S01.E04: Haywire

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Lois and Chrissy spot fish out of water Morgan Edge conversing with Mayor Dean and Kyle Kushing, and the two see right through this insincere move to try to win over the town.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

Morgan Edge seems to have a fixation on Lana and her husband doesn’t care. Good job Kyle. 

When the show was announced one thing I wanted was to see Lois and Lana as friends or at least friendly so I’m glad they listened.

Jon’s friend (Tag?) gained abilities from the blast when Jordan’s powers manifested? Interesting.

I’m glad they’re starting to delve into Jon’s side of things. Jordan’s now in a good place while Jon’s feeling lost. But he’s still Jon and his caretaker trait is right there for his friend.

I know nothing about Kilgrave, and am disappointed David Tennant is not involved, but Supes did that cool clap thing so I’m glad he was here. 

Clark heard Lois when she was angry and arranged a hell of a date night. And Lois clearly got her anger out of her system since she was fine with him flying to Malawi. 

[shapeshifter]

4 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

Jon’s friend (Tag?) gained abilities from the blast when Jordan’s powers manifested? Interesting.

I’m guessing the town’s kryptonite was a factor too

[bettername2come]

Clark's dorky dad excitement on the sidelines was beautiful. And when practicing with the boys. "Ah, well, that's why he plays defense."

There's a metahuman Hogwarts?? Uh, this better not lead to another spinoff. 

I expected the boys trying to deal with Tag on their own plot to be more involved. I don't want meteor freaks like on Smallville. Please don't make this into a weakly thing.

"Mom, can you stop being an investigative reporter for 2 minutes and just be surprised?"

[cambridgeguy]

So who runs the Arrowverse version of Xavier's school for gifted youngsters?  That doesn't seem like something you should trust the military to handle, especially if Sam's not exaggerating about him being the only one keeping the government off Superman's back.

 

[Primal Slayer]

This was such a good episode and VERY well balanced.

Lois Lane ripping into Morgan Edge gave me so much life. It was such a beautiful moment.

Clark trying to play dad while trying to save the world was also good, the fight between him and whatshisname was fun. Only minor complaint is that I wish once Jonathan called him for him, they showed him try harder to fight back against Kilgore instead of basically be like "ok, im tired of this game. THUNDERCLAP!"

Sam Lane proves that once he found out his son in law (I need a flashback episode where he finds this out) was Superman, he got all giddy and thought he could control Superman like the DEO did with Kara (still waiting for her to be mentioned btw). Once Clark wasnt playing by Sams rules, he goes and creates an anti-Superman force.

So we have genetically born meta-humans now? Thank god. No more particle accelerator metas or greenlight metas being the main source for people being with powers, its refreshing. But if the government is schooling these kids? It can only be a bad thing. Im sure they are training them to be their own soldiers. 

This was the most un-bamford like directoral episode ever. He changed it up, good for him.

[scarynikki12]

16 minutes ago, bettername2come said:

There's a metahuman Hogwarts?? Uh, this better not lead to another spinoff. 

My first thought is that he was sent to a holding facility where his abilities will be studied and even the thought of teaching him to control them will not be present.

[thuganomics85]

Super-Clap!!  Wait, that sounds so wrong now that I see it....

Man, Crises apparently somehow made Stanley from Arrow grow a beard and go by the name Kilgrave (and not the Marvel/David Tennant kind either!), only he's now obsessed with Superman instead of Green Arrow!  Kidding of course as this is certainly not the first time they've reused actors throughout the superhero shows.  And Brendan Fletcher certainly seems to have nailed that type of role down.

Sam certainly is going all in with the whole "Don't distract your dad with your angsty teenage problems or people can die!" speeches, huh?  Grandfather of the year right there!  Safe to say that it makes sense that he and Lois are so distant.  And now it looks like he is getting ready to plan some kind of anti-Superman force, because Clark isn't just going to drop everything and work for him all the time.  Yeah, you're kind of becoming a bit of dick there, General Lane. 

Morgan Edge really does have the town of Smallville under his thumb.  They are so going to regret this, and probably won't apologize to Lois once she is proven right (or thank Superman after he likely saves their sorry asses.)

