Superman and Lois Reveiws part Two

Superman & Lois (2021–2024)  8/10

The Answers are built into the Narrative 14 May 2023

(originally titled "the most glaring problem has an obvious answer"

Well the most glaring question/issue people have with the show other than the fact that it's as much about Clark and Lois as a couple/as parents than it is about Superman saving the world... which is also built into the fabric of the show. It isn't confirmed until the end of season 2 but this series takes place on another Earth in the multiverse. While the heroes of Flash don't realize this, we as the audience knew at least 5 other Earths did survive the Crisis of Infinite Earths. In the season 2 finale General Lane mentions that Clark is the only Super-powered hero on this Earth. Meaning there is no native Flash and no native Supergirl. 

They kept a continuity of things that could be read either way. Diggle's comment about fighting alongside Superman could have been possible on Earth Prime since post-Crisis they have always lived on the same Earth. This Earth's Oliver Queen did know them, and is as dead as ours. There is no native Supergirl on this Earth, anymore than there was on Earth-1. The lack of any mention of Supergirl was conspicuous -- because of the assumption that this was Earth-38 Clark and Lois now living on Earth Prime. You'd actually have to watch the last episode of Arrow to see why some Earth's merged and others didn't. Tal-Rho and General Anderson are original characters...but Tal-Rho is unique. General Anderson is a proxy for any human authority-figure who doesn't understand that Superman is anything but Superman.
Lana Lang Cushing is the single most annoying character in the show. Superman can have kids. Traditionally Superman cannot procreate with humans because what we think of as Kryptonian physiology, is incompatible with an Earth humans for making offspring. In Supergirl Lois and Clark could have a kid because they were on the asteroid of Argo City when Lois became pregnant. No yellow sun means no powers, no powers means Clark is essentially human and they can get pregnant. I bet a lot of people watching this show were wondering how Lois and Clark could have had kids if there was no mention they'd ever gone to Ago City. It's never actually stated is even a thing here. Maybe Generals Lane and Anderson wouldn't be surprised to learn Superman can biologically have kids. Anderson was surprised Superman had a human Life...at all. Ultimately this show is part of the multiverse...but our heroes, THIS Superman and Lois are not connected with the heroes of the other shows. Diggle mentions having fought alongside Superman which actually still works because Team Arrow is a group of self-made heroes without superpowers. They established our characters and developed a fan base before telling us, they let us go with our assumptions for a while but this is not Kara's cousin and his fiancé now living on Earth-prime. It's THIER doppelgangers on Earth 12, 19, 21 or Earth 9. General Lane gets RESPECT in this show. Which is above the call and a particularly rare kind of awesome. (No Henshaw & no J'onn Jo'nzz )
The last few minutes of the Crisis on Infinite Earth's crossover showed that Earth 12, Earth, 21, Earth,19, Earth 96 and Earth 9 and a version of Earth-2 with Star-girl survived crisis. The merging of the multiverse was people and things from Earth-38, Earth2 and Earth-3. Most of, but NOT the entire multiverse was destroyed. Which explains Why Sam and Lucy Lane are such completely different characters from the show Supergirl. Although the old world-new world differences Supergirl and Barry spent a few episodes getting used to could have explained that. Almost everyone goes over the top in both drama and emotion in season 3. Far more real-world problems, which I was fine with but a lot of people had trouble with. Tension/dissension that feels like it's mostly there to make something of the production. For once most of the discontent, assumptions, arrogance does not come from Lana Lang Cushing. She actually seems pretty chill A particular conversation with Sarah on. Instead it comes from everyone else. 

3 out of 5 found this helpful.

Superman & Lois: Uncontrollable Forces (2023) Season 3, Episode 2  8/10

Harrison Wells Moment (and other good stuff) 25 April 2023

I will be laughing at myself, who am a major CW Flash fan for almost missing the Harrison Wells moment near the end of the movie. But let's start near the beginning.

Family stuff is more on point. Because it focuses at least a little bit on John and Natalie, each hanging out with people thier own age. There are two continuing plots throughout the first several episodes: Bruno Mannheim's mission and Lois' condition. I am no authority on the realities of breast cancer or how well/poorly this was handled going forward. But while Lana and John Henry are at the town hall working together toward a common goal, an assassin that comes in to stop Lana's investigation and this assassin FREEZES when it sees John Henry. I couldn't figure out why-- until the last moment of the episode. In a late episode of Smallville Icicle's son puts on Dr. Fate's helmet, takes Martian Manhunter out in 2 seconds and proceeds to wipe the floor with Hawkman, Stargirl, Green Arrow and Clark Kent. J'onn phases in and the villain is understandably confused. "I KILLED you." J'onn Jo'nzz, played by Phil Morris says "I'm Mars sole survivor. There's a reason for that." And that's what this felt like. A 'you should be dead; why aren't you dead' moment. It actually took me a minute to realize why the assailant was so confused. John Henry Irons on this Earth IS dead and was already established back in season 2 as having been killed by Bruno Mannheim or someone close to him. Possibly even working for him. So one of Manheim's guys seeing John Henry helping Lana out, seeing him assisting in the investigation would be like seeing a very dead Harrison Wells of the Flash walking around and committing another murder. Or possibly even more like Harrison was solving a double homicide. Other than being a confessed murderer, the first Harrison Wells the team knew was in a wheelchair and declared dead 4 years ago. and versions of Harrison Wells are WALKING down the street every day on the flash. If Tina or another colleague of Harrison saw one of those dopplegangers...this would be thier reaction. 

