The Superman & Lois season finale is one epic battle
Clark Kent tries to save the world while Lois Lane fights to save their son in this action-packed finale
TV Reviews Lois
When Superman & Lois premiered way back in February, it seemed like a show with gorgeous aesthetics and a fantastic cast but not a ton of storytelling meat on its bones. Now 15 episodes and several hiatuses later, it’s one of the most jam-packed series in the Arrowverse canon. Superman & Lois has demonstrated an admirable willingness to change over these past six months—to drop storylines that aren’t working, reframe ones that aren’t meeting their potential, and dramatically ramp up its pacing in the process. And while that sort of leaves this finale feeling like it’s trying to make the most of a whole bunch of retconned pieces, I suspect that adaptability is going to serve Superman & Lois well in the long run.
The majority of “Last Sons Of Krypton” is one long battle to stop EradiEdge and save Jordan’s soul. And while that doesn’t leave as much time for character-centric scenes as I would’ve liked, it does give Superman & Lois ample space to show off its impressive visual effects and some heartwrenching moments of high-stakes drama. The early scene where Clark has to battle a possessed Jordan next to some inconveniently placed lava is especially harrowing. The same is true of the scenes of Smallville becoming a warzone—even if they feel a little bit detached from everything else that’s going on.
The main thesis of the episode is the same “it takes a village” philosophy that once stood as a cornerstone of Smallville’s small town values. After Edge implants Zeta-Rho’s consciousness into Jordan and converts a handful of DOD soldiers into Krypton’s ominous “Defense Council,” the threat is too big for Clark to handle on his own. So he and John Henry Irons form a plan to take down Edge, while Lois and Jonathan team up to de-brainwash Jordan, and the Cushings and Chrissy (and I guess General Lane?) step up to help evacuate the people of Smallville. This finale attempts to weave together just about every major thread of the season (even that random Thaddeus Killgrave subplot). And while it doesn’t quite have the elegance to fully pull it off (I’m still confused about how X-Kryptonite fits into all of this), the effort is nevertheless welcome.
On the weaker side, however: Beyond the fact that the “evil Kryptonian” throughline has run its course, the biggest let down of this episode is Lois and Jonathan’s rescue mission. Though Lois uses the memory machine from the flashback episode “A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events,” we don’t really get any new insights into Jordan or his relationship with his family, the way we did with Lois and Clark in that earlier episode. The idea that only Lois can help Jordan battle his inner darkness is an odd fit for a season that largely dropped the throughline of his social anxiety disorder and hasn’t really made his relationship with his mom a main focus recently either. (It doesn’t help that this episode also has Lois make an absolutely wild leap from “our kids are more capable than we realized” to “I’ll give my untrained 14-year-old son a gun and use him as my only bodyguard,” which is way less heartwarming than the show thinks it is.) While Bitsie Tulloch, Jordan Elsass, and Alex Garfin deliver emotive acting that helps sell the thinner material, the rescue mission is unnecessarily rushed, which also leaves the “core four” dynamic of the series feeling a little underserved too.
Indeed, while “Last Sons Of Krypton” conjures up poignancy during its battle scenes—like Irons falling to Earth after taking down Edge—its most affecting moments actually take place in the calm after the storm. One of my favorite scenes of the entire season is Superman giving Chrissy an exclusive interview about everything that went down in Smallville. Hoechlin’s Superman isn’t someone who just swoops in to save the day and then hightails it out of there, he genuinely cares about honesty, accountability, and public service too. The fact that Lois lets Chrissy take point on the interview speaks well to their burgeoning partnership (which gets taken to a whole new level when Lois invests in the Gazette). And the humble way in which Clark talks about having faith in his own moral compass while still understanding why some people won’t be able to trust Kryptonians reflects just how well Superman & Lois has captured Superman’s central ethos. He’s not a hero for the glory. In fact, he’s the first to turn the praise back on the people of Smallville—the better to remind everyone watching the interview of their own potential to be a hero.
Wolé Parks also gets some welcome moments to shine in this finale, first in the scene where Irons explains to Lois that being around an alt-universe version of his dead wife is too much to bear. And then in the scene where his daughter Natalie makes her surprise arrival outside the Kent family farm. It’s a lovely payoff for Irons’ turn towards selfless heroism, even if it’s also a bit of a random cliffhanger to end the season on. Still, it fits with this finale’s general vibe of leaving things on an optimistic note heading into season two: Jordan and Sarah are in love, the Cushings have been re-embraced by Smallville, General Lane is retiring from the military to focus on his family, Jonathan still has that spark of connection with Tegan (bit of an odd endpoint for him, but sure), and Lois and Chrissy have big dreams of doing small town journalism right. Clark even gets a chance to eulogize his Kryptonian father at a (surprise?) funeral, which returns to a plot point that I quite literally forgot happened in this jam-packed run of episodes, but is still sweet in its own right.
