S01.E01: Pilot

[BooBear]

Loved this:

1. Loved Lois. I think often times her character is stuck in male writer hell. They don't know how to write a mature woman. This was a mature woman who grew past her 1978 -- reporter character.  I take it here she is around 42 to 44. Family comes first. Plus, in this world, being a journalist has changed radically.

2. Jordan was perhaps oddly done. I could see him as a bad guy some day. He was just too... weird? Too angry.

3. Loved there wasn't a hint of the arrow verse. I like this show on its own and since there was not one motion of any of the rest of it, I wonder if we will eventually find out this Superman and Lois are in another universe.

Weird stuff. It seemed like some parts might have been cut. 

Lois and Jonathan were super chill about giving up their lives and moving to Smallville. There should have been a scene where someone sat John down and told him to do it for Jordan. Perhaps there was on the cutting room floor.

Clark's reaction to the twins finding out seemed cut back and not to make a ton of sense. He should have just old them he was scared to tell them his secret.  It seemed odd also for them to honestly have no idea. I mean Lois' claim to fame is her "in" with Superman. They never would have noticed that dad looks like Superman? It is very hard to accept. 

[ctlady]

On 2/24/2021 at 11:25 PM, Lantern7 said:

Having the boys be opposites is an interesting approach, as is Jordan (the one with mental health issues) manifesting powers first.

 

On 2/26/2021 at 7:31 AM, Jenniferbug said:

I don't remember seeing Jonathan touch either, correct? But then Jonathan did seem to be a bit powered up already, so maybe not. I don't think they're going to go with one twin having powers and the other not for long. 

But Jonathan displayed the strength at a young age when he threw the football as a toddler and it went right through the house.  And that arm strength got him the starting QB spot on the football team as a freshman.  I'm wondering if the powers will be split up - like Jonathan has the strength and speed and Jordan has the super senses (hearing, heat/xray vision/turning an ocean to ice with is breath)

I thought it was a really good pilot.  Intrigued about Captain Luthor and his possible lineage from either Lionel or Lex

[BooBear]

49 minutes ago, ctlady said:

 

But Jonathan displayed the strength at a young age when he threw the football as a toddler and it went right through the house. 

That was superman. Jonathan just broke a rope.

[Trini]

11 hours ago, BooBear said:

Lois and Jonathan were super chill about giving up their lives and moving to Smallville. There should have been a scene where someone sat John down and told him to do it for Jordan. Perhaps there was on the cutting room floor.

There was a lot of stuff in this pilot; I assume some of the moving to a completely new small town stuff will be addressed in the next episode.

[Affogato]

I am having a glitch in the matrix

Edited February 28, 2021 by Affogato

[Affogato]

On 2/27/2021 at 9:16 AM, BooBear said:

 

Clark's reaction to the twins finding out seemed cut back and not to make a ton of sense. He should have just old them he was scared to tell them his secret.  It seemed odd also for them to honestly have no idea. I mean Lois' claim to fame is her "in" with Superman. They never would have noticed that dad looks like Superman? It is very hard to accept. 

I expected him to be recognized when he took off his glasses and squared his jaw. i’d half bet they never got that close to superman in person (to avoid the issue) and he may avoid closeups since the chuldren got old enough to watch TV. 

But i think of Ryan Reynold’s kid recognising Daddy in deadpool mask on side of bus.

thy are still processing their Grandmother’s death and the move is stressful. It isn’t the best time to learn these things.  

[Kromm]

On 2/26/2021 at 1:40 PM, quarks said:

Based just on this pilot episode, you can watch this show without ever seeing a single episode of Supergirl - none of the main characters on Supergirl were even mentioned. Even pre-Covid, most of the crossover/cameo appearances were on Arrow, Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, not Supergirl and Batwoman, which are more loosely connected shows. So much though I'd like to see J'onn J'onzz on this show, my guess it that and other crossovers/cameos will be pretty rare events. 

