Lois: "It's called being a father."
This episode seemed to be all about jerks. Morgan Edge. Kyle Cushing. And especially, General Sam Lane, worst father-in-law ever.
The General sees himself as Superman's boss, throwing his weight around and telling him what to do. It's almost like the General doesn't see Clark as a person, or like Clark is in an abusive relationship. Saying that the military is afraid of Superman, which was a hint of a threat. Criticizing Lois and Clark's decisions as parents. Telling the twins not to waste their father's valuable time with their petty needs when he has so many other important things to do. I bet the holidays will be awkward this year.
At least Clark is quietly resisting General Lane without making a thing of it. Clark just feels like a nice guy, and if I haven't said so, I very much like how Tyler Hoechlin is playing him, both at home in jeans and in action scenes as Big Blue. Clark is trying his best to be a good husband and father while saving the world, and I think it makes a lot of sense not having him holding down a full-time job as a big city reporter. But he can't be everywhere and do everything, even with superspeed. And Lois knows that.
I'm becoming a fan of Bitsie Tulloch's Lois, too. I particularly like how Lois tells Clark exactly how she feels, like that whole thing she unloaded on him before she went out for drinks with Lana. Lois has totally internalized that she's married to Superman, knows he's out saving lives, knows he's inevitably going to miss things like the Smallville town assembly thing with challenging Morgan Edge, and acknowledges all this without ever pouting or ragging on him. I liked the date night in the barn, even though it felt like a fire hazard and Clark had to leave for Malawi. But mostly, I liked Lois telling the General to stop telling Clark how to be a father.
(When Lois left for drinks with Lana, Clark looked after her with puppy dog eyes. Awww.)
Jerk number two is Kyle Cushing, who was so busy sucking up to Morgan Edge that he didn't notice how uncomfortable Edge was making Lana. I can't stand Kyle. Dinosaur pancakes or not, he's a caricature. Writers, please do better with him. Or are they making him awful so that Lana will look better?
Morgan Edge, jerk number three, is siccing lawyers on Lois to keep her from publishing her stuff. He even told her she'll never work at the Daily Planet again. X-Kryptonite must be how Edge is creating superminions like Larr. Did that have anything to do with Tag Harris, yellow phosphorescence, and the vibrating broken arm?
Tag was obviously a way of introducing the fact that there's a secret military school for kids with powers. If General Lane is as much of a jerk as he seems to be, I'm wondering if the twins might end up in said school. As Superman carried Tag into the clouds, he was looking at Tag as if he knew this could be happening to one of the twins, or both. Would General Lane actually victimize his own grandsons?
They also left us with the General and "Project 7734," which fans have already noticed is "Hell" when you turn it upside down. "We have to consider a new contingency plan," huh? What horrible thing is General Lane planning for Clark?
Bits and quotes:
— There was a flashback to Morgan Edge six years ago in Saskatchewan, with the retrieval of a mysterious meteor full of, I assume, X-Kryptonite. Edge said, "Now the resurrection begins." Okay.
— Everyone has noticed that Superman isn't in Metropolis full time any more, including Thaddeus Killgrave and his sonic blaster. Very good action scene; I enjoyed it. Although Killgrave was less frightening than the villain of the same name on Jessica Jones.
— Clark and Lana dated in high school but it didn't sound serious. No big romance, and she clearly never found out that he was super. I like the idea of Lois and Lana as friends instead of romantic rivals.
— Jordan is enjoying life as a football hero. Sarah was perceptive enough to notice that Jon looks lost now that he's not the star of the family. I haven't said much about Sarah yet, but I don't hate her.
— Smallville High seems to be the home of classism, not racism.
— Lots of rain in this episode. I've mentioned it before, but they're going out of their way to make Smallville look dreary.
— Danny Whattley, who plays Coach Gaines, is a real hoot. Something of a jerk. Definitely a theme in this episode.
— Lois: (to Lana) "What is it with men, how everything's about action. Like, let me fix this, let me explain this to you, and let's just, let's gloss over that. Is it a DNA thing?"
Good episode. What do you guys think? Am I the only one watching this show?
Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.
I'm watching this! I'm not usually a Superman fan because the character can be a bit blah, but this show is doing a great job grounding itself. I liked Smallville enough when it was on but didn't end up watching all of it, and I haven't liked any of the recent superman movies.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite interactions in this show is how good the communication is in this family - between the brothers, the brothers and their father finally clearing the air, and between Lois & Clark. TV tends to let resentments take up space in a few episodes for dramatic effect and this show hasn't taken that bait. Jonathan, for instance, is clearly jealous and he _says_ so, but he also supports his brother and other characters acknowledge his feelings. Lois tells Clark how she feels and how an apology isn't what she's looking for and Clark responds by showing her he cares. Really liked it. The stuff with Lois' dad came up in this episode, caused an issue, and was summarily squashed by Lois. Good on them for not milking that and for Lois' response. Lois' dad has the most interesting antagonist so far, since it makes sense where he's coming from (he doesn't put family over obligation, doesn't want others to). We'll see how far he takes that.
