Superman & Lois (2021) s01e05 – The Best of Smallville

Way to go on the distracting cliffhanger, “Superman and Lois.” After a reasonably complicated—so many emotions—episode, the cliffhanger is a hard, survive-or-perish number for one of the characters. Maybe not the most fragile character, though the episode does put likable if uneven Sofia Hasmik in more danger than is preferable. But still.

Hasmik’s got the indomitable reporter arc this episode. Elizabeth Tulloch’s having a combination date night and mom night, so Hasmik picks up the slack. Only Hasmik doesn’t have a Super-beeper. She’s following recently returned from the dead Clayton James, who’s the prime suspect in a town arson job. It leads to a very contrived Superman fight sequence, which proves a nighttime flying fight at super-speed in a cornfield (so the corn debris can garble the fight visuals) is not a good Superman fight sequence. It’s too bad because otherwise, Rachel Talalay’s direction is pretty good. I remember when she started on “The Flash” for the CW; she was terrible.

Though she’s not very good with the actors. They don’t need a lot of help this episode—the heavy lifting is Inde Navarrette being way too aware of having an alcoholic dad, Erik Valdez, and a callous mom, Emmanuelle Chriqui, is going to do her damage. But Jordan Elsass has his first string of selfish teenage boy scenes; Elsass had been the ever considerate super-twin, so it’s kind of a breaking bad arc. Elsass is fine and has the requisite emotion, especially with the previous episodes’ character development, but Talalay doesn’t know how to help the performance. Baby steps, I guess. She does direct the heck out of the Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin scenes.

And Hoechlin does a lot better this episode. Possibly because there are a bunch of flashbacks to his teenage years. They hired very teenage Dylan Kingwell for the flashbacks. Kingwell’s playing older than Elsass and Alex Garfin, but he’s clearly younger. Maybe the Kryptonian aging thing—which they use to explain Hoechlin looking early thirties but playing mid-forties—means Kingwell looked thirteen when he was eighteen, which would explain why (unseen) flashback Chriqui dumped him for Valdez.

A couple developments on the Chriqui and Valdez front, in addition to Navarrette’s awareness. Valdez gets wasted because his best friend is in critical condition after the aforementioned fire. Chriqui gets shitty with him about all of it, making her a lot less sympathetic than usual. She’s also changed her mind on (also unseen) Adam Rayner because he’s performatively nice. Meanwhile, Valdez—playing a cracker—drunkenly sings Navarrette a Spanish lullaby, so maybe there’s more to his backstory. Smallville’s got enough Black people in supporting parts to suggest the white people leads aren’t all a bunch of racists, but there aren’t any Hispanic characters so far. It’s a diverse but not inclusive show.

Michele Scarabelli—who appeared in the pilot—is very good as Ma Kent in the flashbacks. Especially since Kingwell’s a little asshole. “Superman and Lois” is, in addition to being about Superman being a C- dad, is about Superboy being a dick teenager to his widowed mom. Interesting flex.

Oh, and Wolé Parks finally comes back. Daisy Tormé is terrible as his digital assistant. It’s hard to be so bad as a digital assistant the performance makes the regular actor better, but Tormé’s awful enough. Parks isn’t very good, though. It turns out—thanks to a reveal—the part’s tricky, and Talalay doesn’t direct actors, so maybe he’ll get better.

Interesting show canon details—Smallville was incorporated in 1949, so long after Action Comics #1, and Lex Luthor does exist. Somewhere out there.

The family drama, albeit unevenly executed at times, is compelling. “Superman and Lois” might finally get going in a few more episodes. Might.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e04 – Haywire

Okay, the show’s getting to the family part of the family drama—not to mention real Superman action (James Bamford does a good job with it, despite the costume colors being too muted and Metropolis being a little too on the cheap)—and it’s the best episode. “Superman & Lois” is on the precipice of being genuinely (with qualifications) interesting.

