New Superman and Lois series in Development for the CW (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

The actress playing Lois really recalls Margot Kidder, in a good way.

Well, except for when Kidder's Lois appeared to be a scatterbrain.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One thing I'm really enjoying about this show is that it's not just about conflict, it's also about how the characters work through conflict. We saw it with Lana reconnecting with her daughter Sarah, both of them willing to be vulnerable and brutally honest to bridge the gap between them. We saw it with Clark and his sons, and even the way Jonathan put his own needs on the backburner for his brother.

What I also appreciate is the show's understanding of Superman as a veteran superhero. This iteration of Superman is actually less godlike than most live action takes on the character; Supergirl is stronger and her white hot heat vision is more powerful. But he's been in the superhero game for a really long time, and he knows how to utilize his powers with maximum effectiveness. When he encountered the powered hoodlum who was as strong as him, or even stronger, he quickly figured out another means to defeat him. And while this show is a lot less action-heavy than most of the Arrowverse shows, the action sequences we do get are top notch.

The show also really understands what it's like to be from a dead end small town that the rest of the world forgot. Most versions of Smallville are seen through nostalgic rose-colored glasses. This version is a lot more clear-eyed, and we're seeing what staying local has cost Lana when Clark ran off to the big city.

And while I'm not super optimistic on the journalism front, this show already has a better understanding of what the profession entails than either "Supergirl" or "The Flash". It's also sensitive to the incredible pressures faced by local journalism, which is dying out across the country. Going from one of the nation's flagship papers with extensive resources to what I suspect is a weekly operating on a shoestring with minimal subscription revenue and advertising is a huge adjustment, and it's good to see Lois both struggling with that and being sensitive to that.

 

[jayembee]

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet...

Superman & Lois is taking a pause due to a Covid thing happening on set. It'll pause after the 5th episode airs on March 23, and be back on May 18. Starting on March 30, the new season of Supergirl will start up in its place. Not sure what happens with Supergirl when S&L is back in May.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Well I was going to comment about this week's episode, but Adam pretty much covered the bases.

The series is holding up well so far and I thought the show improved in terms of how it is dealing with Jonathan and Jordan, both in terms of their relationship and in the development of those characters.

The motel sequence and the final scene both surprised me in terms of the show establishing multiple 'powered' individuals in the series' universe. How this relates to Morgan Edge will no doubt be part of the upcoming storyline.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The motel sequence and the final scene both surprised me in terms of the show establishing multiple 'powered' individuals in the series' universe. How this relates to Morgan Edge will no doubt be part of the upcoming storyline.

The redhead who used her heat vision to kill the super-strong thug was the one who told Lois Edge would destroy her in the Daily Planet boardroom, so there's definitely a connection of some sort. In the comics, her character was another Kryptonian who survived the destruction of their home planet, and was one of the recurring villains for Supergirl.

 

[Garysb]

The redhead who used her heat vision to kill the super-strong thug was the one who told Lois Edge would destroy her in the Daily Planet boardroom, so there's definitely a connection of some sort. In the comics, her character was another Kryptonian who survived the destruction of their home planet, and was one of the recurring villains for Supergirl.

Not sure where the information came from but I read on another site that the red head is Lesla-Lar, a Supergirl villian. I only know her from the silver age comics where she was a Kandorian scientist envious of Supergirl. She impersonated Supergirl and brainwashed Kara to think she was Lesla-Lar , planning to use Lex Luthor's assistance to kill Superman and then killing Luthor and take over the world . She stole Supergirl's powers right before Superman was going to reveal her existence to the world. As a non super person, Kara finally allowed herself to be adapted. It was the Silver age and Supergirl had a robot she kept in a hollow tree . Anyway Lesla-Lar delayed Supergirl's reveal to the world for about a year. I don't know if she appeared in other stories.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Tonight's episode was the first one where I really saw the constraints of The CW-sized budget on the show's scope; Glen Morgan Plaza in Metropolis sure looked a lot like Infantino Street in Central City where Savitar held Iris West hostage, and Star City Plaza in the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event.

The explosion of the X-Kryptonite at the kegger triggered by Jordan's errant heat vision blast means that potentially any of the teenagers there could develop metahuman abilities; essentially this show's equivalent of the meteor freaks from "Smallville". And the existence of a military-run school for kids with special abilities means that if Jordan is outed as having powers, he'll be taken away from his parents in Smallville and placed in a gilded cage in some undisclosed location.

Thaddeus Killgrave made for a fun one-off villain; he at least had a strategy for taking down Superman, even though Superman made pretty short work of him. The name will forever be associated in my mind with David Tennant's character from "Jessica Jones" however.