Enjoyed the Lois and Lana scene, although it definitely looked like Lois got uncomfortable when Lana began gushing over her past with Clark.  To be fair, have you met her husband (sorry, not buying that lovey-dovey stuff in the kitchen)?

Continuing to be surprised over how much I enjoy the stuff with the Kent Boys and Sarah, and how much I'm liking Jonathan in particular.  I'm sure the time will come when he finally lashes out, but the dude is still handling things way better than most would.

I love how chill everyone in Metropolis was over Superman and the big fight.  Hell, when he landed, there was someone on the phone and they barely glanced at him.  At this point, it must be like "Oh, it's Superman.  I guess shit is getting ready to go down.  Hope this doesn't delay my commute." for most citizens in that city.

[AimingforYoko]

2 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Yeah, you're kind of becoming a bit of dick there, General Lane. 

Naw, I'd say he's fully formed. It's a weird dynamic, most FILs in that situation would resent Clark putting their daughter in danger, not Sam Lane, he resents his daughter for messing with Superman's priorities.

5 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Super-Clap!!  Wait, that sounds so wrong now that I see it....

Quick, get the Super-Penicillin!

[Bulldog]

This is officially my favorite Arrowverse show!

[dwmarch]

A dude from another planet who can fly and shoots laser beams from his eyes? That I can believe, no problem. But something exciting happening in Saskatchewan? Come on!

Poor Jonathan, not only does he not get to have powers, he also gets to watch as another dude from his football team gets them.

I'm glad they acknowledged that football-wise there is basically only one thing Jordan is good at.

When we saw that 7734 tag it was in some other universe. So is General Lane from an alternate universe? Or does this 7734 unit span a couple of universes?

I'm glad Supes slagged that sonic weapon. One thing I really appreciate about him is that he uses all of his powers and he is quick on his feet with combos when he comes up against a decent opponent.

[rtms77]

Ok I’m sorry but there is no way the twins are 14, not with what they are doing. The drinking, driving around with a license already?  Staying out till all hrs? These guys are at least 16 or 17. None of their friends are 14 yrs  old either. 
 

So Morgan Edge is making better bizzarros? Or semi krytonians? This is what they did in Supergirl. 
So now metas are natural born with powers that are activated by stressful or outside stress? Hmmm where have we heard this before I wonder lol.

Curious if Supergirl only covers her small area because the General is putting a lot on Clark’s shoulders. 
 

Jon is going to break I just know it, and I bet his powers come out when he does just like Jordan’s did. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by rtms77

[Winston Wolfe]

2 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

Clark trying to play dad while trying to save the world was also good, the fight between him and whatshisname was fun. Only minor complaint is that I wish once Jonathan called him for him, they showed him try harder to fight back against Kilgore instead of basically be like "ok, im tired of this game. THUNDERCLAP!"

I actually saw the Thunderclap coming and grinned like crazy - it was the only way to dispatch Kilgore and his minions quickly. IMO, it's the coolest of the super-powers (love it when the Hulk does it too in the comics) and I'm happy the writers don't over-use that trick the way they often do with heat-vision and freeze breath. Has anyone else noticed that Clark uses his powers much more efficiently in fights than Cousin Kara?

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, dwmarch said:

When we saw that 7734 tag it was in some other universe. So is General Lane from an alternate universe? Or does this 7734 unit span a couple of universes?

Luthor left it behind in an earlier episode. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Morgan Edge seems to have a fixation on Lana and her husband doesn’t care. Good job Kyle. 

When the show was announced one thing I wanted was to see Lois and Lana as friends or at least friendly so I’m glad they listened.

Jon’s friend (Tag?) gained abilities from the blast when Jordan’s powers manifested? Interesting.

I’m glad they’re starting to delve into Jon’s side of things. Jordan’s now in a good place while Jon’s feeling lost. But he’s still Jon and his caretaker trait is right there for his friend.

I know nothing about Kilgrave, and am disappointed David Tennant is not involved, but Supes did that cool clap thing so I’m glad he was here. 

