'Superman & Lois' : The CW TV Series

[GSman]

doesn't Lois and Clark have enough money to start their own small newspaper/newsletter in Smallville? Why does Lois have to work for someone else?

Apparently not, since Martha was saving money to put the boys through college. Guess 20 years of journalism doesn't pay too well.

[Frontier]

Apparently not, since Martha was saving money to put the boys through college. Guess 20 years of journalism doesn't pay too well.

At least living in Smallville is probably cheaper than Metropolis.

[daBronzeBomma]

Some takeaways from "Superman & Lois" season 1 episode 3:

1. This episode focused squarely on the Super sons.

A decision with which I turned out to be surprisingly ok.

Their titular parents are mega famous brands in pop culture. If you are even watching this show, you know those two will be served. It's the newly created brothers who have to work much harder to earn any cache with the viewing audience.

And it's somehow working.

The two teens are believable as brothers who love and care for each other. They are so far taking pains to avoid the stereotypical CW tropes of pitting them against each other. No love triangle here.

Jonathan has most of Clark's optimism, Jordan has most of his alienation.

2. Once again, the show zags when you expect it to zig.

Jordan trying out for the football team AND making nice with his bully (right after flattening him with a slightly superhuman tackle) was not a sequence I saw coming.

Jonathan, meanwhile, somehow remains the very likeable jock. I get why he didn't get powers (first?): he's already got the classic Superman mentality, give him powers and he's Superboy.

And, as someone who once spent two years playing high school football (easily the least coordinated kid to put on pads during that time there), I so do not miss those practices at all.

3. Tyler Hoechlin continues to impress, and I think his SAL edition is already my favorite live-action version of Clark Kent.

But not Superman. Not yet. Not nearly enough screentime in costume for that title. Which brings us to the next point.

4. If this episode is any indication, SAL is probably going to use Superman in costume sparingly but to maximum effect. And I'm OK with that.

Because when he DOES shows up, Supes fucking shines.

The Bridge In China rescue scene was so great. And that friendly wordless exchange with the boater he rescued was pure Kal-El.

Also, this Superman has super-hearing way beyond any other version I've ever seen anywhere. He heard the Chinese citizens in danger ... while still at home in Smallville. That's wild (also not how sound works, but then, you know, not how flying works either so����*♂️).

And the motel room fight later with the superhuman Subjekt-11 (X-Men's Colossus) was great! Freeze breath-superspeed-uppercut! This Supes can brawl.

5. Feels like we're doing a slow burn with Lois' story away from her family.

I do love that she was true to form and is capable of defending herself against normal henchmen (that stab in the ear with the pen was kinda Jason Bourne of her) ... but having Supes on super-speed-dial helps with the un-normal ones like Subjekt-11.

6. No Captain Luthor this episode, no Sam Lane, but we do get a quick look at a new killer lady who just may be Kryptonian.

7. So, Clark has been technically unemployed for the majority of 3 episodes now (he could always squeeze a lump of coal into diamond if he needed to), and he picks up a gig as the assistant coach of his sons' football team?

I had heard "Superman And Lois" was aiming to be sorta like that "Friday Night Lights" show, but I didn't think they'd go this far.

8. The entire Lang clan are annoying. Adult Lana Lang has never been interesting, he husband is low-hanging fruit of a target, the elder daughter is the most CW thing on the show and the younger one doesn't do anything. They bring the show down.

9. I'm starting to think this is simply an HBOmax show forced to be on the CW. It neither looks nor feels like a CW show. The timeline does not match up at all, even with Crisis factored into all of it. I now kinda doubt we're going to much if any crossover with the other DC CW shows.

And I'm perfectly OK with that.

Grade: 8/10.

[marshal88]

just watched the first episode , oh look,it's superman vs master chief and cortana.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Bruce is missing in the continuity, remember?

Okay so then just have say Helena or someone like her show up...

[Jokerz79]

At least living in Smallville is probably cheaper than Metropolis.

Not really if they were just living in a house than yeah, but given at the end of the 1st episode Clark mentioned teaching the boys to plow the fields it would appear the Kent Farm is still a working farm and that has a lot of overhead.