I appreciate that Lois and Clark present a united front when it counts. They keep their disagreements private, and they do genuinely try to acknowledge the other's point of view. The nice thing about all the secrets being out in the open on this show is that none of the drama feels manufactured or artificial. Clark genuinely is in a place where he can't be all things to all people all of the time. Spending more time as Clark Kent, farmer and father, means spending less time as Superman. And everything has its tradeoffs.

X-Kryptonite is one of those variants that never got a lot play, so it'll be interesting to see how it's used here. It makes sense that the area around Smallville would be a hot spot for various types of Kryptonite; presumably some shards of the destroyed planet got carried along with the spaceship that took Clark to Earth, and came down with it in Kansas. I believe in previous versions, it gave humans Kryptonian abilities, but only while they were in close proximity to it. Once they got out of range, they lost their abilities. But Morgan Edge didn't say he was going to create an army, he said he was going to resurrect an army. So I'm wondering if in the post-Crisis Arrowverse, X-Kryptonite brings dead Kryptonians back to life.

 

[Walter Kittel]

The concept of 'meteor freaks' from the show "Smallville" was definitely a connection I made with the existence of X-Kryptonite in this series. This should be good vehicle for a lot of plot development as the series progresses.

I am curious as to the location of the meteor shower depicted in the opening moments of the episode. My inclination is to assume that this was near Smallville, but that raises questions regarding the crashed craft. ( I am assuming that this was obviously not Kal-El's craft although it was difficult to see a lot of detail due to the camera angle and lighting. If it had been Kal-El's vessel then it probably would not be in the Kent barn. )

Even though it was brief I enjoyed Superman's supersonic clap to take down Killgrave and then the coup de grace against his sonic weapon.

- Walter.

 

[jayembee]

In found it interesting that when Superman was on the hunt for Killgrave, and was communicating with Sam Lane, Lane addressed him by the codename "Bishop 6". Sounds like Lane's operation might be Checkmate. In recent comics, Sam Lane was the leader of one of the major spy agencies, but I don't recall if it was Checkmate.

 

[Sam Favate]

Caught up with the fourth episode last night, and I really like this show. Hoechlin is a terrific Superman, probably the best since Christopher Reeve. (He plays it a bit less innocent than Reeve.) Tulloch might just be the best Lois Lane we've ever seen. I love that they write her as the smartest person in the room, which she'd have to be.

So far, I'm not convinced that the show has given Superman adversaries worthy of him, but I'm willing to see what happens.

Also, I'm glad that the show has a lot of diversity, but it's a bit of a stretch that there'd be so much diversity in Kansas! (Nothing against Kansas, mind you, it's just not known for its diverse population.)

 

[jayembee]

Caught up with the fourth episode last night, and I really like this show. Hoechlin is a terrific Superman, probably the best since Christopher Reeve. (He plays it a bit less innocent than Reeve.) Tulloch might just be the best Lois Lane we've ever seen. I love that they write her as the smartest person in the room, which she'd have to be.

So far, I'm not convinced that the show has given Superman adversaries worthy of him, but I'm willing to see what happens.

Also, I'm glad that the show has a lot of diversity, but it's a bit of a stretch that there'd be so much diversity in Kansas! (Nothing against Kansas, mind you, it's just not known for its diverse population.)

(1) Tulloch's version of Lois synchs up with how she's been presented in the comics lately. Basically, as an investigator, she's at a level that even Batman respects.

(2) I'm sure the budget doesn't allow for adversaries on his level. Supergirl kind of managed it, but not quite this early in the game.

(3) Well, there was diversity in Smallville as well. Most notably a black Pete Ross, a black Dr. Hamilton, and a half-Asian Lana Lang.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I continue to really love the show's sense of place when it comes to Smallville, this dying rural small town that still has glimmers of what made it so special for Clark growing up. Nothing feels like it's happening in isolation; everything touches a bit on everything else.

I also really like Clark and Lois as a team, and the way they support one another in small ways and back each other's decisions.

And I really appreciate how the show depicts Lois's journalistic pursuits. When she's hunting down a lead on Derrick Powell, she's questioning Lana's husband. But before she gets to the purpose of her interview, she asks about the firefighter who was injured in the fire and genuinely cares about the answer. This Lois Lane has an ego, but she's not driven by ego; she never loses sight of the human element.

The use of Lana in this series feels really new and fresh too; publicly, she is the pillar of the community that we all remember and expect. But her home life just sucks; her husband is an angry, resentful drunk with oodles of unresolved trauma. She is someone just hanging on by her fingernails, and that filters down to both daughters who deal with it in different unhealthy ways. And then seeing how perfect the Kent family seems just highlights for them their own issues and shortcomings.