Given the somber way in which it started, it’s nice that Superman & Lois ends on such an upbeat note. For a show that began with too little plot, Superman & Lois course corrected in a way that was exhilarating to watch but also potentially too much too fast. This finale smartly wipes the slate clean in way that will largely allow the show’s second season to start fresh while still learning from the past and nurturing what works. Some growing pains aside, Superman & Lois has offered a refreshing, original take on the Supes family mythos this year. Hopefully season two will continue to rise up, up, and away.
Stray observations
- I know Clark was distracted looking for Jordan, but it seemed a little strange that he just left Jonathan and General Lane at that car crash to be rescued by the Cushings.
- The two biggest laughs of this finale were Jonathan returning his massive stockpile of weapons to Irons and Zeta-Rho finger wagging at Lois, although I’m not sure the latter was an intentional joke.
- I assumed that becoming the Eradicator destroyed Edge’s mind forever, but he seems back to his old self after getting hit with Irons’ hammer. I wouldn’t mind if he and Leslie Larr are just quietly carted off to DOD jail for the rest of the series though.
- “So, terrible odds.” “Sure, but better together.”
- Thanks so much for following along with this season of reviews! I’ll be sticking around The CW on Tuesday nights to cover Stargirl’s second season and Supergirl’s final run of episodes. You can also find me over on Twitter too.
78 Comments
I usually watch this after midnight on the CW streaming site – where they post (what they refer to as) “extended episodes.” I don’t think any of them really extend anything more than 5 to 7 minutes. But even with that much, maybe this ep will breathe a little better.And: Mmm Barbeque Burgers. Beer & Iced Tea. Although… the grill meat looked a little overcooked. CW Lawyers: “Don’t show any shots of undercooked meat!”
I feel weird saying the season finale wasn’t a home run for me, because objectively it really was – this was a great ending to a fantastic first year, touching on all the character arcs and a ton of great effects work. And yet…If I’m starting to see any seams in this show, it’s that we’re given the impression of these giant, world-ending threats but they turn out to not really be threats at all. In the finale and at least two other major battles this season, Edge creates small armies for himself of citizens with Kryptonian powers. They look really menacing. And yet between Superman and Steel, they’re no more a challenge than Green Arrow fighting a warehouse of thugs. Maybe it’s purely budget and the show can’t sustain protracted super-powered fights, but by the finale I started to notice the tension deflate because the fights aren’t really what they’re built up to be.On the plus side, the finale didn’t rely on anyone dying and for a hot second it totally looked like Kyle was gonna die in that fire. So kudos on resisting that urge. Curious what they’ll do with Sam Lane next year if he’s not the go-to military guy. And Natasha showing up was definitely random, but interesting twist on the usual season cliffhanger to go with a dramatic reveal instead of a villain one.
I doubt this happens but it would be interesting if Lucy Lane takes over the DEO (as she did on s1 of Supergirl) after her father retires
I felt like that conversation was a set up for Irons to take over. But I suppose the military doesn’t work that way.
At the beginning of the conversation between the general and John Henry I also thought it was going to lead to John Henry taking over for him, but that didn’t seem to be the case & John Henry declined whatever the position was anyway, I think?
Technically the DOD is a civilian agency. In fact a current member of the US armed forces is not allowed to head it up. But, this is the Arrowverse, so why not.
You know, I’m now wondering if maybe this show didn’t do the “co-operation with the armed forces” thing that shows and movies do, which also comes with some strings attached…because nothing about what we saw was ever “the Department of Defense” doing anything. It was the US Army. People should be yelling “why is the Army occupying our town?” instead of complaining about “the DOD”.
If I were to pick-a-nit, that’s where I would go too. The possessed folks were pretty faceless. Leslie Larr, however, grew from like a scowl into a decent B-Level bag guy.The way they introduced Nat in that flashback episode half-way through the season, and the way Johnathan’s heart went out to her, signaled, for me, that she was going to join the show – just a matter of when. I’m surprised JH wasn’t more about trying to build a way back to his timeline in the few downtimes when people asked him, “So what are your plans for the future?”“Grumble grumble sister I don’t want to see…”No way man, daughter … and rather than drawing out the plot (which could have worked well for two or three episodes) the show was like fuck-it, here she is. In retrospect, I think they went the quick route, because if they had gone into a whole sci-fi Stargate or Wormhole plot thing, there really would never be a question as to whether John and Nat would reunite – of course they would. The only other reason to do it the long-way would be through Nat’s travel complications to introduce a new bad guy (“I followed the girl’s ship to this new world, ripe for conquering Mwah Ha Ha” – insert bad guy here). But they can still do all that in flashback if they want to next season. I expect there’ll be a Nat’s journey flashback in S2. So the show really has done a great job of set-up for next year.
