Welp, Superman & Lois escalated quickly
After a slow start to the season, Superman & Lois is burning through plot faster than a speeding bullet
TV Reviews Lois
You know how high school goes. One day you’re running football drills, the next you’re kindly explaining to your friend that her dad was body snatched by an evil alien consciousness. As evidenced by the DOD trucks driving down a now fully militarized Smallville, things have escalated rather quickly on Superman & Lois. “O Mother, Where Art Thou?” basically plays like a season finale, complete with a tragic villain origin story, a massive action climax, and several heartwrenching family reunions. But there are still five episodes of the season left, and given the speed with which Superman & Lois is burning through story lately, it’s anyone’s guess as to where things go from here.
“O Mother, Where Art Thou?” does at least provide some concrete answers to this season’s big mysteries. The episode quickly confirms that Morgan Edge isn’t just Clark’s Kryptonian brother in a metaphorical sense, but in a literal one too. They share the same mother, Lara Lor-Van, who had a “genetically matched” first marriage to a man named Zeta-Rho and bore him a son they named Tal-Rho. When Lara later fell in love with Jor-El, she left her first family behind to start a new one. And when she started to warn about Krypton’s impending destruction, Zeta-Rho decided to send a 10-ish-year-old Tal-Rho to Earth to further the Kryptonian race. Young Tal-Rho landed in England where he was immediately hunted, captured, imprisoned, and experimented on. So he grew up to be Morgan Edge—a ruthless businessman with a life-long goal of resurrecting Krypton.
To be honest, it took me two viewings just to get all that straight (and that’s not even getting into the whole “Eradicator” of it all yet). Though the flashback imagery of Edge’s youth is compellingly unnerving, his story is also a lot to take in on a show that hasn’t really made Kryptonian history or society a major part of its storytelling. While Supergirl always presented a crystal-clear timeline for Krypton’s destruction and how Kara and her family fit into it, everything on Superman & Lois is far more nebulous. Skipping over the familiar beats of Superman’s backstory in favor of a fresh adventure was one of the initial selling points of Superman & Lois. But now that the show is throwing new wrinkles into his Kryptonian heritage, the whole thing is starting to feel abstract at best and downright confusing at worst.
What Superman & Lois really needs is a big old exposition dump. But instead it keeps letting information trickle out in confusingly underplayed ways. I still wonder if whatever scene was meant to kick off this “Kryptonian consciousness” storyline got cut, and that’s why the whole thing has felt so weirdly rushed and underbaked. “O Mother, Where Art Thou?” eventually reveals that Edge is pulling his Kryptonian army from a machine called the “Eradicator,” which Lara built in order to store the minds of seemingly the entire planet the same way Jor-El is stored in his Fortress of Solitude crystal. Lara envisioned it as a way to preserve Kryptonian culture, but Zeta-Rho instructed his son to use it to colonize another planet and restore Krypton instead. Yet the reveal raises as many questions as answers. For instance, why are all the Kryptonian consciousnesses so eager to help Edge conquer the Earth when they’re ostensibly a peaceful race? Also, why the hell would Lara name what’s essentially meant to be a living history museum an “Eradicator”?
Superman & Lois is proving to be much better at small-scale character work than big-scale plotting, which is why the best sequence in “O Mother, Where Art Thou?” is its simplest. When Lana overhears that Superman needs someone to host his mother’s consciousness, she doesn’t hesitate to volunteer. She wants a chance to make up for working for Edge. And she wants to save not just her family, but her whole community too. Emmanuelle Chriqui gives a standout performance this week, both as a scared but steely Lana, and as Clark’s calm, collected mother, Lara.
Giving Clark a chance to meet his long-lost birth mother is a lovely addition to Superman & Lois’ central family theme. Lara and Jor-El sent their infant son to Earth with the hope that he would help create a better world there in the way they wanted to on Krypton. And now Lara gets a chance to see her baby boy all grown up, living out her dreams with a family of his own. Given how often Jor-El is the only parent put front and center in Superman’s story, it’s nice to see Lara given the same treatment for once. And it’s also nice that Superman & Lois finds time to honor Martha Kent alongside Clark’s birth mother too.
In fact, there are plenty of great character moments in this episode, from Lana’s disbelief at seeing Superman in person for the first time to Jonathan angrily calling out his grandfather’s lack of humanity. But I’m finding it hard to fully invest in those compellingly human moments when the plot around them is so haphazardly madcap. No sooner has this episode revealed the terrifying extent of Edge’s Smallville brainwashing than Clark has solar-flared his way into saving the town. After a season of build-up, it’s a strangely rushed way to wrap up that storyline. (Although it’s also possible there’s still more in store for it too. It’s hard to tell on this show.)
It’s worth acknowledging that I seem to be a little less high on this show than the general fan reaction, so it’s possible I’m getting caught up on things that most viewers are willing to let slide. But particularly in the second half of the season, it feels like Superman & Lois is continually piling on new complications when a little streamlining could go a long way. For instance, one interesting idea buried in this overstuffed episode is about the luck involved in Clark’s origin story. Part of the reason he grew up to be a hero is because he happened to be taken in by two kind, protective parents who instilled a sense of responsibility in him. Edge, meanwhile, was immediately met with hatred and fear on Earth, and let those qualities define his own worldview.
While Clark is fueled by the spirit of a well-adjusted Smallville teen, Edge is fueled by the fear of a scared, abused boy. Even more so than making them literal brothers, that contrast is an interesting parallel for the two Kryptonians (as is the fact that Edge actually remembers Krypton, while Clark only has memories of Earth). Hopefully next week’s flashback-heavy episode will let ideas like that shine through even more strongly without all the convoluted plot weighing them down.
Stray observations
- If there was ever a time to mention Kara, it surely would’ve been this episode. Instead, “O Mother, Where Art Thou?” all but confirms that Superman & Lois exists in a different continuity than its ostensible parent series
- I know it’s a comic book convention, but it seems needlessly confusing that this show now has a Lana, a Lara, and a Leslie Larr.
- Did the Jor-El hologram continue to age throughout Clark’s life on Earth or was he just a really old first-time dad?