Anyway, it's not so much that Clark and Kara's storylines are intertwined, or that we need to understand the plot of Supergirl to follow this, as that Clark is all, how will we handle things if one twin has superpowers and the other doesn't, when he knows  a real life example of a parent where one kid (Kara) has superpowers and the other kid (Alex) doesn't - and yet this example was never once mentioned in this episode.

 

Ironically enough the biggest lack will be Jimmy Olsen, an important character in the Supergirl show who normally would be even more vital to anything with Lois and Clark.  Jimmy's purpose in the Superman mythos being primarily as someone who's always underfoot and chasing Superman to get photos, but also being "Superman's Pal".

They've lucked out by moving the show to Smallville, because if we see people from their Metropolis life, it will be much rarer.  So they can dodge Jimmy. 

 

 

On a total other subject, it's occurred to me that there's some potential for additional angst/trauma to Jordan if the show ever digs enough into the Crisis episodes to unload on the kid that he didn't even exist before that event, that (if the comics are any guide) his brother did and is the one who got the powers.  

[Affogato]

On 2/25/2021 at 3:54 AM, arc said:

Kyle might be a hick jerk but Lana is a top tier supervillain. “Yeah, your mom didn’t need the money for herself, but she was the safety net of last resort here in Smallville AND THAT’S WHY the bank is taking her farm.” YOU work at the bank! Why couldn’t you have shown a tenth of the kindness of Martha Kent?????

also, maybe this is my city folk upbringing showing here, but I see no reason at all to put the router (1) in the barn (2) up in the barn’s rafters and (3) where the signal could be blocked by Martha’s inexplicable collection of steel pipes also kept up high. Put the router in the house, maybe have an extender antenna up on the roof. Put your steel pipes on the ground, maybe under a tarp. I bet this stuff is so poorly thought out because Martha just had Clark fly up to the router to reset it any time her internet was slow.

The spaceship in the cellar interferes with the router?
You are right. Why not the attic of the house with extender. Maybe the only decent signal was in the barn. Rural broadband can be difficult. 

[Diapason Untuned]

Very nice premiere. This is a pretty different take on Superman, but I'm enjoying it. 

I really appreciate that the writers seem to know their Superman lore as well.

The relationship between Jordan and Jonathan is looking good as well. It sort of reminded me of Super Sons, which makes me wonder if Jordan was conceived as a replacement for Damian, since they can't use him...

On 2/25/2021 at 6:03 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Which I guess raises another issue: Clark and Lois are talking about moving Jordan away from his therapist, his support network and the world he knew for what reasons, exactly? When Clark no longer has to put up the facade of being Clark (if he ever did) and can devote 100 percent of his non-Superman time to being a dad,, whyt doesn't he?

With the powers Jordan just manifested, they probably think a more laid back environment would be better for him, for many reasons, not least of which is privacy.

 

Quote

If he wants to save Smallville, he literally can whenever he wants. Just crush coal into diamonds, mine something rare, patent any number of things based on Kryptonian stuff could all translate into enough money to pay off all of Smallville's debt. Even as Clark Kent, he has the ability to write pretty much whatever he wants in fiction and nonfiction and donate the profits to needy Smallville families. 

Aliens are a thing in Arrowverse, and there are still Kryptonian remnants alive, so might not be an option.

 

Quote

People who lived through Smallville may have experienced the same PTSD about barn scenes. Now that Clark is and has been full fledged Superman for years, it literally makes no sense that he has kept his spaceship in the barn where it could potentially be discovered in the fashion it was, instead of hauling it to the Fortress of Solitude or at least creating an actual security system for it that can't be defeated by a crowbar.

In most Superman adaptations, the pod is usually given to STAR Labs for analysis, but that wasn't really an option here. I can suppose he was just lazy on bringing it to the Fortress.

Edited February 28, 2021 by Diapason Untuned

[Chicago Redshirt]

52 minutes ago, Diapason Untuned said:

With the powers Jordan just manifested, they probably think a more laid back environment would be better for him, for many reasons, not least of which is privacy.

 

Aliens are a thing in Arrowverse, and there are still Kryptonian remnants alive, so might not be an option.

