Superman & Lois S1: Spoilers, Discussion, & Speculation

[oneveryfineday]

Alright, if Lex Luthor is John Henry Irons, Morgan Edge is Clark’s secret Kryptonian “brother”, who’s next in line for a secret identity twist reveal? I’m predicting Lana actually being Maxima because why not

[Vordan]

-Love that this episode starts off with Lois utilizing her investigative journalist team, like pulling a heist but the prize is info
-Ok I had to laugh at Leslie lying straight up to Emily’s face about how much the process would hurt; Also I like Edge’s “pitch” to her about why what he’s doing is a good thing. Preying on people’s need fits in with Edge’s role as the “Lex” of this show right now
-Ok so the possession isn’t total at first, it takes a while, foreshadowing that maybe the human hosts can still be saved? Come to think of it, what happens to the Kryptonian “spirits” when their humans hosts die? Do they die with the bodies or can they be reuploaded into a new form?
-Sarah needs to let Jon try to be happy for a few seconds before he gets brutally crushed again lol
-Hey they’re finally make use of Clark’s Smallville roots. As the guy who was raised in Smallville it makes sense that he would be the guy to try to talk to the people Edge has recruited
-Clark shutting down the bank robbery was pretty cool, was he affected by residual X-Kryptonite from Emily I wonder? Love that they highlighted that he’s studied foreign languages
-Lmao love that Lois decides to burst into an Edge board room and tell off Edge to his face
-Damn Edge knows about the alternate world and what went down with it’s Superman
-Damn Jon gets s***ted on AGAIN, guess Sarah was right after all

-Kinda looks like Hoechlin bulked up a bit more since last we saw him lol, also geez guess it was a residual effect from the gas?
- Jordan manifesting arctic breath that way is hilarious, reminds me of some origin takes where Clark almost burns down his high school with his heat vision because it triggers when he gets horny
-Everyone really tore into Sam this episode. I’m still not sure whether he’s going to end up back on Superman’s side or not by the ending of this season. I also still sympathize with him somewhat, we’ve had so many evil Supermen stories, even this show added another, that it’s hard to fault Sam for being cautious; Also Sam referring to Clark as the most powerful being is funny to hear given how mad everyone was at Hoechlin Supes when he was back in Supergirl and jobbed. It’s funny thinking back to those complaints now. Still Sam saving Lois and Jon should hopefully earn him back some goodwill
-Of course Edge and Leslie know that Lana is working with Lois, guessing they were listening in on her
-So the Fortress does have a bunch of high tech, it’s just disguised to look like natural features? Makes sense although I personally prefer the aesthetics to look cool over everything else
-Kyle gets a chance at redemption! Was kind of hoping something like this would happen. Show keeps walking a tightrope between Kyle’s flaws and his love for his family
-Edge thinking he can take a shot at Lois and Clark isn’t going to beat his ass to a pulp feels like a big misread of Clark (although given he knows about what happens on the alternate Earth, I can see him thinking the two are the same given I don’t think he knows about Clark just yet)
-Just occurred to me that the Kryptonite purging is an example of Morrison’s view of Superman as the Everyman+. We take our kids to the doctor to get shots and sometimes they need to hold our hand while they scream their head off (least that’s what I did ) this is basically the Superman equivalent of that
-Liked the bonding moment between Jordan and Clark over being thrust into circumstances they didn’t ask for
-Ok Jon is definitely getting into a habit of using weapons to save the day lol
-OH S*** KYLE’S POSSESSED! This show does a good job of pulling out at least one WTF moment every episode that you didn’t see coming.
-So because the X-Kryptonite was in Smallville and people were exposed to it, that’s why people from there can host it. Makes sense but I hope they plan to explain what exactly X-Kryptonite is in terms of how it gets Kryptonian consciousness into people. Or maybe those consciousnesses come from the machine and the X just prepares the host body?
-Hah Edge lampshades that it would be dumb of him to give people powers if he didn’t have them himself. Saw that coming since otherwise there’s no reason for Leslie to be afraid of him
-“Brother”. Hm they’re not going for H’El are they? Lmao I must admit I never would’ve seen that coming. I believe comic Subjekt also referred to Kal as “brother” and if it’s Zod then he may just be referring to Kal as a “brother” Kryptonian. Excited for the next episode to get answers!