- Love how quickly Lois went from threatening to cut her dad out of her life for developing Kryptonite weapons to punching Kyle with a piece of Kryptonite.
- It’s lucky all the host bodies didn’t just fall out of the sky when Clark zapped them back into being human!
- So who’s going to have side effects from Clark’s Reverse-Eradicator solar flare? It certainly seems like Sarah was in especially close range to the blast.
144 Comments
Oh wow, there’s still 5 episodes left? I thought we were closer to the end than that.I did like the character moments with Lana, Lara, and the Kent kids but the main plot was very rushed. They really just workshopped the whole series during the break didn’t they?How did Leslie avoid getting Eradicated?
Lara mentioned the process can only be reversed before the host mind is fully gone (days to weeks). All the Smallville victims were recent (Kyle said the previous morning for him), Leslie is not. I’m actually wondering if some are not fully clear of it. The blast likely would weaken them regardless. (I’m also betting they did hit the ground hard, but the Kryptonian durability didn’t fade instantaneously, or they still have it). After all Tag still has powers without the Kryptonian mind.Edge is obviously falling back on plan B. 😬
Regarding hitting the ground hard, my head canon until told otherwise is that each Kryptonian consciousness used its final act to save its human host out of altruism and / or hope of coming back to the same host.
Lara said the process could be reversed if the host hadn’t fully merged with its Kryptonian yet. Leslie seems to have been the earliest successful subject & therefore fully stabilized.
“They really just workshopped the whole series during the break didn’t they?”Worked for Charmed.… Wait.
The season was supposed to be only 11 episodes or something like that, but got extended a few extra episodes at the last minute.
Which means expect a Chuck-like situation where next week feels like a season finale, and then the final few episodes are their own little mini-arc.
Judging by the previews for next week’s ep, it does look like they’re doing some Christmas Carol-esque walk through the past. So nothing that will really affect the overall plot.
I thought it was because she was out of the blast radius. But the biggest question really is why when all those humans turned back into humans while they were 500 feet in the air… why are they all still alive?
I assumed Clark scooped them all and brought them to safety before rushing for the Fortress.
They really just workshopped the whole series during the break didn’t they?These past few episodes have been so packed, it kind of seems like it. Even the reveal of “the stranger” as John Henry Irons and not Luthor seems like a retcon. Why would he ask his Alexa to call him “Luthor”?
He didn’t, he tricked it into thinking he was Luthor because he stole it from him.
ah that makes more sense, I didn’t catch that. Recent episodes have picked up the pace, I guess I missed some expository dumps.
Yeah, this was madcap. Lot of plot details were glossed over or streamlined; I thought finding Edge’s tech guy was so easy it was a setup, but nope! Impossible to re-tool the eradicator to restore everyone at the same time, but nope they get it done. Need to speak to Lara? Oh there’s a quick way to resurrect her. At least they paused briefly to ask why Lara doesn’t get a crystal in the fortress, and that’s because it was stolen. That’s not a bad explanation.The Lana scenes were great and I appreciated how quickly they got everyone on the same page instead of hiding secrets from each other. I honestly think it was the wrong decision to show Sarah her dad, and Jonathan comes off a little hypocritical considering some of his grandfather’s decisions saved their lives.It’s lucky all the host bodies didn’t just fall out of the sky when Clark zapped them back into being human!This felt like the writers fudging it. Maybe there could’ve been an insert of everyone gently falling as their powers faded, but yeah I was expecting a literal “Rain of the Supermen.”
I get where Jonathan’s coming from, he thought it was better to know the truth then to think that her dad had fucked up again.
You know they said that when the Kryptonian consciousness takes over a human body it eventually supplants it’s host after a fight. One wonders if the human host is aware of what is happening at first and knows what the Kryptonian is up to before being submerged too far. If they are aware then it is possible that Lana was aware when Superman referred to Lois as the love of his life and thus knows Superman=Clark. Probably not but it’s a thought.I’m also surprised that Lois didn’t use the surefire argument against Lana taking on Supes’s mom. If it turned out they couldn’t reverse the process or something went wrong her daughters were going to loose both parents in a day. That said they obviously weren’t going to kill both parents (not to mention half of Smallville) so I’m probably overthinking it.
If Lana retained awareness, she should definitely know Clark’s secret now, yes.
They were able to specifically fish out Clark’s mother, I think that heavily implies that Edge was resurrecting specific people that were on mission with his dad. Still lasering people to death would require you to definitely be a psychopath.
Morgan Edge went from being discount Lex Luthor to discount General Zod. Where did Tal-Rho get a rocket from? Does he not know about Argo? When did Lara have time to upload so many Kryptonian minds into The Eradicator? If it just downloaded their minds into humans, why do their new bodies still get superpowers? The Eradicator turns Clark’s ex-girlfriend into his mom. I don’t think this is supposed to be a separate continuity from Supergirl. It does seem to set in 2021 whereas Supergirl is still in 2020. So either the writers don’t know or won’t spoil what happens to Kara by her series finale. If Kara is still active on Earth at the end, however, Melissa Benoist is too busy starring on her own show & raising her baby to guest appear for a story that would be relevant to her character.
“I don’t think this is supposed to be a separate continuity from Supergirl.”The complication I see is the boys’ ages. In “Supergirl”, Lois got pregnant like a year ago; doing some ciphering I figure that her boys would be … I don’t know, less than teenage-aged.
Crisis backdated the boys’ birth for Prime-Earth.
I think it’s funny that now we can have Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis discussions about continuity in the Arrowverse just like we did back in the 80’s after the comic book Crisis.
Also, I think the main difference between the Superman of John Henry Iron’s universe and the current Arrowverse is that JHI’s Superman was not married to Lois in that universe. Lois and his sons are his anchors to humanity in the current Arrowverse and why he will not turn on humanity on S&L (like Flash said in BvS, Lois is the key).
Wait until the Flash movie resets the timeline in the DCEU 🙂
In Supergirl it was also only one boy. Crisis did it.
It’s a different continuity. Not only did it go from infant to teenage twins, but Supergirl already featured a different Morgan Edge
Crisis On Infinite Earths happened.
