S01.E03: The Perks Of Not Being A Wallflower

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Clark shares some of his Kryptonian history with Jordan and Jonathan during a family breakfast.

 

 

[AimingforYoko]

"Morrissey's a xenophobic has-been." Damn Gen-Z smartass, how dare he...make that totally accurate statement.

I'm liking this show a lot more than I thought I would.

[scarynikki12]

I am living for the family scenes. Paint war!

“You two are very unusual people.” I enjoy Sarah.

I like that Lois’ new editor isn’t a pushover. She’s at her best when she has a strong editor behind her.

 I liked that moment between Sean and Jordan on the field. More please.

Lois stabs a guy in the head and he turns out to have powers. Interesting. Incidentally I’ve decided each of those Superman beepers has an individual sound/signal so he can keep track of who’s calling.

Clark as an assistant coach is allowing him to be Goofy Awkward Dad which is EXTREMELY MY SHIT!

More Kryptonians I guess. I wonder if they’re from Luthor’s world too? 

[memememe76]

I find Jordan annoying. Jonathan is way too accommodating. I was annoyed by Sarah too but her final scene with Lana was very affecting.

The Morgan Edge stuff is terrific. Ellie with laser eyes!

[cambridgeguy]

So is it cheating if a half-Kryptonian uses their powers to succeed at sports?  Jordan clearly does have enhanced strength if he can just bulldoze those other players, especially since he doesn't seem like the type to lift weights or anything like that. 

 

[thuganomics85]

I totally love that Clark just turns into the "goofy dad", whenever he is in public with his sons.  That alone makes me excited for him as the assistant coach going forward.  Bring on the dad jokes and dated references, Superman!  Make your sons roll their eyes and tell you to shut up with pride!  (Seriously, once we can do more crossovers, I so want to see Clark hang out with Pat from Stargirl!)

I'm kind of going back and forth with Jordan playing football.  On one hand, it is clear that his special abilities do play a part in making him stronger and more effective on the field.  But on the other, it does seem to be helping him on a mental level and if he does make sure to never go full "Superboy" on the field, maybe it will feel less like cheating.  Realistically though, I feel like it would be fitting if other issues prevented him from dominating, like not being able to understand the playbook or other aspects of the sport.  Not sure what to think right now.  That said, Jonathan earned major points for supporting him.  I honestly wouldn't have blamed him if he didn't, but good for him.

Enjoyed the Sarah/Lana stuff and getting a better grasp on the characters.  Not surprised that Lana is faking a lot of her public persona, because I definitely had the sense that there was something off with her during those first two episodes.  Curious to see where this goes.  I do kind of worry about how the younger daughter (Sophie?) is apparently known as a bully in her grade.  Hope we aren't getting the origins of a future supervillain here!

Surprisingly continuing to enjoy the reporting/investigation stuff.  I thought they did a great job of making Lois smart and obviously right at the end, but her editor was still right to challenge her and question her, because I do think a great reporter needs someone to keep him or her in check at times.  But I like how this is going.

The opening act with Superman saving the bridge/day was just the type of hokey nostalgia I live for!  More of that Superman, please!

A new villain has appeared that seems to be Kryptonian as well.  Poor Clark and Lois are going to have their hands full real quick!

Another good episode.  Show is starting off on the right foot at least.

[Primal Slayer]

It was a very teen heavy episode so it didnt make me jump for joy but it was still a decent episode. The family dynamic continues to be a highlight, Jonathan is a+, Lois's subplot was enjoyable. Daniel Cudmore is one of those actors that unfortunately just gets cast in 1 episode roles playing the strong guy. He could probably play a more interesting character for a CW show.

I continue to feel that it wasnt the best decision to not have Lana in on the Superman secret. There doesnt seem to be much for her to do apart from being the mom of the teen love interest. 

Evil Kryptonian is here! I also wonder if she is from Luthors world. New Krypton/Argo does exist but I doubt that they'd bring that up. 

[Lantern7]

It took me a while to get through the episode because "Jordan getting frustrations out on gridiron" was painful to watch. Things didn't go like I thought, but it still felt predictable. And you just know Jordan is going to hurt someone. Also, the coach was way too enthused by the other Kent boy whupping on his players.

Coach: Hey! (looking down at index card with cute basic sketches of the Kent twins' face) Kent! Jonathan! (he got the names mixed up)

Jordan: Yeah, coach?

Coach: Okay, you are a natural, boy! Haven't seen hits like that in so long! But I can't let you on the team!

Jordan: Why?

Coach: Well, you laid out five of my guys. This is practice. They were first-stringers. (looking into the distance) Is that the meat wagon? (truck marked CORONER rolls onto the field) Shit, it's the meat wagon. You killed someone. See, this is why we get parents to sign permission slips. For shit like this. Welp, my career is over. (running away, never to return)

Seriously, though, someone is gonna get really hurt. As back as "Clark the QB" was on Smallville, he was in a position where he couldn't hurt anyone. Oh, right, that's Jonathan's thing. Well, Jordan and Malcolm squashed beef. Maybe Malcolm can grow a dimension of two.

I'm still digging the vibe, even with the generic store-brand angst and emotional distress. I'm thinking Lois has lost count of how many of her cars have been destroyed.

Are we ever going to find out about the guy with the arm in a sling? He's always next to Jonathan.

Lana/Sarah diner scene was painful to watch. Partially redeemed by the boys' cringing in the booth. Those two are good at expressing awkwardness.

8 minutes ago, Primal Slayer said:

Evil Kryptonian is here! I also wonder if she is from Luthors world. New Krypton/Argo does exist but I doubt that they'd bring that up. 

Power Girl? I gotta post on the comic thread.

[Jediknight]

Clark bought a hat.  Peeps, Clark bought a hat after becoming assistant coach.  He's such a dork, I love it.  And like he mentioned on Supergirl with his klutz act, it's not much of an act.  It's who he really is.

I liked Clark getting beat in the fight, and then stomping the shit out of the guy.  Clark always holds back, he uses as much force as is necessary.  He didn't know if the guy was a goon of Edge, somebody with enhanced strength or what.  Once the guy knocked Clark down, Clark knew he could cut loose a little bit more.  You may think you can beat him in a fight, but when fighting a goon he's not gonna use the same force as when fighting Darkseid or Doomsday.