I’m surprised JH wasn’t more about trying to build a way back to his timeline in the few downtimes when people asked him, “So what are your plans for the future?”JH mentioned on multiple occasions he thought his daughter was dead, and this puzzled me because she’s clearly alive. I’m not sure if he assumed she was dead because his world was still at war (they’re still at war, right?) or something happened I had forgotten about, or if he was just resigned to never going home again.
I think he just assumed the worst. Plus it seems like the show planned this for the surprise tease for next season.
Nice of the season to end on BBQ Time! It’ll be curious to see where they go from here since now more so then before everything is now situated in Smallville.I’m not surprised that Nat made it to Earth-1, she’s too important a character to just let die. And I’m curious to see how the show handles her dynamics with the Kent-Lanes.I’m also not surprised that Edge survived. I figured that he would be revealed as still being himself under all the Eradicator stuff. I don’t know if he’ll be back at all after this but I guess we’ll see.
– Just… a hand wave. An excuse. SOME reason why nobody ever thought to call Kara. Please. – I legit thought Kyle would have died by season’s end. Surprised he survived.- Speaking of the Cushings, why give them a second daughter if she’s only going to get about 10 minutes of screen time?- I wish more time had been spent on Lois exploring Jordan’s mind. I feel like we saw more of Edge’s Papa there than Jordan. – I know why they did it, but I wish Possessed!Jordan spoke with his normal voice, just a bit deeper, rather than the obvious ADR echo voice.- That shot of the mountain exploding when John’s hammer hit Edge was spectacular.
They haven’t mentioned Kara at all and the perfect opportunity would have been when Chrissy asked if people will be afraid of Krytonians (or something to that effect) and Clark replied, “in other words me” and not “my cousin and myself”.I know there were some changes from Crisis, but it did leave the room open for there to still be multiple earths. Maybe we shouldn’t be so certain they are on the same world. I mean, I’m sorry and maybe this is old-school sexist, but when Clark revealed himself to his sons, neither of them said anything about how they’d have to take down their Supergirl poster or redefine it to be a cousin pic.They both play Superman video games, so if she exists in their world, there should be fan posters, celerity gossip or a video game about Supergirl.
This whole season has been a never-ending list of moments where they could’ve easily worked in a casual name-drop/reference to Kara, and yet absolutely nothing. For a show that claims to be in the Arrowverse, I just keep getting the sense that they really want absolutely nothing to do w/ the Arrowverse, which is just a shame to say the least
Maybe we shouldn’t be so certain they are on the same world.
Except Diggle showed up
There is always going to be this uneasy question on Arrowverse Earth Prime as to why a global crisis, like Edge making a new Krypton, doesn’t bring all the superheroes together. They could have thrown in a “A couple of those Krytonians just showed up in Central City. Kara’s got her hands full” to excuse her absence but I am just not sure about that. Supergirl starts back up in a week and there I doubt anyone will mention of what happened in Smallville. They have enough plot holes to fill in for their own show. I think it would be cool if the entire next seasons of Flash, Supergirl and Superman and Lois were built with a crossover premise but contractually and logistically it would be a nightmare.
I’ve said for a year now that the best plan for Flash would be to re-tool into a Brave and the Bold type of show, with no story arc having more than about 4-5 episodes in it. Rotate the heroes so we get different combinations with Flash.
Pretty sure that’s actually what the first five episodes of next season of the Flash are.
There is always going to be this uneasy question on Arrowverse Earth Prime as to why a global crisis, like Edge making a new Krypton, doesn’t bring all the superheroes together.I mentioned this in one of the Legends recaps talkbacks, but yeah this is a new problem specific to Earth Prime. Back when you had just Green Arrow, Flash and the Legends, the problems were fairly localized unless there was the annual crossover. Superman & Lois is really the first series to broach global-spanning attacks that would actually necessitate additional heroes to help out.
“I think it would be cool if the entire next seasons of ‘Flash’, ‘Supergirl’, and ‘Superman and Lois’….”The current season of “Supergirl” is its last. It was not renewed.*
I get the Kara thing, but it’s not like people ask these questions in the comics all the time. Like, Superman could literally solve almost all of Batman’s cases. Also, the promos for the new eps of Supergirl at least reminded us that, i guess she was in the Phantom Zone this whole time?