Yes, but the producers are still mostly ignoring Supergirl and the Arrowverse continuity. Some of it has to do with with the pandemic, they’ve scrapped cross-overs so they played felt less beholden to connecting the tissue between the shows.
I was sure Supergirl already had a Morgan Edge too, but it turns out it was actually Maxwell Lord as basically the same sort of character (minus the Kryptonian part).
No, there was a Morgan Edge on Supergirl but he didn’t stick around and the character wasn’t developed.
Supergirl featured both. Maxwell Lord was played by Facinelli; Morgan Edge by Adrian Pasdar (and the show still managed to feature Lex Luthor and Zod)
Huh. I stand corrected. I guess Crisis did it.
Morgan Edge went from being discount Lex Luthor to discount General Zod.Actually [pushes up glasses] Lex Luthor was still an evil scientist when Morgan Edge debuted in 1970 as a ruthless capitalist who buys the Daily Planet. That predates Lex Luthor’s revision as evil ruthless businessman.
The Eradicator didn’t give Kryptonian powers by itself. The X-Kryptonite was the key to that part.
Right, but why did Edge’s recruits get the full buffet of sunlight-enhanced Kryptonian superpowers from X-Kryptonite whereas Tag only received superspeed?
I can’t recall if Tag was native to Smallville or not, so there’s that possibly at play. But also, Tag’s exposure was minor and not controlled, unlike the Eradicator/MRI machine process, and thus only partial and unstable powers.
Not to keep typing the same comments every week, but, yeah, the entire Arrowverse is avoiding even little easter eggs from other shows, much less plot points and characters (except the Diggle of it all).
Batwoman doesn’t mention Superman & Lois. They still exist in the same universe.
Flash doesn’t mention Supergirl. They still exist in the same universe.
Legends doesn’t mention Supergirl… well, actually, they did, but they’re just always extra. Always the exception to the rule.
I think COVID-19 delays + scheduling/airing wonkiness just made the traditional ‘blended universe’ a near impossibility for the shows. Which is fine! Let them be their own thing once in a while!
You can really feel the show fighting its chaotic Arrowverse-ness dna (zipping through convoluted yet underdeveloped plots that change from ep to ep) with the earnest tale of a family struggling to live and he happy.
This episode was darn solid, almost entirely by dint of the characters showing some intelligence. Most shows (especially CW Arrowverse shows) rely on characters being a little less intelligent than the viewer, but this one … this one demonstrates some good sense. Lana instantly stepping up rather than spending half an episode trying to decide whether she dare, Superman and Lois not trying too hard to talk her out of it because they know she’s right, Lois recommending that Superman appeal to Morgan Edge as a brother rather than an antagonist, Superman tricking the Eradicatatroids (I’m trademarking that) into helping him power up the Eradicator … this show doesn’t mind leaning towards the smart.“It’s lucky all the host bodies didn’t just fall out of the sky when Clark zapped them back into being human!” – I think Superman commented in “All Star Superman”, at one juncture where his powers were fading for lack of a yellow sun, that invulnerability is always the last power to go. So I’m going with that as the answer.As for the Eradicator, it’s a sentient computer from Krypton that first appeared in comics in the 80s or 90s, and its intention was to resurrect Krypton. I don’t think it ever exhibited brain-swappy powers before, but I could be wrong.Let us note in passing that Morgan Edge threatened that, if Kal-El wouldn’t join him, he’d be eradicated too. I think he chose the word “eradicated” carefully; the plan was to overwrite Clark’s brain. Presumably that happened on John Henry Irons’ world, but this world is just different enough that it didn’t happen here, and indeed the army of Kryptonians was destroyed before they could do much damage. Factors that perhap made the difference:- JHI’s warnings.- Superman having the support of the DOD and Smallville MVP Lana.- Lois giving Clark good advice for how to approach Edge.Still, Superman is de-powered, the Eradicator is still in play, and there are more episodes to go. I say my prediction will still come to pass, where Superman gets eradicated and he fights his way back in large measure because his family helps him find the motivation to fight it off.
“It’s lucky all the host bodies didn’t just fall out of the sky when Clark zapped them back into being human!” – I think Superman commented in “All Star Superman”, at one juncture where his powers were fading for lack of a yellow sun, that invulnerability is always the last power to go. So I’m going with that as the answer.Yeah, I’m willing to roll with that assumption as well. Wish they would have spent a couple of seconds showing how they fell to the ground, but oh well. Just one of those TV show things where we have to fill in the blanks.
Indeed, they could have shown the people getting up off the ground, their eyes glowing a feeble red that flickers and then finally disappears, and suddenly they all seem to snap back to their senses. That would have clarified things a bit.
You know what would be super dope? If in next week’s episode, we get to see Supes in a black and silver capeless recovery suit while he is recuperating in the Fortress. Even if the scene lasts for a few minutes… woooooo!!!!!
“You know what would be super dope?” – Yeah, if Silver Age Lois got super powers. Hey-oohhhhhhh!
Well, we did almost get Lana as Superwoman so maybe that’s something.
Lana instantly stepping up rather than spending half an episode trying to decide whether she dare, Superman and Lois not trying too hard to talk her out of it because they know she’s right I would argue the first sense is more conviction then sense. If she had taken half the episode to get her mind around taking on a Kryptonian conscious I couldn’t fault her. The positive of her courage is that we didn’t show didn’t spend half the episode spinning it’s wheels.I also disagree on the second point. Lana’s daughters had already potentially lost their father if this didn’t work they could have lost their mother on the same day (That possibility did exist. They surmised that the creator could reverse it, but since no one really knew the technology there was a chance they were wrong. After all Lana initially only copied the consciousnesses of the Kryptonians not pulled them entirely out of their bodies). You could make an argument that Lana was the last person who should have been doing this and there were certainly other women in the town. Just carry a piece of kryptonite with you to make sure the person you asked was clean.
“almost entirely by dint of the characters showing some intelligence.”I was SO relieved that Sarah didn’t let her dad out of the cell. I was fully expecting evil Kyle to pretend to be himself and beg Sarah to let him out.