The catalyst ends up being Dylan Walsh, who drops in unannounced to spend a weekend with the fam. Only Walsh actually wants to decide whether or not he can keep Tyler Hoechlin under control when all Hoechlin seems to want to do is be a good dad to Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin. In this case, as their assistant football coach. Only since Garfin’s the star player and Junior Superboy, Hoechlin’s unintentionally paying too much attention to him. It’s making regular human son Elsass jealous, but it’s also giving Elsass time to bond with teammate Wern Lee. Lee was the kid hurt in the pilot when Garfin zapped a campfire, and it blew up, so Lee and Elsass are on the bench a bunch together.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Tulloch’s trying to convince the town not to side with evil gazillionaire Adam Rayner. Rayner wants to take over the Smallville mines (Shuster Mines, actually, but same idea) and is promising full wallets and bright futures. The episode manages to make local dickhead Erik Valdez sympathetic—he’s too imbued with toxic masculine pride to realize he’s being duped—in no small part thanks to Tulloch. She and Emmanuelle Chriqui have a girls night out to drown their recent wounds—Rayner’s taking a liking to Chriqui and creeping on her while Valdez sits by obviously while Tulloch’s mad about Hoechlin going off and saving the world or something for her dad—and even though the scene’s fairly standard stuff (doesn’t even try to pass Bechdel), both Tulloch and Chriqui put work into it. And it pays off for both of them.

Loudly for Tulloch, quietly for Chriqui. Family drama stuff. Real effective in Chriqui’s case, real good in Tulloch’s. Probably her best scene in the series so far. Even if the epilogue lessens the impact because it becomes about the “Superman” in “Superman & Lois” again.

Decent acting from Hoechlin helps too. He’s got to remain square-jawed but still develop. He oddly seems more comfortable acting in a cap than without, which is strange. But decent. Especially since Elsass is doing really well as the super-empathetic one.

Brendan Fletcher guest stars as villain Killgrave. Is he a comic book villain? Superman’s got less than ten memorable villains. Though he can get a lot more because we find out red kryptonite is the super-soldier formula. They call it X-Kryptonite, which is lacking. Where’s the panache? Apparently, over on “Supergirl” with Jon Cryer. Anyway, Fletcher’s good enough.

Rayner’s not, though. He’s a drag.

But the show’s starting to get somewhere. Even without MacGuffin season villain Wolé Parks making an appearance.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e03 – The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower

I feel like they’ve got to know the muscle suit is unimpressive because they’re going out of their way not to dwell on it or to cut straight from long shot to close-up. And this episode’s director, Gregory Smith, definitely seems to have the Superman imagery in mind, as the episode opens with a nod to the flapping red cape of Superman: The Movie. It’ll be the majority of the Super-action in the episode until Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) needs to call for help in a riff on that Dawn of Justice trailer action beat. This time, Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) saves the day by demolishing a small town motel.

Otherwise, the episode’s mostly about Superboy-in-training Alex Garfin joining the football team so he can beat up his bullies and lying to Hoechlin about it. It’s okay, though, because Hoechlin’s been lying to him too, right? Once again, however, “Superman learns to be a better dad” works out. Especially after years of Pa Kents telling Clarks he can’t play sports, it’s kind of nice to see someone actually hash it out. Here’s where it helps to approach “Superman & Lois” like Hoechlin’s still somehow a work-in-progress, because wouldn’t it be cooler if Superman were just a super-dad.

Garfin’s brother, Jordan Elsass, isn’t entirely thrilled with the prospect of his brother taking his football thunder. Still, the script manages to find the lesson of good old-fashioned sportspersonship and how it can build character. It’s basic, but it’s also “Superman” (not to mention the CW). And Elsass can sell it. He’s got less to do than Garfin—who’s also still pursuing a romantically tinged friendship with Inde Navarrette–but his scenes come with a lot fewer caveats. They keep talking about Garfin being short, but he’s the same height as Elsass unless they’re doing a forced perspective shot.

