Superman & Lois S1: Spoilers, Discussion, & Speculation

[Yoda]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but wasn't the Colossus actor cast as Subjekt 13 or something related to the alien from Busiek's run?

[Vordan]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but wasn't the Colossus actor cast as Subjekt 13 or something related to the alien from Busiek's run?

Yep! He’s “Subjekt 11” so my theory is that instead of being captured by the Soviets he’s instead captured by the Americans. This show draws a lot on the Busiek/Johns era, like Unit 7734 showing up. We know Sam Lane was stockpiling Kryptonite, claiming to do so as a protection for Superman, but it may be that “our” General Lane also has some anti-Superman safeguards. Subjekt would be one of those safeguards, the military’s own “Superman” they can deploy if Kal went rogue which is something that seemingly happened to Captain Luthor’s Earth.

[superduperman]

Still haven’t seen the episode but I got spoiled that a Supergirl character shows up here, guessing that’s the woman you guys are talking about. Apparently she’s a Kryptonian or can at least pass as one? Might be related to that other Kal-El.

TBH, I have a feeling this show will end up more or less undoing most of Supergirl by having to go back to the well with some of her villains that have already been featured. They've already repurposed Morgan Edge. I thought the guy was Metallo when he first showed up. There's no way they can keep using second and third tier villains the entire run. And she got most of his good ones.

[Vordan]

TBH, I have a feeling this show will end up more or less undoing most of Supergirl by having to go back to the well with some of her villains that have already been featured. They've already repurposed Morgan Edge. I thought the guy was Metallo when he first showed up. There's no way they can keep using second and third tier villains the entire run. And she got most of his good ones.

Given the focus on Sam Lane and usage of Busiek/Johns stuff, I definitely want Metallo to show up at some point. He makes too much sense for a show like this.

[Quinlan58]

First thoughts after seeing the episode: Jon is literally perfect.

Other thoughts: Yep, Lois has great stuff in this show, but she doesn't really feel like the co-lead. She feels like the most important side character. Jordan feels like the co-lead. Still, loved her passion, her acknowledgement she may have overfocused on Morgan edge (even if her suspicions turned out right), her actions in her encounter with the metahuman, her relationship with Clark (though she still needs some more focus in her relationship with her children).

I'm not really seeing the lack of stories for female characters Nadria Tucker warned us about, but I am seeing the "all black characters are antagonists" issue she spoke of. Now even the football coach comes across as a jerk.

There was a lot of focus on Jordan and Sarah this episode, and while I'm not a fan of teenage drama, I did like the conversation Sarah and Lana had. Jordan's still very self-centered (obviously realistic, but it doesn't help that, as I said before, his brother is literally perfect), but liked the moment where he apologized to Sarah's ex-boyfriend (after knocking him down like he deserved). Yeah, dude was a jerk and a bully, but Jordan did constantly go after his girlfriend.

Clark was mostly sidelined, but Tyler continues to give a great performance at every point, and as I said before, his relationship with Lois was very well done.

Overall liked the episode.

[superduperman]

Captain Luthor is coming across more like a hero the more we know about him. If he's from a world where Superman is a villain.

[Tony]

I really enjoyed this one. I think each episode has been a little better. I can only hope Jordan is done having hissy fits, as he has been the worst part of the show by far for me. I smiled a few times in episode 3. Good to see Superman winning.

[Superlad93]

Yes indeed, Jon's character continues to be "basically a saint".

Like, again, I get it it, I'm supposed to sympathize with Jordan's situation, but it's so damn hard when he's almost exclusively self-centered and the whole rest of his family is either looking out for him, other people, or the whole world. Like, Jordan didn't join the team to become more of an extravert or even protect his brother from bullies. He joined the team to throw around his weight and have a space where he could be cheered for knocking these kids out with his Captain America strength. And in isolation I get that as a very human thing to do, but it's just hard to root for it when set next to the rest of his family-- especially his brother.

Jon: "Oh, what's that? My super powered brother who gets to go flying with our super powered dad has decided to jump in on the ONE aspect of my life that makes me feel special in this town? Well, that does make me feel pretty bad, but, hey, he's making friends, so guess I'll let him have that!"

Jordan: "Boy, it sure would be nice to kiss Sarah again, and beat up her boyfriend. I know! I'll do that sport ball thing that one kid who lives in my house is always going on about!"

Exaggeration? Yes. Obviously. But it's just so strange. He's like not a total dick, but he's just a normal teen in a family full of near saints. And now on top of everything next episode apparently Jordan's gonna wanna help people in some way (while yelling at someone. You can't forget that!), but he's going to end up hurting someone, and Jon's going to assure him that he knows he's a good person and that he'd never intentionally hurt someone.....while Jordan flashes him a morally ambiguous look. Like, what does this show ACTUALLY want me to think here?

________________

The episode itself is good, but the Lois stuff is underserved, and it didn't leave me with much to say on it because it was sort of just things happening. I find myself more interested in episodes where Sam Lane shows up, so I'm down for what comes next.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Ratings for ep. 3: 1.24 mil viewers. No viewership drop from the prev. ep.

Source: https://tvline.com/2021/03/10/tv-rat...-18-episode-9/

[Tony]

Like, what does this show ACTUALLY want me to think here?