Oh, so many questions with this one — even though I enjoyed it.1) How were they able to just fish Lara’s consciousness from the Eradicator ? (and I was almost right on that one last week)2) The human race is in danger and we have to have Lara devise an immediate solution, but let’s take time out for her to get all caught up on Kal’s life, shall we?3) How does implanting another consciousness convey super powers?4) Why do those powers manifest immediately, unlike Clark’s? Shouldn’t they have been as overwhelmed as Jordan was?
5) Why did Edge develop heat vision immediately after leaving his pod?6) With no kryptonite apparent, how did the British government keep him in that cell all those years?7) Once he escaped, how — and why — did he become a media mogul? 8) Wouldn’t someone in British intelligence have recognized one of the most powerful men in the world and warned Superman or anyone?9) Why do Kryptonians always want to take over the Earth? Why not just go to Mars and terraform it?10) I realize he’s traveling, but wouldn’t John Henry Irons — who has experience in fighting rogue Kryptonians — have come in handy in the fight?Yeah. We definitely need an info dump. I’m hoping we get some answers next week in what looks like a faux clip show (though I’ll be glad to see the Fleischer-inspired suit again).
Regarding 5 & 6 – he was kept in a cell with no access to the sun so his powers were severely diminished (good on the Brits for figuring that aspect out). When he was running through the prison, he noticed a window with sunlight and went towards it instead of turning the other way and “recharged” his batteries, giving him back his powers. The guards who were chasing him knew what this meant and that they were in deep doo-doo.
Good observation, and I also appreciate the user name, which is appropriate (at an odd angle) for this show.
If DC made a huge mistake and let me be an editor, and I had to come up with a new spin on Lex Luthor, I would recast him as very much like Doc Savage: adventurer, inventor, celebrity. He’d even be a pretty good guy too, with only two major character flaws: he expects to be treated as the most amazing guy in the room, and he’s really vain about his long flowing red hair. So when Superman shows up, can outdo him at every turn, and displaces Lex in public affection – all with a genuine humility – Lex seethes. And when the stress starts making his hair fall out, that’s when he decides Superman’s got to go.This would reconcile several versions of Lex (Silver Age hair grudge, Post Crisis businessman, mid-2000s tech genius) and perhaps return the tragic side of Lex: he probably could save the world, and would be willing to, but his hatred of Superman blinds him to everything else.
The window with sunlight was an idiot-ball moment for me – good on the Brits for catching on, why not keep him in an underground bunker or at least a facility without windows?
To be fair , in that part of the world no acccess to the Sun , is basically doable without a prison cell for most of the year as its so rainy and overcast , and for summer , they could send him west to Ireland , where its even worse!
Regarding 3 – Remember how Emily, Kyle, and others reported that they were smarter and more clear-headed after undergoing that nice Mr. Edge’s process? That suggests to me that the Eradicator process was doing more than putting a new personality in them; it was also reconfiguring them to be more Kryptonian.Which I guess would have to be part of Edge’s plan; a mere brain swappy gizmo would be of little use to him. “AT LAST, I, JAX-UR, DESTROYER OF WEGTHOR, LIVE AGAIN! … oh crap I’m in a normal human body.”
1) There probably had to be a way to select specific minds, otherwise it was really lucky that Edge managed to randomly grab people who were all in on Team Genocide.
For #3, the Eradicator does more than implant consciousness. It changes biology within the body itself and not anyone is able to survive it. The people of Smallville can due to their prolonged exposure to X-Kryptonite.#4, it’s prolly due to the fact that they’re injected with the powers and not manifested in a natural way. Plus unlike Jordan who got his powers all of a sudden without any experience, their consciousness is that of a veteran Kryptons ergo they already know how to use it.#5 unlike Clark, Edge wasn’t an infant when he escaped Krypton’s doom. It’s a good assumption that he already knew how to use his powers. Which is later confirmed as he runs towards the sunlight after kept in the dark for a long time.
#8, not really? I mean he escaped when he was a teenager and he more or less changed his identity. Obviously they’re not gonna have the information of him being the alien they captured.
#1 is what I came here to post about. At least in Man of Steel they had like a library-style Dewey Decimal/giant RNA tank where, one assumes, the central computer knew where each person’s imprint was kept. Here they plucked Lara from where exactly?
“2) The human race is in danger and we have to have Lara devise an immediate solution, but let’s take time out for her to get all caught up on Kal’s life, shall we?”When “Lara” was talking with Superman and asking him about his life on Earth, wasn’t she also working on the Eradicator? She was multi-tasking!“3) How does implanting another consciousness convey super powers?”Didn’t someone say above that the Eradicator put the Kryptonian consciousness into the body, but the X-Kryptonite was what gave them the powers?“4) Why do those powers manifest immediately, unlike Clark’s? Shouldn’t they have been as overwhelmed as Jordan was?”
Isn’t this part of the residents of Smallville having lifetime exposure to the X-kryptonite, so they’re uniquely qualified for this procedure?“5) Why did Edge develop heat vision immediately after leaving his pod?”Edge was a teenager (?) when he arrived on Earth. Some depictions of Superman have him developing certain powers (like heat vision) when he’s a teenager instead of having it when he’s a baby just arrived on Earth.“7) Once he escaped, how — and why — did he become a media mogul?”
Why – he wanted to accumulate power so he could try to take over Earth. How – as we saw in Superman III, Kryptonians can crush a piece of coal into a diamond. Edge could easily become rich overnight.“9) Why do Kryptonians always want to take over the Earth? Why not just go to Mars and terraform it?”These Kryptonians don’t just want to build a new Krypton – they want people to rule over (or in this case, possess). If Edge had gone to Mars to rule there, what would he have done there?“10) I realize he’s traveling, but wouldn’t John Henry Irons — who has experience in fighting rogue Kryptonians — have come in handy in the fight?” Superman (and General Lane) still don’t fully trust JHI.
I don’t think it’s a seperate earth from earth 0 just yet. We still have that diggle episode.