[Frontier]

-Love that this episode starts off with Lois utilizing her investigative journalist team, like pulling a heist but the prize is info
-Ok I had to laugh at Leslie lying straight up to Emily’s face about how much the process would hurt; Also I like Edge’s “pitch” to her about why what he’s doing is a good thing. Preying on people’s need fits in with Edge’s role as the “Lex” of this show right now
-Ok so the possession isn’t total at first, it takes a while, foreshadowing that maybe the human hosts can still be saved? Come to think of it, what happens to the Kryptonian “spirits” when their humans hosts die? Do they die with the bodies or can they be reuploaded into a new form?
-Sarah needs to let Jon try to be happy for a few seconds before he gets brutally crushed again lol
-Hey they’re finally make use of Clark’s Smallville roots. As the guy who was raised in Smallville it makes sense that he would be the guy to try to talk to the people Edge has recruited
-Clark shutting down the bank robbery was pretty cool, was he affected by residual X-Kryptonite from Emily I wonder? Love that they highlighted that he’s studied foreign languages
-Lmao love that Lois decides to burst into an Edge board room and tell off Edge to his face
-Damn Edge knows about the alternate world and what went down with it’s Superman
-Damn Jon gets s***ted on AGAIN, guess Sarah was right after all

-Kinda looks like Hoechlin bulked up a bit more since last we saw him lol, also geez guess it was a residual effect from the gas?
- Jordan manifesting arctic breath that way is hilarious, reminds me of some origin takes where Clark almost burns down his high school with his heat vision because it triggers when he gets horny
-Everyone really tore into Sam this episode. I’m still not sure whether he’s going to end up back on Superman’s side or not by the ending of this season. I also still sympathize with him somewhat, we’ve had so many evil Supermen stories, even this show added another, that it’s hard to fault Sam for being cautious; Also Sam referring to Clark as the most powerful being is funny to hear given how mad everyone was at Hoechlin Supes when he was back in Supergirl and jobbed. It’s funny thinking back to those complaints now. Still Sam saving Lois and Jon should hopefully earn him back some goodwill
-Of course Edge and Leslie know that Lana is working with Lois, guessing they were listening in on her
-So the Fortress does have a bunch of high tech, it’s just disguised to look like natural features? Makes sense although I personally prefer the aesthetics to look cool over everything else
-Kyle gets a chance at redemption! Was kind of hoping something like this would happen. Show keeps walking a tightrope between Kyle’s flaws and his love for his family
-Edge thinking he can take a shot at Lois and Clark isn’t going to beat his ass to a pulp feels like a big misread of Clark (although given he knows about what happens on the alternate Earth, I can see him thinking the two are the same given I don’t think he knows about Clark just yet)
-Just occurred to me that the Kryptonite purging is an example of Morrison’s view of Superman as the Everyman+. We take our kids to the doctor to get shots and sometimes they need to hold our hand while they scream their head off (least that’s what I did ) this is basically the Superman equivalent of that
-Liked the bonding moment between Jordan and Clark over being thrust into circumstances they didn’t ask for
-Ok Jon is definitely getting into a habit of using weapons to save the day lol
-OH S*** KYLE’S POSSESSED! This show does a good job of pulling out at least one WTF moment every episode that you didn’t see coming.
-So because the X-Kryptonite was in Smallville and people were exposed to it, that’s why people from there can host it. Makes sense but I hope they plan to explain what exactly X-Kryptonite is in terms of how it gets Kryptonian consciousness into people. Or maybe those consciousnesses come from the machine and the X just prepares the host body?
-Hah Edge lampshades that it would be dumb of him to give people powers if he didn’t have them himself. Saw that coming since otherwise there’s no reason for Leslie to be afraid of him
-“Brother”. Hm they’re not going for H’El are they? Lmao I must admit I never would’ve seen that coming. I believe comic Subjekt also referred to Kal as “brother” and if it’s Zod then he may just be referring to Kal as a “brother” Kryptonian. Excited for the next episode to get answers!

I also appreciated Lois calling Clark a "great reporter." Finally, they remember.

I guess it depends where the spirits of the Kryptonian's are coming from. The Phantom Zone? The afterlife? The former makes more sense.

Apparently Jon getting rejected by that girl wasn't in the broadcast version (which I watched)...so kind of glad I missed that. Jeez, why is it so hard for this show to give Jon more wins?

Which live-action Superman has the best shirtless bod?

I don't remember when Freeze Breath came up in Smallville, but I don't remember it seeming so dangerous.

