left out of the parental drama. I don't give Tyler Hoechlin enough credit but you feel the anguish as Superman searches desperately for Jordan. When he finally finds him, you see the air leave his body when he realizes that Zeta Rho is inside Jordan. I think we've been building up to this confrontation between Jordan and Superman since Jordan first go this powers but it's still a little jarring to see Jordan laying into Superman. And a little funny, too, if I'm being honest.
The stuff with Edge, Jordan/Zeta Rho and the Eradicator are wrapped up a little too quickly if I'm being honest. I don't even want to make this comparison because the shows are so vastly different when it comes to both quality and content, but this finale reminded me a little bit of the "Titans" finales. A final battle that is resolved relatively quickly so the last like fifteen minutes of the episode can be used to sort of tee up and tease plots for the next season.
That's definitely what happens here. Sam tells Lois that he is taking a step back from the DOD, which raises some interesting questions. Who will replace him? Will they have the same relationship with Superman? They probably won't know Clark's secret. So, how will that impact the Kents? Superman comes clean with everyone about Edge and what he was doing knowing that it could cause people to mistrust him like they haven't before. Will we see Superman's public approval rating take a hit in season 2? Lois purchases half of the Gazette from Chrissy which makes me happy. I love this team and I want more of them together in season 2. We get a nice sequence of Clark burying the remains of Jor-El's Sunstone crystal beneath a tree in the Kents yard.
John Henry Irons is ready to take his leave of the Kents when a ship crash lands in their front lawn. Who steps out of it? His daughter, Natalie Irons, who is surprised to see her mother, seemingly alive and well. That is not a bad cliffhanger.
"Superman & Lois" was a show I put off watching because I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it, but it really like took me by surprise. I am excited to find out where season 2 takes us.
Grade: B+
I'm curious to hear your takes? What did you think of this debut season and these final two episodes? Let me know in the comments.
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