Clark heard Lois when she was angry and arranged a hell of a date night. And Lois clearly got her anger out of her system since she was fine with him flying to Malawi. 

Kyle is such a Morgan Edge stan he probably would sign up to make a cuckold video if he could.

I wish that Lana knew Clark's secret like Lanas traditionally have, or that we could 100 percent rule out the notion that Lana is going to eventually make moon eyes at Clark in inconvenient and inconsistent ways, also like certain Lanas have. I did like Lana inviting Lois out and giving her props for Clark becoming different.

It looks like there is what was referred to as X-Kryptonite throughout Smallville. I'm guessing it is not directly harmful to Superman, but does give some people powers. Which is sort of a parallel to Smallville. I expect that we will be seeing XK-freaks regularly. Jonathan may even become one.

I definitely was like, "I know Marvel's Killgrave. I've watched Marvel's Killgrave. S&L Killgrave, you're no Marvel's Killgrave."

3 hours ago, bettername2come said:

I expected the boys trying to deal with Tag on their own plot to be more involved. I don't want meteor freaks like on Smallville. Please don't make this into a weakly thing.

Freudian typo is Freudian. 🙂

Unfortunately, I do imagine we will have XK-freaks threatening the whole family. Some are going to go directly after Big Blue, some are going to go after Lois to stop her going after Edge, and some are going to attack the twins.

3 hours ago, Primal Slayer said:

So we have genetically born meta-humans now? Thank god. No more particle accelerator metas or greenlight metas being the main source for people being with powers, its refreshing. But if the government is schooling these kids? It can only be a bad thing. Im sure they are training them to be their own soldiers. 

Is there much of a difference if the source of the metas is the particle accelerator, Green Light, miscellaneous experiments, X-Kryptonite, spontaneous metagene activation, etc etc.?

1 hour ago, rtms77 said:

Ok I’m sorry but there is no way the twins are 14, not with what they are doing. The drinking, driving around with a license already?  Staying out till all hrs? These guys are at least 16 or 17. None of their friends are 14 yrs  old either. 
 

So Morgan Edge is making better bizzarros? Or semi krytonians? This is what they did in Supergirl. 
So now metas are natural born with powers that are activated by stressful or outside stress? Hmmm where have we heard this before I wonder lol.

Curious if Supergirl only covers her small area because the General is putting a lot on Clark’s shoulders. 
 

Jon is going to break I just know it, and I bet his powers come out when he does just like Jordan’s did. 

I am pretty sure that there are 14-year-olds who go to parties with beer, stay out late and who drive. (Although I don't think that the twins did in this episode, unless I missed it. They expressly hit Sarah up for a ride.) In real life Kansas, farm kids as young as 14 can get permits to drive. We just have to accept that the CW's actors don't look their age in general.

It looks like one class of metas have their powers activated by exposure to X-Kryptonite, the pink/red crystals we saw in this episode. 

4 minutes ago, Winston Wolfe said:

 Has anyone else noticed that Clark uses his powers much more efficiently in fights than Cousin Kara?

I feel like the fight scenes are just generally portrayed better in S&L. Yes, we know he's the star and almost by definition, none of these friggin' second-stringers stands a chance against him in a fight. And I tend to doubt that we will ever see this Superman go up against true galaxy-class threats like Darkseid, Brainiac, Mongul, Zod and so forth, just because it's not portrayed as that kind of show. But I feel at least somewhat able to suspend disbelief that his adversaries thus far can present somewhat of a challenge. Whereas I generally felt Kara was usually either severely overmatched and somehow lived to tell the tale or had underwhelming opponents.

[Jediknight]

5 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Morgan Edge seems to have a fixation on Lana and her husband doesn’t care. Good job Kyle.

Gonna say it, they've been writing it like Kyle has a bit of a crush on Morgan.

Sam Lane is a piece of shit.  Great to see Lois call him out on everything.  I'm guessing he's gonna be the real big bad for Superman, and Captain Luthor will become an ally when he realizes that Clark will never turn into his Earth's Clark.