Navarrette’s got her own subplot with mom Emmanuelle Chriqui, which ends up nicely passing Bechdel. It’s still a little unclear what Chriqui’s going to have to do on the show, other than being Navarrette’s mom, local fireman redneck Erik Valdez’s suffering wife, and Hoechlin’s high school girlfriend, but hopefully, they don’t screw it up.

Rounding it out, Tulloch’s started at the local newspaper and is already giving new boss Sofia Hasmik grief about wanting to do the big stories. Hasmik tries to get her to see reason and interview the guy about the feed shop or whatever, but then Jill Teed comes in and tells them her son is missing on a secret project for the corporate bad guy. Somehow it’s immediately obvious the corporate bad guy is making his own Super-people. Even before ex-Colossus Daniel Cudmore shows up and has superpowers. Also, apparently, superpowers are a thing for other people because no one’s too surprised. When Cudmore’s handing Hoechlin his ass, you wonder if maybe they should call in Melissa Benoist to take care of it.

The show’s consistently got problems with false endings, and the epilogue here is a little too obvious (and poorly acted), but the episode’s definitely got stronger moments.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e02 – Heritage

I’ll just admit I’m sort of rooting for “Superman & Lois.” Nothing outrageous like making my wife sit through it, but I’d like it to go well enough I can keep watching it. I’ve liked Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane, I’ve been OK with Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman. Now, they’re the only things with any continuity to the “Supergirl” show at this point, as I realized Adam Rayner’s villain is an Adrian Pasdar recast. Now, Pasdar quit “Supergirl” after its move from CBS to CW (and L.A. to Vancouver), and getting him back would’ve been a boon.

There’s no boon. Though “S&L” doesn’t really have any casting boons. It sets up another couple of “surprise” casts—but it’s just misunderstood super-villain Wolé Parks; the back of his character’s head appeared last episode, not Parks. Because even though it’s 2021, the promise of a Black Lex Luthor has a wow factor. At least “S&L” did it in the spring; “Loki” did it in the summer. And then the other surprise casting possibility is a fake-out.

Oh, wait. Angus Macfadyen as the Jor-El hologram. Macfadyen’s kind of stunt cast; I’ve really liked him before. He’s terrible here, playing the role as a gruff military-type. Kind of like Dylan Walsh as Tulloch’s father and Hoechlin’s de facto boss. This episode doesn’t just drop a big Injustice nod; it’s also got some shades of Dark Knight fascist pawn Superman stuff. It kind of helps the show, actually, showing Walsh being able to manipulate Hoechlin. I’m not sure if it’s intentional or if Hoechlin’s just not that good? But it definitely leads to some sympathies towards the end.

Plus the return to Smallville stuff, particularly the brother drama between Superboy-in-training Alex Garfin and got-his-mommas-DNA Jordan Elsass, their first days of high school with potential love square Inde Navarrette, everyone having to go to a cookout at Erik Valdez and Emmanuelle Chriqui’s where a bunch of white people call it a barbecue, and then we find out Chriqui’s kind of a lush… it’s all right. Garfin and Elsass might be way too old for their parts, but they’re getting close to appearing sincere. Like the brother relationship stuff is solid.

And there’s more of the “Superman is a bad dad” stuff, with Hoechlin a lot more comfortable with Garfin and Elsass.

Sadly the muscle suit hasn’t improved enough. It’s improved a little, but now Hoechlin has an extra pair of biceps growing out of his shoulders. Only in the suit too. They haven’t just run with it, and Kryptonians have a weird extra set of muscles or whatever.

Lastly, since I started the episode noticing all the continuity breaks with “Supergirl”—she doesn’t seem to exist (no one mentions her when they should be), and Hoechlin no longer has a badass Fortress of Solitude. Instead, he’s got a sad man cave with a single hologram table and then Macfadyen yelling at him. It’s really shitty how “Supergirl” spent multiple seasons having to justify itself against a literally absent Superman (to become the stronger, more capable hero of the two) only for the “Superman” spin-off from it, ignoring all that work.

