Superman & Lois
We are learning more about Bruno Mannheim and his motivations. John Henry is making his presence known to the family of the John Henry of his Earth. All this while Lois is recovering from her first chemo treatments. Let's get to it.
"Too Close to Home"
Jonathan Kent: "Idiot."
Jordan Kent: "Dumbass."
Lois has finally completed her first round of chemo and Clark is determined for his wife to not be disturbed so she can relax. That relaxation may be difficult to come by. John Henry finds out that Lois and Clark are investigating Intergang and Bruno Mannheim behind his back. Superman goes to the DOD to confront them about his stolen blood. Emmitt Pergande, Candice's dad, decks Jonathan to receive the ire of both Kents.
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| Clark showing off. |
This episode is not super action packed. It doesn't necessarily move the overarching Intergang plot line forward, but it is still extremely compelling. It really demonstrates the strength of "Superman & Lois." In a show like this, having an episode where there isn't a huge action set piece can mean you're in for a boring episode. It's a testament to the quality of the show that it is able to have an episode like this and have it be one of the best episodes of the show I've seen.
This episode definitely got me. Anyone who reads these recaps knows that I'm not a huge fan of the teenage plot stuff, particularly Jonathan and his relationship with Candice and her father, Emmitt Pergande. When Jonathan goes to the Pergande trailer, I was really rolling me eyes. And when Emmitt punched him, I was sure we were going to get a few episodes of this tired conflict and the show threw me a curveball.
The Pergande plot line I really enjoyed. It keys up two great moments for the Kents. First off, Lois gets it out of Jonathan who hit him and she immediately takes the boys to the trailer to confront him. I love how this show consistently shows off how badass Lois Lane is. She is not afraid of Emmitt and she immediately goes to bat for her son. She is not phased when Emmitt shows him the gun he's packing and when the boys try to interfere she firmly tells them to get in the car and her tone clearly says, "God help you, if you don't listen to me." Tulloch is flawless, which we are used to.
It's the Clark scene that we really aren't used to. Usually if Clark is being badass, he is doing it in the form of Superman. We don't usually get Clark letting people have it in his civilian identity. When he finds out that Emmitt hit Jonathan, he immediately goes down to the diner to confront him. Emmitt immediately sizes Clark up and doesn't think that he has anything to worry about and tries intimidating him. Clark tries to get them to take it outside so they don't have to do this in front of Candice who is waitressing at the time, but Emmitt won't back down. We've seen a confrontation like this play out before but Clark being a father and defending his children makes it hit different. As well as it being in front of a good number of the Smallville townspeople. Even Kyle is impressed when Clark sends Emmitt running.
I think the show is doing a great job of navigating the Kents new normal with Lois's diagnosis. Clark is doing exactly what Clark would do in this situation. He's trying to make things as low stress for Lois as he can. He's not taking into account that Lois would not like this at all and all day he is putting out fires and hiding them from her. Whether it's going to the DOD and destroying the rest of his blood they have or being confronted by John Henry about them investigating Intergang when he explicitly asked them not to. It's not easy to juggle needing to take care of yourself, but also the want to not let this disease disrupt your life, even when it is definitely going to.
John Henry goes to Metropolis and meets with this version of his sister, Darlene. Man. This show just wants to make me emotional. I'm not sure how you don't tear up a little bit watching this scene. It's so good. And I don't give Wolé Parks, who plays John Henry, many flowers, but I have to say he killed it in this episode. This scene with Darlene is heartbreaking. But then he's cold steel, pardon the pun, when he confronts Bruno Mannheim. Steel is involved with the mini action scene in this episode which is finding Darlene and dismantling the bomb Bruno has attached to her before it blows.
The Cushing's are still in turmoil over Lana slapping Sarah. Sarah initially leaves out some key details when she relays the story to Kyle. After he learns the whole truth, he mediates between the two women and things are moving in the right direction despite Sarah moving her hand away when Lana tries to touch it. I like that the show is not letting Lana off the hook for this. It recognizes there were circumstances surrounding why Lana slapped Sarah, but they aren't excusing it.
It's also nice to see the evolution of Sam Lane in the shows three seasons. Early on in the episode, he and Jordan have a fight when he tries to take Jordan to get a high and tight. And Jordan is kind of a little asshole to him. I know. You're shocked. Jordan initially comes around and apologizes to Sam and they come up with a nice compromise. Sam has a new uniform made for Jordan that includes the goggles Sam's dad wore flying fighter planes during the war. Also, Sam admits that what Jordan said to him earlier, hurt his feelings. That is real growth and we love to see it.
At the end of the episode, Lois decides that she is going to enroll as a patient at Mannheim's state of the art hospital in Hob's Bay to receive her treatments and to try to do some digging on Mannheim.
Grade: A
"Head On"
Chrissy Beppo: "Did you just refer to yourself by your own nickname?"
Kyle Cushing: "I believe I did, yes."
