John Potts

Not sure how they're going to take down Doomsday given how unkillable they've made him. I assume it's going to take everyone (the DoD, all 3 Kents, John Henry and Natalie) attacking together (or at least everyone the budget can support!) to bring him down. And now Doomsday has publicly killed a General, maybe the DoD will arrest (or just shoot) Lex (yeah, never going to happen)! Except I don't get what Lex was trying to do. If he wants to get the information, you don't kill the one person who can give it to you. If he'd sent Doomsday after (say) Jordan unless the General Lane spills the info, it might have worked. My assumption would be he was going to try to see if he could revive Superman

You know, if I was facing an unstoppable juggernaut, I might consider using this advanced combat technique known as "dodging". I guess when you're invulnerable you get out of the habit, but you'd think that the hero that delivered the World of Cardboard speech would be a better technical fighter. Sure, it might not be enough to beat BizDoom, but it gives you a better shot. Another thing that might give you a better shot is making sure you stay in direct sunlight. We know that Supes gets powered up by the yellow sun and Bizarro reacts the opposite way to most things, so it might not power him up in the same way. Lex must be truly confident that nobody would Just shoot him, because he didn't seem to have any protection when he was strutting around in Smallville. Sure, Superman wouldn't, but you've just killed him* and that might make his wife or kids flip out. And even if they keep to their no-killing rule, Sam Lane is a General so will be prepared to use lethal force. And you've just publicly committed an act of murder (well, attempted murder, assuming Superman gets better). If I was Lex, I'd have had the trailer filled with hearts so Jordan wouldn't know which one was his dad's. Though if Jordan was smart, he'd just steal the whole trailer and take it somewhere private (like the Fortress) where he could rifle through it (he gets a pass on that, because he's young and grieving). I still doubt Lex's boot would do much damage to a Kryptonian heart and even if it did, if Mom-El considers it possible to revive her son after he's been without a heart for hours, even a damaged heart might be enough. Did like Lex's Voicemail message to Lois which displayed the calculated cruelty Lex did when administering the beating in prison ("We're going to be a while") rather than the Lex who screamed in Lois' face. The show also runs into the problem when it has people figuring out Supes' identity. Having people figuring out Supes' true identity because he sees Lois grieving over him (maybe she called him "Clark"?) brings up the problem of how exactly has nobody figured this out before? Nobody figured out that the month Clark was "Away on assignment" exactly coincided with the month Superman was missing? Lois worked with Clark for months (years?) without realising he was Superman? If I have to swallow nobody can see the similarity, I'd prefer they maintain that pretense throughout the series. We've actually had all the 4 Alt-Supermen that showed up in that series appear in the Arrowverse, too - Superboy (OK, Connor Kent rather than Jordan), Steel (John Henry), The Eradicator (the AI in Season 1) and Cyborg (Hank Henshaw, who showed up on Supergirl). * Well, for now at least!

I was surprised that Chrissy survived the episode - she announces she's pregnant AND then gets a public proposal. Short of announcing she's got a new job and had just bought the winning lottery ticket, she was so set up for a tragic death. I guess we are getting Sam, Henry and (presumably) Natalie written out, but nobody actually died (well, maybe Sam did, but he could still be alive). Have to admit, while I did see Sam's abduction happening, it was only shortly before it happened, but as soon as his lady suggested they sneak off for a quickie, I knew she was up to something. Even if the character is being written out, I hope Sam will be revealed to be still alive. It would be completely consistent with comics for the villain to be brought down by his own creation. But I did wonder how repeatedly killing somebody made them want to do your bidding. I predict Lex will lose control of Doomsday next Season and will have to team up with our heroes to deal with him. I believe Doomsday has been implied to be of Kryptonian in origin in the comics (and obviously in Batman v Superman, too). I wonder whether Bruno was written out and Lex introduced because they were anticipating cancellation? Personally I liked Bruno as a Season-long antagonist, but Superman has to have Lex as his ultimate foe, so they introduced him here.

OK, I'm loving this take on Lex. No suave, affably evil Hackman or goofy Jesse Eisenburg, just one badass Mofo. crime boss. Pia was right to be scared of his retribution, given how quickly he took over the prison (loved the shot of all the other prisoners standing to attention while he had his dinner!). The only quibble I had was if Lex retained so much power while in prison, he wouldn't have stayed in prison long, particularly as he was actually innocent. Also liked how he thinks about Bruno stitching him up - he'd cheerfully gun him down next time they meet, but he can respect a power move when it's made. That was my assumption too. Reminds me of Superman III (where Supes used his powers to undo the tornado, too).