Edge continues to make the mistake of going to war with Lois.  You don't do that.

Jordan on the football team isn't bad.  Seems to be doing good for his esteem, and he and Jonathan are a good team.  Also, with Clark there, there's now 2 family members to make sure Jordan doesn't lose control.

Waiting for the moment when Sarah rubs it in her mom's face, that she's got the interest of 2 Kents.

[Bulldog]

I'm actually kind of loving this.  Highlights are definitely the family scenes.  The super-hero stuff is just icing on the cake. 

[tennisgurl]

Another good episode, this show is off to a really strong start. The family dynamics are really interesting and fun and they don't always go quite where I think they're going to go. I expected that Jonathan would be annoyed at Jordan for upstaging him at his "thing" but he was more worried about him than resentful and then convinced Clark that playing could be good for Jordan. The paint fight was so cute as well! They really all feel like a family, they fight and disagree sometimes but its not all drama all of the time and there is still a lot of fun light moments. 

I can see why it might be a bad idea for Jordan to play football, but because its a bit unfair or because he could lose control of his powers, but I guess they can just go by Incredibles sports rules. Go for second place! Its not like football is just about strength, you do have to do learn the rules, strategies, plays, so its not like he would just be sleepwalking through this, so I think its alright. And now that he has his dad and his brother around, they can make sure no power incontinences happen. Clark as the assistant coach in full dorky dad mode is going to be the best thing, he was so excited about his hat and his jacket and pretending to need help carrying things. The twins are going to be facepalming a LOT from now on.  

I remember Smallville Lana ditching cheerleading early in the show as well, just she was way more insufferable about it, so like mother like daughter? I have picked up on bad vibes from their family for awhile now so I am not surprised that Lana isnt as happy as she acts. I like Sarah so far and the scenes between her and Lana have been quite good. I did laugh at when Lana and Sarah were fighting at the diner and the twins just looked really uncomfortable. Check? 

Jonathan is such a sweet kid and an amazing brother, I wouldn't have blamed him at all for being upset that Jordan was upstaging him at his favorite sport, but he was totally happy that it was making him happy. I really want to explore more of their family dynamics, Jonathan seems like he has ended up looking after his brother a lot, especially when he was talking about how Jordan seems happy for once, it almost sounds more like a parent or much older sibling than a twin. It also seems like Jordan is aware that he is making things harder for Jonathan, and he is trying to make things better but isnt sure how to do that, its interesting stuff to explore, especially now that powers are in the mix. 

I really like this plot with Lois vs. Edge, he has no idea who he is messing with. She didnt even looked phased at her car being blown up, she was just like "ugh again?" before going off to investigate. So what evil plan does this guy have, an army of super soldiers? Mining some kind of weird alien material inside the earths crust? Clones? I also liked getting more of her editor, even though she doesent have the prestige of Lois and is something of a fangirl, she is still trying to keep her on track for what their small town paper can actually do, but supports her when she sees that something is really going on. She even made a murder board. 

Clark was mostly in dad mode, but the bits we saw of him doing Superman stuff were nice, both him happily saving people from a bridge collapsing, and his fight with the super strength guy who attacked Lois. 

[dwmarch]

I like that this show is ambitious. Like what is the disaster Superman has to respond to? Is it something going on just down the road? No, it's a bigass bridge in China. The CGI for it is not perfect and I'm not sure Superman could actually lift some of the things he has been shown to lift (because they'd split right in half) but I appreciate that the show is giving us global scale here.

32 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Is that the meat wagon? (truck marked CORONER rolls onto the field) Shit, it's the meat wagon.

You owe me a new keyboard. In Smallville it would show up that fast too.

I do find it slightly cliched that in small town America football heals all wounds. Canadian kids don't solve all their problems by joining a hockey team. But I guess it works on this show as shorthand for resolving differences and welcoming them to the community.

I'm glad Sarah broke up with her boyfriend. They never spent any time together and she failed to mention him while spending all day, every day with the Kent brothers. But I like that they showed a relationship suffering from small-town inertia where they were together out of habit more than anything else.

Sarah and Lana were great when they talked things out. That scene was well done.

I like that Lois has a leather jacket that Clark knows she saves for when she's going to get in some trouble. He might not be allowed to listen in but he sure knows when he should be standing by.

Superman's fighting style is fun, the way he plays tennis with himself using his opponent as the ball.

Superman and family do not seem surprised that there are several powered people around. I'm sure they'll get to this question eventually but I'd love to hear more about the state of the universe here and I didn't watch any of the other shows (except Lucifer) so DC fans must be going nuts waiting for some references to drop.

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

She didnt even looked phased at her car being blown up, she was just like "ugh again?" before going off to investigate.

I bet she went to the same car guy in Metropolis each time a car was bombed/crushed/set on fire/etc and he hasn’t stopped crying since she moved.

I would love it if she became pals with the Smallville car salesperson. 

[kickingnames]

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by this show. It’s not perfect, but it is pretty enjoyable. The paint fight at the beginning was adorable — my favorite part was after Lois acknowledged that there was no need to explain Clark taking off since the boys knew what he was doing, she went right back to the paint fight. (Lois does not lose, even at family paint fights. 😄)

I wasn’t sure how I was going to like the “Lois at the Smallville Gazette” direction, but so far it’s pretty good. I already am more interested in that than the stuff with General Lane.

Jonathan is super well-adjusted for a teen whose life has been upended and whose twin brother is now getting the majority of attention on all fronts. I kind of what to hug him every time he comes through for Jordan.

Speaking of, can we move on from Jordan yelling at his dad about how he’s supposedly ruined Jordan’s life every episode? It’s tiresome already. 

[Chris24601]

1 hour ago, Primal Slayer said:

Evil Kryptonian is here! I also wonder if she is from Luthors world. New Krypton/Argo does exist but I doubt that they'd bring that up. 

My hunch is its NOT an evil Kryptonian, but that Edge is somehow playing with splicing Kryptonian DNA into the human test subjects who've gone missing. So one has strength/invulnerability, another has heat vision, we'll probably see one later with flight, superspeed or freeze breath.

