Synopsis
While sitting in the stands at the high school football game, Lois and Chrissy spot fish-out-of-water Morgan Edge conversing with Mayor Dean (guest star ERIC KEENLEYSIDE) and Kyle, and the two see right through this insincere move to try to win over the town. Meanwhile, Clark agrees to help Lois out at a town hall meeting, but things get tense when he finds himself pulled in two different directions. Lastly, Jonathan is having mixed emotions about Jordan’s newfound status.
Review
With each passing episode it feels Superman & Lois is further from the Earth Prime that the other CW Hero shows reside within. While I do find it a shame and a waste of the Crisis finale where all these heroes now exist together it’s not been a major hindrance to this show. I bring this point up mainly because this week’s episode gave us a flashback to 6 years ago where a slightly younger Edge chases some falling meteorites (later to be confirmed as Kryptonite). Obviously this did not happen in the original Supergirl/Superman Universe as Edge was a completely different character back then with different motivations to his Prime Counterpart.
We then jump forward to the present where all the main cast are watching Jordan and Jonathan’s first football game. Jordan once again excels while his brother gets left behind, it’s hard not to feel sorry for Jonathan but what is great for his character is that he pushes these feelings aside to be supportive to Jordan, I feel this subtle envy will come into play down the line now we know that the rest of the students at the party could be potential metas later.
The big surprise this week was the boys team mate/school bully ‘Tag’ has recently be showing meta powers of his own, something he is struggling to control. Jordan takes a page from Barry Allen’s book of blaming himself for everything but General Lane confirms there was some unknown mineral substance found in the fire that Jordan blew up, so not directly his fault, but this ties into Why Morgan Edge is in Smallville.
This brings me to what will be my new theory based on what we have seen in these four episodes. Using the fallen Kryptonite that Edge is collecting, he is using it to enhance people and grant them powers similar to Clark but limited to one or two of them. Now hear me out…so far we’ve had a guy with super strength and durability. We have had a woman with laser eyes, another woman with super strength and now a student with enhanced speed. So if my theory is true, we’re due a few more people with laser eyes, cooling breath and flight to really support my theory, some of which might even end up being in the boys school! (Smallville’s iconic theme starts playing in my head)
Clark has his own stuff to deal with this week too with an obscure small time DC villain Thaddeus Killgrave, in all honesty he was merely there to serve the Kent’s vs General Lane storyline. General Lanes views is that Superman should serve the greater good over his family responsibilities and despite having good intentions his execution is by all means flawed. Even at the end where it seemed he took a step in the right direction, he took two steps backwards by creating a contingency plan named 7734 (based on the warning Captain Luthor gave him). Obviously Lane has a lot to learn about family and how things work in Smallville.
Sticking with Clark for now, his other story here is that despite being the strongest person on the planet with flight, speed and unmeasurable strength he still trips and fails when people need him. He had to run out to stop Killgrave leaving his son and Tag when he should have been there and he then failed to support Lois when she went to try and stop Edge from taking ownership of the old Smallville mines.
Lois reveals some of her personal issues in this episode too, despite her reputation as an incredibly talented reporter, she still struggles against Edge and his vast wealth and legal team. Regardless she still shows her courage by walking straight up to him and calling the guy out on his BS. She also admits to Clark that she sometimes feels like she’s not on his priority list which she has quietly accepted but you can tell how much of a struggle it is for her.
Clark being the loveable guy he is, tries to make up for it by having a crazy romantic date night planned in their barn (before General Lane ruins it) but Lois once again comes to terms with why she loves big boy scout in the first place.
Episode 4 has now set up the other major storylines this season will follow, we’re gonna get more teenage meta humans running around Smallville, we have Morgan Edge who is experimenting on humans using Kryptonite and finally General Lane proving to be a stubborn idiot who despite having his own family continues to put them behind everything else and expects the same from Clark.
Verdict
Despite its weak villain of the week it once again shows that the Superfam home life is the center point of this show with the heroic elements taking second place.
Next Episode
Superman & Lois stars Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tullock who return as the titular characters. They will, in turn, be joined by Emmanuelle Chriqui as Clark’s ex-girlfriend, Lana Lang, Erik Valdez as Lana’s husband, Kyle Cushing. Dylan Walsh will portray Lois’ father, General Sam Lane. Jordan Elsass and Alexander Garfin also co-star in the series as Superman and Lois’ sons, Jonathan and Jordan Kent.
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