Do colleges care about a DUI? It's (from how they're presenting it, at least) a misdemeanor, rather than a felony. But it did make for a good Lana/Kyle/Sarah scene - I love how, no matter things are between Lana & Kyle, they will rally together to support their daughter. Of course, the main story was Pia's death and the Mannheim's reactions to it. Given they seemed to be hanging out in the bunker beneath their house, just how incompetent are the DoD? Even if they couldn't get in, surely they should have been able to locate the bunker? Maybe the sonic waves were disrupting Supes' powers, but why weren't the DoD crawling all over the estate? But as far as we could see, they were just twiddling their thumbs, even though the waves were emanating from the Mannheim's house! ITA. Given how much his dad had been keeping from him, I wouldn't be surprised if Bruno had just said, "This will save your mum's life - it has to be you because they'll never let me get that close." Yes, he would have to know it was probably illegal, but it was to save his mother (and he is still presumably a minor).

Quite the opposite if anything. The reduced meat and sugar intake (replaced largely with vegetable substitutes) meant it was actually the healthiest diet Britain ever had (in the main). Might not have been very exciting, but it was healthier than today's diet. Most (or at least many) people wouldn't have phones in their own homes, but telegrams would reach (almost) anyone within a day. And if the worst happened, most people would want to know ASAP. I wondered if Tristan might have thought his injury was self inflicted. A leg injury would buy you time in hospital even if it didn't get you medically discharged and Tristan wanted to let him keep his pride (or worse, facing charges). Tristan could have been wrong, but he might have believed that was the case.

I was surprised that Matteo was actively complicit in his mother's escape, though I knew the cufflinks were going to be special in some way (I had thought they were going to be bugged so Bruno could listen/hack in to the base). Totally unsurprised that the military proved to be utterly incompetent - even if they were polite enough to turn the mikes off for Matteo's and/or Lois' discussions with Pia, surely they were still watching. And even if they weren't (very considerate towards an accused murderer/terrorist!), alarms should have gone off as soon as she started breaking stuff. Given how often he's showed up in Smallville, why didn't Sarah claim it was Superman that pulled them out? Junior might say "It didn't look like him", but it was dark and he'd been in a crash which should throw enough doubt into his claims. I get the reason was to have Kyle find out about Clark, but it required too many people to be too clumsy, given Clark supposedly kept his identity secret from crack reporter Lois until they were engaged. You half expect her to go, "Who's your young friend?" given how little Sophie shows up!

Was not expecting a mature discussion of the personal/emotional cost of having a mastectomy. Of course, Clark will love Lois either way (and it totally tracks that he would go to not-Hooters for the food!), because that's just the way he is. I was wondering if Bruno was setting up John Henry when he sent his goons into Smallville. When JH smashed the limo's window, they hadn't made any aggressive moves, they were just standing in the street. Criminals using the law to obstruct their enemies has a long status in comic books (and real life!). I do wonder if we're going to see John Henry become more of a Well Intentioned Extremist as opposed to Clark's idealist, because he certainly seemed more ruthless here (though killing Bruno's super-thug was justified - the guy posed a real threat to life, so lethal force was justified). Granted nobody notices that Superman + glasses = Clark, but maybe don't go flying above the Kent farmhouse in your civvies?

I did wonder if they were going to claim Lois' hair was actually a wig, even if it wasn't. I get not wanting to shave her head, but it would add to the realism. I thought that too! I seem to recall that there were some black characters at the party where they met, but I could be misremembering. I like when the antagonists are actually believable characters. Sure, they both are murderers, but they're not doing it "For the Evulz", they have human motivations. And even moreso that Bruno knows Superman well enough to know that he will genuinely try to save Peia, even though she was just trying to kill him.

I do like when villains have believable motivations. Sure, he's prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way, but it is to save his wife, rather than not washing his hands "because he's evil!"* So, do Mannheim/Peia know Clark = Superman or is that just a coincidence? I could buy either. What I can't buy is the town not knowing about Kyle/Chrissy - Smallville is a small place (except when it's not!), it should already be common knowledge (they're not being especially covert, from what we've seen onscreen). That seemed weird to me too, but I guess it was part of Clark's realisation that those around him aren't as Invulnerable as he is. Jordan was clearly affected, but bounced back pretty quickly too. But on that line, it's good that the show investigates Superman's human vulnerabilities as a human rather than an enemy who just punches hard. Protesting about Lois making a will was a bit excessive, but I guess denial isn't just a river in Egypt (it also runs on Krypton)! * Granted, that was The Flash posing as a villain, but still...