 

In most Superman adaptations, the pod is usually given to STAR Labs for analysis, but that wasn't really an option here. I can suppose he was just lazy on bringing it to the Fortress.

Within universe, I think the downsides of Smallville generally outweigh the potential plusses for Jordan and the rest of the Kent family. Really, the only one it has no downside for is Clark, and Clark can just commute. 

In the big picture of things, TPTB or the network clearly wanted to tell a Smallville: The Next Generation sort of story. Which is fine. But I think it would have been more interesting to have a similar story set in Metropolis.

That aliens are real and that there are Kryptonians doesn't really change the overall issue. Clark has access to a Kryptonian supercomputer that (presumably) would give him the wherewithal to produce various Kryptonian technological and cultural things that he could make and sell. There has to be in all that data some Kryptonian device that would be relatively innocuous but profitable. An actual history of Krypton or just thousands of fictional works (like the adventures of Flamebird and Nightwing) could be the next Harry Potter or Star Wars. 

The Arrowverse has a STAR Labs that has been run by Team  Flash, and a number of other sciencey-outfits. 

[Primal Slayer]

Its a shame that Star Labs is so useless in Flash and cant really be used as it should be. Though I guess we still have Cadmus that they could always come back with and give a proper storyline to cause Supergirl half assed that thing. 

[Diapason Untuned]

1 minute ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Within universe, I think the downsides of Smallville generally outweigh the potential plusses for Jordan and the rest of the Kent family. Really, the only one it has no downside for is Clark, and Clark can just commute. 

In the big picture of things, TPTB or the network clearly wanted to tell a Smallville: The Next Generation sort of story. Which is fine. But I think it would have been more interesting to have a similar story set in Metropolis.

I'll have to disagree on this. I think having a space where Jordan can test out his powers and there is a lower likelihood that he'll be seen is the best for him right now. Yeah, he's leaving behind a lot of people, but he can still keep in contact with them.

 

Quote

That aliens are real and that there are Kryptonians doesn't really change the overall issue. Clark has access to a Kryptonian supercomputer that (presumably) would give him the wherewithal to produce various Kryptonian technological and cultural things that he could make and sell. There has to be in all that data some Kryptonian device that would be relatively innocuous but profitable.

Whatever technological marvels Krypton has to offer could have already been made public by other aliens. I'm not sure if Kryptonian tech is so advanced that it would have something that is clearly world beating here.

 

Quote

An actual history of Krypton or just thousands of fictional works (like the adventures of Flamebird and Nightwing) could be the next Harry Potter or Star Wars. 

This goes back to the issue of there still being Kryptonians around. Clark might not be willing to sell his heritage to make a buck. I'm not sure a history of Krypton would be all that profitable since there are tons of alien species currently on Earth anyway.

 

Quote

The Arrowverse has a STAR Labs that has been run by Team  Flash, and a number of other sciencey-outfits. 

This is relatively recent. STAR Labs was run for years by Reverse Flash, who Clark may not have trusted. We already got a storyline where he had a falling out with the DEO.

[Chicago Redshirt]

7 minutes ago, Diapason Untuned said:

I'll have to disagree on this. I think having a space where Jordan can test out his powers and there is a lower likelihood that he'll be seen is the best for him right now. Yeah, he's leaving behind a lot of people, but he can still keep in contact with them.

 

Whatever technological marvels Krypton has to offer could have already been made public by other aliens. I'm not sure if Kryptonian tech is so advanced that it would have something that is clearly world beating here.

 

This goes back to the issue of there still being Kryptonians around. Clark might not be willing to sell his heritage to make a buck. I'm not sure a history of Krypton would be all that profitable since there are tons of alien species currently on Earth anyway.

This is relatively recent. STAR Labs was run for years by Reverse Flash, who Clark may not have trusted. We already got a storyline where he had a falling out with the DEO.