Given Diggle’s Batwoman appearance was somewhat continuity-lite I’m a little worried it might just be him consulting with General Lane from an ARGUS perspective and not really hone in on the shared universe continuity. I don’t think Diggle’s had any close scenes with Clark or Lois outside of big group shots in Crisis so there might not be any justification for him to travel to the farm to look them up.
Me: But if you take away all those people’s powers while they’re a thousand feet up in the air, they’ll become human again and plummet to their deaths.*Everyone magically ends up back on the ground, completely unharmed*Me: Oh.
Jonathan: “Going your (Clark’s) whole life thinking that you’re the only one left in your family…”I don’t see how this is anything other than complete erasure of Kara, and I hate it so much
I’m trying to remember, did they come up with a reason why Clark didn’t help out when a trio of Kryptonian witches rolled up on National City and tried to terraform Earth into Krypton? In a perfect world Kara is 100% someone Clark would bring in to help, not just because she’s additional muscle, but as mentioned Edge’s story is her story (and sidenote, it’s endlessly amusing to me that of the three Kryptonians she’s the oldest). Having said that, we all know that Benoist flat isn’t available so spend your narrative energy on stuff more important to the story. I do hope she makes an appearance on the show at some point down the line though.I’m going to guess the device is named the Eradicator because at some point it, and Edge are going to get merged, and whoops, he’s the Eradicator now
I can never remember the timeline but wasn’t Clark off-world when that happened?
I dimly recall a throwaway line about Clark keeping Africa from exploding, but it’s been forever since I last watched season 3 so i could be wrong. I’m more certain that Clark being off-world was their excuse for why he didn’t help Kara put a stop to Lex’s shenanigans in season four.
He was on Argo City that season.
I am like 87.43% positive Clark went to Argo the following season.
Nope s3 (reign) superman was in Argo. S4 (agent liberty) is when he and Lois announced pregnancy/proposedS5 was crisis.
So I just rewatched the opening of the season 3 finale, and they show a news broadcast talking about how Superman saved Madagascar, so he was not on Argo at the time. IIRC, he and Lois visit Argo during the summer hiatus between seasons 3 & 4. They return to Earth in time for the Elseworlds crossover, and then promptly fuck off back to Argo until Crisis.
You are correct and I mistook the seasons. Need to rewtach s3 but I think there was a line about Clark not being available.
I believe they just didn’t acknowledge Clark all season until that line at the end there.
No that was the following season, The Witches were introduced alongside Argo.
I didn’t really expect or need Kara to actually show up. I just find it strange that a bunch of the dialogue was about Clark being alone on Earth or not having any living Kryptonian family when his cousin is right there!! Like, Edge’s whole pitch was basically, “We’re Kryptonian relatives so we should automatically team up.” But Clark already has a Kryptonian relative he regularly teams up with, and it feels like that should be influencing how he processes all this.
When the show started I was perfectly willing to give it some leeway in terms of continuity, given it would be incredibly confusing for newcomers to be told “Crisis happened, we had an infant son but now we have two teenage sons, etc.” But yeah, outside of the multiverse mention the show really seems to not want to stake its ground as being part of the Arrowverse. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Diggle drops by, which could be played any number of ways given they’ve met (or at least been part of the same large group scenes) but had no pre-developed relationship.
I never bought into the multiverse mention. The multiverse is becoming a new sci-fi trope. Marvel is even using it. Things like the new Fortress which is nothing like Supergirl’s don’t help the cause of a joined universe. I was also thinking the same thing about Diggle. It was nice to see him in Gotham City, but we’ll have to see if he ends up in Smallville.
I believe Ramsey is only directing, not actually appearing in an episode.
For sure, for sure. And despite my attempts to rationalize it, the deletion of any and everything Kara is weird given that we know the show exists in the same universe. And while Clark didn’t really seem to consider Edge’s sales pitch, like at all (maybe because he already has some measure of family in Kara and Argo City?), he did spend a lot of his life thinking he was alone, and that still has to have some impact on him even now that he’s not.
We don’t ACTUALLY know. It COULD be another Earth of the recreated multiverse. (Earth-38 maybe?) We assumed it was going to be the same Earth based on what we knew, and what we saw at the end of Crisis. Of course, ALL of the issues I have with the show WOULD be solved if it WAS on another Earth. (Clark’s heat vision being red, when Kryptonian heat vision on Earth-Prime is blue-white, for example.)
I’m not sure what the planned continuity was, but I’ve just been assuming Kara was stuck in the phantom zone this whole time. It’s an easy enough way to explain not contacting her.
But it’s not like Clark knew that, unless J’onn or Alex called him off-screen.Plus, that assumes Superman & Lois Season 1 and the first half of Supergirl Season 6 take place during the same time period. Supergirl’s first half starts immediately after Season 5 ends and Kara’s back in a matter of weeks in-universe. S&L could easily take place after that arc ends.
And on the flipside, Edge should be trying to appeal to her too.
Yes, I’m starting to question S&L even really being on Earth-Prime. Because if it was there should be Kara on Earth and then there should be Argo City. There’s a whole space city with Kryptonians they can go to and take the kids to meet family (aunt Alura) and their people. The way the show acts like neither is even a think makes it feel like we are watching some kind of alternate version.
Yes, but you forgot that this is an “ignore Crisis and all the other shows” episode, not a “remember Crisis and those other shows, kinda,” episode.Silly you, right?
Actually, Kara is the youngest at this point. Clark and Edge apparently arrived at about the same time and Edge was already older. No clue if he and Kara were the same age at that point. Meanwhile, Kara didn’t age while she was in the Phantom Zone so she’s now the “baby.”
I believe this happened when Clark and Lois were off world when Lois was pregnant. He kinda went AWOL for some time, but I can’t remember if that was before or after the events you mentioned.
“did they come up with a reason why Clark didn’t help out when a trio of Kryptonian witches rolled up on National City and tried to terraform Earth into Krypton?”This has been a common complaint since superhero comics began, and a big problem with so many Marvel heroes being in the same city (i.e. “If Spider-Man is fighting a villain in New York who is trying to destroy the city, why doesn’t the Fantastic Four show up and solve the problem in seconds?”)In all of these situations, just imagine that the other heroes (in this situation, Superman) was busy with an equally important catastrophe. Otherwise every episode of Superman & Lois could be resolved in ~5 minutes by Supergirl and the Flash showing up to help.
loved the first episode or so of this show, but fell off after the break.