[protege]

Some takeaways from "Superman & Lois" season 1 episode 3:

1. This episode focused squarely on the Super sons.

A decision with which I turned out to be surprisingly ok.

Their titular parents are mega famous brands in pop culture. If you are even watching this show, you know those two will be served. It's the newly created brothers who have to work much harder to earn any cache with the viewing audience.

And it's somehow working.

The two teens are believable as brothers who love and care for each other. They are so far taking pains to avoid the stereotypical CW tropes of pitting them against each other. No love triangle here.

Jonathan has most of Clark's optimism, Jordan has most of his alienation.

2. Once again, the show zags when you expect it to zig.

Jordan trying out for the football team AND making nice with his bully (right after flattening him with a slightly superhuman tackle) was not a sequence I saw coming.

Jonathan, meanwhile, somehow remains the very likeable jock. I get why he didn't get powers (first?): he's already got the classic Superman mentality, give him powers and he's Superboy.

And, as someone who once spent two years playing high school football (easily the least coordinated kid to put on pads during that time there), I so do not miss those practices at all.

3. Tyler Hoechlin continues to impress, and I think his SAL edition is already my favorite live-action version of Clark Kent.

But not Superman. Not yet. Not nearly enough screentime in costume for that title. Which brings us to the next point.

4. If this episode is any indication, SAL is probably going to use Superman in costume sparingly but to maximum effect. And I'm OK with that.

Because when he DOES shows up, Supes fucking shines.

The Bridge In China rescue scene was so great. And that friendly wordless exchange with the boater he rescued was pure Kal-El.

Also, this Superman has super-hearing way beyond any other version I've ever seen anywhere. He heard the Chinese citizens in danger ... while still at home in Smallville. That's wild (also not how sound works, but then, you know, not how flying works either so����*♂️).

And the motel room fight later with the superhuman Subjekt-11 (X-Men's Colossus) was great! Freeze breath-superspeed-uppercut! This Supes can brawl.

5. Feels like we're doing a slow burn with Lois' story away from her family.

I do love that she was true to form and is capable of defending herself against normal henchmen (that stab in the ear with the pen was kinda Jason Bourne of her) ... but having Supes on super-speed-dial helps with the un-normal ones like Subjekt-11.

6. No Captain Luthor this episode, no Sam Lane, but we do get a quick look at a new killer lady who just may be Kryptonian.

7. So, Clark has been technically unemployed for the majority of 3 episodes now (he could always squeeze a lump of coal into diamond if he needed to), and he picks up a gig as the assistant coach of his sons' football team?

I had heard "Superman And Lois" was aiming to be sorta like that "Friday Night Lights" show, but I didn't think they'd go this far.

8. The entire Lang clan are annoying. Adult Lana Lang has never been interesting, he husband is low-hanging fruit of a target, the elder daughter is the most CW thing on the show and the younger one doesn't do anything. They bring the show down.

9. I'm starting to think this is simply an HBOmax show forced to be on the CW. It neither looks nor feels like a CW show. The timeline does not match up at all, even with Crisis factored into all of it. I now kinda doubt we're going to much if any crossover with the other DC CW shows.

And I'm perfectly OK with that.

Grade: 8/10.

I definitely agree with you on the Lang’s, but honestly, there isn’t really anyone on this show I care about that much. Don’t really care about the Morgan edge mystery either.

[Anarchist]

No Captain Luthor this episode, just noticed that now.

[90'sCartoonMan]

I didn't think anything could top "hologramps", but then they went with "Jor-El Debarge". That's hilarious.

It's been a while since I've been a teenager, but I hope the teenagers watching this show can relate to Jonathan, Jordan, and Sarah and if they are going through any sort of emotional or mental struggles that they realize they aren't alone. I'm glad this show is treating the subject matter with care and respect.

I can see Jonathan and Jordan upset that Clark is keeping tabs on them, but how can he not? And I love him coming to the rescue as Clark and not Superman. I love it when Superman shows up, of course, but I'm okay with them using him and his battles sparingly.

