Superman & Lois: Haywire

Superman & Lois 1.4:  Haywire

On this week’s episode, Lois and Clark find themselves continuing to be in conflict with her father, Jordan makes a critical play at a football game while a teammate starts manifesting powers, and Morgan Edge is able to prevent Lois from temporarily speaking publicly about him. Here’s a summary as well as my thoughts on the episode (full disclosure: I’ve never read a comic book, but I have watched lots of DC-themed shows and movies).

**Spoilers ahead**

Poor Lois is having a rough time! Her most recent article, designed to discredit Morgan Edge on the eve of the city council meeting vote on him opening the mine in Smallville, is scuttled when Morgan’s assistant (the woman with laser vision from last episode!) shows up to remind her of her contract with the Daily Planet (which apparently contained a “I will not publicly out my ex-boss as an evil villain” covenant), meaning that Edge can sue her if she speaks out against him. She tries to threaten Edge to get him to back down, but that isn’t successful. So, she garners a promise from Clark to come to the meeting and speak out against Edge on her behalf. Clark, of course, misses the meeting as he’s out saving the world and the council votes to move forward with the mine project.

This is on top of her father showing up to again lecture Clark on his decisions to take care of his kids and Lois as well as the rest of the world. Between the boys, her father, and her frustrations at not being able to bring Edge down, Lois is feeling put upon and rather neglected by Clark and is starting to have doubts about their relationship. After the council meeting, Lana invites her out for a drink and the two talk about Smallville and their respective marriages. While we know that Lana’s isn’t good, it’s sad to see Lois tell her that she’s not sure about hers, either.

Edge isn’t just trying to shut down Lois, he’s also working other angles. The night before the council meeting, Edge invites Kyle and Lana to a fancy dinner and he tries to enlist Lana to get involved [in whatever is his current dastardly plan in Smallville] using flattery and implied financial and social gain. Kyle encourages her, but she seems to be a bit wary of Edge. While it’s possible that Lana invited Lois for drinks after the meeting to try to manipulate her, my impression is that she was just looking for a confidant to talk about the other issues in her life.

Lois isn’t the only one feeling frustrated and emotional this episode. Clark, too, is struggling. Lois’ father warns him that now that it’s public knowledge that Superman isn’t in Metropolis much, lots of criminals are planning how to take advantage of it. Some of Superman’s more notorious former foes are being moved from incarceration in Metropolis to more secure facilities now that he’s not there as much – what could go wrong? General Lane also takes the opportunity to chastise Clark once again for trying to be a family man as well as for he and Lois allowing Jordan to play football. Before he leaves, he basically tells Jordan and Jonathan that the world needs their dad more than they do.

Jordan has his big football debut in the pouring rain and forces a fumble that results in a score for Smallville, which gains him a lot of cred with his teammates and finally gives him the social standing he craves. Meanwhile, Jonathan is still on the outs with the team and the social scene in general. He notices that one of the team’s receivers, who has been out of commission with a broken arm since the incident with Jordan’s laser vision at the bonfire keg party, is acting strangely. It seems that the young man has developed some sort of powers – he seems to have super speed and can’t control it. Jordan and Jonathan try to help him, but soon realize that they need Superman. However, they try to avoid calling him because of what their grandfather told them.

Meanwhile, Clark/Supes is in Metropolis trying to clean up after the inevitable escape of the big bad prisoner during the prison transfer. Things are really not going well for Superman – the villain uses a sonic ray gun of sorts to get the upper hand. In the middle of the melee, Superman hears his sons page him as the boy from the team is decompensating and they realize that they have no choice but to call him. In desperation, Superman sends a shockwave out which incapacitates the escaped prisoner, allowing him to be re-apprehended, but injures some innocent bystanders in the process. He alerts General Lane and then takes off for Metropolis where he collects the kid and takes him to a Department of Defense hospital.

Lane explains to his grandsons that there are special schools for youth with powers, which has essentially the effect of telling them that Hogwarts is real. Lane then returns to the DoD and we see him look at the charm with the superman logo that he was given by Captain Luthor. He calls a colleague and puts a special protocol into motion. It seems that he is worried that Clark may indeed fulfill the warning that Luthor gave him and become a threat, presumably because he will put his family over others, as he did when he potentially injured the bystanders when fighting with the escaped prisoner because he wanted to be there for his sons (which, one could argue, was a pretty important place for him to be considering there was a teenager with superpowers who was FREAKING OUT…).

Then, to end the episode, Morgan and his creepy super-something henchwoman are examining the walls of the mine that is now his. Using a scanner, they identify something in the wall of a cavern. She punches through the wall and reveals a large deposit of…kryptonite! (Which she seems entirely unaffected by!)

DUN DUN DUN

This was a great episode, albeit a very packed one, as became clear when I tried to summarize it.  The show is really tightening around its central theme – can you both have a family and be Superman? It’s a nice twist on the classic family vs career trope. The writers have done a great job making a very unrealistic situation seem relatable. We can completely appreciate Lois’ feelings, as well as see why Clark is so torn. Even General Lane’s motivations are clear,  if frustrating at times. Hoechlin and Tulloch continue to have amazing chemistry and really inhabit their respective roles.

While Edge suggested to Lois that it was quite the coincidence that she and Clark suddenly showed up in Smallville, it’s an even bigger coincidence that *he* did! And, we find out that he’s after kryptonite. This begs many questions – why does there just happen to be the motherlode of kryptonite in Smallville, and how would General Lane and Superman not know this? Also, does Edge know or suspect that Clark is Superman? Who exactly is his henchwoman who has Superman-like powers but seems unaffected by kryptonite?

The next episode of Superman & Lois can be see on The CW on Tuesday, March 23, at 9pm and streamed from The CW site or app the next day. Check out our other coverage of Superman & Lois here.