I agree with you here. I keep wondering why they made Jordan the Character, he just isn't sympathetic at all to me.

Then I see Jon turning into a bad kid cause he's getting so dumped on and instead he takes it all in stride and still sacrifices for his brother. Maybe they want you to hate Jordan. I already wish he wasn't on the show. I would have preferred that John be a little more flawed, but still a great guy you could look up to without the twin.

Oh well, in episode 2 Clark saves lives and beats the bad guy, in episode 3 Clark saves lives and beats the bad guy. I'm still pretty happy.

[Frontier]

Privacy issues aside, I think personally I'd love it if my Superhero dad was listening in to me in case I ever needed help, and with Jordan's issues it's probably more pronounced (and how many times has Clark listening for Lois probably saved her life?), but I guess it can come off a tad stalker-y .

I guess for all the drama of the Kent family we have the Lang/Cushing family who are, in Sarah's own words, a dumpster-fire. Kind of wondering what direction this family is going to go into because it seems like Lana is as lost as her daughter is, but at least they came together by the end.

Jon is the Superboy we want but maybe not the one we deserve as he continues being the best and supportive brother to Jordan even when the cliche (and maybe understandable) direction for him would be to become bitter and resentful towards his brother.

It's a good thing Sarah broke up with her boyfriend because it didn't seem like Jordan had any plans to stop pursuing her.

Jordan seems to have enough control over his powers to not hurt anyone and he actually made up with Sara's ex-boyfriend, so that ended up going better than I was expecting. But will it stick that way? Let's not forget when he let loose Heat Vision unconsciously during stress.

Once again further evidence that Jordan's powers only seem active or noticeable in proximity to Jon. Would that practice have gone differently if Jon had not been there?

That coach is kind of a jerk for making Jon run laps just for not mentioning his brother can play well (which, up to this point, he never would have thought was possible).

I was honestly expecting Lois to take over that paper but she is still ostensibly just an employee for Chrissy who has final say.

I see Jordan plays fighting games other than Injustice 2. Maybe it feels weird playing that game knowing his dad and his friends are in it. Although that attack Superman did on the bad guy looked like an Injustice 2 super move.

Kara uses her Freeze Breath pretty sparingly, so I'm glad Clark is making good use of his instead of defaulting to Heat Vision. It was nice to see Clark use his powers creatively to win the fight after brute force failed instead of needing someone to tell him what to do or the DEO to give him a device or a full team to win. Superman doesn't need any of that stuff.

So...is Edge using Kryptonians or is he using people genetically modified to have Kryptonian powers?

Assistant Coach Clark Kent is the best. I love it. And it gives him an excuse to be there for the boys at school and monitor them without needing to listen in on their conversations. Also him faking struggling with the water cooler was hilarious .

[Alpha]

It feels really weird for Clark not to help Lois with her reporting. This version of Clark doesn't seem to have any of the passion for the journalism. It really was just a job for him.

[GSman]

It feels really weird for Clark not to help Lois with her reporting. This version of Clark doesn't seem to have any of the passion for the journalism. It really was just a job for him.

I have a feeling that's probably why they fired Clark from the DP, and had him focus more on the farming, so journalisim can be more of Lois' thing. Not that it never was her thing, but it's traditionally also Clark's. So I guess it's a good way to split storylines with Lois having her work and Clark his.

[Superlad93]

I agree with you here. I keep wondering why they made Jordan the Character, he just isn't sympathetic at all to me.

Then I see Jon turning into a bad kid cause he's getting so dumped on and instead he takes it all in stride and still sacrifices for his brother. Maybe they want you to hate Jordan. I already wish he wasn't on the show. I would have preferred that John be a little more flawed, but still a great guy you could look up to without the twin.

I am actually somewhat worried that Jon may end up reaching a breaking point and going "bad". Maybe Luthor/Sam rope him into their anti-Superman thing, and it's a combination of Jordan doing something he doesn't agree with and him being fed up with everything. That would suck given how nice and supportive he's been, but it's possible. Or maybe Edge's men have some sort of super drug that Jon's gonna abuse?

Or he may gain powers of his own, and they may be greater than Jordan's because the powers for the kids may be based off their baseline physical ability, and Jon's starting at a near college level athlete? That would in turn have Jordan feeling bad because this was what made him special.

Either way there's a breaking point coming, and I'd like to have near equal sympathy for both boys before that, so I'm not rolling my eyes for one thing or another. I'd certainly feel maybe the worst if the idea is to build Jon up as being this nice only to make his fall from grace that much harder.

Oh well, in episode 2 Clark saves lives and beats the bad guy, in episode 3 Clark saves lives and beats the bad guy. I'm still pretty happy.

Exactly. Minor complaints that can be fixed going forward aside, it's still a Superman show that looks THIS good, and is THIS good. I can't really not be happy.

[Vordan]

It feels really weird for Clark not to help Lois with her reporting. This version of Clark doesn't seem to have any of the passion for the journalism. It really was just a job for him.

To be fair, between being Superman and trying to be a better dad to his kids, Clark’s kind of spread thin. Would I like more emphasis on journalist Clark? Totally, but I get why they’re making that Lois’ “thing”, she’s better at it and more committed to it.