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

[Garysb]

Another excellant episode. This show can do even near Supermanless episode well. However another month break is killing me. I think waiting for this season to start streaming on HBOMAX is a better way to watch it. Show returns April 26th

Spoiler: Spoiler

I missed that Jonathan getting a headache was a warning that his Bizarro twin was on Earth. I thought it was a sign that he was getting powers. Not sure how Lois knew instantly that Bizarro Jonathan wasn't her son. Mother love I guess

 

[NeilO]

Yes, a great episode. The month break hurts, especially with all the cliffhangers this episode.

Regarding the spoiler - there seemed to be less than a minute before the clue and the reveal, so we didn't have much time to figure out what it meant.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Another excellant episode. This show can do even near Supermanless episode well.

It helps that it has such a deep bench of characters at this point, all pretty well written and developed.

Superheroes suffering a personal toll for keeping their identities secret is far from a new concept, but having three siblings dealing with keeping that secret is. On one hand, you see it from Sarah's point of view, as first Jordan and then Natalie pulls away mysteriously. But the flip side of that, one I wish the show would explore more, is that the boys have Natalie to lean on and vice-versa.

It does suck though that one of the reasons Sarah broke up with Jordan was because he was off saving her Dad's life, and he can't tell her. I do think she finds out about the Kent family at some point. The drama of being kept in the dark has diminishing returns, as we've seen from other shows in this genre that have pushed the secrets too hard for too long.

I'm glad that they're playing out the Cushings' separation. Kyle needs to figure out how to be an adult and a single father on his own without Lana there doing all of the heavy lifting for him.

In a way, the same thing is true of John Henry Irons. This is his first time really being a single father to Natalie in anything close to normal circumstance. They went from their Lois being murdered into a global war with extraterrestrials more or less immediately, so this is the first time they're grappling with everything that came out of that. Part of the difference is that John Henry is several months further out from his Lois's death, while Natalie was in stasis while her ship's AI attempted to find him across the multiverse. So the loss is just a bit fresher and rawer for her than it is for him.

However another month break is killing me. I think waiting for this season to start streaming on HBOMAX is a better way to watch it. Show returns April 26th

I think part of the reason for these periodic month-long breaks is to allow the production to catch up. This is a way more ambitious show than the other Arrowverse shows, both in terms of how it is shot and with the scale of its visual effects. That, coupled with the inefficiencies resulting from the pandemic and the labor shortage, can't make it easy to turn around on a weekly schedule.

I missed that Jonathan getting a headache was a warning that his Bizarro twin was on Earth. I thought it was a sign that he was getting powers.

Same. I also thought that him going home early due to the headache would result in something terrible happening to Candice.

Not sure how Lois knew instantly that Bizarro Jonathan wasn't her son. Mother love I guess.

No way our Jonathan would be caught dead in that leather jacket.

 

[Garysb]

Maybe on Bizarro world it was Jonathan rather then Jordon that got the superpowers. In an earlier episode we saw a picture of the Bizarro Kent family with Lois's and Jordan's faces x ed out. Still waiting for someone to run the tape backwards to tell us what Bizarro Jonathan said at the end.

Is this going to be the basis for the Bizarro Jonathan Superboy look?

 

[Sean Bryan]

Still waiting for someone to run the tape backwards to tell us what Bizarro Jonathan said at the end.

No need. He started talking in reverse and then he stopped and spoke normally. He said “He was too late”.

 

[jayembee]

Another excellant episode. This show can do even near Supermanless episode well. However another month break is killing me. I think waiting for this season to start streaming on HBOMAX is a better way to watch it. Show returns April 26th

Spoiler: Spoiler

I missed that Jonathan getting a headache was a warning that his Bizarro twin was on Earth. I thought it was a sign that he was getting powers. Not sure how Lois knew instantly that Bizarro Jonathan wasn't her son. Mother love I guess

Regarding your spoiler, that's exactly what I was thinking as soon as it happened. (Though just a second earlier, when Candice said that "I'm just two blocks away" and they went their separate ways, I was sure that she was going to be killed or kidnapped.

 

[jayembee]

Still waiting for someone to run the tape backwards to tell us what Bizarro Jonathan said at the end.

"Tape"? What is this "tape" you speak of?

 

[ponset]

The delay is due to COVID issues.

Elizabeth Tulloch, who plays Lois Lane on the series, explained via Twitter that the delays were forced by COVID complications.

Tulloch wrote, “I fully understand people’s frustration with these breaks, but they are due to Covid-related production shutdowns. We are all doing our best to keep shooting during an ongoing pandemic and appreciate your grace and understanding.”