Did anyone else wonder if Lois' cancer treatment might incorporate Kryptonite? Since Kryptonite can essentially do anything, having it cure Lois' cancer would be far from the strangest thing it has ever done. If so, it seems unlikely it could be a deliberate ploy on Mannheim's part (they're unlikely to have a villain uncover that Clark = Superman, unless he's killed straight afterward) but it would provide some dramatic tension as Clark endangers his own health to protect his wife. Lana's in the wrong line of work if she wants everyone to like her! I guess Chrissie and Kyle aren't keeping their relationship secret any more? Annoyingly, it wasn't even (plot) necessary. Have Supes Eye-jaculate on the computer when it's at 20% and have Mannheim's tech guy say they didn't get everything but they got the data they needed. Of course, that still requires Intergang to be way more competent than the US Army, but that's par for the course. As for Supes, I guess we have to go with "he was distracted by his wife's condition". It didn't help that I think he said, "We haven't been friends for decades". Sure, teens exaggerate (like all the time!) but it really made him seem his actual rather than character age.

Why did Pa Laine think it was a good idea to give Jordan a haircut? He might not like his grandson's bouffant style, but it's hardly unique. In fact, Superboy changing his hairstyle would be more of a tell since it would happen at the same time as Jordan's change. The suit makes a lot more sense. Then again, we are in a world where a pair of glasses provide an impenetrable disguise, so who knows!? It was so in character for Clark to Super-Snoop on his wife - and for Lois to be pissed that he did. And was it my imagination or did Clark look more stubbly than usual? Shaving is exactly the sort of thing you might neglect when you're concerned about somebody else. Loved Lois admitting that inviting Jonathan's girlfriend to stay with them was a terrible idea! (Given the "Conservation of Characters", I expect she'll end up staying with John Henry and Natalie - or, like Sarah's little sister, in that sort of Quantum state when she only exists when she's actually onscreen).

Was not expecting James to be back in Darrowby so quickly. Obviously, people aren't watching ACGaS for its depiction of the Second World War, but it seems odd to have taken such pains to put James in the RAF only to bring him back home (particularly given we've been Tristan-less for a whole season). I don't know how the Books depicted it (and maybe James did spend only a couple of months in actual service), but I would have thought we'd see more of James on service. Did like his commanding officer - obviously James wasn't a fan, but he certainly had a point that he couldn't risk sending out a pilot who might pass out at any moment. And of course, the RAF took some fearsome losses (particularly early on) and colleagues would sometimes just not come back. Glad Carmody is being portrayed as gaining confidence in his abilities, even if he screws up on occasion. Liked that it was he who realised why the cat kept passing out (in a manner that reminded me of my family pet growing up). And good on Mrs Hall for insisting she was quite capable of being a Warden. I wonder if we'll be seeing Land Army Girls turning up in Darrowby as the war goes on?

So unlike any Superman show for him to start with a nightmare - feels more like a Batman thing (which doesn't make it bad, just unusual). OK, for once I’m with Chrissy here – never mind her own health, Lois is wasting Doctors’ time. Though denial is pretty natural, particularly for somebody like Lois who isn't one to sit around. Unfortunately, Clark can't punch this one for you. Was that Luthor in the tank? It’s bound to get possessed by some evil AI* at some point, isn’t it? They seem pretty connected and I'm sure the DoD and Lex Luthor both have samples - there are probably others. * Is there any other kind?

At first I wondered why Future!Pike wasn’t in his chair, but of course, that was the point of changing his fate. Did the Klingons allow Pike to use the time crystals (again) because in the new timeline, Spock was not there to open peace talks with the Klingons and so their Empire collapsed (a la Star Trek VI)? Why did the Romulans blow up their own ship? Sure, execute the Captain for being insufficiently belligerent, but given his second in command reported him to central command, why not hand command over to him? Seems a needless waste of a ship. Hey, just talk to the Mariposans about cloning his body and he'll be right as rain. But it's more extreme at this time. Bashir didn’t lose his job and certainly wasn’t arrested (though his father went to prison for doing the alteration), whereas Una was arrested just for being genetically engineered. You don’t get court-martialled for making the wrong call. Being promoted to post "where you can do less damage" has been known to happen IRL - and given the quality of most of the Admirals we've seen on Trek, seems entirely plausible is widely practiced in Starfleet! There's always option 3: this is Pike where he knows something he did caused disaster, so he's continually second guessing himself - which is what causes the situation to turn catastrophic.