I Watch TV: Superman And Lois

Superman And Lois

Okay, first a bit of the inside baseball of the Arrow-verse. After avoiding bringing Superman on screen in Supergirl for a while, eventually Tyler Hoechlin was cast and became a recurring character. Various ways to keep him out of the stories he might be expected to turn up to were used, culminating with his wife Lois Lane becoming pregnant and the two of them going to the Kryptonian space-city of Argos to prevent complications. Then CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS hit the reset button.

Now in a new universe Lois and Clark have twin 14 year old sons. The series kicks off with the Daily Planet being taken over by tech billionaire Morgan Edge and firing Clark, following which his mother Martha dies. After one of Lois’s stories is spiked by Edge she quits and they move to the Kent family farm in Smallville.

This is mostly because Jordan Kent has an anxiety disorder, but also between Supermanning and reporting Lois and Clark realise they haven’t been as good at being parents as they should. So they’ll go away from Metropolis to where there is less trouble.

Heh.

Jordan hits it off with Sarah Cushing, daughter of Lana, Clark’s old Smallville girlfriend, and her husband Kyle, the fire chief who snidely complains about Clark leaving Smallville, only to find himself at loggerheads with Lois when they decide to stay. Sarah has her own problems; apart from Kyle being flaky about everything but his job, she also overdosed on her mother’s sleeping pills. The kids take this in their stride, which is fairly realistic (“Hi, I’ve got anxiety disorder.” “Yeah, I tried to kill myself for some reason.”) The parents, not quite able to face their lack of control over this, struggle. This is pretty good.

It dovetails in a somewhat over-neat way with the ongoing plot(s). Superman doesn’t deal with criminal gangs or disasters for more than two scenes in a row unless they’re caught up in the convoluted three- or four-headed family-esque stories that take up most of the season. Firstly one of his sons develops powers, as is inevitable. For another, and having another go at the family-or-life-saving-work theme, General Sam Lane, Lois’s dad, is Superman’s liaison. (He’s played by a different actor than on Supergirl, and given a slightly different character; Crisis On Infinite Earths covers all (dis-)continuity). To begin with a mysterious “Captain Luthor,” with a space plane and an armoured suit seeks Kryptonite and attacks Superman. As this plot grinds to a pause people with super-powers start to appear in Smallville, which is undergoing a renaissance as Morgan Edge invests in the mines. Without saying too much, everything turns on family.

I suppose the question is, do we need a Superman TV show? Wasn’t the Arrow-verse doing better with the second-tier characters, boldly putting Supergirl into the super-roles when they team up, creating a Justice League led by Sarah Lance, the White Canary? (Who? Exactly!) In fact this show was almost entirely separated from the others, partly due to covid, except for John Diggle making his ARGUS-related tour through the Arrow-verse.

But that’s just bothering me and the nerds who update the fan wiki. Is this show worth your time? Well it’s family-friendly if not all-ages (gets a bit dark and violent). With the concentration on Superman’s powers plus the armoured suit etc, the effects and fights are generally good, workmanlike, if not great. And it’s superior soap opera, or moderately good teen drama with a charismatic cast. If Hoechlin is better as Superman than Clark Kent (he’s cool, good-looking and jacked) then he doesn’t spend that much time as Kent so that’s okay I guess.

Watch This: Some ongoing superhero soap opera
Don’t Watch This: It’s several big family squabbles with superpowers