[Cthulhudrew]

2 hours ago, Jediknight said:

I liked Clark getting beat in the fight, and then stomping the shit out of the guy.  Clark always holds back, he uses as much force as is necessary.  He didn't know if the guy was a goon of Edge, somebody with enhanced strength or what.  Once the guy knocked Clark down, Clark knew he could cut loose a little bit more.  You may think you can beat him in a fight, but when fighting a goon he's not gonna use the same force as when fighting Darkseid or Doomsday.

What I liked is that he didn't just keep trying to punch the other guy, but actually used his myriad other powers. "Fine, you've got super strength too? How about super-speed? No? Ice-breath? Too bad, loser."

[Chicago Redshirt]

Still a lot to like about the show, particularly now that it's gotten out of the blocks. 

Paint fight is great.

Superman helping out in China is great.

Talking about superpower stuff is great.

I really would love it if it there was an episode with just the Kents talking about super-stuff. No villain. Nothing but the kids and Lois and Clark rapping. Maybe I have WandaVision on the brain, but if they did something in the style of "How I Met Your Mother" that would be awesome.

Not that super-fighting is bad. It's just that there is a hard line to walk, finding the happy medium between a foe who actually seems somewhat threatening while remaining beatable. That was something that Supergirl struggled with IMO. So many of her foes it seemed like realistically she should have been able to knock out in like 2 seconds on the one hand but struggled with for drama's sake. And then so many times she just was outclassed completely. It was somewhat excusable because Supergirl was a noob when she started out. But at this point, Clark has been doing this for about 20 years. He shouldn't have much trouble with randos.

I am mixed on Jordan becoming a football star (while Sarah's debutante backseat of Jordan's car). They are really putting a lot on the notion of Jordan being able to control his abilities, just a couple weeks (generously) after he could not control his heat vision, and when there really is no telling about what other abilities he might develop and when. There's also the sort of painful version of football that they are going to give us. I mean, I don't expect Friday Night Lights or something. But unless I misunderstood, they put Jordan in as cornerback. That guy's job is to cover receivers largely, rather than rush the quarterback. And yet they had Jordan blitzing on every play. I would probably feel better if Jordan had been a position that does not cause collisions and therefore was not as likely to kill someone through strength or to let his emotions get the best of him in the heat of the moment. Like if he were a running back, or a kicker, a tight end, he would have the chance to bond with the other kids and have fun yadda yadda, but there would be less risk of his literally killing someone.

I fear the rumblings of the love triangles and don't find that all that great. They quickly got rid of Sean and had him be cooler than he should have been with the breakup and with Jordan. But it seems like Jonathan is being more three's-a-crowd than he should. And I fear it's only a matter of time before Lana starts making moves on Clark. 

[arc]

The bridge save in the cold open was great, but the PlayStation 3-quality CGI definitely felt cheesy.

The family stuff is great. Loved both the breakfast and the painting horsing around.

The newspaper stuff is dumb. It just is. Lois could make more money and more of a difference as an independent blogger/substack'er than for the Smallville Gazette. AND, this podunk hick reporter/editor/one-woman show thinks she should be telling LOIS LANE how to be a reporter????? GTFOH. Lois acting like she should listen feels like she's patronizing LARPing being a small town reporter.

AND AND AND (1) who car bombs a nationally renowned reporter who is ALSO known to be Superman's friend? ... I guess it's okay in this world where Clark literally says Smallville is "good people" when his wife's car got blown up.

... also, I get that TV is a visual medium, but calling or texting a reporter on an encrypted app like Signal would've been way smarter than meeting in person. On the other hand, I guess safety is kind of a non-issue when you have a Super-beeper.

The football stuff is dumb. First off, whatever happened to Jordan's disappearing powers? Secondly, whatever happened to having to know the playbook? Thirdly, purely as a visual thing, it sucks that the helmets hide the actor's faces. I guess maybe that might be why they chose it because it's easier to hide the stunt doubles.

The cheerleading stuff -- my god, does Lana Lang have any redeeming qualities??? Clark shoulda taken one look at how she turned out and turned his back on his old home town forever. Forget the car bomb stuff, just the fact that his childhood friend gave his mom a predatory loan and he forgave it instantly is wild.

Jordan sure is petulant about his dad's spying even though he nearly killed Sean. ALSO, the hypocrisy on this kid: "I kinda overheard you and Sean earlier" -- okay, fine, he didn't use superpowers to hear it, but still. And then later he and Jonathan just yell at each other inside the house??? Come on, regular parents without super hearing coulda heard that!!!

Clark has a perfectly good barn he could do the super farming stuff inside but nope, he insists on doing it all out in the open!!! We just learned THIS EPISODE that there's some creepy guy stalking Lois with a big zoom lens!!! Clark's opsec is beyond terrible.

Wait, Edge had his super-henchman murdered by his higher-ranking super-henchwoman???? This is as short-sighted as Captain Luthor destroying his ship and suit last episode for one-off distractions.

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

And I fear it's only a matter of time before Lana starts making moves on Clark. 

Yeah, it feels that way. Yikes.

[Paloma]

6 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I am mixed on Jordan becoming a football star (while Sarah's debutante backseat of Jordan's car).

Good one--now the song will be in my head all day.

[cambridgeguy]

Quote

The opening act with Superman saving the bridge/day was just the type of hokey nostalgia I live for!  More of that Superman, please!

He kind of alluded to it but with that level of perception Clark has already made his choice about when he'll intervene.  Car accidents, robberies, etc.?  Nope, can't solve every single problem, but something big and he'll be there instantly.  Except when it's happening in National City, Central City, Gotham, Freeland, or Star(ling) City, of course.

[BooBear]

10 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Evil Kryptonian is here! I also wonder if she is from Luthors world. New Krypton/Argo does exist but I doubt that they'd bring that up. 

This is where I think the show might have lost me. It is a very CW thing to have the evil people with powers. (similar thing happened in Supergirl season 1).  I was looking for a more grounded show about Superman. Also stupid bad guy to let Superman know they are out there. And it kind of takes Lois' story away and puts it squarely in Superman's territory.  I wanted to see them both doing what they do best and in their own ways making the world a better place.  I am not sure the superpower people are related to Morgan Edge. I hope that isn't the case. IMHO they seemed to be trying to draw Superman out by going after his favorite reporter.  They were really obnoxious about it. 

