Broadcast TV Superman & Lois - Season 2 (The CW) (1 Viewer)

[Garysb]

I was also a little confused about Bizarro Lana going back to her world. I expected her to merge with Lana or take her place when Clark left Lana alone after the removal of the Kryptonite . I also thought that is was Bizarro Lana pretending to be Lana who Superman talked to in front of Lana's house when she was told it was Bizarro Jonathan and not Jonathan who kidnapped her and when he tells her Clark is Superman. What story point was made by having Bizarro Lana coming to this world, just to go back. Lana's in danger and must be told about Clark? She was already in danger when taken by Bizarro Jonathan.

Also I though both pendants were needed in order to merge. Bizarro Jonathan only had one I thought when he tried to merge with Jonathan.

 

[Garysb]

The CW announced their Fall schedule . Superman and Lois is being held to mid season along with The Flash and Riverdale. Riverdale ending next season. No word about The Flash ending.

The CW Fall 2022 Schedule: ‘The Flash’, ‘Riverdale’ & ‘Nancy Drew’ Move To Midseason, ‘Stargirl’ Shifts To Fall, ‘All American’ Block On Mondays & ‘Walker’ Doubleheader On Thursday

It’s all change at The CW after the youth-skewing broadcaster unveiled its fall 2022/23 schedule.

deadline.com

CW Fall Schedule Has Winchesters, Stargirl, All-Walker Thursdays; Flash, Superman & Lois Held for Midseason

The CW's fall schedule for 2022 has DC's Stargirl, a Supernatural spinoff and Walker prequel, but no Flash, Riverdale or Superman and Lois.

tvline.com

 

[NeilO]

Considering all the production delays with the current season of Superman and Lois, holding it to midseason makes sense.

 

[Garysb]

Considering all the production delays with the current season of Superman and Lois, holding it to midseason makes sense.

Yes except this season was also held until January and we are in the middle of a second or third one month break. Honestly at this point it might be better if they took a year off from broadcasting the show to film it so that it could run with fewer and shorter breaks. Then just broadcast it the year after filming it for the rest of its run.

 

[Garysb]

An additional one week delay to the schedule.

The Season 2 finale was originally scheduled to air on June 21, but June 14 will now see an encore airing of a previous episode.


The schedule for the remaining episodes is:

“Lies That Bind” (S02E12) – May 31
“All is Lost” (S02E13) – June 7
“Worlds War Bizzare” (S02E14) – June 21
“Waiting for Superman” (S02E15 – Season 2 Finale) – June 28

(They are not kidding with the title of the season finale.)

 

[TJPC]

I found the first season of this series interesting enough to watch season 2, but I am finding the story and plot of this second season one of the most confusing and stupidest ones I have ever tried to follow! As time appeared to shift back and forth in the last two episodes, my opinion is only confirmed.

 

[jayembee]

Different squids for different kids. I don't find it confusing (or stupid) at all.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Good to have this one back.

One thing that struck me as odd about the pendants: The show has never been very interested in where they came from or how they were created. Given that they are not a natural phenomenon, it seems like that which was created once could be created again.

I also wish the show had done a better job of showing why Ally's plan to merge the two selves of various people is a bad thing. Now it seems pretty clear that she's out to create some sort of theocratic dictatorship, but it would have been good to see more negative consequences of the merge. As it stands, it feels more like Superman is the bad guy for destroying the pendant and forcing Ally into more overtly villainous choices.

I was glad that Lana's angst over Clark's secret only lasted an episode. However hurt she may justifiably be, Clark & Lois had really good reasons for keeping his identity a secret. At the same time, I can understand why Lana wants to keep the Kent family out of her family's life. In the short time she's known Clark's secret, it's already become a burden that is creating a wedge between her and her loved ones. It's natural to want to just excise that burden from the rest of her life. But this is Smallville. The odds that she's going to be able to make a clean break are slim to none, and sooner or later she's going to have to recognize that.

While it was a tremendously bad idea for Jonathan to skip school on his first day back after having his expulsion reversed, I really enjoyed the adventure in the cave with him, Jordan, and Natalie. It was the first time the three of them really felt like siblings, and you can tell it's such a relief for all three of them not to be carrying the weight of their family's responsibilities alone. Natalie can related to what Jonathan and Jordan have been through, and vice-versa.

Glad we don't have to wait another month for the next episode.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I still really enjoy this show, but I'll be glad when the Ally Allston arc ends, presumably in the season finale.

I get the broad strokes of what they're going for, but I've never been super clear on everybody's motivations: Why was Lois so sure Ally was evil before she had any evidence to prove it? There have been vague mentions of one of Ally's followers dying, but we never got enough information to understand why Lois went so scorched earth back then. And then, more recently, the Supermen of both worlds and their allies were hellbent on destroying the pendants, but neither they nor us would have have known then that the merge would be a bad thing. And now, without the pendant, Ally is some sort of cosmic leech. But she seemingly went from being well-intentioned (albeit extremely fanatical) to someone who takes glee in the suffering of others.