Lois begins treatment at the Hob's Bay Medical Center. While Clark bonds with the other cancer patients, Lois goes in search of damning evidence by searching Dr. Aleister Hook's office. She finds Bruno Mannheim who gives her some new information and puts his motivations into a new perspective. Superman is called away to stop an attack on the DOD by Mannheim's other super powered goon, Jason DiSteffano aka Deadline. At the Valentine's Day dance, different romantic entanglements are happening and it's not just limited to the kids as Kyle and Chrissy continue their awkward mating dance.
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| Am I rooting for these two? |
I was curious how they were going to keep Lois engaged with the Bruno Mannheim/Intergang story along with her cancer battle. She has referred to Mannheim as her "white whale" so there was no way she was going to not be involved in this investigation and his inevitable capture. Having her receive treatment at the state-of-the-art hospital that he had put a ton of money into in Hob's Bay was a great way for those two story threads to intersect. It felt extremely organic and the scenes with Lois and Clark in the hospital are some of the best in this episode.
Cancer is a disease that impacts not just the patient but also the closest people to them and I think this season of "Superman & Lois" is doing a great job at showing that but at the same time never making it about anyone but Lois. When Lois goes off to investigate Mannheim, Clark is left to chat with the two other women that are receiving chemotherapy with Lois. It's nice to see Clark listening to these women. Bonding with them. Learning about this disease from people with firsthand experience and trying to figure out how he is going to use this information to help Lois. They tell Clark about "the pull" which is the desire that someone has when they are fighting cancer to give in to it. To let it take them. Props to Tyler Hoechlin throughout all of this. He is really killing it. And the look on his face when hears about this is haunting. This also leads to the Kents having a nice talk at the end when Lois realizes that she is too weak to make it to the dance. Clark is going to keep offering his opinion even when Lois doesn't want to hear it and she wants him to voice it.
Lois meanwhile is not going to let a little thing like chemo treatments get in the way of investigating Bruno Mannheim. Mannheim knew what Lois was up to from the moment that he found out she was going to be receiving treatment at the hospital so it's not a surprise when he shows up while Lois is trying to get information out of Hook's computer. Up to this point, we've seen a pretty hardcore and cold side to Mannheim. In this episode, we get to see a different side of him. He talks about how he has always lived in Hob's Bay and how there have been so many times that the people there have been neglected. He talks about how he may be funding things with his criminal endeavors but it is all for the good of his community. It's a softer version of the speech he gave Superman in episode two. He tells Lois that he will do everything in his power to save Lois's life, but he wont' allow her to interfere with him helping Hob's Bay. I have to say, I hope we get more scenes with Chad Coleman and Elizabeth Tulloch. They are fire together and are on the same level, which isn't always the case when actors have to act opposite Tulloch. These scenes also recontextualize Mannheim a little bit. It's always good to have a villain that you can empathize with.
At the same time, Mannheim sends Jason DiSteffano aka Deadline to the DOD to retrieve information off of their computers. Information that I'm sure is not going to be good for Superman. In the comics, Deadline can turn any weapon he's holding intangible while still being able to interact with his adversaries. Here, they tweak it so he has a suit that makes him intangible. This is some solid action. I do enjoy watching how the writers are going to create villains that actually give Superman a run for his money without making them fellow Kryptonians or like Doomsday. And Deadline does the trick. It's kind of brutal watching him slash at Superman with that Kryptonite knife and a cool visual when he's phased half in and half out of the wall in the DOD.
George Dean's death is still haunting Lana. His son, Junior, is accosting her at the diner and getting drunk at the dance. Chrissy urges Lana to go public with the dirt she has on Dean, but Lana is unsure. She catches Sarah drinking out of the flask with Junior at the dance and again, the show zigs when you think it's going to zag. I was sure that Lana wasn't going to hear Sarah out and we were going to be in for a lot of manufactured drama, but no! Lana listens to her daughter and they have a great moment. And listening to Sarah gives Lana some clarity. She decides not to go public with the Dean dirt and instead name the new town hall in his honor.
The rest of the episode takes place at the dance and that is where things slow down a little bit. I get this is a show for teens but some of this feels really forced. I like that they are trying to give Nat her own storyline but does it have to revolve around her falling for this Matteo kid who is about as interesting as watching paint dry? The only redeeming element is that it gives us another example of Sam being a good guy and talking with Nat and giving her some advice. She even calls him grandpa! This is a sweet development but also feels extremely quick especially after their falling out and reconcile a couple of episodes ago.
Chrissy and Kyle are still doing... whatever it is they're doing and dare I say, I am kind of into it? This whole awkward mating dance they are doing is kind of cute. And even though there is no way that actual teenagers would start dancing after Kyle did his... whatever it is he was doing, but it was a nice very television moment. We have to be getting close to Lana finding out about these two and I am curious what her reaction will be. I have to give the show props. I have completely turned around on Kyle Cushing. I kind of hated him in season one and now I'm rooting for him to find love.
The episode ends with the reveal of what Intergang was looking for within the DOD. They now have Bizarro's body.
Grade: B+
Next up, Superman visits Bruno Mannheim again and Lois digs deeper into the man himself.
What did you all think? I'm loving this season so far. Do you think that Sam will find love on SeniorSwipe? Are you enjoying how they are connecting the season's plots? Let me know in the comments.
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