So Morgan Edge wants to resurrect people and wants kryptonite?  He's gonna bring back Zod to be his puppet.

Clark and Lois have an argument because Clark wasn't at the meeting and was going after a criminal, they talked it out, both apologized, and they took some time apart allowing anger to flare down?  Nice to see another healthy relationship in the Beeboverse.

And because it has to be said every week.  You really don't want to piss off Lois and go to war with her.

[themadman]

OK, does Tyler Hoechlin not have a razor? Because his constant 5 o'clock shadow is a bit distracting. 

[AD35]

3 hours ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Has anyone else noticed that Clark uses his powers much more efficiently in fights than Cousin Kara?

I just assumed that it's because he's been doing this for quite some time now while Kara is relatively speaking the (sort of) new(-ish) kid on the block. 

[waving feather]

Jonathan is busy being caretaker to his family and friends, and because he naturally has a bright disposition, no one really seems to think he needs help or needs to be taken care of too. The boy is going to break one day. Sarah is a good friend though. At least she notices that he may not be having a great time. If I didn't know Jordan and Jonathan are twins, I would have thought Jonathan is the much older brother.

[AnimeMania]

10 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

Jon’s friend (Tag?) gained abilities from the blast when Jordan’s powers manifested? Interesting.

Jodan's Occular Ejaculation hit a X-Kryptonite crystal turning Tag into a X-K Mutoid.

Once Morgan Edge drills Lana Lang and all the X-Kryptonite crystal from the mine, he will be done with Smallville.

After doing his "Super Slow Clap"/"Thunderous Applause", Clark thinks "I know a guy who would be green with envy after seeing that move".

2 hours ago, arc said:

The HS football coach sucks, but: does the show know he sucks? I think the show knows he's a bad guy, kinda Bobby Knight style, but does the show know he is also just bad at coaching aside from being a lunatic who just dials up the motivation dial because he has no concept of the x's and o's of the game?

The coach says they have to start playing with their heads so the team goes out and throws a raging kegger.

The boys run up to Clark "What did you do with Tag?" Clark says "He was a alien, so I threw him into space".

Who had the bigger hangover, Lana or her daughter.

2 hours ago, arc said:

Why does Morgan Edge have superpowered henchmen and henchwomen? Not just why have them but how does he keep in control of them? It can't just be because he recruits the dumbest people who would never think to off their billionaire-but-still-human boss and take his stuff. My wild speculation is that he has given himself powers too.

The  X-K Mutoids probably need something from Edge is order to retain their mutant abilities. So they remain loyal.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Also, we are assuming that Morgan Edge does not himself have powers. There are a few possibilities. He could have no powers and just be recruiting people who are following him because he's rich, charismatic and so forth. He could have no powers but have something that they want/need/fear, such as the key to them retaining their powers, the possibility of even greater powers, the equivalent of Kryptonite to people empowered with x-Kryptonite (x-lead?), a massive criminal organization, etc. He could be recruiting people especially for their loyalty/lack of ambition. 

Or he could be like Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3: he's not just someone behind scientific experiments. He's also one of the most powerful successes of the experiment.

[Lady Calypso]

Poor Jonathan. He continues to try to talk to his parents, who aren't listening and ignoring his subtle clues that no, he's not ok. Or, when he does try to be honest, they just wave him off. Even his own brother doesn't think that Jonathan's loss of identity is a big deal. Good for Sarah for seeing that Jonathan is not ok. I cannot wait to see Jonathan finally break, mostly because it'll be a long time coming. 

And even his only friend, Tag, is now taken away from him after displaying powers! 

They really ARE focusing more on Clark/Lois than the kids, which is a pleasant surprise. I'm sure that'll change eventually where we will get more of the teens than their adults, but it's nice that the show is focusing on the characters that the show is named after. 

So, Morgan not only has his sights set on the mine, where there is Kryptonite, but he has his sights set on Lana, while Kyle doesn't seem to notice or give a shit! I'm sure he'll have his moment where he realizes that Morgan is the real Big Bad and it'll probably relate to Lana somehow, but will it be soon enough before he destroys his marriage? Because his marriage is already crumbling as it is. On the plus side, they're slowly warming me to Lana...as long as she doesn't try to make a move on Clark, then I'm good.