It’s not hopeless—my rooting aside; Hoechlin and Tulloch on the porch playing super-parents? It’s a good concept. The show just may have too many constraints to realize it well.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e01

There’s a lot going on with “Superman & Lois” before we even get to Tyler Hoechlin wearing the worst Arrowverse muscle suit in memory. There’s also Hoechlin wearing spandex dress shirts to look more ripped. There’s also the zero Arrowverse crossover aspect—Melissa Benoist really should’ve shown for her aunt’s funeral, and Hoechlin’s recap of his life-to-date has a Lex Luthor-sized hole in it—but it’s also post-Crisis crossover and apparently Hoechlin’s forgotten he remembers life before he had two teenage sons and instead just an infant one.

Also, it’s unclear if Jenna Dewan’s Lucy Lane (from “Supergirl”) exists anymore. Also in Crisis the Sam Lane character changed entirely, no longer character actor asshole Glenn Morshower (on “Supergirl”), now more affable Dylan Walsh. Walsh is still a hard-ass and a bit of an asshole, but he loves both his grandsons, not just the jock.

“Superman & Lois” is two parts teen drama—Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin play the super-twins, no discussion yet on how mom Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) got through labor without one of them kicking a hole in her—one part parent drama (“S&L” is running with the Superman Returns Superman as bad dad plot, though downgrading Hoechlin to a distracted, absentee dad), and one part superhero action. Muscle-suited Hoechlin circles the globe fighting a bad guy in a super-space suit who knows his Kryptonian name (which is usually public knowledge but, hey, post-Crisis continuity, right); the bad guy likes causing disasters at nuclear plants, so the first action sequence is basically a CGI Superman III iced lake riff. It’s all right. The muscle suit is annoying, but it’s far from terrible live-action Superman.

I was going to make a Dean Cain joke here but let’s just talk about the Trump politics.

The premise of the show is simple. Ma Kent (Michele Scarabelli, in a somewhat forced but not bad performance) has died, and the show will be the big city Kents coming back to the farm. Even though Elsass has just made quarterback as a freshman in high school, and he’s got a girlfriend, he’s the actually good sports bro, so he doesn’t care. He also doesn’t care he didn’t get the superpowers. Instead, Garfin, who’s got depression and anxiety, gets the more powerful than a locomotive gig. Hoechlin, Garfin, and Elsass will do old-time farming while Tulloch, I don’t know… works remotely. The Daily Planet lays Hoechlin off in the first act (the pilot runs an extra-long sixty-four minutes, and they have no idea how to pace it past forty-two), so he’s ready for something else.

Back in Smallville, the only people they really know are Hoechlin’s high school girlfriend, Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and her dog-whistle-blowing husband, Erik Valdez. Maybe they’ll do a subplot about Valdez falling for “Supergirl” white supremacist Sam Witwer’s movement. Probably not. Post-Crisis plus Arrowverse is post-institutionalized racism. Even though Valdez sounds like he’s about to start spouting MAGA (or Q or anti-mask), he’s just a sad regular working-class guy who’s upset all the intelligent kids moved away for college degrees and never came back to Kansas to improve his life for him. He’s a firefighter, after all, and Smallville’s full of meth cookers who burn down their houses and kids.

The pilot’s a mix of comics references (the 1930s-inspired suit looks terrible, but the Superman for All Seasons nod is cute), Man of Steel imagery and editing, and earnestness. Is the earnestness going to make up for Hoechlin’s okay but definitely not ready for the lead Superman? We’ll see. The show’s biggest ask as far as willful suspension of disbelief is the family dynamics. Sure, Hoechlin’s supposed to be aging at a reduced rate, and Tulloch’s forty, but she’s not having two teenage sons forty. Especially not since she was already a world-famous reporter when she and Hoechlin met. So maybe she’s supposed to be playing older too? Elsass and Garfin are playing fourteen. They’re not fourteen. Is “S&L” going to be able to gin up good character relationships when Hoechlin looks like his kids’ older brother? We’ll see.

I just hope they fix the ridiculous muscle suit.