This show feels like an Elseworlds story and that’s pretty cool.I’m happy they didn’t go with another Zod storyline, because I don’t think any of the TV shows have handled it that well (and Terence Stamp is going to be really tough to beat).
The secret twin brother feels super soapy (no pun intended) but I thought Morgan Edge’s reveal was powerful stuff. Like a variation of Red Son that turned him straight up evil against all humans.
I like the entire cast but Jonathan is a real MVP for not having any powers.
My biggest Supergirl continuity issue is why the fortress looks so different. Did they explain that in any way before and I just missed it?
Nope
Nope. They also haven’t explained why Jor-El hasn’t shown up for Kara or any of her allies in previous seasons.
That part is easy to explain. Notice that Clark installs the Jor-El sunstone crystal every time he arrives before Jor-El shows up. I’m not sure if he brings it with him or it’s stored somewhere, but either way Jor-El just plain isn’t active unless that crystal is in place.
Except the main console also looks super different so maybe Jor-El gets activated in a side chamber?
Clark never goes beyond the foyer.
Cuz gotta have her own space.
That is definitely an inconsistency, but yes, I’m taking it as a small chamber in the Fortress, with the areas seen in Supergirl being elsewhere. I’ll admit to some annoyance that it’s been so different, but at the same time the version in Supergirl would not match the visual tone of the show I think.
At least Supergirl had the giant/heavy key to open the fortress.
Part of your issue is that this was likely supposed to be the season finale, this and Walker got that extra five episodes thing. I was concerned last week that they were racing through plot but if you focus on this being the end, you probably know they can’t step on Supergirl’s end and they have to save story for next season. So I imagine we will have five almost standalones with one big cliffhanger. But also a lot of the Krypton history, well, the SyFy show watchers know it well (and geez that all brought it up) but also, Edge’s knowledge is different than Kara’s who was 14 when she left.
According to Deadline, it was 5 additional episodes of Walker but only 2 for Superman and Lois, meaning the season finale was originally ep 13. Likely Edge is going to get revenge somehow and they’ve chosen to extend that and leave the first 10 episodes as-is.
The Eradicator has been so many different things in the comics (and in the recent animated Superman flicks) that it doesn’t bother me to throw another one onto the pile, but this one hews closest to one of the original comics things – it’s named Eradicator because its purpose is to preserve Kryptonian culture by eradicating every other culture. But it was not invented by Kryptonians at all, it was a different alien race that ended up on Krypton and got wiped out by some evil Kryptonians, who then reprogrammed it to be the Eradicator. The very idea that Lara would invent this AND call it Eradicator is a stretch.The Jordan/Sarah moments were the MVP for me this episode. Very nice quiet character building.
Did Lara actually name it the Eradicator? I got the impression that was something Edge and Leslie Larr might have come up with.
I thought I remembered somebody saying she named it but I could be wrong about that. It definitely makes more sense for the bad guys to call it that!
I’m pretty sure both Jor-El and Lara call it the Eradicator, and neither of them would have any reason to use a term thought up by Edge.
Lara named it after her actual secret first/first husband who was a Czarnian luchador. Oops BTW, Kal has another brother…
It was my understanding from the show’s dialogue that Zeta-Rho co-opted Lara’s technology and turned it from the storage of consciousness into a device to replace existing consciousnesses. Possibly he’s also the one who ended up calling the device that name.
So Kal El’s mom took over the body of Clark Kent’s ex-girlfriend.
Is she his ex in the show?
The show is definitely going through plot points more quickly than I would’ve liked, but each episode is still very well done. The writing and acting are both strong, and Chriqui in particular was spectacular, especially in awe of Superman before making Lana’s (temporary, but she couldn’t know that for sure) sacrifice. As for Kara’s, I do expect her to appear next season, as a sort of coda/epilogue (since Supergirl won’t end with her dying). That multi-episode crossover we’ve heard about should double as a victory lap for Supergirl, with Kara popping in on the Flash and this show.
I was wondering if Superman would reveal himself to Lana given the possibility of her dying, or at the very least approach her as Clark one last time. I do like how her awe of Superman is a nice grounding that he’s not something the regular person is used to.
I glanced at the title of this article before I was able to watch this episode, and it had me worried that the show was cutting corners in a bad way, like last week’s episode seemed real close to doing. While this episode hustled along, it still felt smooth enough at the right moments.I really liked the fact that even with everything going on in this episode, by the time the end credits rolled we still walked out with an even deeper understanding of the Superman/Kal-El side of things.It’s just crazy to me that every week, I find myself thanking the frickin heavens that this show continues to nail the Superman character in spades, his supporting characters, and the life and world(s) he juggles.
This show and Stargirl are a cut above. With Legends and, to an extent, Batwoman being transitional from old Arrowverse to new, it seems like a generational shift in quality (knock on wood) for the better.
I am endlessly relieved that the show didn’t pull a “Superman’s mother was actually always secretly evil, is supporting her other son, and now body-snatched Lana is the Big Bad!”.
So, its looks like the Morgan Edge portion of the Supergirl vs. Reign battle no longer jibes.Also, Reign and the Cult of Juru wanted to transform Earth into Krypton, which isn’t that much different from Edge wanting to turn Human into hosts for Kryptonian consciousness. Given that Reign made her presence known, Edge NOT joining forces with her would normally speak volumes (but she did try to kill him after Samantha heard that he tried to kill Lena).
Generally have enjoyed this show but this episode was really sloppy.
This series seems to be focusing on nature vs. nurture as it’s overarching theme. We have two Kal-El’s, our good one raised in Smallville with the Kents, later marrying Lois and having two kids and the other universe one who never married Lois yet we do not know his upbringing but joins the Kryptonians there. Plus now Morgan Edge/Tal Rho and his tortured upbringing on Earth. It’s like how you were raised gives affects the choices you may make in life. I hope to see the evil Superman’s story and kind of hope it was still with the Kents so they don’t make (unwittingly) that an upbringing with both parents contributed to the hero that made him rather than some difficult single-parent upbringing because he could have been a hero in that situation too. But going to Loki(which you also have been reviewing) not everyone bad is truly bad and not everyone good is truly good.