Good on Lois for standing her ground and going to confront Morgan and Leslie at the mine, even if it didn't do too much good.

Clark is struggling to balance his dad life and Superman life and of course Sam Lane is not happy that his son-in-law isn't 100% Superman. It makes it look like Sam is resentful of Clark having kids, his own grandkids, which isn't a good look. Sam's going to be a real antagonist soon enough.

I was very happy to see the Clark/Lois argument. Both were mature about it, Lois laid out why she was annoyed and why she felt guilty for being annoyed, and Clark laid out that he was in the wrong and broke his promise yet again to her. That really works for me.

[Diapason Untuned]

They're really borrowing hard from Smallville here, what with the billionaire and his vaguely religion coded secret plans and obsession with caves in small towns.

I'm really happy to see how mature Lois and Clark's relationships is. Many other shows would have taken this as a means to create 3 episode long drama, instead they have  short, reasonable discussion about what happened and how they feel about it.

Jonathan is really struggling and no one seems to notice it because of how good he is at simply looking out for other people. This is an all too common thing in real life, so i hope the show does it justice.

I was enjoying a (relatively) less assholish Sam Lane, so I'm hoping he doesn't go all Big Bad on us. Lois dragging him was well deserved, I must say. 

[Affogato]

2 minutes ago, Diapason Untuned said:

They're really borrowing hard from Smallville here, what with the billionaire and his vaguely religion coded secret plans and obsession with caves in small towns.

I'm really happy to see how mature Lois and Clark's relationships is. Many other shows would have taken this as a means to create 3 episode long drama, instead they have  short, reasonable discussion about what happened and how they feel about it.

Jonathan is really struggling and no one seems to notice it because of how good he is at simply looking out for other people. This is an all too common thing in real life, so i hope the show does it justice.

I was enjoying a (relatively) less assholish Sam Lane, so I'm hoping he doesn't go all Big Bad on us. Lois dragging him was well deserved, I must say. 

There are apparently caves in Kansas. That’s something. 

[cambridgeguy]

35 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Clark is struggling to balance his dad life and Superman life and of course Sam Lane is not happy that his son-in-law isn't 100% Superman. It makes it look like Sam is resentful of Clark having kids, his own grandkids, which isn't a good look. Sam's going to be a real antagonist soon enough.

He clearly expects Clark to be Sam 2.0.  Sam definitely fits the stereotype of the military dad who ignored his kids aside from treating them like junior officers and did it all in the name of his country.  He expects nothing less from Clark, who actually is the most important person on Earth (suck it Kara, Barry, Jefferson, etc.!)

[tennisgurl]

Kyle could not look anymore like a dumb rube for ignoring that Morgan Edge is obviously up to something and was creepily eyeing his wife if he told Edge that he was personally setting him and Lana up on a date while Edge cackles maniacally with a little town model of Smallville that he is smashing with a hammer. Do you think his lips get chapped doing that much ass kissing? Especially as Edge walks around town with a look of utter disdain, this is not the guy who is going to save a dying town. Kyle is just such a dick and an idiot, even if he makes breakfast sometimes. 

I am a bit disappointed that Sam Lane is going back to his "antagonistic military guy" characterization, even if he is still more sympathetic than a lot of versions of him. Obviously it was a terrible idea to tell is teenage grandsons not to both their dad, not only will it lead to things like this, where they don't call their dad even when they're in danger, its also just a shitty thing to tell your grandkids that they aren't important enough for their dads attention. Their struggling enough with all of these changes without their grandpa laying out a big guilt trip on them for wanting to play some catch with their dad. I am glad that Lois and Clark called him out as soon as they found out, I can totally see Sam being the guy of military father who put his work before everything and then used it as an excuse to not be with his family. Like Lois said, she could understand being busy and not always being there, but he never made the effort. So because Clark wants to actually be a good husband and father while also being Superman, and doesn't want just be his attack dog at his beck and call, Sam has decided to start an anti Superman task force. Starting military action against your son in law because you had a disagreement on parenting and wont drop everything for you all of the time? And I thought that Lex Luther was the pettiest person in the Superman mythos. 