Jordan can test out his powers literally anywhere on the planet and probably on other planets and dimensions since his dad is Superman and can fly him wherever whenever. The lower likelihood of being discovered against the backdrop of Smallville's (say) 25,000 people versus Metropolis's (say) 8 million is something. But is it worth the displacement and disruption? Not in my book.

I just think it's pretty selfish of Clark. He gets the most (a chance to make peace with what he thinks Martha's last wishes were, a chance to reconnect with his roots, a new civilian mission, familiar surroundings in a time for transition) while losing nothing because he can fly to Metropolis and enjoy anything he is leaving behind there. Meanwhile, Lois, Jonathan and Jordan are all going to have to get used to life on a farm that they know nothing about, people that they don't know, and have to leave behind their old lives.

I think it goes without saying that Krypton still has numerous technological advances that DC Earth has not mastered.  Obviously, one would want to be cautious before mass-producing supercomputers, Phantom Zone projectors, spaceships, and sophisticated AIs. But there has got to be some stuff in the annals of Kryptonian science that would still be profitable and harmless.

I don't know if we can say with real certainty in post-Crisis world, but besides Supergirl, the only Kryptonians around are in Argo City galaxies away. Clark has had no problem making money off of selling stories about himself for years. I don't see why he would have an issue about selling stories about/from Krypton. Regardless of how many aliens might be on Earth, I think it almost goes without saying that stories about the homeworld of Superman would be of particular interest and that a well-written story about anything would generate a lot of interest.

In any event, the particulars of how Clark could make money given what he's working with are less important than that he can make tons of money with relatively little effort. 

[Quark]

I liked this. I thought the acting from Bitsie Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin was great.

The teenagers are going to irritate me.

I have to say, I didn't mind that the twins never recognised there Dad as Superman, or that the router was in the barn in a rather difficult position to get too, the bit that had me scratching my head was the money problems that Clark and Lois had when Clark said at the beginning of the episode that he was married to the most famous journalist in the world. Surely that comes with a bit of bob?

Rather intrigued by the whole Captain Luthor debacle.

I like that General Sam knows that Clark is Superman and they are on an equal footing, but please writers, show us a flashback of General Sam finding out that his daughter is married to Superman. I reckon it would be an absolute hoot.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, Quark said:

I have to say, I didn't mind that the twins never recognised there Dad as Superman, or that the router was in the barn in a rather difficult position to get too, the bit that had me scratching my head was the money problems that Clark and Lois had when Clark said at the beginning of the episode that he was married to the most famous journalist in the world. Surely that comes with a bit of bob?

Presumably, Lois and Clark have been working as journalists for around 20 years, give or take. That is, they have been at least working for the entirety of the twins' 14-year-old lives, plus some period of time before when they started dating, got married, got pregnant. And in the case of Lois, she presumably had worked at the Planet (and other jobs) prior to first meeting Clark. 

For a point of comparison, Google says that the average NYT reporter makes about $113k annually.

I would imagine that at this point in their careers, both Clark and Lois have a lot more experience than the average reporter and of course more success than the average reporter. I think it would be conservative to estimate that he makes $150k and she makes $200k.

Which brings up another topic.

In the real world, layoffs typically are a last resort for media organizations. They usually offer buyouts to incentivize people to leave.

But moreover, as you can imagine, usually the targets for layoffs are the less senior reporters. Typically, Clark has been portrayed as pretty close to Lois as a reporter. So laying him off just doesn't make much sense.

Now it could be that we are just supposed to handwave the notion that Clark got laid off as part of the show becoming Smallvile:TNG. But maybe it's supposed to be a sign that someone is targeting Clark in both his guises.

[Chyromaniac]

Overall, I think it was good.  It was definitely a downer - Superman gets fired, his mom dies, his kids yell at him a bunch, he gets stabbed with kryptonite... it got to be a lot.  But hey- it’s the pilot, I guess we’ve gotta set stuff up.  But, I did appreciate that the real life issues felt more relatable than they often do in the Arrowverse.  These are not problems that are gonna be solved with an act three pep talk.  In fact, the whole show seemed very unlike both in tone and style.