Tal-Rho also had a Kryptonian childhood, so not only does he have the torturous life on early, but it’s in contrast to his first decade of life in his own culture. So he has every reason to hate humans and want to restore his home world.
My usual random thoughts: 1. Clark’s Kryptonian mom was divorced? 2. “Your husband is not the guy that you married any more.” Sarah doesn’t know the half of it. 3. The gizmo that puts Kryptonian consciousnesses into humans is “the Eradicator”? That’s worse than “Cyborg Superman” on Supergirl. 4. Jonathan worrying about the possibility of Clark becoming evil goes against the central message of Supergirl: Her greatest strength is her moral sense. I’d expect the same to be true of Clark. 5. Strange stuff used to happen in Smallville? Not surprising at all. 6. Dr. Donovan “walked away” from an MIT professor’s salary and they’re surprised? He would’ve been on track to earn around $200k a year, I’m sure Edge had no trouble beating that. 7. The kids wouldn’t listen and Sarah’s encounter with “dad” went just as badly as Grandpa knew it would. 8. “Did Superman just lie to me?” Heck, he’s been telling you he was a regular guy named Clark for years. 9. So when the possessed humans lost their powers while they were flying, why weren’t they killed or hurt from the fall? For that matter, why wasn’t Clark?10. What’s going to happen to all the people who used to work for Edge? To his company?11. The pseudo Kryptonians were dispatched far too quickly. That was a lot of buildup for very little payoff.
If a host remembers details from when a Kryptonian consciousness inhabits her, then Lana should now know Clark’s secret.
I really, really, really would have liked to explore a brotherly dynamic between Clark and Morgan beyond “you’ve chosen the wrong side.”
I’m hoping they don’t kill Edge off at the end of the season and there’s opportunities down the line to bring him back and flesh out the brother angle.
See, the most authentic way to do this would’ve been for Morgan to land and grow up with a supportive family — just in Oklahoma. Then he could be annoyed with Kal choosing those … Kansans.
I guess nuclear power wouldn’t have been strong enough, but a bunch of full heat-beam blasts did the job. Really puts Superman’s power into perspective.
The cw is such soap opera nonsense now lol
I like Lana, she’s smart and strong and a great character, but I really wish the penny had dropped for her this week. That whole, “Nothing strange has happened here in so long. Why is it happening again?” Should have been followed up with, “Not since you moved away, Clark. Wait? . . .” But no, that would make too much sense.Once again, this show hit me right in the gut. That scene with Lana and Sarah could have been me and my mom, if I had ever said out loud that she should give up on my dad. I don’t know how I feel about having my adolescent trauma echoed in my superhero show, but it starts with uncomfortable and builds from there. Here’s hoping they lay off again for a bit so I can enjoy it fully.
I believe the chain of events was already in motion before Clark came back – Morgan Edge had already rolled into town and set up shop. That Ma passed and Clark chose to return is something of a coincidence.
Oh come on you expect that? I mean Superman is basically Clark without the glasses in looks and you expect her to figure out things started going wrong after they arrived? lolPlus you’re taking out the main factor in this -> Edge. He has been there since before the Kents moved back.
So the Morgan Edge in SG was pre-Earth-Prime. Okay. Zeta-Rho didn’t kill that Morgan Edge in that universe. Don’t know how the humans bodies covert to Krypton ones (powers) and back again, but residual powers saved their death drop. Okay. SG is either off Earth or in the future. I guess there was no Superboy in Smallville. But my question is : what does Lana remember? Afterall SUPERMAN names drop Martha. Hmmmm…
I really, really wish the writers had just said from the outset that this isn’t set on Earth Prime or something. It’s one thing to not acknowledge Flash or Black Lightning, but there’s so much stuff that’s being recycled from Supergirl (almost everything about Edge and his plans were done before on the parent show) that it really drags the show down when none of that is acknowledged. One of the writers said that, because of COVID, that meant no crossovers and as a result, they “didn’t want to spoil” Supergirl Season 6. Which is honestly fucking stupid since the only thing they would “spoil” is that Kara lives in the finale and is still crime fighting. By not bringing up Kara, it implies that she is going to die in the series finale.Remember when the show was supposed to start with a crossover with Batwoman? Imagine if that had still happened and we still got the show we got.
EDIT: Also, doesn’t Lana have three daughters? What happened to the other two?
What happened to the other two?I only ever hear about the “other daughter” who’s alays “someplace else”.
No, Sarah has two siblings. An older sister who’s apparently a huge bully and is never seen and a younger sister who appears occasionally.
Look if this was an MCU show I’d agree. These Arrowverse showing haven’t been too keen in crossing over unless it was a huge crossover. There were some exceptions but those were very few. They are now on the same earth and never meet. Flash never ran to Gotham to meet the new Batwoman, None of them ever showed up on Black Lightning or Legends. Are u really expecting that to change? Just assume Supergirl was off world at the time or thought Superman could handle it since it was a Smallville centric event which would make sense. As for the storylines being similar, there aren’t any new stories to tell. Every story is a variation or an expansion of an existing storyline. Also scifi tropes remain the same no matter how it’s presented. The focus should be on the acting and the execution which is pretty good in my opinion. If your expecting a similar situation not to be mined or repeated u might as well stop watching TV or going to the movies. For example,, Season 4 of Agents of Shield had been done before in some version on some other scifi show, movie, or book but what set it apart was the acting and the execution. Due to the acting and the execution it was one of their best seasonal arcs. Superman mythos is not that big. Supergirl and Superman’s storylines will be similar. What will set them apart is acting and execution.