 

[Garysb]

I guess this potential director's strike in Canada could interupt the CW shows filmed in Vancouver that are still filming. That includes Superman and Lois and The Flash. I don't think ether have finished filming their current seasons but they are close. Its still early and even if a strike is authorized the date of the walkout would have to be set. Per the article, when actors went on strike in 2007 productions weren't interrupted as producers signed an agreement that allowed productions to continue despite the strike.

Directors Guild of Canada B.C. Calls Strike Authorization Vote

The move comes as the Canadian union says yearlong negotiations are at an impasse after the AMPTP resisted the latest contract offer.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Garysb]

Superman and Lois Wondercom panel from this past weekend.

 

[Garysb]

TUESDAY, JUNE 21
8 pm Superman & Lois Season 2 finale

Show will not air on May 10th due to a 2 hour Naomi season finale.

So show airs April 26th and May 3 and then takes another at least one week break.

There are only 6 episodes left. After May 3rd the show will probably be off until May 31 before running the last four episodes to June 21st.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The ride on the bizarro Earth was even wilder than I expected, starting with the fact that the Earth and the (red) Sun are cubed.

One of the key differences is that Bizarro Kal-El was evidently never raised by the Kents, so he didn't have their humility of their values. And yet, there has to be some sort of tether between the two worlds, otherwise why would he have been drawn to the Kent farm?

I'm glad that they didn't drag Anderson's storyline out, and I'm glad he took responsibility and expressed remorse on the way out.

I figured there was going to be some sort of in-story explanation for why Superman was gone so long from Earth-Prime, but he only seemed to be on bizarro Earth for a matter of hours. Perhaps there's some sort of time dilation effect when you travel between worlds?

Looks like next week's episode picks up right where the episode before the break left off.

 

[NeilO]

I'm glad that they didn't drag Anderson's storyline out, and I'm glad he took responsibility and expressed remorse on the way out.

Bizarro Earth being cubed is a detail from some comics with Bizarro.

Just about every plot detail was a surprise this week.

Telling the story from each point of view worked very well.

I didn't think Anderson would realize what the situation really was. I was very glad to see his turn. Jonathan's story completely took me by surprise. What we saw of Bizarro Kal-El's battle that we saw a few episodes ago (the beginning of "Anti-Hero" I believe) is cast in a new light.

They are doing a great job so far.

 

[jayembee]

The ride on the bizarro Earth was even wilder than I expected, starting with the fact that the Earth and the (red) Sun are cubed.

My wife gave me the side-eye when I pulled a when they revealed the cubical Earth. Right out of the comics.

One of the key differences is that Bizarro Kal-El was evidently never raised by the Kents, so he didn't have their humility of their values. And yet, there has to be some sort of tether between the two worlds, otherwise why would he have been drawn to the Kent farm?

Everything's backwards of Bizarro-World, so Bizarro-Clark obviously was raised in Metropolis, and later moved to Smallville instead of the other way 'round. Besides, everything being backwards, the Bizarro-Kents would've been the opposite of the Earth-Prime Kents.

Something I keep meaning to mention is Chrissie's surname: Beppo. I keep thinking it's an odd reference to the classic comics character, Beppo the Super Monkey (he was a flight test monkey that Jor-El used to test his spacecraft, who ended up on Earth, and gained super-powers).

 

[Garysb]

Anderson figuring out about Superman's family kind of signaled to me that he was going to die. Saving the secret identity is an old comic cliché. Anyone who found out ether died or was hypnotized to forget it except Pete Rose.

I know they can only fit so much story in but I am sorry John Henry Irons, his daughter Natalie, and Kyle Cushing didn't appear on the Bizarro world. They could have mentioned that John Henry Irons and Natalie escaped from Bizarro world, which was the opposite of what happened on Superman and Lois's world. Though I guess that would be confusing as the regular versions escaped from their world and might make some people think the ones currently on Lois and Clark's world were from the Bizarro world.

 

[jayembee]

Anderson figuring out about Superman's family kind of signaled to me that he was going to die. Saving the secret identity is an old comic cliché. Anyone who found out ether died or was hypnotized to forget it except Pete Rose.

That was true back in the day, but it's not necessarily true now.

Just in recent TV terms:

(1) Smallville: Pretty much half the regular cast knew that Clark Kent had superpowers.

(2) Supergirl: Several people outside of Kara's family knew she was Supergirl, and that she was a cousin of Clark Kent, so...
Cat Grant figured out that Kara was Supergirl, and undoubtedly worked out from that that Clark must be Superman. And at the end of the series, Kara revealed her secret identity to the world, so anyone who knew her relationship with Clark (which she did not keep secret)...

In Justice League, when Clark was fighting the others, Lois (and Batman) kept addressing him as Clark in front of a number of police officers. It wouldn't be hard for the police to then figure out who he must be.

And in the comics about 2 years ago, Superman revealed his secret identity to the entire world.