And that has had a domino effect on Lucy's story. In the first season of "Supergirl", she was the golden child who graduated among the top of her class from law school and then went to work for her father in the military. In the post-Crisis timeline, all of that had been erased so that she's the perennial screw up. That in and of itself isn't really a problem; if anything, it's interesting to see how a few pivotal events changing can set a person on an entirely different path. But her storyline this season has gotten repetitive: Lois and Sam reach out to her, she brushes them off, they gradually start bridging the gap between them, and then something forces Lucy to choose between Ally and her family and she chooses Ally. Hopefully, now that she watched Ally almost kill her father and Superman, we're done with that merry-go-round.

On the other hand, the rift between the Kents and the Cushings has been well played. Lana has drawn a line in the sand, to put her own family first, but you can see the toll it's taking on her. She's really hard on Jordan for Sarah's sake, but she clearly feels terrible about it. At the same time, she's finding ways to be honest with her family where she can, and Kyle is stepping up to steady things with the girls while Lana deals with her momentary stumble.

I enjoyed the parallels between Clark training Jordan to fly near the Fortress of Solitude and John Henry working with Natalie as she prepared to suit up for the first time. With Clark depowered, at least for the moment, the next generation of heroes is more urgently needed than ever. But in the short term, I do think Jonathan's feelings of inadequacy and resentment at being ordinary in an extraordinary family will be further inflamed by his brother and half-sister stepping up as superheroes.

Obviously, in a show called "Superman & Lois", Superman is going to stay powerless for long. But I do like those stories, because they provide the writers an opportunity to remind the audience that Superman isn't just Superman because of what he can do. He's Superman because of who he is -- the values he upholds, the way he conducts himself, the greatness he inspires in others.

 

[Garysb]

One thing they have been vague about is when there is a merger which personality becomes dominate. The two Allys had pretty much identical personalities so you can't really tell from her. What if the two Jordans merged or the two Lanas. Does merging just allow them to gain power by suck energy from other people like a vampire or parasite to use a Superman villian name?

There has been fan speculation that Kyle will die possibly by Bizarro Lana killing him. I don't want this to happen. If he does die I hope it is by being a hero and maybe stopping Bizarro Lana from merging with Lana.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One thing they have been vague about is when there is a merger which personality becomes dominate.

The merged Ally used plural pronouns to describe herself, so I'm thinking it's more of like both personalities coexist in some form than one personality erasing the other.

There has been fan speculation the Kyle will die possibly by Bizarro Lana killing him. I don't want this to happen. If he does die I hope it is by being a hero and maybe stopping Bizarro Lana from merging with Lana.

I do think if he dies, he'll go out heroically. This show has a pretty sprawling cast, so if they want to consolidate things a bit, they could kill off Kyle and pair Lana off with John Henry. Then the show would be back to following two families instead of three.

 

[jayembee]

And that has had a domino effect on Lucy's story. In the first season of "Supergirl", she was the golden child who graduated among the top of her class from law school and then went to work for her father in the military. In the post-Crisis timeline, all of that had been erased so that she's the perennial screw up. That in and of itself isn't really a problem; if anything, it's interesting to see how a few pivotal events changing can set a person on an entirely different path.

At this point, there's no rationale in attempting to reconcile S&L with the rest of the Arrowverse. Things might've been different if there was no pandemic playing hob with the various shows' productions, but it is what it is. What's been going on in S&L just seems to make no sense if it was still supposed to be part of the greater interconnected universe.

This seems especially true given that the Arrowverse seems to be crumbling apart. Beyond Superman & Lois, the only show left after this season will be The Flash. Stargirl has already been established as being on a different Earth. And we have no idea if there will be any attempts to connect Gotham Knights with any of the others. I suspect that the new regime at DC Entertainment will decide to minimize (if not outright stopping) the connections between the shows, just as they seem to be doing with the movies. If nothing else, it'll be cheaper -- and easier on the production schedules -- if they just don't bother.

 

[NeilO]

Another good episode. 2 episodes left.

What I find annoying is that we got two episodes in a row and then are having a week off before getting the final two. Couldn't they have just resumed things this week and then had 4 weeks in a row? Maybe they thought they could have had 4 episodes in a row when they scheduled the first one last week. I guess something went wrong as I can't think they did this on purpose.

I suppose things are going to get even worse next week and then Superman will be powered back for the finale. I wonder if the other Jonathan will play a role in defeating Ally's plan. I'd like to think Tal-Rho will try to step up in the finale. Maybe somehow the inverse Lana will get turned? At the moment I have no clue how they actually are going to resolve this. That seems like a good thing.

 

[jayembee]

And we have no idea if there will be any attempts to connect Gotham Knights with any of the others.

Having finally gotten around to watching the trailer for Gotham Knights, I don't see how they can rationalize making any connections between it and any of the Arrowverse shows.

 

[jayembee]

What I find annoying is that we got two episodes in a row and then are having a week off before getting the final two. Couldn't they have just resumed things this week and then had 4 weeks in a row? Maybe they thought they could have had 4 episodes in a row when they scheduled the first one last week. I guess something went wrong as I can't think they did this on purpose.

I'm sure that there was a post-production issue that necessitated pushing the last two episodes back a week. Or, they might've made a scheduling decision in order to have the finales of both S&L and The Flash air in the same week (S&L on 6/28, The Flash on 6/29).