Look if this was an MCU show I’d agree. These Arrowverse showing haven’t been too keen in crossing over unless it was a huge crossover. There were some exceptions but those were very few. They are now on the same earth and never meet. Flash never ran to Gotham to meet the new Batwoman, None of them ever showed up on Black Lightning or Legends. Are u really expecting that to change? Just assume Supergirl was off world at the time or thought Superman could handle it since it was a Smallville centric event which would make sense.As for the storylines being similar, there aren’t any new stories to tell. Every story is a variation or an expansion of an existing storyline. Also scifi tropes remain the same no matter how it’s presented. The focus should be on the acting and the execution which is pretty good in my opinion. If your expecting a similar situation not to be mined or repeated u might as well stop watching TV or going to the movies. For example, Season 4 of Agents of Shield had been done before in some version on some other scifi show, movie, or book but what set it apart was the acting and the execution. Due to the acting and the execution it was one of their best seasonal arcs. Superman mythos is not that big. Supergirl and Superman’s storylines will be similar. What will set them apart is acting and execution. Also yea the missing daughter’s thing is weird too lol someone should have caught that lol
The thing about Lois going from threatening to cut ties with her dad to working with him again of course is an example of her hair-trigger, terrifying temper. Lana was great in this episode. The scenes with Superman and her as his mom choked me up repeatedly.Lana & Lois continue to be a great team-up, so glad they dodged the easy rivalry/ jealousy storyline they obviously could have gone with. This is so much better
I did catch this episode quietly confirming that contrary to past versions of the character, this Lana never found out that Clark had superpowers. That plus I imagine she was taken aback by the Super-tucchus:
https://www.fandom.com/articles/tyler-hoechlins-super-booty-supergirl-slaying-fans
I loved how she played Lana being in awe of Superman, as you would be if you unexpectedly met the most famous person on the planet for (she thinks) the first time I also love the borderline naive way that Clark describes his former gf Lana to Lois as “one of his best friends,” but she actually is cool with it since she trust him
“For instance, why are all the Kryptonian consciousnesses so eager to
help Edge conquer the Earth when they’re ostensibly a peaceful race?”I thought Edge said something about the “science counsel” being the one consciousnesses of the Smallville populace, and then Jor-El saying something about Edge and his family and said counsel wanting to enslave other worlds? Maybe? Still doesn’t explain why Lara was in there.
Since they were able to identify and isolate Lara’s consciousness I’m guessing Edge did the same thing. He specifically chose Kryptonians that he knew would be all-in on his plans. Potentially non-cooperative Kryptonians, like Lara, were not chosen.
Massively disagreed. The Morgan Edge upbringing is a hackneyed, predictable trope and I’m very grateful the show didn’t bother with it because we all know what and how it happened due to the same portrayal we’ve seen in thousands of movies and TV shows with other characters. I ask yoh, why are you wishing for such an overused cliche here?The only disappointment in this episode was it wrapped up too quickly but as shown by the climax it hasn’t ended at all with Morgan Edge now knowing the location of Jor El so we’ll likely see them back trace the development. Also the Kryptonian possessed Kyle-Jonathan face off was a wasted potential.
You make a good point on why they’re so keen to help Edge though. But he could just well be implanting the consciousness of the evil Kryptonians rather than the good ones as well.
It’s really not that hard to follow. Not sure why it took 2 viewings to figure out the story.
Yeah, the cracks are deepening, and it’s not good. In order to gently separate itself from the baggage of the Beeboverse and Crisis, this show would’ve done better to have stayed slower and more deliberate, focused on character dynamics and maybe one or two slow-burning mysteries. Racing through plot – especially high-stakes plot with lots of superpowers – means stacking questions upon questions, most of which seem to have the same answer: “shut up.” So too with all the Kryptonian drama. Even setting aside Crisis, Supergirl by itself is seriously cramping S&L’s style, and it’s quite obviously an own-goal on the writers’ parts here.
To offer up an example I’ve already mentioned in previous weeks: we’re already well into absurd territory that Superman is still considered a beyond-global threat, despite the DOD having it solved, Steel having trivially solved it by doing a Supergirl gimmick redux, and also plenty of aliens and metas from the larger Beeboverse being available to provide hard counters (mental powers, in particular.) That alone should’ve clued the writers in to the optimal storytelling strategy here. What’s frustrating is that the season’s first half seemed like it was heading in that direction.
Lana’s reaction to Superman was great, but I think it also clued me in on why this take on the character hasn’t been working for me- The rest of the time it feels like she has 0 history with Clark at all. Morgan Edge’s upbringing was fucking hilarious. In trying to be an intriguing contrast to Clark’s, the adults he met needed to be broad cartoons. “That there kid’s got glowy eyes! Get ‘im!” The old Rednecks then proceeded to hunt the child down, lol.
“The rest of the time it feels like she has 0 history with Clark at all.”Everytime we have a Clark/Lana scene they almost always mention growing up together as kids in Smallville, so I’m not sure where you’re getting this from.
Oh boy, the whole secret evil older half-brother who reached Earth before Superman did might have been this series’ ‘jumping the shark’ moment (him also meeting a couple of farmers and then killing them was just the cherry on top)Look, retcons are a delicate thing, the more you use them and the more convoluted they are, is when you start losing your audience.I’m not sure which is worse, this or an ugly monster man with a giant axe was REALLY the one who destroyed Krypton.
It’s lucky all the host bodies didn’t just fall out of the sky when Clark zapped them back into being human! It wasn’t just me, then.Good.
For instance, why are all the Kryptonian consciousnesses so eager to
help Edge conquer the Earth when they’re ostensibly a peaceful race? Whatever Lara said, there has been no version of Kryptonians where they aren’t all sadistic conquerors and colonizers, except for the House of El, and we’ve seen what THAT got them.
Probably pretty easy to pull the really bad (cooperative with colonization) ones out of the Eradicator matrix.
Also, why the hell would Lara name what’s essentially meant to be a living history museum an “Eradicator”?
The Eradicator has been around for a long time in various Supes continuities, but it has ALWAYS been condensed Kryptonian colonizer-in-a-can, whatever methods it uses. So Lara here is either lying or stupid.
Location photos from this week show they’re still working. Edge’s sidekick was there….
Also, you know who also left Krypton in her early teens and therefore has a different relationship to it than Clark, who left as a baby? Kara. She would be an interesting foil for Morgan Edge, if the show wanted to use her