And yeah, I think the producers are really regretting giving the Cushings another kid. She’s even more useless than the brother on Stargirl.
In addition to Kara, it seems like Barry and J’Onn would have been QUITE helpful. J’Onn is one of the only beings on Earth (Prime) that we have seen so far with power levels capable of going toe to toe with a Kryptonian…and one with mental powers, no less, which seems relevant to the plot to take over human minds. And Barry? Well, if Clark really was feeling like he couldn’t find his son, you would think his first call would be to his friend, the Fastest Man Alive.I grant that it is important for the show to establish its own identity and not simply do continuity and fan service, plus there were logistical wrinkles due to COVID filming, BUT to have so almost zero connective tissue even in dialogue is a bit crazy, especially after the establishment of the Hall of Justice after Crisis for…well, one would think, just such an occasion.If they can have Dig show up and have dialogue explaining why contacting Lyla at ARGUS wouldn’t help, it’s not too much for us to ask about the other Arrowverse heroes. Without even seeing them on camera, it would have been nice just to hear that J’Onn was running support behind the scenes or that Barry was running laps of the globe in a desperate bid to help locate Jordan, to say nothing of whatever Kara has her hands full with. Just give us a little something!
Or J’onn. It’s really not hard. Arrow did it really easy with Constantine. Oliver just said he was literally in Hell.
Obviously they weren’t going to do this, but when the spaceship crashed at the end, I was hoping Kara would pop out and say “Hey, I’m back! OK, watch my series returning next week in this exact time slot!”
I’ve written this a number of times. Superman and Lois works if it is set a year or two ahead. This would be after Supergirl has left earth, or wherever she is going after her series ends, and perhaps explains the new Fortress. It also explains why Diggle showed no signs of his major headaches when he was in Smallville.
“Just… a hand wave. An excuse. SOME reason why nobody ever thought to call Kara. Please.”Like in comic books, you have to accept that other superheroes are dealing with their own equally-important supervillains. Otherwise every episode of this series you could have Supergirl or Flash or etc show up and they and Clark could team-up on the villain and easily dispatch them.You might as well be complaining about why no one recognizes Clark as Superman. You just have to go with it.
Well, that was pretty great. I have to admit I was a huuuge skeptic coming into this show, but it has surprised me for all the reasons Caroline outlined. It changed, got things wrong, but got a *lot* of things right.So, thanks to the Superman & Lois team for an excellent season of exciting TV. And ty Siede for covering this!
The mind visit scene would have been way more effective to me if it had been Sarah instead of Lois, which honestly says a lot about how this show has written its teens like real, consequential people and not just children of main characters.This show set itself a high bar for season 2 in just about every way, from story to acting to cinematography and sound. Based on this season, I am pretty optimistic they can maintain that level.
I thought it should have been Jonathan. The twin bond should have been what they counted on to get through to him. We’ve certainly seen more of their bond this season than either boy’s bond with Lois.
Yeah, that would also have made perfect sense. Probably more since he was already there & Lois could’ve held the rifle.
But that would mean Sarah would most likely learn about Jordan’s powers and that his father is Superman. I assume there may be a reveal planned in some future season but not at the end of Season 1.
That is a great point that never even occurred to me.
Yeah, I have to say from a writing perspective this was probably the best 1st season of any Arrowverse show. It seems like the show has a strong grasp of the fundamentals, not just endless plot twists like Arrow or one compelling villain like The Flash.
I’m sure if someone thought about, John Henry and his daughter could travel the country in their RV, helping people fighting against stacked odds and mega-villains. Sort of like The Pretender with tech, MacGyver with strength, Quantum Leap without all the body-switching, plus a single father of a daughter who can add some teen angst.It would also keep him handy and under contract for big fights and crossover events.
Like this entire season, the finale was strong. I’m torn about the cliffhanger, which didn’t feel like the best scene to end the season on, but the concept definitely works. Very curious about where Season 2 heads, since there’ve been no hints about the next villain.
I prefer this kind of cliffhanger to some ominous unknown villain that we often get. It’s a little more interesting, and I’d rather see more of Nat than whatever the next villain is. Though I wouldn’t totally rule out Nat being a source of trouble. Heck, maybe it’s not even the Nat from John Irons’ earth.