I was geeked out for Superman explaining to his kids about what he does, but it does make me wonder, what happens to the world while he sleeps? I mean 1/2 the world is day time so....

Jordan continues to come off very badly.  He seems particularly selfish (especially since if he messed up dad could be exposed) and Jonathan continues to be a little too indulgent of his brother.   I also thought it was dumb as they gave Jordan's character as an introvert who does hate sports. 

Happy that Lana's daughter ditched her unreasonable boyfriend but I find, unless we get something amazing happening there, it is rather a boring story. Anyone wonder if her dad will turn out to be one of these superpowered people? Just something about the parents sleeping in different rooms made me think perhaps that was for Lana's protection.  They also make a point of saying the daughter had her issues about a year ago, perhaps Kyle turned to Edge out of despair. 

[Lady Calypso]

Unfortunately, no surprise that football is gonna be the center of the twins' storyline. American shows can't get enough of football storylines, so that was predictable enough. Plus, having Jordan be the center of attention for something that Jonathan's supposed to be better at? TV trope HEAVEN. That being said, what they did well was having Jonathan SUBVERT those tropes, for the most part, by actively defending Jordan wanting to play football to their father. Obviously, Clark has some pretty understanding concerns. I can also see Jonathan's point that this may be a good path for Jordan to be happy. I also think it could be a good outlet for some of the powers within him. If he can get them under control and not lose it out on the field, it might help him.

That being said, I fully expect Jordan to lose control on the field at some point so we'll see how that goes.

But, with this story, we have Dorky Dad as the assistant coach, so that'll be fun to see. 

Good for Sarah for ditching her jerk of a boyfriend. And I liked getting to see more of Lana's perspective on things, because she was really grating on my nerves before her talk with Sarah at the end. However, I still get the feeling that she'll be more trouble than she's worth. Not just because of her shitty husband, but because of the choices she'll likely make down the road.

Lois' storyline continues to interest me immensely. I'm interested in her fight against Morgan Edge, but I hope it can remain mostly her story, rather than including Superman too much. 

New Villain Kryptonian at the end! Hello, Stacey Farber! 

[Writing Wrongs]

I really wish Jordan or Jonathan had asked Clark, "So how does the glasses thing work? Why does no one recognize you?"

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, arc said:

The bridge save in the cold open was great, but the PlayStation 3-quality CGI definitely felt cheesy.

The family stuff is great. Loved both the breakfast and the painting horsing around.

The newspaper stuff is dumb. It just is. Lois could make more money and more of a difference as an independent blogger/substack'er than for the Smallville Gazette. AND, this podunk hick reporter/editor/one-woman show thinks she should be telling LOIS LANE how to be a reporter????? GTFOH. Lois acting like she should listen feels like she's patronizing LARPing being a small town reporter.

AND AND AND (1) who car bombs a nationally renowned reporter who is ALSO known to be Superman's friend? ... I guess it's okay in this world where Clark literally says Smallville is "good people" when his wife's car got blown up.

... also, I get that TV is a visual medium, but calling or texting a reporter on an encrypted app like Signal would've been way smarter than meeting in person. On the other hand, I guess safety is kind of a non-issue when you have a Super-beeper.

The football stuff is dumb. First off, whatever happened to Jordan's disappearing powers? Secondly, whatever happened to having to know the playbook? Thirdly, purely as a visual thing, it sucks that the helmets hide the actor's faces. I guess maybe that might be why they chose it because it's easier to hide the stunt doubles.

The cheerleading stuff -- my god, does Lana Lang have any redeeming qualities??? Clark shoulda taken one look at how she turned out and turned his back on his old home town forever. Forget the car bomb stuff, just the fact that his childhood friend gave his mom a predatory loan and he forgave it instantly is wild.

Jordan sure is petulant about his dad's spying even though he nearly killed Sean. ALSO, the hypocrisy on this kid: "I kinda overheard you and Sean earlier" -- okay, fine, he didn't use superpowers to hear it, but still. And then later he and Jonathan just yell at each other inside the house??? Come on, regular parents without super hearing coulda heard that!!!

Clark has a perfectly good barn he could do the super farming stuff inside but nope, he insists on doing it all out in the open!!! We just learned THIS EPISODE that there's some creepy guy stalking Lois with a big zoom lens!!! Clark's opsec is beyond terrible.

Wait, Edge had his super-henchman murdered by his higher-ranking super-henchwoman???? This is as short-sighted as Captain Luthor destroying his ship and suit last episode for one-off distractions.

Even when you handwave the notion that Lois Lane doesn't in the 21st century need and shouldn't want  to work at the Smallville Gazette, it still is problematic. To make the editor (whose name is escaping me) pull her weight as a character, they pretty much have to do one of a few choices:

1. Have Editor being a squee-ing fan girl/Amen corner to show Lois is an awesome reporter. But we don't need that because we know Lois is an awesome reporter. And it's better to show her being awesome than to have someone telling us she's awesome. 

2. Have Editor and Lois have conflicts in which Editor is wrong. In which case it drags the story down, and brings to the forefront the question of why doesn't Lois go independent/hitch her wagon to a bigger media outlet.

3. Have Editor and Lois have conflicts in which Editor is right. In which case it cheapens Lois to have a character who probably was in diapers  when Lois started journalism and who has never made it to the journalism big leagues be telling her stuff about the tricks of the trade.

4. Have Editor and Lois have conflicts in which both sides have valid points. This is doable, but seems unlikely, given that pretty few writers have captured nuances of journalism in shows/movies about superheroes, or even journalism.

From my perspective, the interactions were portrayed by the show as 2, but really were 3.

We know because we are genre-savvy that Morgan Edge is up to some scandalous shiznit behind the scenes. We therefore know Lois is right to be suspicious of him to the Nth degree. But objectively, Editor would have been right to say your one source right now is drunk and hasn't presented you with evidence that ties anything to concretely Edge.

I think the best hope for us viewers is that Editor gets scared off, killed, or a job opportunity, leaving Lois to make the Gazette her one-woman shop/family business; 

Dumb Mook is dumb. Trying to kill/scare Lois by blowing up her car was ridiculously bad. The bomb went off when Lois was nowheere near the car. The guys from Godfather called to explain that if you're going to try to blow someone up, tie the bomb to the ignition, not some random point. Even if you succeed in killing her with a bomb, you're likely to bring attention of Superman and other journalists to her and what she was looking into. If you're going to kill her, just do it quietly when she's got her guard down. Especially when you've got superpowers, it shouldn't be that hard to kill her in a non-obvious way. I guess there is only so much we can fault Dumb Mook. People have been trying to kill Lois for two decades and not wising up about it. If the goal was to just scare her, that was stupid because everyone should know at this point Lois doesn't scare.