The episode provided a bit more clarity about Morgan Edge's scheme. It sounds like the machine transfers Kryptonian consciousnesses into the human hosts. The process embues the hosts' bodies with Kryptonian powers, but it's an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style overwriting of the original host's consciousness. The question is: is Morgan Edge really Morgan Edge, or did a Kryptonian take over his body? If he is really Morgan Edge, what does he get from resurrecting a bunch of Kryptonians?

This episode finally seemingly confirmed that Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor does exist in this show's continuity, even though he's Supergirl's problem at the moment. Captain Luthor, played by Wolé Parks, is not this show's version of Lex Luthor -- just another bald villain going by the name Luthor. And apparently on his Earth, he was married to Lois Lane?!?

 

[David Weicker]

This episode finally seemingly confirmed that Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor does exist in this show's continuity, even though he's Supergirl's problem at the moment. Captain Luthor, played by Wolé Parks, is not this show's version of Lex Luthor -- just another bald villain going by the name Luthor. And apparently on his Earth, he was married to Lois Lane?!?

One thing that I found odd.

I was under the impression that, other than the people who remember pre-crisis, everyone on this new earth views Lex as a major hero.

Lois made a disparaging comment about Lex, and the other journalist (Captain Luthor in 'disguise') agreed with her. I expected Lois to register something was off with the 'journalist'.

 

[NeilO]

The episode provided a bit more clarity about Morgan Edge's scheme. It sounds like the machine transfers Kryptonian consciousnesses into the human hosts. The process embues the hosts' bodies with Kryptonian powers, but it's an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style overwriting of the original host's consciousness. The question is: is Morgan Edge really Morgan Edge, or did a Kryptonian take over his body? If he is really Morgan Edge, what does he get from resurrecting a bunch of Kryptonians?

This episode finally seemingly confirmed that Jon Cryer's Lex Luthor does exist in this show's continuity, even though he's Supergirl's problem at the moment. Captain Luthor, played by Wolé Parks, is not this show's version of Lex Luthor -- just another bald villain going by the name Luthor. And apparently on his Earth, he was married to Lois Lane?!?

About Morgan Edge - the scene at the beginning of the previous episode "Haywire" took place in Saskatchewan 6 years previous. Morgan Edge finds some kind of spacecraft and says "Now the resurrection begins." He can't be just a regular human doing this.

Captain Luthor here appears to have come from someplace similar to Earth-3 in the comics - where the heroes we know were villains. Lois married him and that makes added conflict.

The show is taking a Covid break and we'll see more in May. Meanwhile, apparently the episodes on The CW site are "extended" versions. It looks there might be a couple of extra minutes mixed in somewhere.

 

[Sam Favate]

I caught up with this show last night, and boy, I have to say I enjoy it. Some of the teenage angst stuff is a bit predictable but the actors playing the boys do it well. Clark and Lois are the strongest things about the show, and the flashbacks with Martha were very effective. Clark's regrets over time lost with her was well done. That's some insightful writing.

Here's hoping this show has a long future and continues at this level.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Does this stream on any of the subscription sites, or is it a must have TV reception/cable or buy on iTunes deal?

The first five episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The first five episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max.

Ooo thanks for the heads up!

 

[Garysb]

The first five episodes are now available to stream on HBO Max.

HBOMAX removes the 5 episodes on May 17th, the day before new episodes resume on the CW.

As Supergirl resumes August 24 and Stargirl August 10th, they won't finished their current seasons until November or later if they take breaks, I wonder when "Superman and Lois" and "The Flash" will start their next seasons. I would expect January 2022 or later.

 

[jayembee]

As Supergirl and Stargirl won't finished their current seasons until November or later if they take breaks, due to starting/resuming their seasons on August 24th, I wonder when "Superman and Lois" and "The Flash" will start their next seasons. I would expect January 2022 or later.

I still haven't seen any indication of exactly how many episodes The Flash (or Batwoman, for that matter) will have this season. It's had 9 episodes so far (Batwoman has had 13). I was surprised that Black Lightning has only 13, instead of the 16 it had for each of the past two seasons.

Batwoman will probably be done by the time Wellington Paranormal starts up on July 11. The Flash, though, There's no way to even guess until we find out when the current season's finale is.

 

[Garysb]

My above post was incorrect. Stargirl starts August 10th in The Flash's time slot so presumably "The Flash" will end its season August 3 unless there is a break before "Stargirl" starts. There is a new episode of "Superman and Lois" the night "Stargirl" begins. "Superman and Lois" has 10 more episodes to air this season so there will most likely be a few weeks without a new episode so they can have new episodes available to air in August. I believe I read "The Flash" will have 18 episodes this season. "Supergirl"'s final season has 20 episodes.