In that way though, it did feel like there was something missing.  If this supposed to be a spin-off from the Arrowverse, then it would have been nice to have some mention of Clark and Lois’ history in this continuity.  Also, I can’t help but think it’s going to be weird to have this Halo guy running around as “Captain Luthor,” when the rest of that family is still a big part of Supergirl.  It kind of feels like the Arrowverse actually ended last spring, and all we have (for now) is replacement Batwoman, and a substitute Super show.  (I’m behind on all the shows because my CW is currently off cable- hopefully when I catch up on BL it will feel more familiar.)

[norcalgal]

7 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

In the big picture of things, TPTB or the network clearly wanted to tell a Smallville: The Next Generation sort of story. Which is fine. But I think it would have been more interesting to have a similar story set in Metropolis.

If this was truly meant to be Smallville: TNG, for continuity sake, I wish Tom Welling and Erica Durance were the leads. I grew to like their chemistry, and by the end of Smallville, believed them as Clark and Lois, and that they were a couple in love. 

also, in physical appearance, it would have been more believable for Welling/Durance to be parents of teenagers.  (Based on what they look like these days)

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

If this was truly meant to be Smallville: TNG, for continuity sake, I wish Tom Welling and Erica Durance were the leads. I grew to like their chemistry, and by the end of Smallville, believed them as Clark and Lois, and that they were a couple in love. 

also, in physical appearance, it would have been more believable for Welling/Durance to be parents of teenagers.  (Based on what they look like these days)

I meant spiritually they wanted that vibe, rather than a literal continuation of Smallville.

From what I understood, Tom was very against the notion of ever putting on the suit, so even if TPTB wanted a literal continuation of Smallville, I don't think they would have been able to get him to do it.

We'll just have to settle with the bit from the Crisis crossover, and of course reruns/DVDs/streaming services.

[Perfect Xero]

On 2/23/2021 at 10:01 PM, Jediknight said:

As for Captain Luthor, I'm guessing he's a Crisis remnant.  Lex from an Earth that was destroyed.

I hope that he's the Lex Luthor from THIS Earth, the one that was replaced by John Cryer Lex after the Crisis. All the things they've said about this world's Lex before the Crisis overwrote him has made him sound much more clever and subtle than Cryer's Lex as he actually had everyone, including the supers, convinced that he was a good guy.

[blackwing]

21 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

In the real world, layoffs typically are a last resort for media organizations. They usually offer buyouts to incentivize people to leave.

But moreover, as you can imagine, usually the targets for layoffs are the less senior reporters. Typically, Clark has been portrayed as pretty close to Lois as a reporter. So laying him off just doesn't make much sense.

Now it could be that we are just supposed to handwave the notion that Clark got laid off as part of the show becoming Smallvile:TNG. But maybe it's supposed to be a sign that someone is targeting Clark in both his guises.

I would have thought that Lois probably has a book or two, either about some current events or some kind of memoir about her own life so far along the lines of "My Date With Superman".  To adapt to today's culture, it would be some kind of memoir about being a strong working woman.  Those books would have helped them financially I would have thought.

Also, if Lois really is "the most famous reporter in the world"... wouldn't the Planet management think there would have been any ramifications to firing her husband?  What if she quit in protest and negotiated with the competitor paper in town to take both her and Clark?  I agree that Clark's firing was just a catalyst for show reasons to make him consider the important things in life and move back to Smallville... but in real life, Lois absolutely would have fought to have kept Clark and there's no way management would have risked going against their top talent.

[methodwriter85]

On 2/24/2021 at 6:12 AM, arc said:

Those kids just don't look 14. I have a hard time suspending disbelief here.

By WB/CW standards, they looked much closer to 14 then what you usually see. I was about to post that it was nice that they cast kids who really look like teenagers! Although Jonathan isn't tall enough to believably be a quarterback. Anyway, I liked how the show gave Smallville realistic small town problems like meth and farms being bought up by corporations.

 

[Trini]

16 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

I was about to post that it was nice that they cast kids who really look like teenagers!

One of them is an actual teenager; you can probably guess which one.