Also we have Big Dumb Alien 2.0 being like "Dumb Mook is gone." Uh no, he literally is just outside. You tossed him there. He couldn't have gotten far, and he could always decide to circle back. Also, you have super-speed, flight, x-ray and telescopic vision. It should be literally impossible for anyone to escape you. And you have time to flySource to the hospital, come back, do the Smallville Gazette crossword and then find Dumb Mook if you want to.  Which, jumping ahead, is why killing Dumb Mook makes at least hypothetically some sense. With Dumb Mook alive, there is always a chance that either Superman or Lois will find him and through him find out about Big Bad. Now that loose end's tied up.

Re: Football, they want to have it both ways. Jordan can hit like Ronnie Lott but he's not super-super powered. There was a shot of the playbook at some point, so between Jonathan and Jordan they now have at least one. And also, I would say from what they've shown it is more important for Jonathan as a QB to know the particulars of plays because he is running the offense and so has to be much more detail-oriented and know about all sorts of scenarios. So far, all they have done with Jordan is shown him rushing the QB/RB. 

It's interesting to me that Emmanuelle C is a beautiful woman obviously, but they have gone heavily out of the way to frump her up and to make Lana inwardly kind of ugly as well. Who gets in a public fight with their suicidal daughter about dropping cheerleading and her (seemingly) jerkwad boyfriend.

I almost wish again that they could have a show that was less about the superheroics and more about the dynamics of having GD Superman and the World's Finest Journalist as parents. Can you imagine how little privacy you would have? The expectations you would have to live up to? Wanting to give the Man of Steel the finger from time to time?

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, BooBear said:

 I am not sure the superpower people are related to Morgan Edge. I hope that isn't the case. IMHO they seemed to be trying to draw Superman out by going after his favorite reporter.  They were really obnoxious about it. 

I think by genre conventions we pretty much know that the superpowered people are connected to Edge. Dead Mook apparently tried to blow up Lois's car, then tried to kill Lois's source who was trying to lead her to investigate sketchiness involving a mysterious opportunity that preceded her son disappearing. There's not too many other ways to do the math than at a minimum Dumb Mook was trying to prevent Lois from investigating Edge's involvement, and most likely Dead Mook is the result of a successful version of the experiments that Source's kid had been in. 

 

[TheLastKidPicked]

I very much enjoy the notion of,  "Okay.  We know Superman is a superhero and Lois is one of the world's greatest reporters.  Now, what if they had to try raising kids in the real world."

The writers are pulling this theme off brilliantly!

Did you notice the tiny father-son moments in this episode?

Jordan:  Was it about a girl?

Clark:  It's always about a girl.

 

And when Jordan asks Clark to pretend he needs help with the water cooler, Clark makes a hilarious show of struggling to lift his side.

Clark:  Too much?

Jordan:  A little bit. (and smiles)

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by TheLastKidPicked

[kickingnames]

1 hour ago, TheLastKidPicked said:

I very much enjoy the notion of,  "Okay.  We know Superman is a superhero and Lois is one of the world's greatest reporters.  Now, what if they had to try raising kids in the real world."

The writers are pulling this theme off brilliantly!

Did you notice the tiny father-son moments in this episode?

Jordan:  Was it about a girl?

Clark:  It's always about a girl.

 

And when Jordan asks Clark to pretend he needs help with the water cooler, Clark makes a hilarious show of struggling to lift his side.

Clark:  Too much?

Jordan:  A little bit. (and smiles)

 

I liked these. I just really hope we also get some between Clark and Jonathan in the future — ones that aren’t related to Jordan.

[AnimeMania]

The Kents are bleeding money, every week their finances get worse and worse. Maybe Lois can get the articles she writes reprinted in tons of newspapers around the world and she can start to rake in some dough.

Jordan should become the center and protect Jonathan, so that Jonathan can actually show what he can do as a quarterback.

The hologram of Clark's father seemed extremely rude/uninterested in meeting his grandson for the first time.

Clark's Pappy: Why did you bring this loser here? 

Clark: I thought you might want to meet your grandson, I named him after you.

Clark's Pappy: Does he have any powers? I'll check, Naw, he's weak as a kitten.

Clark: You have another grandson, do you want to meet him.

Clark's Pappy: Does he have any powers?!?

Clark: Naw.

Clark's Pappy: The Kryptonian race ends with you.

I don't know why Clark's father is so interested in superpowers since superpowers were not a thing on Krypton.

I almost want Clark and Lana to become an item, but I know that will never happen.

[norcalgal]

19 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I totally love that Clark just turns into the "goofy dad", whenever he is in public with his sons.  That alone makes me excited for him as the assistant coach going forward. 

But what if there's an emergency Superman has to respond to while Clark is supposed to be around doing his assistant coach thing...?

19 hours ago, Jediknight said:

Waiting for the moment when Sarah rubs it in her mom's face, that she's got the interest of 2 Kents.

???  I didn't get the impression Jonathan was also romantically interested in Sarah.

19 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Lana/Sarah diner scene was painful to watch. Partially redeemed by the boys' cringing in the booth. Those two are good at expressing awkwardness.

Yes, I loved the guys' reaction!  So funny.

17 hours ago, kickingnames said:

Jonathan is super well-adjusted for a teen whose life has been upended and whose twin brother is now getting the majority of attention on all fronts. I kind of what to hug him every time he comes through for Jordan.

 

8 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Unfortunately, no surprise that football is gonna be the center of the twins' storyline. American shows can't get enough of football storylines, so that was predictable enough. Plus, having Jordan be the center of attention for something that Jonathan's supposed to be better at? TV trope HEAVEN. That being said, what they did well was having Jonathan SUBVERT those tropes, for the most part, by actively defending Jordan wanting to play football to their father.

Yes, kudos that the trope didn't come into play. Writers have done a fantastic job not writing Jonathan in a predictable way.