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

What I find annoying is that we got two episodes in a row and then are having a week off before getting the final two. Couldn't they have just resumed things this week and then had 4 weeks in a row? Maybe they thought they could have had 4 episodes in a row when they scheduled the first one last week. I guess something went wrong as I can't think they did this on purpose.

The show's been hit with COVID delays quite a bit this season, but I also think there is an inherent strain in making a premium cable-caliber show on a CW schedule and budget.

Especially with The CW on the verge of being sold, I think this show would be better off as an HBO Max original, where they can wait to start releasing episodes until they know that all of the episodes will be ready on time.

I wonder if the other Jonathan will play a role in defeating Ally's plan.

I think he has to, given how much they've played up his inferiority complex this season, drawing sharp comparisons between him (expelled from school, kicked off the football team) and his superpowered brother and genius half-sister.

The only way he moves past that is if he finds his own way to contribute.

Having finally gotten around to watching the trailier for Gotham Knights, I don't see how they can rationalize making any connections between it and any of the Arrowverse shows.

I agree. While it appears they are reusing some of the Gotham sets from the recently cancelled Batwoman, there's no way to reconcile that continuity with the Arrowverse continuity, where Batman vanished without a trace years ago. Meanwhile, the Batman in this series appears to be KIA. And there's no indication that the Arrowverse Batman ever had a sidekick, whereas the Batman in "Gotham Knights" was partnered with the Carrie Kelley Robin. The Arrowverse Stephanie Brown was in her late twenties, played by Morgan Kohan. The "Gotham Knights" Stephanie Brown is a teenager, played by Anna Lore. "Batwoman" had a quasi-take on Duela, while "Gotham Knights" seems to get back to the character being the daughter of one of any number of villains from Batman's rogues gallery.

"Gotham Knights" also appears to be inventing a new adopted son for Bruce (perhaps secretly Damian Wayne?). If Bruce had had any heirs in the Arrowverse, Wayne Enterprises never would have gone to Kate Kane.

 

[David Weicker]

I would rather have it on the CW where we get a few weeks delay than have it go the the black hole of streaming where it would end up with multi year delays.

COVID delays are an aberration. Streaming delays are built-in because nobody cares when it comes back - 'its streaming, it will come back when it comes back'.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Definitely glad we don't have another break after that cliffhanger.

Appreciated the townspeople basically laughing Lana out of the room after listening to her outline the truth. Much like many Superman plots, it sounds completely ridiculous without the context leading up to it.

Loved Superman arriving to back Lana up and calm the townspeople's fears. Lois was right; Superman is more than just his powers. He inspires the best in humanity, and gives people hope when things are at their darkest.

It does get to the limitations of this show's format, however; surely some of the people in that gymnasium were thinking: With the entire planet in crisis, why is Superman just talking to a small farm town in the middle of nowhere? I get that the writers wanted to show Clark supporting Lana when she needed it, to help smooth over the rift between them, but surely it would have made more sense for the DoD to set up a television broadcast with Superman delivering his message of hope across the planet?

I'm glad that Sarah knows about Jordan now. It means that whatever happens next in their relationship won't be defined by this artificial obstacle creating drama. Maybe Jordan will suck as a boyfriend even when he doesn't have to lie. Maybe Sarah won't be able to handle dating someone who is always rushing into harm's way. But at least their disagreements will be based on something real.

I love that Natalie went to the Kent farm once she lost contact with her father, and I love that Lois was there to comfort her. She's really starting to feel like part of the family now. And even though this Lois isn't her mother, and they don't have the history she had with the Lois who was her mother, Lois has seen what a smart, decent, selfless individual Natalie is. She knows that her sons and her husband are alive in part because Natalie saved them. She has her own reasons now to care about Natalie. And Clark and the boys circle the wagons, too.

We all know that Clark is not going to remain powerless forever, so it was good that the show didn't even try to convince us he would. Instead, the tension comes from the question of how long it will take for his cells to heal enough to serve as solar batteries again.

And even assuming he's fully powered up again next week, what can he do then that is different than what he has already tried? What weakness does Ally have that has yet to be exploited?

 

[NeilO]

This episode was another of those "things get even worse" episodes that appear in this spot. There was one bright spot in Natalie teaming up with Jordan to save the day, but other than that things are looking quite grim. I've no idea how they are going to resolve this.

I had previously hoped that somehow Bizarro Jonathan would have a change of heart and help out, but Bizarro Lana busted him out, he inhaled some kryptonite and was nastier than ever.

Still waiting for Tal-Rho to appear in the season finale.

Will X-Kryptonite play a role in powering Clark back up?

And of course, this episode shows that this show is on its own. Otherwise there would be heroes from all the other connected shows trying to help out.

 

[Garysb]

Still alot to resolve for the finale. Will Clark find out about the dangerous way he can regain his powers sooner that his mother mentioned before she disappeared. Will Clark take xkrytonite to at least temporarily regain his powers? What happened to the person that disappeared? Is it related to the fact that they don't appear to have a double on the bizarro world? Will Superman's brother return to help?