[Parker]

I wasn't that impressed.  Superman and Lois are good, but those kids are awful.   Could have named this show Superman and Lois's bratty kids.  What kind of parents have they been to allow a teenager to play video games and totally ignore and disrespect their father?  And Jordan looks like a girl.  

And I'm really tiring of this trope of anyone with super powers gets angsty about having them.  Ghost Whisperer, and Buffy to name a couple.  What kid hasn't dreamed about having super powers?  

 

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 hours ago, Parker said:

I wasn't that impressed.  Superman and Lois are good, but those kids are awful.   Could have named this show Superman and Lois's bratty kids.  What kind of parents have they been to allow a teenager to play video games and totally ignore and disrespect their father?  And Jordan looks like a girl.  

And I'm really tiring of this trope of anyone with super powers gets angsty about having them.  Ghost Whisperer, and Buffy to name a couple.  What kid hasn't dreamed about having super powers?  

 

 

I  would guess since home video games were invented, the massive majority of American parents of teenage boys have experienced at least one incident where the teenaged boy ignored and disrespected them while playing said video game. Most of them were probably not even instances where the parent had done something wrong, as Clark did here by failing to show up for therapy and failing to notify anyone that he wouldn't be making it. 

As to teen angst, again, I think that is something that has been true at least for American teens pretty much from the 20th century. And it's not like it is a recent phenomenon. Spider-Man is premised on the notion that his powers are in many ways a curse.

People might dream of having powers, yes, but the reality of it might not match up. 

[norcalgal]

1 hour ago, lora said:

I am enjoying it, but I have one problem, the boys look seventeen and not fourteen.

Yes, but the bigger problem - imho - is the boys are supposed to be freshmen, correct?  That puts their age at 14. We've already seen them at more than one teen get-together where alcohol is freely available, like candy.

I realize teens do sneak alcohol, but it seems crazy that extends to teens as young as freshmen!  

[arc]

7 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

I realize teens do sneak alcohol, but it seems crazy that extends to teens as young as freshmen!  

Well, as the show insists on saying every few minutes, Smallville is different.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, lora said:

I am enjoying it, but I have one problem, the boys look seventeen and not fourteen.

So say we all. 

10 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Yes, but the bigger problem - imho - is the boys are supposed to be freshmen, correct?  That puts their age at 14.

Is it fall or spring of the freshman year? If the latter, they could be 15. There's a big difference between 14 and 15 developmentally and socially.

 

[scarynikki12]

37 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Is it fall or spring of the freshman year?

Fall cause football. 

[Parker]

On 3/8/2021 at 10:00 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I  would guess since home video games were invented, the massive majority of American parents of teenage boys have experienced at least one incident where the teenaged boy ignored and disrespected them while playing said video game. Most of them were probably not even instances where the parent had done something wrong, as Clark did here by failing to show up for therapy and failing to notify anyone that he wouldn't be making it. 

As to teen angst, again, I think that is something that has been true at least for American teens pretty much from the 20th century. And it's not like it is a recent phenomenon. Spider-Man is premised on the notion that his powers are in many ways a curse.

People might dream of having powers, yes, but the reality of it might not match up. 

I've had two teenagers and they have never disrespected me like that with or without video games.  

Spiderman is just another one.  It's a superpower trope.  Most people would love to have powers.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

8 minutes ago, Parker said:

I've had two teenagers and they have never disrespected me like that with or without video games.  

Spiderman is just another one.  It's a superpower trope.  Most people would love to have powers.

 

Congrats on having teenagers who have been well-behaved in that regard. In terms of personal experience, I only have my own as a teenaged boy (and a reasonably well-behaved nerdy one) to draw on. I don't have specific memories of ignoring or disrespecting my parents because I was wrapped up in a videogame, but if I had to bet one way or another, I'd probably say that there was at least one time that I did. That's the nature of videogames -- they can be that engrossing. 

That said, personal experience doesn't really go very far here. Even if most teenaged boys were like your children, that certainly doesn't mean that Jordan could not be the exception to the rule. 

I think there's the risk of being careful what you wish for. While having powers sounds great in many respects, there probably would be downsides, especially if it's like Jordan and you can't really control them yet and if your dad is Superman.

Personally, I would  rather be the non-powered teenage son of Superman than the powered one in respects, especially if we're talking just a limited sometimes version of powers . As the powered one, you are going to have to have all sorts of expectations and pressure put on you.

[bethy]

I’m late getting started on the show, but so far I’m really enjoying it. 
 

Clark taking off his glasses to reveal his identity to the twins reminded me of the scene from the old Lois and Clark show:

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by bethy

[FnkyChkn34]

I'm late to this party too, only having just discovered this show this week.  I don't watch anything else in the Arrowverse, but I loved both Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Smallville, and this reminds me of a combo of both.  I'm ok with not knowing anything about the Arrowverse, this show is holding my interest on its own. 

The lead actors are well cast, IMO, in that they resemble what I think the characters should look like based on Tom Welling and Teri Hatcher, for example.  Emmanuelle Chriqui even looks like Kristen Kruek... and the town of Smallville is straight from the Smallville set?  Excellent continuity.

[blackwing]

1 hour ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

The lead actors are well cast, IMO, in that they resemble what I think the characters should look like based on Tom Welling and Teri Hatcher, for example.  Emmanuelle Chriqui even looks like Kristen Kruek... and the town of Smallville is straight from the Smallville set?  Excellent continuity.

Ah, see, I am even older school, I always subconsciously think the characters should look like how they were depicted in the 1980s movies.  I think Lois should look like Margot Kidder, and while I like the actress in this series, I think she looks more like Amy Coney Barrett than Margot Kidder.  I think Clark should look like Christopher Reeve, and he is passable here.  I think Lana should look like Annette O'Toole and have red hair.  I think the 1980s movie character appearances appear faithful to the comic book source material.

I'm not sure what ethnicity Lana is supposed to be.  Kristin Kreuk is 50% Chinese but I never saw her as anything but white on "Smallville".  I believe Emmanuelle Chiriqui is Egyptian?  But I'm not sure if they have identified Lana's ethnicity on this show.  The actor who plays Kyle is apparently at least part-Hispanic and I am assuming Kyle on the show is supposed to be part-Hispanic, since he has a last name of Cushing but says Spanish phrases to his daughter.  For what it's worth he looks entirely white to me.

[FnkyChkn34]

31 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Ah, see, I am even older school, I always subconsciously think the characters should look like how they were depicted in the 1980s movies.  I think Lois should look like Margot Kidder, and while I like the actress in this series, I think she looks more like Amy Coney Barrett than Margot Kidder.  I think Clark should look like Christopher Reeve, and he is passable here.  I think Lana should look like Annette O'Toole and have red hair.  I think the 1980s movie character appearances appear faithful to the comic book source material.

I'm not sure what ethnicity Lana is supposed to be.  Kristin Kreuk is 50% Chinese but I never saw her as anything but white on "Smallville".  I believe Emmanuelle Chiriqui is Egyptian?  But I'm not sure if they have identified Lana's ethnicity on this show.  The actor who plays Kyle is apparently at least part-Hispanic and I am assuming Kyle on the show is supposed to be part-Hispanic, since he has a last name of Cushing but says Spanish phrases to his daughter.  For what it's worth he looks entirely white to me.

I think all the Clarks have kind of looked like Christopher Reeve a little bit.  They've all at least kept the dark hair and cheekbones.  Tyler Hoechlin, Tom Welling, and Henry Cavill could pass as brothers, LOL.

I think Bitsi Tulloch looks like Abigail Spencer (most recently in Rebel and Timeless, I think).  

As for ethnicity, that doesn't really matter to me.  I've never read a comic book and don't really care about the "source material" if the story at least stays true to its roots.  I think the only ethnicity that matters in any Superman interpretation is that Superman is Kryptonian.  Everyone else can be anything else.  