Lois and Clark are such a healthy and functioning couple, its almost bizarre to see them here in the Arrowverse. Where are the needless secrets and lies? The passive aggression? The annoying bickering that passes for romantic chemistry? The long stretches of time where they never interact at all but still manage to proclaim their love in the season finale? Lois being annoyed with Clark was so well handled, she was honest about why she was upset while also acknowledging that she understands why he was gone and that its possibly irrational but its how she feels and she feels guilty about it, and then Clark apologizes and does a nice romantic gesture to show her how much he loves and values her, its just so sweet and wholesome. They have such a nice easy chemistry, I am really glad we got to focus on them more as a couple this week. 

I also liked Lana and Lois going out for drinks and possibly becoming friends, as long as we don't have any love triangle problems. This show generally feels like one of the more mature Arrowverse shows, and a love triangle is usually the opposite of mature. I like Lana and Sarah more than I expected to, possibly due to bad Lana from Smallville associations, but they are unfortunately connected to Kyle, who I still don't like at all. 

Poor Jonathan, he spends so much time looking out for everyone and taking care of them that no one seems to notice how much he is struggling. I can imagine he has never wanted to really talk about his problems as Jordan has so many issues and takes a lot of his parents attention, he might think that his family can only handle one kid in crisis and just couldn't deal with two so he has to always be the "easy" kid, but he just cant keep this up. No one seems to notice or really understand how hard this is for him, even his brother, and he has been downplaying his problems and has just focused on looking after his family or his friend this week, its really sad. Him finally cracking his inevitable, and probably just in time for any latent powers to develop.

So there is now a government sponsored Xavier's School in the Arrowverse now? A new possible spin off property? That might be something for Lois to investigate as her next project, not sure I trust meta kids with any organization that General Lane is a part of. Is ARGUS back to being sketchy? 

I love Clark in dorky dad mode as the assistant coach, and I also love how they are doing his fights. He uses so many of his powers in really interesting ways and combinations, I love the clap move. One of my favorites. 

Really increasing those Smallville vibes with the corporate bad guy, football, the teens getting powers through Kryptonite in the ground, the magic caves the bad guys want, but luckily this show is already doing it a LOT better. 

[ukgirl71]

I always love a show where I can’t see the storylines coming, and Superman and Lois is continuing to deliver, while at the same time managing to give several storylines equal space.  I was another one who didn’t realise the woman from the first ep was laser-eyed Lesley.  Edge is becoming a more layered, more complicated bad guy, and I’m excited to see just how far he will go.  I’m also getting vibes that he wants to krypto-power Lana.  I like the fact she and Lois are finding common ground - rightly or wrongly, I’m not getting love triangle vibes, and I really, really hope they resist going there with either adults or kids.  Jonathan is a brother we’d all like to have, but I wonder when, and how, he’s going to explode?  Lois and Clark’s relationship continues to be beautifully rounded and grounded, and I’m glad it’s showing arguments and feelings of being let down, and the talking it through.   I hope we don’t get too many scenes where Superman’s getting beaten by the villain of the week but is galvanised into action by his family calling for him - I loved it these last two eps, but it could get very overdone very quickly.  And are we getting another bad guy in the shape of General Lane, majorly peeved because his personal attack dog is now baring his teeth at him?   The family dynamic just got even more interesting, and I love it!

[Chris24601]

3 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

He clearly expects Clark to be Sam 2.0.  Sam definitely fits the stereotype of the military dad who ignored his kids aside from treating them like junior officers and did it all in the name of his country.  He expects nothing less from Clark, who actually is the most important person on Earth (suck it Kara, Barry, Jefferson, etc.!)

Still not as important as Oliver Queen was... the whole UNIVERSE is even named after him. 😁

Seriously though, the fact that Clark is basically dealing with things in a different corner of the world every episode just really highlights how much grander his canvas is compared to the rest; Barry, Kara and Jackson deal with single cities and have a support team while Clark deals with global crises solo.