The Morgan Edge stuff I'm not sold on yet, and the Lana family stuff seems kinda meh, but as long as they fill out the world more in the next few eps I think it's starting pretty strong. I do have a bit of trouble not being reminded of Teen Wolf because of Hoechlin, but there's little they can do about that.
Yeah, the Kent family is like preternaturally emotionally healthy. They are their feelings readily, they don’t blame others for their own feelings, they communicate - exceptional stuff. Sometimes I find that frustrating, like a show was written by psychologists, but in this case, I’m loving it. So far, at least.
ReplyDeleteI’m really enjoying this show. Thanks for reviewing it.
Oh, and the Smallville Community Center logo looked like it was based on the Tom Welling-led TV show logo.
And given that Tag is sort of a high school “freak of the week,” I’m wondering if we’ll have a wall of weird soon?
I watch this show. But I love Superman and Batman and will at least check out anything involving both characters. And while I would much rather see Superman in action rather than the dealings with the twins, I like that they're focusing on this aspect of Superman's life. In my memory (and I don't read comics), this is a new twist. Lois and Clark finished its run focusing on Lois and Clark's married life, but they're newly married with no kids (of course it ended on a cliffhanger), and this is years later. So I'm enjoying it. And pretty much hate the same characters you do (keep telling my TV to shut Kyle up).
ReplyDeleteI'm watching and I need Sam to shut up. Good on Lois for telling it to him straight.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Lana see in Kyle? I don't know.
Predictably everyone hates Sam and Kyle. Im not a big fan either but perspective is always important.
ReplyDeleteSam is the kind of guy everyone hates but he will end up saving the world. Even with whatever contingency he is planning. Imagine if Superman ever became a threat and the military never had any plan for it. What or who would get the blame for the worlds destruction or being in danger.
Its easy to be a civilian and cheer the heroics of Superman but its another to know what he is capable of and know their are external forces that can change him or the 1% chance he could randomly decide to just take over.
What if someone kidnaps his family and propositions him, what if he cant save them in time or cant get to them at all. What would he do to save them or if he lost them completely. Sam is still the worst father/in law ever and that's the choice he made to handle other responsibilities.
As for kyle he is just a fireman. He is pretty powerless in the grand scheme of things. We know as an audience he is wrong but he believes Morgan Edge is the way to save the town. He has made some logical points. All he can do is back the player he thinks benefits the town most.
What other options are there. His only crime was not acknowledging his wife's feelings which was partly because he was kissing ass.
But at the same time it was Lana who was invited out and it was Lana who Edge was speaking to. She is a big girl so if she felt that uncomfortable she had every right to voice that and leave. She had every right to be mad at Kyle for overlooking her but at the same time she could have handled it like an adult rather than attacking his failing.
Which again he had a point, edge wasn't being disrespectful in a 'wow your hot, im going to court you in front of your husband kinda way' he was talking her up for recruitment.
What was Kyle meant to do as they sat their. He was right, if he reacted to the nothing that was happening he would have looked bad and than Lana would be saying how he was being aggressive and toxic to the guy who is about to own the town. Look how lois handled her situation with Clarke. Really loved that scene and most of their scenes in general, likewise the brothers who have irritated me alot with some of their reactions to Clarke (keep having to remind myself they are 14) but when they are together i love them.
Loving the show. I think this may have been the weakest episode so far though for me, but still really good compared to alot that’s on now. Tag’s condition, having kryptonite embedded in his body and convulsing uncontrollably, reminded me of Smallville S1 Ep8, where literally the same thing happened to a former Luthorcorp employee. Seems they’re going in a more long term and interesting direction with it though, but it seems X-kryptonite is going to be used like regular kryptonite was in Smallville, creating superhuman threats for Clark and his family to deal with that wouldn’t normally be present in a small town. I do think Sam is wrong but I see where he is coming from. I don’t dislike him. I look for him to have a redemption arc, but after he messes up some more first. I agree though that Kyle is a straight up caricature. It seems like everytime he talks it’s “Morgan Edge, Morgan Edge”. It’s like he doesn’t ever think about anything else. I think he made some fair points for his support of Edge. We know Edge is evil but he has no way to see that. But he needs to be more rounded as a character. Looking forward to see what happens next on this show.
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