I knew Superman would be important again in his own show, I just didn't know it needed to negate the existence of Supergirl to do it. Or Lucy lane, apparently.

I think X-Kryptonite just gives you powers while the machine is what implants the Kryptonian consciousness because we saw Tag with powers but he's not possessed.

[The Frog Bros]

Man, another episode, and yet more twists. Pulling out all the stops, freakin' awesome show.

Liked how Lois recruits Clark to help out with the reporting. She's the best reporter around, but pretty great how she's like, Clark's a good reporter too, let's use his skills.

Speaking of Lois, total badass barging in to the Edge meeting. And one of the better badass lines in the show to this point when she turns to Larr and drops the "don't touch me!" line. F'n awesome.

Thought the synthetic kryptonite that acts like a virus was pretty cool. And the way they got rid of it in the Fortress was pretty awesome. It still looks too much like a simple cave to me, but the extreme heat lasers wiping out the kryptonite was sweet. Kinda reminiscent of the lasers in the creepermobile.

Liked how Jonathan could also hear their fam was in danger in addition to Clark.

Obligatory dorky Dad Clark moment: him packing the boys' lunches.

Stopping the bank robbery in Mexico, good stuff. Nice to see them toss in some low level criminal activity every now and again.

Nice to see Jon starting to get his moments in the past few episodes instead of constantly getting dumped on. In addition to blasting away, really liked when he stood up to Sam Lane. That was a cool scene.

As for the ultimate spoiler, not sure if anyone saw that one coming... I'm guessing not literal brother though.

[Vordan]

Remembering Tag is what made me conclude that the machine is responsible, not the X-Kryptonite itself yeah.

Also I just had a thought, Edge’s shield has “a” S logo in the negative space, perhaps that’s pointing towards him as the first “Subjekt”?

I kind of get why they’re ignoring Kara. The problem is that Clark pretty much should’ve already worked out how to train someone else with his abilities due to him helping to train Kara. But that would eliminate a lot of the drama of the show if Clark already had mastered the art of teaching with Kara, so they’re simply ignoring inconvenient continuity (just like the comics ). It is weird how Lucy was erased but I suppose they couldn’t get the actress back and it’s easier this way?

[The Frog Bros]

Remembering Tag is what made me conclude that the machine is responsible, not the X-Kryptonite itself yeah.

Also I just had a thought, Edge’s shield has “a” S logo in the negative space, perhaps that’s pointing towards him as the first “Subjekt”?

I kind of get why they’re ignoring Kara. The problem is that Clark pretty much should’ve already worked out how to train someone else with his abilities due to him helping to train Kara. But that would eliminate a lot of the drama of the show if Clark already had mastered the art of teaching with Kara, so they’re simply ignoring inconvenient continuity (just like the comics ). It is weird how Lucy was erased but I suppose they couldn’t get the actress back and it’s easier this way?

FWIW, I just happened to read a Busiek Superman issue (#667) and during a fight, Subjekt 17 complains to Superman that he values humans "over one who could be your brother."

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Episodes like this are where the fuzzy continuity of the previous shows are a problem. Has Superman fought Zod before, as was established in Supergirl? If so, then why on Earth is Lois upset with Sam for creating anti-Kryptonian weapons? What about the multiple times that Superman (and Supergirl) has been turned evil by magic, red kryptonite, or cosmic shenanigans?

I can think of dozens of very good reasons why they'd need weaponry that could take down Superman, so why isn't Lois Lane, who's not dumb character, too dumb in this episode to understand that?

Aside from that, this was a great episode, but I'm really not a fan of characters suddenly and inexplicably being dumbed down for the sake of dramatic stakes. Prior to this episode, Superman & Lois has done a great job of showing Lois as both fallible, but also experienced and savvy enough not to fall prey to the same easy tropes that a lot of love interests get saddled with in superhero TV adaptations. Hopefully, this was a one-off.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

In precrisis Supergirl, Clark had the same mindset about kryptonite and the government, he hated that J'onn and the DEO had stockpiles of it too. I do hope that his stance on that changes after what happened on the farm, because yeah there are a lot of good reasons for the government to hold onto some.

[Vordan]

How Clark feels about others having failsafes against him going rogue can sometimes vary heavily. Usually he’s shown as tolerant... to a point. He gives Bruce the Kryptonite ring as a sign of trust, that he accepts he has the potential to be a threat, but he was still pissed at Bruce for Tower of Babel. He tried to destroy all the Kryptonite in that one Superman/Batman arc, although again he was willing to let Bruce keep some at the end, which they then undermined the hell out of by showing Bruce had stockpiled a ton of different Kryptonite types behind Clark’s back. I think Clark’s attitude can be summed up as “he’ll allow people he trusts 100% to make contingencies, but even then he doesn’t want to give them much” and in that light he still clearly doesn’t trust Sam 100%.

Lois is usually adamant that Clark isn’t a threat, I don’t recall a case of her ever being supportive of those kinds of countermeasures. Plus I think part of it might simply be simmering resentment towards her dad for building bioweapons against her husband that then hurt her son as well. That she and her father kind of reconcile at the end shows that she doesn’t completely hate her dad. I would appreciate a talk between the two where they discuss the potential threat Clark can pose and Lois accepts that there is some potential (although I also want to see some clear signs of Clark refusing to break no matter what in the stories to come).

Ultimately Sam is kind of sympathetic because even while within the show he comes across as paranoid, Clark’s given no indication of being a threat, the other guy was pretty different from “our” Clark, all the evil Supermen stuff DC has done, and all the evil Supermen expies elsewhere, has made Lois insisting that Clark would never be like the other guy come across as somewhat naive. I hate that that’s the status quo now, but you gotta deal with the world we live in.

[Frontier]

How Clark feels about others having failsafes against him going rogue can sometimes vary heavily. Usually he’s shown as tolerant... to a point. He gives Bruce the Kryptonite ring as a sign of trust, that he accepts he has the potential to be a threat, but he was still pissed at Bruce for Tower of Babel. He tried to destroy all the Kryptonite in that one Superman/Batman arc, although again he was willing to let Bruce keep some at the end, which they then undermined the hell out of by showing Bruce had stockpiled a ton of different Kryptonite types behind Clark’s back. I think Clark’s attitude can be summed up as “he’ll allow people he trusts 100% to make contingencies, but even then he doesn’t want to give them much” and in that light he still clearly doesn’t trust Sam 100%.

Lois is usually adamant that Clark isn’t a threat, I don’t recall a case of her ever being supportive of those kinds of countermeasures. Plus I think part of it might simply be simmering resentment towards her dad for building bioweapons against her husband that then hurt her son as well. That she and her father kind of reconcile at the end shows that she doesn’t completely hate her dad. I would appreciate a talk between the two where they discuss the potential threat Clark can pose and Lois accepts that there is some potential (although I also want to see some clear signs of Clark refusing to break no matter what in the stories to come).

Ultimately Sam is kind of sympathetic because even while within the show he comes across as paranoid, Clark’s given no indication of being a threat, the other guy was pretty different from “our” Clark, all the evil Supermen stuff DC has done, and all the evil Supermen expies elsewhere, has made Lois insisting that Clark would never be like the other guy come across as somewhat naive. I hate that that’s the status quo now, but you gotta deal with the world we live in.

In the context of the show Clark seemed to take it better than Lois did, but I think part of it was Lois also blaming Sam for getting Jordan sick and being upset she couldn't protect her children.

And I guess Jon's Kryptonian genes are so inert that it didn't even effect him even though, biologically, you'd think it would.

[Agent Z]

I don't know why Sam didn't just say the kryptonite weapons were for other Kryptonians who weren't friendly to Earth. He even uses these weapons to neutralize the ones sent after Lois and Jon.

[manwhohaseverything]

FWIW, I just happened to read a Busiek Superman issue (#667) and during a fight, Subjekt 17 complains to Superman that he values humans "over one who could be your brother."

Yeah! Really felt bad for the guy.He was even captured and tortured.

I don't know why Sam didn't just say the kryptonite weapons were for other Kryptonians who weren't friendly to Earth. He even uses these weapons to neutralize the ones sent after Lois and Jon.

Would that be true?It isn't just for them.It's for any kryptonians that isn't friendly including clark..If sam has any honor would he be telling the truth?not hiding it?

[9th.]

Brother? Excuse me?????

Are they about to give Superman his very own Raditz

[9th.]

Also I know they do it for budget reasons but Supermans Ice Cave of Solitude is unintentionally hilarious

[Agent Z]

Yeah! Really felt bad for the guy.He was even captured and tortured.


Would that be true?It isn't just for them.It's for any kryptonians that isn't friendly including clark..If sam has any honor would he be telling the truth?not hiding it?

It would make as much sense if not more so since presumably they've encountered other Kryptonians before.