Superman & Lois
We are almost to the season two finally and things are really starting to amp up. We don't need to waste any time. Let's get into it.
"Lies That Bind"
Tal-Rho: "Were you aware that the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848 sparked sparked the largest migration in the history of the United States?"
Superman: "I wouldn't have taken you for much of a human history buff."
Tal-Rho: "There's only so many times a grown man can read "The Fault In Our Stars."
After revealing his secret to her, Lana is reeling. She's first upset with Clark and then with Lois. She can't decide how to handle it or if she should tell her family. While Lois tries to help Lana with this, Superman is trying to destroy the half of the pendant that they have. They decide to use Tal-Rho to help him destroy it, but will a newly merged Ally Alston allow that to happen? Meanwhile, Nat shows the Kent boys a suit of her own design that she built behind John Henry's back.
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| Ally's back. |
This episode picks up right where it left off with Clark disclosing his secret to Lana. I really have to give it up for Emmanuelle Chriqui. She's been great this season and especially great in this episode and the next one. I'm not sure I've given her her flowers. Lana has gone through so much this season with Kyle's infidelity, the mayoral race and now finding out that her best friend has been lying to her since they were kids. I liked Lana flashing back to all of these moments between herself and Clark growing up and you can really see her questioning things. Lana is upset and it's kind of easy to see things through Lana's eyes. I think Lana feels that, in this moment, Clark's decision to reveal his secret to her is selfish. It puts her in this position where she has to decide if she's going to lie to her family or tell the truth. And even if she tells them, she'll be lying to others as well. It's not great.
Lois offers to try to help Clark with Lana, but things take a turn when Lana tells Lois that she is more angry with Lois than she is with Clark. This definitely rang a little false to me at first and I was completely with Lois when she tells Clark that she can't believe that Lana is blaming her for all this. But when Lois visits Lana at her office when she's calmed down, I can see where Lois is coming from. She accepts Lana's anger and decides to tell her everything. I really enjoyed how this all played out and I kind of like how the show kind of anticipated people (like mines) reactions and countered them. In the end, Lana chooses to not have any interaction between her family and the Kents, which feels extreme, but also feels like not a terrible decision on her part.
Superman is trying to figure out how to destroy the pendant and he quickly shoots down Sam and John Henry's idea to destroy the portal rather than destroy the pendant. No one knows how destroying the portal will affect the people who live in Bizarro World. And Superman points out the last time they had a last ditch idea it involved killing him. This is very Superman. Superman isn't trying to rub this in their faces, he's just reminding them that there is always another way and he comes up with an idea.
Superman goes to see Tal-Rho for his help. He thinks that combining their powers can destroy the pendant. I like these tentative steps towards redemption for Tal-Rho. Superman is still affected seeing the relationship his other self had with the Bizarro Tal and how Bizarro Tal helped him escape the Inverse World. I actually really enjoyed the moment when Tal apologized to Lois and brought her the peonies. Even though Tal escapes in the kerfuffle with Ally and the pendant, I'm hopeful that this isn't going to be a backslide.
We see Ally for the first time since she merged and she's scary. She easily takes down Superman, siphoning off his powers. She is definitely god like. Luckily the brothers are able to destroy the pendant which drives Ally back to the Inverse World. But she's not ready to throw in the towel, she drains the powers and life force from Bizarro Tal-Rho in a way to make up for the pendant's destruction and to help her continue to merge people.
I'm still not sold on a lot of the teen storylines in this show. I'm glad that the Kent brothers and Natalie are bonding. And I'm all about Natalie becoming Steel Jr. But then I have to deal with them doing dumb shit like almost dying in a mine cave in because Jordan is using his still unstable powers to harvest X-K to power said suit. Luckily, we have Sarah, who is the best teen on this show hands down. She's ignoring Jordan Kent, which I endorse. She's writing good music and she seems to be successfully navigate her parents separation. And she has an open mic night set up by her dad. Yes it's at the bar his mistress used to work at, but it's still a sweet gesture that she slays.
Grade: B+
"All Is Lost"
Jordan Kent: [At the Fortress of Solitude] "Are you sure I don't need a coat? This hat's all I could find in the truck."