Also, I think both boys have adjusted too well to finding out that their dad is freaking Superman - and that one of them has powers. If it were me, I'd still be gobsmacked, and asking ALL kinds of questions! 

12 hours ago, arc said:

The bridge save in the cold open was great, but the PlayStation 3-quality CGI definitely felt cheesy.

No kidding! That's the first thing I told hubby about that scene. The CGI was just so bad...

[Chicago Redshirt]

Clark has roughly two decades' worth of experience coming up with BS excuses why he has to disappear when there are emergencies. I'm pretty sure he will be able to continue his nonsense against the backdrop of more trusting Smallvillians(?) that he generally got away with while in Metropolis.

Re: Jonathan, the impression that I got is that he sees Sarah as a cool, smart, funny and cute chick and is happy to be Jordan's wingman. However, given the CW's addiction to love triangles, it is a fairly safe bet that at least one of the following things happen:

1. Jonathan starts to develop feelings for Sarah and drops his Metropolis girlfriend, creating brotherly tension

2. Sarah develops feelings for Jonathan, creating brotherly tension

3. Jordan gets needlessly jealous of a Sarah-Jonathan friendship or a Jordan failure as wingman, creating brotherly tension.

To its credit, maybe the writing staff for S&L is on love-triangle-methadone, because they seemingly have resolved at least part of the Sean-Sarah-Jordan triangle already and seem to have paved the way for Sarah and Jordan to date free and clear of any sketchiness by any party.

[rtms77]

There is no way these boys are all 14. They have to be 16 or 17. That had to be a mistake. 
 

jordan is really getting annoying, just to whiny. But then Clark does not seem like dad material, more like buddies which is why I think he’s having so much problems. That and he has to restrain himself all the time. Losing his temper could hurt someone. Johnathan meanwhile has not been flashed out.  I get the feeling he’s upset about powers and could totally see his point about football. He was and is a very good athlete and now moody brother takes that away from him. 

[arc]

1 hour ago, rtms77 said:

There is no way these boys are all 14. They have to be 16 or 17. That had to be a mistake. 

Jordan might be short for a 17 year old. There is no way he’s small for a 14 year old. The dialogue about that made no sense and they should have cut it.

[ukgirl71]

My favourite things about this episode were the little insights we got into Lois and Clark’s relationship - Tyler and Bitsie are doing a great job of portraying the easy intimacy, but strong and quiet love, of a couple who’ve known each other for the best part of two decades, from knowing when to let the other take the lead in dealing with their sons, to the little nods to their past (the first time Clark ‘listened in’ on Lois and nearly lost her for it, to the wry humor of “am I gonna get my car back - 50/50.”).  While I appreciated the exchange between Lana and Sarah, I didn’t enjoy it - Cushing time is taking away from my much-preferred Kent time.  Their family dynamic is continuing to shine - the paint fight, the little jokes (“don’t feed him after midnight”, “Jor El Debarge”), Jon being a fabulous big brother, the father-son moments, even Clark constantly rocking the cardigans.  I’m not a fan of Jordan’s constant brattiness, or of the football scenes (maybe cos I’m not American?), but the school scenes are useful and bearable when we get the threat of Jordan’s powers flaring up.  And, of course, we get goofy coach Clark.  I also liked that Lois wasn’t too much in tough journalist mode to let Superman help her - I had suspected she might go that one completely alone, until the ‘beeper’ made its appearance.  The look on Superman’s face when the Krypto-villain resisted him was choice, and it turned into a really great fight.   I’m not that intrigued - yet - about the bad guys’ powers - that answer will come. 

[Affogato]

4 hours ago, arc said:

Jordan might be short for a 17 year old. There is no way he’s small for a 14 year old. The dialogue about that made no sense and they should have cut it.

They are likely planning to have the show on for a few years and want the boys in high school for a loooonnnnggg time. Until they are thirty at least. They really should use actual children. 
 

the CW conventions are getting tiresome to me, I fear this show will not even try to avert them and I wonder if it would succeed if it does. But I live in hope!

i like that Clarke is an overgrown teenager himself and has to learn to be a Dad, not a friend. The actor sells it  

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Affogato

[arc]

41 minutes ago, Affogato said:

They are likely planning to have the show on for a few years and want the boys in high school for a loooonnnnggg time.

Yeah, if the boys were 17, the specific premise would definitely only last two years, because the whole point of Smallville being a small town is that it wouldn’t have the kind of universities Jordan and Jonathan would want to attend. (Then again, the original Beverly Hills 90210 started with sorta high school juniors and then they stayed in HS for another four years…)

Also, I guess this would go counter to the whole rah-rah football shit, but Clark and Lois aren’t worried their possibly non-superpowered son might get concussions or worse?

… speaking of which, Clark shows few signs of being a top notch reporter or superhero himself. He didn’t press hologrampa about Jordan clearly having full on heat vision. He didn’t seriously worry that the bad guy of the week who had clearly shrugged off some super punches might not be down for the count. He got Mrs Powell to the hospital with super speed then apparently didn’t get back to the motel in time to turn the guy in to the jail for super powered villains. And all that superhearing stuff in this episode only makes me wonder all the more why he delegated all the Captain Luthor stuff to General Lane. 

[blackwing]

So Clark said he wanted to play baseball in 9th grade, and it’s been over 20 years and he still thinks about it.  That seems to make him about 35 or 36 to me.  If he was supposed to be 38 or older, I think he would have said “25 years” or “nearly 25 years”, especially if they are trying to portray him as 40 to match with Lois, who clearly seems 40 (as does Lana and he is supposed to be the same age as Lana).  I guess maybe he is supposed to be 40 and Kryptonian DNA just makes you look young.

I’m not convinced that a 14 year old would make a reference to El Debarge.  The group had one notable song in the early to mid 80s, and at least where I live, that song doesn’t really get played much in rotation on the 80’s channel.  (I was horrified to learn the other day that my own 14 year old calls music from the 80s and 90s “oldies music”.) I think Clark and Lois themselves might be a bit young for Debarge so I’m not sure if I buy the two of them listening to Debarge enough that the kids picked up on it.

”Huntsman’s Tribute”... “that’s just another name for poop”.   Too funny.  Personally I liked Lois’ bluish grey myself and am wondering what that one was called.