I did like that Leslie Larr made a comment about “you’re not prepared for what’s coming”, which in context suggested that if EradiEdge had succeeded, he’d also actually be responsible for stopping some looming threat (given that the planet would be full of superpeople). At least, I hope that’s what it meant; I’m pretty sure she wasn’t saying it in relation to Edge creating an army, as clearly everyone did know that was his plan.
I initially thought it was a bit weird to even give it cliffhanger esque music. However thinking about it this is a show about family, familial connections and parenthood. Also I guess with alt universe stuff whilst nurture may change and change who you are, you’re still biologically the same person? Thus a child of alt you is going to feel quite different from a person who fell in love with an alt you but you’ve never met before. That child could essentially be yours (if women could have children without knowing about it..) Especially once you factor in Lois’ lost Natalie
The show’s been able to marry crazy superhero stuff with small scale stuff fairly well. An alternative universe child version of the “child you didn’t know you had” would fit fairly well into what the shows doing
Things are going to get pretty awkward next season as far as people from different universes are concerned…
When the series began, I wasn’t sure that I’d stay with it. Thanks to the WB, I’d already seen more than enough of both Smallville and angsty teens grousing about having superpowers. As much as I loved the actors playing Superman and Lois, I felt Smallville was too small scale for them. The mid-season changes really turned things around. The general unpleasantness of Kyle, General Lane, “Captain Luthor,” and those goddamn kids was dialed down. The football subplot was taken out behind the barn. The reveal of Steel was a punch-the-air twist/retcon. And finally, the effects sequences finally had the epic quality worthy of the Man of Steel. (Basically, this show is, “What if the Arrowverse, but with a budget?”)
Plus the fact that Tyler Hoechlin really IS Superman now. I think he nails but Clark and Superman, with just enough difference between them when he has to. And I was really not sold on Bitsy Tulloch when this started, but totally on board now.
Hoechlin is arguably only second to Reeve at this point, and it might just be my own bias from proclaiming him the best live-action Superman ever. His Clark Kent is both winningly dorky and emotionally vulnerable.Not 100% sure where I’d place Tulloch in the pantheon of Loises, though I certainly don’t question her in the role. Margo Kidder is #1, of course, and I have a lot of affection for Erica Durance. I have no problem believing that Bitsy’s Lois is a tough-as-nails investigative reporter.
Tulloch is the perfect mix of Kidder and Durance I think. And I think if this show goes on long enough, Hoechlin could surpass Reeve. Routh was just a little too earnest, but Hoechlin does a great balance between the nerdy and heroic. I also like how when he’s just around his family, even as Superman, he still acts like Clark.
Speaking of characters who came a long way, that photo of Jonathan Kent really looks like the actual child of Hoechlin and Tulloch. At the start of the series he seemed like his only acting method was “young Scott Caan” but he’s much more tolerable now.
I’d put Steel in the “twist” and not “retcon” category. The “Captain Luthor” was definitely designed to throw us off. It should have been more obvious with the steal armor and a bald, black man using it. When the name “John Henry Irons” came up we knew. Sure, the writers and showrunners adapted and changed stuff around but the Steel reveal was most likely planned from the start.
There’s some posts by one of the S1 writers on social media that suggest that this in fact WASN’T the day one plan. And it came about more because they went and cast a black man for Captain Luthor, and it was pointed out in the writers room how it didn’t make for the greatest of optics.
I am glad that Lana & to a lesser extent the rest of her family are staying on Smallville/ the show. Also liked her returning Clark’s mention of meeting her best friend in Smallville. Their relationship was a bit underserved this year but the seeds were laid for doing more with it I think, including Kyle’s obviously being threatened by her emotional closeness with Clark, though it was only ever touched on lightly. Natalie showing up at the end and being stunned to see her “mom,” and Lois more quietly being equally stunned to see the daughter (named after her grandmother) that she never had on this earth was an amazing lead in to next season I think. I assume John Henry will now take Lois & Clark up on their offer for him to stay and help Clark run the farm & blend their families for the sake of her daughter, so she will have a mom again (and siblings for the first time), despite how it hurts him to see Lois with someone else.
You just reminded me of one thing I meant to include in my post. I LOVE that they never showed Clark having one nanosecond of doubt or jealousy about John Henry. Their love is so strong and true that even her husband from another timeline showing up can’t touch it. This show has made that such a strong foundation and it’s great.
The episode that had flashbacks to Clark & Lois falling in love was just great. You saw how it happened gradually for her & as Clark told his mother, he knew as soon as he met her
I thought that might have been the rare A+ episode. The show really threw down a marker and said, “We are taking our seat at the table with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, and Smallville AND Lois & Clark …” and they pretty much proved they deserve to be in that company.