Clark Kent: "You'll be fine once we get started."
Jordan Kent: "Started doing what?"
Clark Kent: "Training."
No one is sure what Ally's next move is going to be so they are using this lull to try to get a workable plan going to try to stop her. Sam and Lois go to find Lucy who is still trying to hold down the fort with Ally's followers. We see Lucy's past with Ally and how Ally manipulated her into being the blind soldier that Lucy and Sam are dealing with. At the Kent farm, Clark is doing his best to bond with the boys which includes taking Jordan to the Fortress to train, but this seems to cause some steps back with Jonathan. All this and John Henry discovers Natalie's suit.
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| Father/son training. |
How do you solve a problem like Lucy Lane? I appreciate Jenna Dewan returning to the role, but Lucy has been eternally frustrating in this season. This episode attempts to show us how Lucy got here using flashbacks to her meeting Ally and her becoming close to Ally. These flashbacks show that Ally saw an emotionally vulnerable woman who was still dealing with a lot of childhood trauma from being abandoned by her mother and basically being raised by her older sister while her dad was busy with his career. Ally manipulated Lucy. Plain and simple. Lucy is clearly desperately looking for this mother figure and Ally is just another person that Lucy has put on that pedestal.
I think part of the issue for me is that we have just heard about Lucy and Lois' childhood relationship, so it's hard to connect with Lucy and how she's feeling specifically about Lois. We spend a lot of time with Lois. We know who Lois is, so it's difficult to connect the person that Lucy thinks Lois is with what we've seen so far on the show. And it doesn't help that we know that Ally is absolutely evil. She's the villain of the season. I wish they would have shown more flashbacks to Lucy and Lois at different points that would have maybe illustrated this divide in their relationship. We needed to be shown not told.
It's just frustrating all around. It's sometimes difficult for me to see where Lucy is coming from. She's in a world where super humans exist. Her sister works with Superman on the regular, so like, it feels like she should have been scared of Ally from the jump, but I guess she still so desperately wants to believe that Ally loves and cares for her that she is willing to still choose her over her father and sister even after it feels like they have finally come to some sort of an understanding. And like, Lucy's reaction to Ally telling Lucy that her nephew's doppelganger killed Anderson kind of rubbed me the wrong way too. I don't want to blame Lucy for what happens here, but it's difficult.
There's drama at the Kent farm as Clark tries to reconnect with his sons, particularly after his month long absence. And of course he thinks they way to do that is through farm chores and it at first seems to be working. It's nice to see Jonathan and Clark find resolution to their conflict. I've not loved that part of this. Like, I understand why everyone is reacting the way they are, I want them to come back together and for a moment it feels like that is what is going to happen.
Clark and Jordan have a great time at the Fortress with Clark finally getting involved in his son's training. I don't really like Jordan overall. He's kind of whiny and annoying overall. I think Sarah is too good for him. I know Lana feels bad when she kind of lets him have it, but she's not wrong. All that being said, watching Jordan fly for the first time and seeing Clark's reaction. It's really joyous and it's the first time that I really enjoyed Jordan as a character. So, it was a bummer to see Jonathan be so upset about Clark and Jordan going to the Fortress. It's one step forward, two steps back with teenagers always.
There's not a ton of movement on the Cushing or Irons front this episode. Lana and Kyle seem to be taking small steps towards reconciliation even though Lana isn't super keen on Kyle having Sarah's first open mic at his side piece's former place of employment. You can't really be mad at Lana for that. John Henry finds out about Natalie's suit and it's overall a non event.
The episode ends with Superman drained by Ally so he's basically human and there's no guarantee his powers will return. Ally seems to have all the power she needs to merge both worlds without the pendants. It sort of feels like this episode is kind of running in place and doing mostly table setting for the last two of episodes of the season. But I have a feeling this season will be going out with a bang.
Grade: B
Next up, we wrap up season two as Lois and the boys worry about Clark and the worlds prepare for a possible merge.
What did you all think? Was the second episode mostly filler? Does anyone like Jordan? If so, please tell me why in the comments.
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