Clark does seem to love his wine.  He and Lois have drank wine in every episode so far I think. Nice to see.  I like that the show didn’t fall along with the TV/movie stereotype that “beautiful woman drinks wine, strong powerful man drink whiskey”.

Is Kyle Cushing supposed to be Hispanic?  He called his daughter “mija”.

I find it funny that the “world’s most famous reporter” who lived in a single family house in the city drove a beater nondescript station wagon.  And the family’s other car is a pickup truck from the 70s.   Guess she will be looking for a new car.

This show has a good blend of action and family drama, and I am really liking the blend.  Unlike, say “Arrow”, where I found all of the “drama” stuff boring.  

[Chicago Redshirt]

8 minutes ago, blackwing said:

So Clark said he wanted to play baseball in 9th grade, and it’s been over 20 years and he still thinks about it.  That seems to make him about 35 or 36 to me.  If he was supposed to be 38 or older, I think he would have said “25 years” or “nearly 25 years”, especially if they are trying to portray him as 40 to match with Lois, who clearly seems 40 (as does Lana and he is supposed to be the same age as Lana).  I guess maybe he is supposed to be 40 and Kryptonian DNA just makes you look young.

...

Is Kyle Cushing supposed to be Hispanic?  He called his daughter “mija”.

I find it funny that the “world’s most famous reporter” who lived in a single family house in the city drove a beater nondescript station wagon.  And the family’s other car is a pickup truck from the 70s.   Guess she will be looking for a new car.

This show has a good blend of action and family drama, and I am really liking the blend.  Unlike, say “Arrow”, where I found all of the “drama” stuff boring.  

I figure that Clark and Lois are at least in their low 40s. Look at it this way: We know the twins are 14. For Clark to only be 35 or 36, he would have been about 21-22 when Lois and Clark first were expecting. That seems implausible. Clark presumably went to college, started his journalism and Superman careers around 21 at the earliest, then spent some time getting to know Lois, date her, marry her and so forth before having kids.  A fairly tight timeframe would make him over 40 - Start as Superman at 21. 5ish years for all getting to know each other (1-3 years  of just friends, 2-3 years dating, 1-2 year engagement), 1+ year between marriage and birth, 14 years of raising the twins. 

The Kyle actor is Hispanic, so I guess they figure to make the character as well. I didn't notice the mija, but then I tend to blank out much of what Kyle has to say. 

[cambridgeguy]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

So Clark said he wanted to play baseball in 9th grade, and it’s been over 20 years and he still thinks about it.  That seems to make him about 35 or 36 to me.  If he was supposed to be 38 or older, I think he would have said “25 years” or “nearly 25 years”, especially if they are trying to portray him as 40 to match with Lois, who clearly seems 40 (as does Lana and he is supposed to be the same age as Lana).  I guess maybe he is supposed to be 40 and Kryptonian DNA just makes you look young.

If this counts as canon then Superman has been active for 20 years.  If he didn't start until he moved to Metropolis and started working at the Daily Planet (which doesn't seem like the type of job you get without a college degree) then that puts Clark in his early 40s.  Since Lois was already established on his first day then she's likely a couple of years older than him.

Which of course means that one day Clark is going to start having to wear some old age makeup and invest in some grey hair dye.  You can only pull the good genes and healthy living excuse for so long

 

[Lady Calypso]

5 hours ago, Affogato said:

They are likely planning to have the show on for a few years and want the boys in high school for a loooonnnnggg time. Until they are thirty at least. They really should use actual children. 

Well, Alex Garfin, who plays Jordan, is actually 16, and Jordan Elsass, who plays Jonathan, is 19 so they ARE technically still teenagers playing teenagers. But I do agree that both boys look their age and not 14 years old. 

[blackwing]

I agree that I would think Clark has to be at least 40.  Lana is at least 40, and I would think Lois should be at least two years older than Clark.  It's odd to me that given the choice to state that Clark is at least 40, the writers deliberately chose to have him say that freshman year was "over 20 years ago" instead of "over 25 years ago".

I think the issue is that they cast Tyler Hoechlin as Clark, and he is 33.  I'm sure when he was cast on "Supergirl", they did not contemplate that one day he would be the star of a show featuring a 40 year old Clark who is married to Lois with 14 year old sons.  So I can't really fault them for that.  But they could easily have fixed Clark's age at 40 and included a throwaway line from Lois that "you look so young compared to me, I am jealous of your Kryptonian genes".

I wonder if actors get used to these quirks of age differences.  Tyler is 33, and the actor playing Jonathan is 19.  I have close friends who are significantly younger than me with a bigger age gap.  Tyler and the Jonathan actor could easily be buddies and hang out together, but here on the show they are playing father and son.  I am reminded of another example when on "The Bold and the Beautiful", the beautiful and ageless Lesley-Anne Down played the mother of Jack Wagner's character, and there was only a 5 year age difference.  I think she was about 55 and he was 50.   I wonder sometimes if the "older' actor ever gets offended that someone thinks s/he is or looks old enough to be a 50 year old's mother or whether the "younger" actor is offended that someone thinks he is 35.

[shapeshifter]

Finally watched this episode...

On 3/9/2021 at 10:31 PM, thuganomics85 said:

I totally love that Clark just turns into the "goofy dad", whenever he is in public with his sons.  That alone makes me excited for him as the assistant coach going forward.  Bring on the dad jokes and dated references, Superman!  Make your sons roll their eyes and tell you to shut up with pride!  (Seriously, once we can do more crossovers, I so want to see Clark hang out with Pat from Stargirl!)

Yes, please. Pat from Stargirl and Clark can take the families bowling. Stargirl needs to be a cousin to the twins so there's not teen romance triangles.

 

18 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The hologram of Clark's father seemed extremely rude/uninterested in meeting his grandson for the first time.

There's a joke waiting to be written here comparing Super Grandpa to the Royals, but I'm not sure it would be funny.
Maybe instead this is an opportunity to use the word "ironic" correctly?

 

17 hours ago, norcalgal said:

On 3/9/2021 at 10:31 PM, thuganomics85 said:

I totally love that Clark just turns into the "goofy dad", whenever he is in public with his sons.  That alone makes me excited for him as the assistant coach going forward. 