As I'm nearly caught up now on all of the episodes though, I will say that the actor that plays Jon is a little too old to be pulling off 14.  If they wanted him to be 17, I'd buy it, but he's clearly not 14... (IRL, he's 19, I believe.)

[moonshine71]

On 3/6/2021 at 4:05 AM, methodwriter85 said:

Although Jonathan isn't tall enough to believably be a quarterback. 

 

Seriously? It's high school, not the NFL. You'll find literally hundreds of top notch high school quarterbacks across the country every year that are 5'10" or less. The actor is 5'9" .

Tate Martell was the Gatorade National Player of the Year a few years ago, he was a 5'10" quarterback.

[FnkyChkn34]

On 5/30/2021 at 11:42 AM, moonshine71 said:

Seriously? It's high school, not the NFL. You'll find literally hundreds of top notch high school quarterbacks across the country every year that are 5'10" or less. The actor is 5'9" .

Tate Martell was the Gatorade National Player of the Year a few years ago, he was a 5'10" quarterback.

Drew Brees (NFL quarterback, Super Bowl winner and MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, etc.) is listed at 6'0".  Russell Wilson (NFL QB, Super Bowl campion, Pro Bowler) is listed at 5'11".  And I think we all know that players round up on their height and down on their weight...  I've heard announcers say that Brees not 6'0".  So a high school freshman - a 14-year-old kid - could easily be 5'9" as a quarterback.  

[Avabelle]

This has finally come to Irish/uk screens - I really liked it. I knew from the way they were worried about the anxious sons feelings If he didn’t have powers that he’d be the one to have powers.

[John Potts]

I thought that was actually... pretty good. Clark and Lois seem to have a pretty strong marriage, the boys aren't annoying (while still being believably teenagers) and the move to Smallville seemed reasonable (as well as a way to make it feel like a pilot). I was a little surprised Lana wasn't a redhead like her traditional comic book portrayal (though she wasn't on Smallville either) as it's a quick & easy way of distinguishing her from Lois. I'm guessing her husband turns out to be actually evil as he seems unnecessarily hostile to Lois ("We don't like outsiders... unless they're evil businessmen"), but I guess we'll see.

Did anyone else wonder if Clark was going to take off his glasses and his kids would go, "Dad! You're Superman!" Did wonder why he didn't go for the (cheaper!) "Whoosh!" effect to demonstrate his powers, but I suppose they wanted to recreate a classic comic cover by lifting a truck.

On 2/24/2021 at 4:30 AM, cdnalor said:

This new version of Luthor had me fooled, I thought it might be Brainiac when he took off the helmet cause the lighting gave his head a bit of a greenish cast.

Me too! Being Kryptonian would also explain how he can enter the Fortress of Solitude.

On 2/24/2021 at 8:15 PM, Paloma said:

I can't imagine that a small-town paper would be able to pay Lois enough to meet their financial needs now that Clark has lost his job. And I don't know where the money is coming from to take over the farm.

I'm guessing they had sufficient savings from when they were a two income household and from now on they'll live off the earnings from the farm (presumably being superpowered helps with farm work). Whether that's at all plausible is another matter, but at least the problem of economics was addressed.

On 2/25/2021 at 7:23 PM, norcalgal said:

Didn't Friends turn this into a joke? I recall Joey vehemently arguing so and so can't be Superman because he wears glasses while Superman doesn't wear glasses.  It was hilarious!

Possibly, but the one I remember is from Mystery Men

On 2/25/2021 at 9:47 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I would have traded in all or part of the fight with Captain Luthor for more of the family moments, like the explicit answering of questions. I suppose it's maybe gross coming from their kids, but I'd think they'd be wondering about the whole Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex issue on some level. 

I thought of that too!

On 2/26/2021 at 2:22 PM, quarks said:

How was Lana not aware that her employer had been partly bought out by Morgan Edge's bank, especially given that her husband was aware of and interested in Morgan Edge?

The investment was by “DefinitelyNotEvilCorp”, not by Edge directly. And I'm pretty sure she doesn't own the bank, she just works there.