Back in the 1980s, when I participated in a comics discussion group on Usenet, at one point we had a discussion about how many people knew Batman was Bruce Wayne. If memory serves, we got up to about 40-50 people. That's including Ra's al Ghul and The Joker.

Oh, and it's Pete Ross, not Pete Rose.

 

[NeilO]

Another good episode. Unfortunately we have another few weeks break while they finish production or post-production. Next episode on May 31.

Two things

Spoiler: #1

I'm glad they cleared it up, but until Clark mentioned it, I was not sure that Bizarro Lana had retreated through the portal. I thought she just went somewhere else in the cave system. I guess what John Henry was saying indicated that, but it just wasn't completely clear while watching. One question is whether it will take a month for her to return.

Spoiler: #2

While it probably is a good idea for Clark to tell Lana the truth, demonstrating right in the open and frosting a tree there doesn't seem like the best idea in the world. I guess he would have checked to see there is really no one around in visible distance, but it still doesn't feel right.

And

Spoiler: one of the best moments in the episode

was Jordan having the power to fight back and taking care of business. He isn't completely there as shown by his falling from the sky, but it was impressive. Throughout the fight earlier, though I was wondering why he wasn't aggressively going after the pendant.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

How is John Henry's brain not just a mushy goop at this point? He's barely out of the hospital from a severe head injury, and now he gets a superpowered concussion here.

I like that John Henry and Natalie have their own space with the old mechanic's garage, but I wish the show didn't keep them so separate from the other characters. Jordan and Jonathan are (sort of) her half-brothers, and she's the only other teenager on the show who knows what its like to carry around these secrets.

I like that Sarah's first car, while a really cool muscle car, is still a beat-up old junker that she pieced back together with her father that is still in desperate need of a new paint job. The show understands that kids in Smallville (and most of the country) don't get a brand new car on their sixteenth birthday. Driving a beater is a rite of passage that is too seldom reflected in movies and TV.

Another good episode. Unfortunately we have another few weeks break while they finish production or post-production. Next episode on May 31.

Yep. As frustrating as these lengthy delays after only a couple new episodes are, I prefer them to the kind of production shortcomings which plagued "Supergirl" after the first CBS season. This show has scope and scale.

I'm glad they cleared it up, but until Clark mentioned it, I was not sure that Bizarro Lana had retreated through the portal. I thought she just went somewhere else in the cave system. I guess what John Henry was saying indicated that, but it just wasn't completely clear while watching. One question is whether it will take a month for her to return.[/SPOILER]

I appreciated the clarification on the difference in time between two episodes ago and the previous episode, and that it's not so much that time flows differently on the Bizarro Earth as it is that time is distorted in the void between Earth-Prime and the Bizarro Earth. So probably two weeks there, and two weeks back.

On the other hand, Bizarro Lana seemed to arrive very quickly after Jon-El/Bizarro Jonathan summoned her. So perhaps only people from Earth-Prime are affected by the time dilation?

While it probably is a good idea for Clark to tell Lana the truth, demonstrating right in the open and frosting a tree there doesn't seem like the best idea in the world. I guess he would have checked to see there is really no one around in visible distance, but it still doesn't feel right.

Clark definitely would have surveyed the vicinity for eavesdroppers. And Kansas is really, really flat so he would have been able to see a vast distance in every direction. I'm guessing he picked that spot along her route to city hall to intercept her because it was the most isolated.

I do think it's only a matter of time until Sarah learns the truth, too. That being said, it was extraordinarily tone deaf of Jordan to confess his love while Sarah is worried that her mother is injured or dead. Read the room, dude.

Throughout the fight earlier, though I was wondering why he wasn't aggressively going after the pendant.

I had that thought as well. It seems like the way to prevent more people from merging with their Bizarro selves is to keep the pendants as far away from each other, and as hidden, as possible. It doesn't solve the Ally Allston problem, but it would at least contain it from getting worse.

 

[jayembee]

Loved this episode. Probably my favorite of the series so far.

 

[NeilO]

I do think it's only a matter of time until Sarah learns the truth, too. That being said, it was extraordinarily tone deaf of Jordan to confess his love while Sarah is worried that her mother is injured or dead. Read the room, dude.


I had that thought as well. It seems like the way to prevent more people from merging with their Bizarro selves is to keep the pendants as far away from each other, and as hidden, as possible. It doesn't solve the Ally Allston problem, but it would at least contain it from getting worse.

Jordan is a love-sick teenager, so I thought it followed well.

I couldn't believe that Lois didn't tell Sarah that she had taken away Jordan's cellphone. She had plenty of time to do that before she had to run off. And I would be very much surprised if Sarah does not learn the truth in the next episode.

As far as the pendants. Why haven't they been destroyed six times already? Was there a reason why Bizarro Superman didn't try? Or did he try and not succeed? What have I missed about this?