Superman & Lois: Head On (2023) Season 3, Episode 5  7/10

I Miss Tal-Rho 25 April 2023

In season 2 there was a main driving plot of the story other than either Lana or Clark's family. Superman had a brother he was learning to trust and rely on, who like Magneto or even Malcolm Merlyn on Arrow was shown as nothing but bad and then gradually humanized. Clark also had someone who should have been a friend and an ally who didn't trust him. Lt. General Anderson. Superman didn't talk to his -the corollary to Director J'onn J'onzz in Supergirl- any more than needed and actually did keep a lot of things from until it was almost too late. I think mistakes and misjudgments happened on both sides and LOVE that Anderson got a chance to apologize before the end. But Tal Rho and the actor that plays him was the most compelling and enticing part of the entire season. And certainly what drew me back for more. His accent, his past, his pragmatism, his acerbic attitude and his DESIRE for redemption in his brother's eyes. Like season 1 Wells in Flash he didn't care about people, he cared about his family. He was what Black Siren was for the last 3 seasons of Arrow. And I'm starting to think we'll never see him again.

I mean we know where he is but I want him back as much as his brother does. He would bring a balance and an objectivity back to the shows dynamic the lack of which makes this show a daytime drama. And if we don't either bring him back or give him some kind of send off it would be disappointing to an epic degree. I guess objectively speaking his run was done for a while. But they can bring him back just once more a changed man or with the proverbial 'harbinger of things to come' right?

Superman & Lois: Complications (2023) Season 3, Episode 11  9/10

Bizzaro's cure is set up 13 June 2023 Warning: Spoilers

A pun I guess. Because it is set up very well and thoughtfully, but it is also set up to fail. And if you're paying attention you can actually see why. Superman's blood is restorative. In season 3 of Smallville, Clark learns that his blood can cure severe liver disease and even cancer. Bruno stole a little bit of Superman's blood to start his cure and it seemed to work. But Bizzaro's world isn't just a world with a red sun. It is an inverted world. Even the physical laws are opposite. He grows weak from XK, uses Green K like a drug. He's weakened by the Earth's yellow sun because he was raised under square Earth's red sun. Most of the characters other than Superman himself who learned about this are either dead like Anderson or living on Square Earth like Tal-Rho. But you can actually see, and more importantly there actually is an established reason that makes sense in context for why the miracle cure doesn't work. And I don' think that happens too often.

Superman & Lois: Injustice Season 3, Episode 12  7/10

Jordan is not his father: He's Jon-El 22 June 2023

Seriously if Jordan Kent was real and I met him on the street, I'd walk up to him and say 'Hello Jon-el". It's the only reference he would get. But he doesn't have Jon-el's history. He didn't have an attention grabbing, only interested in your son once he has powers Kal'el for a father. He has a father who cares about him, who actually did raise him right. And somehow he's managing to push EVERYONE away while still claiming that everyone else is making everything about them. Johnathan and Sarah's self-interest is normal and realistic for thier age and actually a perfectly understandable reaction to thier unusual lives. I don't like seeing it, but it makes sense.

The reason I rate this episode as high as I do is because everything else about it is stellar. Seeing Luthor again, for the first time. Sam Lane being an involved family member who is as hurt as Clark and Lois to see Jordan becoming the attention grabber that he is. Wally West over in CW Central City was never this much of a showboat but even when he was a little bit he wised up pretty fast. And to have Jordan basically oozing disdain and callousness seems... like Jordan isn't the person on drugs to have taken the show down this particularly dark rabbit hole. I say it that way because he's giving a more convincing portrayal of being 'on drugs' than Tom Welling's Clark Kent did when he discovered Red Kryptonite. A substance that by its nature removes Kryptonian inhibitions and promotes aggressiveness.

"Mr. And Mrs. Kent are calling my house. They're really worried. It's like, they think he's on drugs or something." "Clark would have to BE on drugs to be on drugs." ...Chloe and Pete in a season 2 episode Smallville noticing Clark on Red-K. The class ring that was supposedly a ruby was a red meteor rock. It was a pretty cool way for Tom Welling to shed Clark's upstanding morality for an episode. But this is 4 episodes in a row without any apparent explanation whatsoever. It's exhausting. 7 out of 10 found this helpful. 

There is ONE episode I cannot actually post an Imdb review of. Not because I use profanity or whatever but because I agree with almost every single one of the characters in the episode and literally NONE of the viewers watching it. I'm focused on different points sure. And I couldn't talk about the subplot of the episode, that of Lois' breast cancer because I couldn't speak to that anyway. But I got shredded for posting the 'bleeding heart' or 'close-minded' post I originally made. And while I cna see past that to try again, I can't leave myself out of my own review enough that what I'd say would even make sense unless the person reading my review has actually seen my face and knows why this matters to me or anyone like me. Although I will say the 2 line summary and the title are named for the sub-plot of the episode. It's an important stone as far as Clark's journey with Lois' breast cancer and Lois' own acceptance of its reality and implications. And actually they do a far better job of handling it here than in any episode up to that point. It jsut gets drown out in the plot that has me asking in John Henry has amnesia again and has forgotten he's talking to Superman aka Clark Kent. I mean he crossed lines before he tried to kill a man in cold blood and attacked Clark to get him out of the way in order to "do what needs to be done, getting rid of this monster" near the end of the episode.