Maybe just long enough until the pieces for a Steel series are in place.
When they came back from commercial and Clark’s voiceover started, I thought he had gone back to being a journalist and this was an article he had written. I was surprisingly happy about that, and about the show remembering that he’s a talented writer. Then they showed the interview and it was sad trombone time. I hope that next season they do remember that he’s a journalist and that he goes to work with Lois and Chrissy. At the very least, Mr. Assistant Coach can cover high school sports for them.I can’t get over how true to life Jonathan feels to me. I think it’s in the Legends review where she often points out the need to balance superheroics with genuine characters. I think that’s a lesson the makers of Superman and Lois have learned well. Lord knows I felt every moment of Sarah dealing with her dad’s alcoholism. I hope the show continues to keep this in mind. If it does, it could easily become the best Beeboverse show, if Legends ever, Beebo forbid!, goes off the air.
It would be a hell of an acerbic twist for literal Paragon Clark Kent to become mad with power … once he becomes a Local Sports Take Guy.
This! Previous eps showed how good of a reporter he is and I’d like to see more of that.
I mean, for all the grand talk of Lois and Chrissy about the Gazette… what the F are they actually gonna do? And it’s just the two of them? So yeah, Clark starting to work there too definitely makes a lot of sense, even though you’d have to be totally delusional to think you’re gonna “build something great” with a small town newspaper in 2021.
I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to cheat and have the Smallville Gazette magically become the exclusive source of Superman interviews and whatnot. Which is kind of hilariously awesome and “true” (such as it is.) That is indeed what it would take for a small town newspaper to remain solvent in 2021.
I’m sure it’ll be until season 6 before some “sleuth” starts wondering why the Smallville Gazette is the only paper getting Superman stories, or starts digging into why Superman seems to be hanging around some small town so much.
That later bit is the thing that’s been getting me with most of the Arrowverse shows. Everyone is a super, nobody has a normal life we get to see. Like, on Supergirl, the only characters who aren’t superheroes or directly involved in superheroism are William & Kelly and the latter is apparently not staying that way for long. I miss these people having normal lives.
Are we totally sure that the Nat who shows up is the Nat from John Henry Irons’ world? Could she actually be the villain next season?
Doubtful, with all the potential familial connections I’m pretty sure the most antagonistic she’s going to get is over Superman killing her mom.
This didn’t work well for me. Why do people with Kryptonian minds suddenly get powers? They did have Edge toss X-Kryptonite into the beam when he reformed the useless defense council, but others seemed to get them no matter what? Also does Jordan have full kryptonian powers or not? Lame Jor-El said he’d never have full powers in an early episode, but now hes flying etc?The small town paper thing felt tired to me. Also Lois sells a brownstone in Metropolis but can only afford to buy half that paper with no subscribers in a dying town? C’mon.Zeta Rho says he sacrificed his son, but at the end Edge is just fine and dandy? They also clearly had NO idea what to do with Leslie Larr (smoking hot, btw) and it really showed.Nat shows up, so I guess we’re gonna have to deal with Evil Supes next season. Perhaps Clark can call in some of his super pals for backup if COVID allows. I’d like to see him do a teamup with the LOSH too, since Supergirl’s showrunner being a piece of garbage human wrecked that for us.The one thing the show did get CONSISTENTLY right in its first season is Superman. Tyler is an awesome Clark/Kal and they showed a full range of vast power. VERY well done.
I’d say they did Lois justice too. The twins weren’t bad either.Honestly, the show has a lot going for it. Obviously being part of the Beeboverse is an albatross around its neck. I think I’ve used up all my free swings at it for that in these comments sections.I do tend to disagree with the reviewer that the show improved due to ramping up its plot, though. The show had good enough writing, acting, and cinematography that I would’ve stuck around for a season-long story about trying to raise a superpowered kid with preexisting emotional issues, and his twin who’s suddenly gone from golden boy to mere mortal… and, of course, making the highly questionable decision to take them out of their ‘home’ environment to a dying small town because of dad’s nostalgia.
If they’d included only minor Superman plots to reinforce dad’s split loyalties, that would’ve been fine. If they’d settled on just one major background mystery, also fine – even better if it was something for Lois to sink her teeth into that maybe wasn’t even connected to Super-mythology at all!To me, the ramped-up plotting felt a little bit like a bait and switch, and also a little bit sweaty. I don’t literally think that they panicked and suddenly turned Morgan Edge into Superman’s brother in some meeting halfway through the season’s filming or whatever, but still.