But what if there's an emergency Superman has to respond to while Clark is supposed to be around doing his assistant coach thing...?

Even better! Goofy Clark has to admit he can't digest hot tamales. Runs off to rest room/porta potty.

 

 

[TheLastKidPicked]

1 hour ago, blackwing said:

I think the issue is that they cast Tyler Hoechlin as Clark, and he is 33.  I'm sure when he was cast on "Supergirl", they did not contemplate that one day he would be the star of a show featuring a 40 year old Clark who is married to Lois with 14 year old sons.

Did anybody else watch Tyler Hoechlin on Seventh Heaven?

And then see him here and think:

"He was 14 on Seventh Heaven and now he is a dad of 14 year olds himself.  Time flies!"

 

[rtms77]

The sons age though does have an affect. The things they are doing don’t make sense for 14 old boys. Why is Jothathan so concerned about being quarterback and the best when apparently the guy they got is around 16 to 17! Is Sarah 14 as well? Are they all 14 or 15? These guys all look way to old to be there.  They are huge in some cases.Why bother there is no way he’s going to lead them. They could have started them out at 16 and still have 3 or 4 yrs/seasons with them around. One yr in local college even for a 5 yr run. 
 

idk why get actors who are clearly older playing so young. Some can pull that off, these actors can’t . I at least was under the Impression they were at least 16 hence the parities and such. 

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

19 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The hologram of Clark's father seemed extremely rude/uninterested in meeting his grandson for the first time.

There's a joke waiting to be written here comparing Super Grandpa to the Royals, but I'm not sure it would be funny.
Maybe instead this is an opportunity to use the word "ironic" correctly?

I was thinking about the comparison of the hologram ancestor on "Superman and Lois" and the one on the TV Show "Krypton", that hologram was completely engaged and charming, possibly the best character on the show.

[rtms77]

27 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I was thinking about the comparison of the hologram ancestor on "Superman and Lois" and the one on the TV Show "Krypton", that hologram was completely engaged and charming, possibly the best character on the show.

Maybe he programmed it that way because he knew he had to be tough about sending his baby son away and never coming back. Although he certainly doesn’t share original movie Brando’s sense of wonder of Kal El future.

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, rtms77 said:

The sons age though does have an affect. The things they are doing don’t make sense for 14 old boys. Why is Jothathan so concerned about being quarterback and the best when apparently the guy they got is around 16 to 17! Is Sarah 14 as well? Are they all 14 or 15? These guys all look way to old to be there.  They are huge in some cases.Why bother there is no way he’s going to lead them. They could have started them out at 16 and still have 3 or 4 yrs/seasons with them around. One yr in local college even for a 5 yr run. 
 

idk why get actors who are clearly older playing so young. Some can pull that off, these actors can’t . I at least was under the Impression they were at least 16 hence the parities and such. 

I think it is plausible that a 14-year-old could be good enough to be a starting QB at a high school, especially if he has exceptional genes. Any boy, especially one ambitious and smart enough to want to be a QB in particular, is going to want to be the starter. 

In terms of ages, it's rare that TV shows cast as teenagers who are even close to being teens. Usually they are in their mid-to-late 20s. It is  probably easier to not have to deal with child labor laws to the extent they apply and also presumably on average, a 25ish person will be better at acting than a 16ish person.

[rtms77]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I think it is plausible that a 14-year-old could be good enough to be a starting QB at a high school, especially if he has exceptional genes. Any boy, especially one ambitious and smart enough to want to be a QB in particular, is going to want to be the starter. 

In terms of ages, it's rare that TV shows cast as teenagers who are even close to being teens. Usually they are in their mid-to-late 20s. It is  probably easier to not have to deal with child labor laws to the extent they apply and also presumably on average, a 25ish person will be better at acting than a 16ish person.

I have to disagree Jonathan has displayed no great talent and unless his powers develop suddenly like Jordan where he could throw great or run circles around others I just don’t see him leading until he was around the 11 th grade at least. You earn your place, which is why Jordan’s rise is suddenly accepted due to his powers. I do feel bad for Jonathan as football was his thing, Jordan is really doing it just to get back at the others and impress Sarah. Jon is seriously heading for a blow out I think, just the way they are framing it it seems. He’s so gracious and kind and letting things pass him over I just feel something is going to happen.
 

The age thing is weird. The actor playing Jordan is only 16, so why not use that age for the characters. The other is 19 and the Sarah actress just turned 20. . This is the CW and while I get the labour laws it also means the two older ones can have sexual situations  depicted. Knowing the CW that’s going to come up way sooner than not.

[arc]

2 hours ago, rtms77 said:

Jonathan has displayed no great talent

Not onscreen, but in the pilot they said he would be the starting QB for the varsity team as a freshman, for one of the most elite high school teams in the state.

[kickingnames]

Okay, upon rewatch I’ve figured out why Jonathan’s conversation with Clark about Jordan needing football sounded off to me. It sounded like whoever wrote the scene did not wrote it for a teen talking about his brother.  If they had just switched the word “kid(s)” for the word “guy(s)” that would have gone a long way toward sounding like a conversation a teen would have about other people his own age.

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, rtms77 said:

I have to disagree Jonathan has displayed no great talent and unless his powers develop suddenly like Jordan where he could throw great or run circles around others I just don’t see him leading until he was around the 11 th grade at least. You earn your place, which is why Jordan’s rise is suddenly accepted due to his powers. I do feel bad for Jonathan as football was his thing, Jordan is really doing it just to get back at the others and impress Sarah. Jon is seriously heading for a blow out I think, just the way they are framing it it seems. He’s so gracious and kind and letting things pass him over I just feel something is going to happen.
 

The age thing is weird. The actor playing Jordan is only 16, so why not use that age for the characters. The other is 19 and the Sarah actress just turned 20. . This is the CW and while I get the labour laws it also means the two older ones can have sexual situations  depicted. Knowing the CW that’s going to come up way sooner than not.

We haven't really seen Jonathan play much. What we did see included a)  a display of arm strength when he just tossed the ball in the pilot through a rope and b) his Smallville team deliberately undermining him. We were told that he was good enough to start as a freshman at his old high school in Metropolis. So he presumably has some skills (or Metropolis High had a really sucky QB/football team, but we were told that it was one of the most competitive ones in the nation).

Edited March 12, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt