Superman & Lois S2: Spoilers, Discussion, & Speculation

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I liked the Superman of America outfit so I'm hoping Jordan gets one.

[RobinGA]

Thoughts on the episode.

It felt like again there were a lot of moving parts, but it still felt as though major developments will be further down the road.
I suppose that is going to happen when you have 15 episodes. It will have weeks where things drag a little.

The motives of Bizarro remain unclear. The pendant was dragged by Tag before Superman knocked down Bizarro. Don't know if
it will be that great in the hands of the feds. You definitely had a red shirts from Star Trek feeling when the Supermen of America tangled
with Bizarro. That everyone but Tag was killed isn't a great shock.

I really can't stand the cult story with Lois. Lucy Lane is well what you would expect from Lucy Lane. Narcissistic, full of herself, convinced that
Lois missed a great chance to write how wonderful life in the cult is for all concerned. I find Chrissy increasingly hard to take. First, there is the whole
some obscure podcast is going to spill the beans about Lois. Then at the end we have "tell me the truth about Lois Lane." You are going to a cult leader
to find out what is true about your financial partner and co-editor? Oy Vey! Where is Perry White when you need him? A little perspective would be helpful here.

I wouldn't take Natalie being upset with Superman too seriously. Look, they are building a relationship here. Natalie still hasn't quite figured out how she feels about this.
But it was John Henry Irons call to rush into combat, not Superman forcing him to do it. People lash out at family member in hospitals.

On the Cushing story. Kyle's infidelity isn't a great shock. When we joined them in the first season this was a marriage in trouble. I'm not quite sure how much
it matters. Lana being involved with all those reverse mortgages would be a more damning issue. We never really get a sense of what the politics are in Smallville.
I mean it is a small town, with limited financial resources.

Jon took the plunge in taking drugs. We will have to see the impact in the weeks to come.

Jordan is clearly on the path to becoming Superboy. He is more confident, more sure of himself this season. I've liked it so far.

[Frontier]

I liked the Superman of America outfit so I'm hoping Jordan gets one.

Maybe as a training outfit. I wouldn't want it to be his Superboy costume.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Maybe as a training outfit. I wouldn't want it to be his Superboy costume.

I'm hoping his name is Valor instead of Superboy. It fits him better and ties into him dealing with his anxiety disorder.

[superduperman]

The whole cult storyline has too much of a "let's exploit the Allison Mack situation" feel to it.

[daBronzeBomma]

Thoughts on #SupermanAndLois (SAL) s2e4 "The Inverse Method". Spoilers follow ...
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1. (Re)Introducing Lucy Lane!

We get Jenna Dewan "reprising" her role as Lois' younger sister ... although this Lucy seems to have nothing in common from her earlier CW incarnation.

This show wants to have its cake and eat it too: it'll never acknowledge Supergirl but it will reuse actors from that show. I'm actually perfectly OK with this.

2. Ally Alston: she's a "Parasite"!

Hey, hey, Ms. Lane, you're either straight up giving away the game right there or pulling another misdirect (like when you mentioned the word "Doomsday" just prior to the Bizarro reveal). Tread lightly with these buzzwords.

Parasite or not, Ally does radiate a very quiet but very real aura of danger. That scene in the diner when her henchmen suddenly stood up all at once was effective.

3. Jordan attempting some (very) amateur sleath superheroics at that store was entertaining: honestly didn't know if he was going to confront the shoplifters or do nothing. Instead he threaded that needle really well ... except for not noticing the security camera.

4. Don't know anything else about her, but I already like this Denise more than Jonathan's previous or current shady girlfriends.

5. Was really hoping that I was right about Jonathan only asking his pusher gf for drugs as a good ruse for his secret investigation.

Wrong. It's exactly what it looked like: Jonathan consumes the drugs simply get better at high school football. Have a bad feeling I know where this storyline is going.

6. Here for the Clark & John Henry BFF vibes.

For someone as generally likeable as Mr. Kent, he sure doesn't have many close friends. In fact, outside his family, I'm not sure this Clark HAS any close friends. Lana doesn't know the secret, and while Nat does, she isn't exactly close to Clark for multiple reasons.

To this point, neither Kara nor Jimmy Olsen even exist on the show. Bruce and Diana aren't showing up here. And there's no Krypto so far

So, I'm happy with this glimpse of their male bonding ... even if it does remind me just a little bit of Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson.

7. This episode was the opposite of Lois' shining moment.

One defeat after another for Ms. Lane here. She got disowned by Lucy, got outfoxed by Ally, is about to have her professional rep greatly tarnished by one podcast, and may have lost a friend in Chrissy.

Also, blonde-wigged Chrissy looked a lot like disgraced Smallville actress Allison Mack (played Chloe) ... that feels intentional.

8. Deep down, I knew Good Kyle wasn't going to last. If Good Kyle has been hiding an affair that Drunk Kyle had from Lana all this time, he really ain't so good.

9. Alright, let's get to the main event: Bizarro!

The first fight: Bizarro showing up at the Kent Farm and brawling with Clark and John Henry was awesome! Loved the action and SFX were good (if not necessarily great: some parts were a bit too CGI heavy). Kinda cool to see Clark and John Henry battle Bizarro in their civilian duds.

The second fight: Bizarro fighting (and killing most of) the Supermen of America teen soldiers was darker than I thought they'd go.

Superman fighting Bizarro in the arctic(?) was clearly visually influenced by the Man Of Steel movie.

Poor Steel really was in no shape to attend the battle, and Bizarro caused him serious head trauma. I hope he isn't sidelined for too long. Totally felt Nat's pain and anger at Clark here.

10. Sam Lane agreeing to train Jordan behind Clark's back is going to be a very mixed bag. Secrets rarely help.

Bottom line: Lots of stuff happening in this episode, and most of it wasn't good for our heroes (but nearly all of it was very watchable).

Fyi, SAL goes on hiatus due to the 2022 Winter Olympics. Back on 2 weeks from now.

Grade: 8.5 /10.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I think this episode was very mixed, theres a lot of subplots and some are better handled than others. I didn't mind the Cushings last season but here I just don't like them. Frankly if was in Smallville I wouldn't want Lana as mayor either. I can see being understanding and forgiving since they didn't know what Edge was tricking them into doing. But i definitely wouldn't trust them after that. I don't remember why we're supposed to root against the current mayor anyway. Maybe he's more scummy than i recall. I'd rather Clark run for mayor, why wasn't he on the shortlist? Plus it'd give him more of a life outside the family. Have Lana be the campaign manager or something. Lois/Lucy/Parasite story is better but I don't really see what Lois did wrong. She admitted in the article she had a personal stake in the situation with a family member. Not sure why she'd need to go into all the details of her tripping on the drugs she took. That being said I'm liking this Ally villain so far, very sinister. Very interested if she turns into Parasite. So far I'm interested in where both the twins are up to. Could see a lot of their Aunt Lucy in both of them. Maybe not Jordan now, but in early season 1 before he quickly mellowed out. Could also see history repeat itself if Jonathan ODs on those kryptoroids. As for Steel, how crazy would it be if he dies, but then his earth prime counterpart shows up? Poor Nat.

[Superboy-Prime]

Earth-Prime Steel is dead. For some reason.

[Frontier]

I think this episode was very mixed, theres a lot of subplots and some are better handled than others. I didn't mind the Cushings last season but here I just don't like them. Frankly if was in Smallville I wouldn't want Lana as mayor either. I can see being understanding and forgiving since they didn't know what Edge was tricking them into doing. But i definitely wouldn't trust them after that. I don't remember why we're supposed to root against the current mayor anyway. Maybe he's more scummy than i recall. I'd rather Clark run for mayor, why wasn't he on the shortlist? Plus it'd give him more of a life outside the family. Have Lana be the campaign manager or something. Lois/Lucy/Parasite story is better but I don't really see what Lois did wrong. She admitted in the article she had a personal stake in the situation with a family member. Not sure why she'd need to go into all the details of her tripping on the drugs she took. That being said I'm liking this Ally villain so far, very sinister. Very interested if she turns into Parasite. So far I'm interested in where both the twins are up to. Could see a lot of their Aunt Lucy in both of them. Maybe not Jordan now, but in early season 1 before he quickly mellowed out. Could also see history repeat itself if Jonathan ODs on those kryptoroids. As for Steel, how crazy would it be if he dies, but then his earth prime counterpart shows up? Poor Nat.

I think the mayor was leading the charge of throwing the Cushings under the bus after the Edge fiasco in season 1.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

I think the mayor was leading the charge of throwing the Cushings under the bus after the Edge fiasco in season 1.

Okay, but while it wasn't their fault. it wasn't...not their fault. Like they have some responsibility even if they were manipulated and had good intentions.

[Vordan]

Heh the Supermen of America were total redshirts and died as befitting them. Kinda wonder what the long term game plan for Tag is here, will he ultimately go off on his own? Bizarro definitely upped his threat level here, he’s the first villain on the show to actually kill people, I hope Steel isn’t out for too long. Wonder if Natalie is going to build her own armor? Hole on Steel’s armor still needs to be fixed. Otherwise I’m digging cult leader Ally as an emotional parasite, but I’m wondering what her connection is to Bizarro. Lucy talked about seeing an “other me”, is Ally summoning people from the Bizarroverse for some reason?

Jon is finally getting something to do and Jordan is taking his first steps towards becoming Superboy.

Biggest drag on the show so far is the Cushing plot. The way they handled Sarah discovering her bisexuality was pretty bad, and now I’m not sure where they’re going with Kyle. Him cheating on Lana actually surprised me, but now I wonder how it can end in any other way besides Lana divorcing him (assuming they don’t just do a cop out and say he never had sex or whatever).

[Frontier]

Heh the Supermen of America were total redshirts and died as befitting them. Kinda wonder what the long term game plan for Tag is here, will he ultimately go off on his own? Bizarro definitely upped his threat level here, he’s the first villain on the show to actually kill people, I hope Steel isn’t out for too long. Wonder if Natalie is going to build her own armor? Hole on Steel’s armor still needs to be fixed. Otherwise I’m digging cult leader Ally as an emotional parasite, but I’m wondering what her connection is to Bizarro. Lucy talked about seeing an “other me”, is Ally summoning people from the Bizarroverse for some reason?

It's funny that everyone expected the Supermen of America to be fodder for Doomsday only for it to still happen with Bizarro.

I'm curious if they'll still play Bizarro sympathetically after he just straight up killed two people in seconds.

I've seen people speculate that Ally is showing people their Pre-Crisis memories (which would probably be pretty poignant for Lucy) but I'm assuming it's Bizarroworld if only to tie the two plots together.

Biggest drag on the show so far is the Cushing plot. The way they handled Sarah discovering her bisexuality was pretty bad, and now I’m not sure where they’re going with Kyle. Him cheating on Lana actually surprised me, but now I wonder how it can end in any other way besides Lana divorcing him (assuming they don’t just do a cop out and say he never had sex or whatever).

Hey, Lana was okay with Sarah cheating on Jordan because she didn't think it was a big deal, she can at least give Kyle the benefit of the doubt...not that I'm justifying his cheating.

[Vordan]

It's funny that everyone expected the Supermen of America to be fodder for Doomsday only for it to still happen with Bizarro.

I'm curious if they'll still play Bizarro sympathetically after he just straight up killed two people in seconds.

I've seen people speculate that Ally is showing people their Pre-Crisis memories (which would probably be pretty poignant for Lucy) but I'm assuming it's Bizarroworld if only to tie the two plots together.

Hey, Lana was okay with Sarah cheating on Jordan because she didn't think it was a big deal, she can at least give Kyle the benefit of the doubt...not that I'm justifying his cheating.

Depends on if Bizarro is mind controlled or not, we still don’t know how he got here or what he wants. But the way they’re portraying him so far doesn’t make him out to be a sympathetic villain, his influence on Clark makes Clark much more nasty. Come to think of it Bizarro’s influence on Clark makes for a nice parallel with what Ally is doing to her followers, driving them to be worse versions of themselves. I wonder if Ally has actual powers?

Lol I saw some people speculate that Lana and Kyle’s terrible advice to Sarah was actually meant to foreshadow Kyle cheating on Lana. It does make sense now why Kyle would tell Sarah it’s not her fault for cheating on Jordan, but I’m wondering if Lana knows about Kyle cheating, and she took Kyle back which is why she gives that advice to Sarah. If that theory turns out to be true, I gotta say that would actually make that writing brillant.

[manofsteel1979]

I knew the supermen of America would be canon fodder for our villain. They barely had time to put up a fight!

So...whats the deal with this Amulet that Bizarro had?

Seems like this Cult leader has something to do with Bizarro....or maybe its just a thematic coincidence. Hmmm.

So they did very obliquely sort of mention Lucy's previous status quo when she mentioned she lost her Fiance and her job ( she was engaged to Jimmy on Supergirl and was part of the DEO), but Its so vague and Lucy's personality is so different, its very very unlikely that her history on Supergirl is even in play.

It sucks we have to wait until the 22nd to see what happens next though.

[The Frog Bros]

I’m loving the budding BFF status of Clark and John Henry. Grabbing a morning coffee together was great and hokey at the same time. Hokey in a good way here for sure.

I feel like Chrissy getting drawn in by the cult happened a little too quickly. Unless it’s a ruse, and she’s digging for info…

Some of the images make it look like Bizarro has a mustache. A funny “opposite” version of Clark’s persistent 5 o’clock shadow.

Would be cool if Nat fills in for John Henry while he's out of commission.