Edge’s previous victims got Kryptonian powers because they’d been exposed to X-Kryptonite via the mines in Smallville over many years. That was why he had to be in Smallville, only the residents there were “compatible” enough to receive both the Kryptonian consciousnesses and powers. That was also the cause of Tag’s powers from earlier in the season – Jordan’s heat vision caused an X-Kryptonite explosion that gave him unstable Kryptonian powers.
Edge-as-Eradicator would appear to have greater powers than the large machine version, though, as he can give consciousnesses to anyone (those soldiers weren’t Smallville residents) and just toss them an X-Kryptonite crystal to add powers.
The X-K stuff technically holds together internally, but it just feels bad.X-K, tonight, is revealed as the secret sauce that allows Kryptonians-in-human-suits to have their Kryptonians-with-yellow-suns superpowers.That mostly hangs together with the rest of the season. Mostly.The previous episode is a little hinky, sure. John Henry’s radar suddenly detects four new Kryptonian signatures that were there all along, and who were, ostensibly (based on tonight’s reveal) already dosed with magic yellow space rock before Superman and Irons showed up. That’s not great.But it’s also not fatal.Everything feels rushed and muddled for sure, though. I think that’s because The Mystery Of The Yellow Space Rock was originally intended to be a much more dominant plot thread in the season. Maybe the season was always going to be overstuffed. Maybe, after that non-body-snatched teenager got unstable superpowers, the writers got scared that they were veering too close to Smallville (the show) 2.0 territory and backed off.A few more scenes here and there could’ve smoothed this out a lot. Imagine a scene where Edge/Zeta talk about how body-snatching humans is actually super easy, and the difficulties only arise because they’re also trying to give them superpowers. Edge argues that every Kryptonian life matters and they should just get them all inside human suits ASAP. Zeta does another fun Krypto-Nazi rant about how powers are everything and a few Krypto lives for the sake of future Krypto superiority is a small price to pay. Bing bang boom, Bob’s your uncle, X-K only has one singular function, comic book logic is satisfied.That does leave the issue of why that teenager’s powers were unstable, so, okay, one more scene. But then you’ve got yourselves a better-paced expositional arc, and one that reinforces some characters and themes along the way. It even makes Edge slightly more sympathetic, for a minute.
I don’t like pulling the “when you’re a parent” card, because there’s a perception that it’s anecdotal, and therefore not as valid, BUT…As a parent, Lois’s lines hit me hard in the feels. Her faith in the strength of her children and the strength of her own motherhood was so heartwarming. It’s wonderful to get validation and encouragement from your parents; it’s even more gratifying to be able to give that validation and encouragement to your kids as a parent, because you’re remembering and knowing how it feels to be in their place. As a co-parent, hearing the other parent remind and reassure the other of their strengths when it comes to their kids is heartwarming as well.I frickin’ love this show.
I really hope they bring Leslie Larr back next season, not necessarily as the primary vision, but just in the mix. I love how menacing she is & how she specifically does not like Lois. She also has none of the personal doubts & hesitation we saw with Edge. She just goes hard & fair enough
I do like the offhanded revelation that “Leslie Larr” is a Kryptonian name — some line like “Edith Forbush is gone, now there is just Leslie Larr” a couple of episodes ago.
Heh, I liked to flashback montage of Nat just to help conceal the ending for anyone who noticed her actress in the credits.
I feel like maybe the Ironses are going to stick around Smallville. The way they had Natalie say “mom?” makes me feel like they’ll want to capitalize on a Lois / Natalie relationship: basically, why put that in there if not to use it?And I say, good! As noted, this show has enough sense to go in unplanned directions when it would be promising to do so, and I think I like the idea of an extended Superman family in Smallville.People have been asking where Kara is, but as far as I’m concerned, this is an earth that never had a Kara. This is not to say I don’t enjoy the heck out of Supergirl! But I do think a series needs to arrange its setting the way that best allows it to tell a story. Superman’s the only superhero on this particular earth, even though he looks just like the Superman from Supergirl’s earth; so be it.For the record, I’m still mad that Crisis on Infinite Earths put Black Lightning on the same world as everyone else. That pretty much destroyed half the premises that made “Black Lightning” work.
It would make more sense that if there is still an Arrowverse, that Superman and Lois is ahead in the timeline by a year or two. That would be after Supergirl’s series is over and she is no longer on Earth.
Since her name is half the title, Lois should’ve been a bigger part of the finale.
It’s cool that they give Steel so many big hero moments.