I wonder how long it will take before the boys ask Clark about all of his friends and if they can visit, like are Lois and Clark the only ones with kids around the boys age...like would Bruce Wayne show up maybe with his daughter or something along those lines...

I want them to meet Kara first and foremost. I'm okay with waiting a while until they travel to the future to meet Mia and William or cross Earths to meet Courtney.

This is easily the best Superman-related live-action show since Smallville or in about ten years. Who would have thought it but what the shows needed was, well, Superman and Lois, radical thinking I know, huh?

I get that they needed to take a break and repackage. I mean, in terms of having live action series, everything needs a take. Smallville was pre-Superman Clark, and then with Krypton they went with pre-Kal-El Krypton. Plus it makes sense they'd give Supergirl a chance. And now that we've got a Superman and Family show, it just feels right.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

At the end of Flashpoint or whatever didn't they merge the different realities or universes into one...if so then they wouldn't have to cross anything and it's obviously years later as the sons are teenagers...

[Frontier]

I can see Jonathan and Jordan upset that Clark is keeping tabs on them, but how can he not? And I love him coming to the rescue as Clark and not Superman. I love it when Superman shows up, of course, but I'm okay with them using him and his battles sparingly..

Him randomly showing up at the school as Clark was the most hilarious thing .

[Batgrayson]

At the end of Flashpoint or whatever didn't they merge the different realities or universes into one...if so then they wouldn't have to cross anything and it's obviously years later as the sons are teenagers...

At the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth 1, Supergirl's Earth and BL's Earth were merged, so time changed and probably Clark and Lois had the twins years earlier.

There's going to be a kind of minor "crossover" with Diggle from Arrow appearing on Flash, Supergirl, Legends, S&L and Batwoman for a 5 episode story.

[ComicJunkie21]

Just watched the first 3 episodes and have to say that I am shocked this show is good. It doesn't feel like a CW show at all.

I was not interested in this show because I thought Superman was not treated properly in the arrowverse cameos and crossovers in order to try and boost supergirl which didn't need to happen because she has her own good stories and doesn't need a half baked Superman to make her look better. Truthfully he was an embarrassment of a Superman iteration and I didn't really care for him.

With that said, I'm hoping they continue on this quality because now I'm starting to like this Superman. The kids are also not bad in fact, some of the best parts are seeing the sacrifices they make for each other that shows their bond. As long as they limit the teen cheese I think this can be a very good series.

Last point, I can't believe they have good fight scenes, I almost cried tears of joy when that motel scene happened.

[daBronzeBomma]

After watching 3 episodes of Tyler Hoechlin's Kal in SUPERMAN AND LOIS (SAL) and comparing them to his Kal in SUPERGIRL ... I'm getting the impression this might be actually be a different enough version so as to be a different character altogether.

The differences between Tyler's two versions are even more pronounced than the differences between Brandon Routh's Kal in SUPERMAN RETURNS vs Brandon Routh's Kal in the CW's "Crisis On Infinite Earths" crossover.

Zero mention of Kara in SAL. Zero mention of Lex Luthor in SAL (I think). Zero mention of the other Arrowverse characters in SAL. Zero mention of any of the previous CW events in SAL.

I'm starting to think that SAL used the Crisis crossover to quietly disconnect itself from the Arrowverse even before it's debut. The Super sons make absolutely no sense timeline-wise, unless SAL is still set in the CW universe, but is actually 14 years into their future.

Which it could be, and that could work.

Or this could be yet another Earth altogether where none of the CW SUPERGIRL stuff applies at all. Or some weird 3rd option.

What do you think?

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

As far as the Kent twins go, this isn't the first or even the latest time Arrowverse heroes found themselves with children they weren't supposed to have after timeline changes. It happened to both Stein and most recently Mick in Legends, as well as to Diggle a bunch of times. So thats not really a biggie. I think the "Arrowverse" has become more disconnected because of covid. But yeah while its weird Kara hasn't even been mentioned in passing, it probably will connect sooner or later.