The Best of Smallville
Episode 5 of Superman & Lois begins with Smallville’s version of Burning Man, colloquially known here as Harvest Fest. This also sees an uptick of Superman activity across the globe too, which is basically Clark’s version of charity. At school, Sarah invites Jordan to the festival that night. As he stutters and stammers his way around this awkwardness, Jonathan helps him out. He tells Sarah that his brother would love to go with her. However, trouble lays ahead when Jonathan receives a call from Eliza who breaks up with him. Speaking of calls, Sharon Powell shows up at the office, prompting Lois to head in and see what she has to say. Apparently she doesn’t remember anything and with her son Derek back, she’s happy to turn a blind eye and not even bother to try. Lois and Chrissy do their best to try and convince them but it’s no good. As we soon see though, Derek actually has superpowers and Lex Luthor is in town too, watching everything unfold from afar. Clark continues to use his powers in secret, saving firefighters from a burning building caused by Derek’s laser eyes. As Lois begins investigating, .Lex Luthor shows up to see Lois. Only, he goes under the alias of Marcus Bridgewater as he starts talking to her. He claims to be a big fan and wants to be on Team Lois going forward. This eventually leads to her handing over a business card and telling him to be in touch. Back home, Jonathan’s woes continue to spill over as he admits he hates Smallville and his new life there. He’s not happy that they’ve completely uprooted their old life and worse, Jordan’s newfound powers has only made him feel more alienated. Interestingly, all of this juxtaposes against the past too, with various flashbacks showing Clark rebelling against Martha and struggling to come to terms with his own powers. The festival rolls round and Jonathan continues to rebel. He drinks at the party with a group of kids, slowly getting drunk. This leaves Jordan with Sarah who admits she has problems of her own. Well, Jordan and Sarah’s night is essentially ruined when Jonathan shows up and teases his brother. Sarah eventually loses patience and leaves, telling Jonathan and the others they need to grow up. As Jonathan and Jordan head off together, they walk right into Clark and Lois who berate both of them for drinking. Chrissy keeps tabs on Derek and hits the jackpot when she sees him show up at a shady Edge-owned facility with Leslie Larr. Chrissy eventually phones Lois, letting her know what she’s seen and about the crazy experiments inside. Well, it doesn’t take long before Superman bursts into the facility and comes face to face with Derek. As he flies off, Lex Luthor realizes Superman is nearby and keeps tabs on him. A chase then ensues, as Derek flies away and Supe follows from afar. As our superhero catches up, Lex Luthor keeps track of them and chases the pair across the cornfields in a camper van. Eventually he stops and brandishes a rocket launcher, primed and ready to go. He blasts a missile straight at Superman, taking him and Derek out of the game. Although Superman is okay, Derek most certainly is not. He crumbles and turns to ash as Luthor seizes his opportunity and takes his leave. With the threat gone for now, the Kent household learn that Morgan Edge has given a generous donation to the group to replace all those items lost in the fire. On top of that, they’ve also honoured Martha’s memory with a bench. As all the crowd begin clapping and applauding their triumphs, Lex Luthor watches from afar. In fact, it turns out he’s from a different world and in his reality, Lois Lane and him were a couple. Now it becomes clear exactly why he hates Superman so much. As the episode closes, Sarah and Jordan patch up their differences. Jordan wanders home alone as Tag suddenly comes out of nowhere and begins beating him down, demanding answers.
The Episode Review
Superman and Lois delivers a relatively subdued episode this week, one that does quite a good job developing the characters but not a lot on the front of the overarching plot. There’s still enough to enjoy here but not quite enough to bite off a tantalizing mouth-full of superhero action. Instead, this episode feels a little like it’s spinning wheels, with Jonathan’s woes once again cropping up and Clark Kent’s life lessons bleeding through. This is becoming somewhat of a trend from this show but the snippets of a larger story are intriguing enough to stick with for the long haul. The mystery is actually quite good too, and the show has plenty of episodes to flesh this out and deliver more plot-centric chapters. For now, Superman and Lois bows out with another decent episode, even if it’s not quite the best of the season.