Episodes ten & twelve both feel like they could’ve been season
finales before fifteen. They’re variations on a theme of body hijacking
that get resolved with surprising ease. So none of them reach full
dramatic impact. Maybe they could’ve smushed them together for one epic
finale? Separating them loses narrative momentum as episodes need to be
padded out with domestic scenes that are less gripping the further away
they’re from the core Lane-Kent unit. Perhaps they should’ve just pick
one (Smallvillians, Superman, Jordan) to really delve into.
Just like the first two Supergirl finales,
this ends with a spacecraft crashing to Earth. Inside is Natalie Irons.
She’s way more endearing than Mon-El! Are they going to be using her as
Steel II, or will we meet Prime Earth’s Natasha Irons?
Although I’m always game for more of Jon Cryer’s Lex, season two needs fresh threats. Cast Alexandra Daddario as Faora/Ursa, you cowards! I will also accept her & Kate Easton as Lashina & Mad Harriet if they’re allowed to use the Female Furies.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/08/18/does-superman-lois-hammer-the-beeboverse-into-shape/
I honestly didn’t expect Alt-Earth Nat to turn up. I only hope we don’t get another season worth of “I don’t trust Superman” from her, since her dad can just say “Oh no, we’re mates now, he’s alright.” and “We’re on another Earth, roll with it.”I think this show’s done a really good job of showing that Superman can be overwhelmed – not overpowered, as such, but taken off-guard. Killgrave did it by using a weapon Clark didn’t expect, and Edge did it by targeting his family. Since Killgrave (and the superpowered goons at the start of the season) set this precedent, I found it easier to believe that, oh shit, Superman really is facing a serious threat this time (especially given how he and Lois tend to hand-wave away things with “you’ve dealt with worse threats”, which should undermine any danger but ended up giving our heroes a false sense of confidence, if anything).Fingers crossed we get some kind of team-up or clear explanation why no other heroes were mentioned, except in passing by Diggle. Also, will we get an end to his ‘glowing green box’ arc???
I honestly didn’t expect Alt-Earth Nat to turn up. I only hope we don’t get another season worth of “I don’t trust Superman” from her, since her dad can just say “Oh no, we’re mates now, he’s alright.” and “We’re on another Earth, roll with it.”I think this show’s done a really good job of showing that Superman can be overwhelmed – not overpowered, as such, but taken off-guard. Killgrave did it by using a weapon Clark didn’t expect, and Edge did it by targeting his family.Since Killgrave (and the superpowered goons at the start of the season) set this precedent, I found it easier to believe that, oh shit, Superman really is facing a serious threat this time (especially given how he and Lois tend to hand-wave away things with “you’ve dealt with worse threats”, which should undermine any danger but ended up giving our heroes a false sense of confidence, if anything).Fingers crossed we get some kind of team-up or clear explanation why no other heroes were mentioned, except in passing by Diggle. Also, will we get an end to his ‘glowing green box’ arc???
I get that nobody recognizing Superman for Clark is part of the Canon, but it’s almost ridiculous when an evil superhuman being kidnaps a teenager and his mother, his grandfather, and his brother all come to help but his loving father isn’t anywhere around to try to help out. I’d like to see them show more of the “superhero” side of Clark as Clark, not Superman.
A smarter show would have had Kara’s boots laid up on a lab table as a callback to Superman’s (unintentionally hilarious) status in that Supergirl S1 finale.Anyway, at least this mess of a season ended on a good run, but the farm setting is still an absolute drag that needs to die a merciful death. The best stretch of the season, by far, was all the flashback stuff in Metropolis a couple of episodes ago – more of that and it’ll be a stronger show. At the very least it’ll give Clark something to do when he’s not in the cape.
This show looks gorgeous and the acting has been stellar. Especially the leads. The actual plot has been okay. It definitely ended better than it began. The sole thing I did not like was the whole pod crashing with Iron’s daughter in it. It was already done in Supergirl at the end of season 1 and here it is especially hard to believe, since Iron’s daughter is from another Earth. It was rather ham fisted and reminds me more of what the arrowverse does than the raised bar this show has been.
I question the wisdom of robbing your main villain of what little personality he has for the final two episodes, and having him basically spend them just standing around and glaring at people.Also, please PLEASE don’t tell me Sam Lane is stepping down just so we can get a new hard-ass DOD commander for next season, or that Nat is going to go through the same “learning to trust Superman” character arc that John Henry did.
Damn no Kara? Lol
Like in comic books, just assume that other heroes are currently having their own adventures, dealing with their own supervillains, and can’t rush over and help resolve the plot in 5 minutes.Otherwise every Batman issue would end in 3 pages with Bruce calling Superman for help and he shows up and defeats all the villains.