'Superman & Lois' : The CW TV Series

[Agent Z]

Episode 12: Superman and tornadoes. Name a more iconic duo.

[j9ac9k]

Episode 12: Superman and tornadoes. Name a more iconic duo.

Batman and dark alleys?

[daBronzeBomma]

Thoughts on #SupermanAndLois s3e13 "What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger". Spoilers follow ...


1. After a lot of onscreen drama and offscreen turmoil, We've finally arrived at the Season 3 Finale of SAL.

The offscreen turmoil being first the uncertainty of whether the show would get renewed on the CW at all, then finding out that it would get a Season 4 ... but with cuts aimed exclusively at casting outside the core Kent four and Lex Luthor (to preserve the CGI budget).

2. If there's one thing about this show I wish they'd improve, it's Superman & Lois' ability to plan any sort of defense when threatened.

They know Lex is out there, they know he's gunning for Lois and Superman (he flat-out told them he was going to). And they do ... nothing?

When Bruno Mannheim threatened John Henry's family, Irons disappeared for two weeks just to secure ALL of them from any attack.

This reminds me of Season 1 when Tal demanded Kal surrender, and Kal appeared to do so to protect his family, only to find out he had no contingency plan at all and was genuinely giving himself up. Like, what?

3. Is this Lex Luthor rich?

I'm not getting any billionaire vibes from him, more like influential criminal with a small network of henches and access to cars and weapons.

How does he have his own airline if he spent 17 years behind bars falsely imprisoned?


4. Eager Clark and Horny Lois!

Them impulsively flying off to Tal's unused Italian villa to finally "stoke the home fires" (after months of cancer-induced celibacy) is the second-most CW thing of this episode.

I took that scene as a capper on Lois' cancer ordeal. I don't expect the topic to come up again next season (much like Jordan's anxiety).

5. I'm glad Jordan and Sarah ended things.

They weren't good at any sort of close relationship, romantic or platonic. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

6. Steel and Lana, sitting in a tree, doing a lot more than K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

John Henry and Mayor Lang doing the deed was the most CW thing about this episode. This pairing had been telegraphed for months on the show.

Cool with it, happened in the comix first, and they're easily the best partner for each other (which says more about their respective other romantic options across all media).

7. Poor Sam Lane.

He finally has his family stuff together (note how naturally he introduced Nat as his granddaughter), his dating life is revving up, and his potentially final* scene ever is him getting tazered in the neck by Lex's sexy hench ... did she have a name? Is that this show's version Mercy or Miss Tessmacher?

8. What was Luthor and his crew using on the reanimated corpse of Bizarro?

Wasn't Kryptonite, all that gear glowed orange, not green. Probably XK, right? Wasn't XK lethal to Inverse Kryptonians like Bizarro?

BTW, Tyler Hoechlin deserves some additional acclaim for playing both Clark and Bizarro believably.

9. We got Doomsday. For real this time.

In hindsight, the clue was in the episode title: "What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger" ... that's kinda always been Doomsday's whole shtick.

As far as Superman Rogues go, he's not my favorite villain: mindless CGI monsters (DD is basically Savage Hulk mixed with Wolverine's Claws and Healing) aren't my jam. But I'm not sure how you could improve the concept and still have it be recognizably Doomsday.

10. That was the best Superman Doomsday fight put to screen (animated or live-action).

If this fx blowout is why costumed Superman is limited to less than 5 minutes an episode the rest of the season, I'm OK with it.

I particularly liked that Superman realized this was a reanimated corpse and mid-fight was actively looking for a Metropolis spire on which to gruesomely IMPALE Doomsday (which still didn't work).

Also, this Doomsday can straight-up fly or at least levitate upward?

That closing shot of the two of them racing toward each other on the moon was awesome (and would have been an insane way to close out the show if it hadn't been renewed).

Bonus: is Soundgarden now the unofficial rock band of the Superverse? Between "Blow Up The Outside" played here and Chris Cornell's " Seasons" played during the DCEU Man Of Steel movie, I can did it.

Although their song "Superunknown" would have been the PERFECT soundtrack to this fight.

Bottom Line: Thoroughly enjoyed the episode. Can't wait for Season 4 next year.

With the bloodbath of casting cuts for regulars (Sam, John Henry, Nat, Lana, Kyle, Sarah, the other kid, etc), next season is going to look very different (esp with Lex as part of the main regular cast now) and will probably be the final season.

Grade (of Enjoyment): A

[wleakr]

Also, this Doomsday can straight-up fly or at least levitate upward?

Anything Bizaaro could do before, he should still be able to do after evolving. Flying should be part of the powerset.

[Styles]

Dope episode, this has been a great season. Looking forward to S4.

It’s funny how Lex turned a Superman villain into Doomsday like Lex in BVS turned a Superman villain into Doomsday.

Guess they got that idea from the movie.

And this Superman also doesn't have a no kill rule; he tried to kill Doomsday.

[Captain Smith]

Good episode! Great effects for a TV show. The 17 years in prison for Lex is still stupid but that's the plot. Another quibble, given Bizarro/DD has kryptonian level status, should Kal been able to impale him.

Yes, Kal will kill and unlike some Kals seems to be ok in vacuum. Still sad that all the supporting cast will be dumped. They were a major part of the show. Too bad Max or someone else couldn't take it over on the same level.

[Frontier]

And this Superman also doesn't have a no kill rule; he tried to kill Doomsday.

Yes, Kal will kill and unlike some Kals seems to be ok in vacuum. Still sad that all the supporting cast will be dumped. They were a major part of the show. Too bad Max or someone else couldn't take it over on the same level.

Superman always makes an exception for Doomsday because he barely counts as being "alive," though I guess we can argue how sentient zombie Bizarro still was by that point.

This Superman does seem to have a no kill rule because he's never accepted that as an option in past seasons. He disagreed with Steel killing Miller in a prior episode.

[Captain Smith]

Yeah, but Superman knows the origin of Bizarro and said - what did they do to you? That means he knows Bizarro is base human unlike comic DD who was just a monster (yes, he started as a baby but they didn't know that).

No kill goes out the window when someone is trying to kill you - although in WWII, there were COs who wouldn't kill, carry guns but acted as medics on the front lines at great personal risk.

[Frontier]

Yeah, but Superman knows the origin of Bizarro and said - what did they do to you? That means he knows Bizarro is base human unlike comic DD who was just a monster (yes, he started as a baby but they didn't know that).

No kill goes out the window when someone is trying to kill you - although in WWII, there were COs who wouldn't kill, carry guns but acted as medics on the front lines at great personal risk.

He knows Doomsday was Bizarro but he also saw Bizarro alive so he probably wasn't thinking he was more than just a monstrous, reanimated, corpse. So I think that cleans up why it doesn't infringe on the no-kill rule.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Nice to see some relationship milestones here. Lana and John Henry! Jordan making things up with Sarah and, hopefully, moving on and having more self confidence. And Kyle and Chrissy. I guess he's traditional enough that he would want to propose to the mother of his child now so they're married by the time the kid is born. Maybe this will be the Beppo of the comics and Chrissy will give birth to a monkey?

So Bizarro turned out to be Doomsday after all! As far as live action Doomsday designs go, I'm going to have to say Krypton > Superman & Lois > Dawn of Justice > Smallville. That's just for design, though. The transformation was awesome but painful to watch. The fight was pretty epic too. I didn't think they were going to end it that way, I just thought Superman was going to leave him on the moon or something.

Poor Sam. First it seems like he's finally getting some action, even embarrassing his grandkids (including Natalie!) over it, but it was just a plant from Luthor. Don't keep breaking this poor old mans' heart. And wait, isn't Dylan Walsh not coming back next season? Are they just going to kill Sam off-screen?

I hope not, but it wouldn't be the first time one of Luthor's goons killed the father of one of the main characters off-screen.

Aw man - they should've just gotten Denise Crosby to "reprise" the roll!

That would have been fun, but I got a kick out of seeing Rebecca Staab. The Susan Storm that never was!

[Frontier]

So Bizarro turned out to be Doomsday after all! As far as live action Doomsday designs go, I'm going to have to say Krypton > Superman & Lois > Dawn of Justice > Smallville. That's just for design, though. The transformation was awesome but painful to watch. The fight was pretty epic too. I didn't think they were going to end it that way, I just thought Superman was going to leave him on the moon or something.

I think Bizarro!Doomsday still has flight, so he'd probably have just followed him back to Earth.

[j9ac9k]

Speaking of, have we ever seen a Bizarro Doomsday in the comics?

[Frontier]

Speaking of, have we ever seen a Bizarro Doomsday in the comics?

Closest I can think of is Superdoom:

[Batgrayson]

There was one on Johns' run on Action Comics post Infinite Crisis

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Bizarro_Doomsday_(New_Earth)

[Anarchist]

Man, this Doomsday's design is pretty sick. Only version of him that flies?