As for General Lane; my hunch is he’ll set up project 7734, but he’ll have a change of heart and try to shut it down, only to learn its completely run away from him and whoever replaces him will absolutely use it. Just a hunch, but I see a Redemption=Death trope coming for him around the end of the season.

Since standard storytelling conventions are that parallel stories converge in the climax, it’s almost a given that Project 7734 will be using the X-Kryptonite metas. The question will be who, ultimately, controls 7734; Sam, Edge, Luthor, or some player we’ve not met quite yet.

[arc]

In the pilot, Lana's bank was kinda secretly acquired by Morgan Edge's Galaxy Holdings. Now Kyle is openly saying Lana's an employee of the Edge empire to Edge. Did I miss something in eps 2 or 3? I honestly might have, that town hall meeting had me rolling my eyes too hard to pay full attention.

I still do not get whether Smallville is a mining town or a farming town. It would 

Maybe it's all the "evil Sam Lane" stuff from the comics or other versions of him, but I feel like this show is turning their Sam Lane from a good guy to a bad guy without ever really showing us why he should have been initially considered a good guy. He's mostly been kind of a not-overtly evil dick as far as his onscreen actions go, and turning from ambiguously dickish to evil is not a very compelling arc.

And being pissed at Clark for Killgrave escaping means he is focusing on the wrong stuff. (1) Killgrave made an explodo-gum in prison right under the guards' noses and (2) Intergang busted his prison transport out with just regular armed thugs, meaning the US military can't even deal with criminals with small arms. 

Morgan Edge feels like an predator in the restaurant scene. Also, the music is hilariously unsubtle here. Given all that, it def does make Kyle look delusional to overlook it so completely.

... I kinda don't believe even a (former) one-woman shop of a small town newspaper doesn't have a lawyer on retainer. Also, I know Clark was laid off instead of quit like Lois, but if Edge has some non-compete or whatever on Lois he probably has one on Clark too, seeing as they were literally both reporters for the same newspaper.

Aaaauuugh, Edge calls out that a Pulitzer-shortlisted journalist doesn't just decamp to writing for the fucking Smallville Gazette. Remember when Michael Jordan retired at the peak of his career and tried out professional baseball? He went down to the minors (because basketball talent doesn't translate 100% to baseball) but *he was the story everywhere* because of his stature. Now do that with Lois except she didn't even change careers, just venues.

I didn't clock that the heat vision lady from ep 3 was also the corporate lieutenant from ep 2 (where Lois resigned) till now. And hey, she has super strength (and sufficient durability) to punch through rock walls, in addition to heat vision. Strong thug from ep 3 didn't have a chance.

The HS football coach sucks, but: does the show know he sucks? I think the show knows he's a bad guy, kinda Bobby Knight style, but does the show know he is also just bad at coaching aside from being a lunatic who just dials up the motivation dial because he has no concept of the x's and o's of the game? 

Why does Morgan Edge have superpowered henchmen and henchwomen? Not just why have them but how does he keep in control of them? It can't just be because he recruits the dumbest people who would never think to off their billionaire-but-still-human boss and take his stuff. My wild speculation is that he has given himself powers too.

[Chris24601]

28 minutes ago, arc said:

Why does Morgan Edge have superpowered henchmen and henchwomen? Not just why have them but how does he keep in control of them? It can't just be because he recruits the dumbest people who would never think to off their billionaire-but-still-human boss and take his stuff. My wild speculation is that he has given himself powers too.

It’s not like Edge keeps his wealth in gold bullion they can just walk off with after offing him; it’s tied up in buildings, land, corporations and stock shares. How exactly do you lug off Galaxy Communications after offing the boss?

Just how much is a stolen piece of art from his mansion worth after offing Edge vs. the six-figure salary, full benefits, stock options and expense account he’s supplying?

What’s refreshing about this show is that they’re taking everything seriously in the sense that real world consequences are in play. Right after Lois quit people here started bringing up non-compete clauses and also how unenforceable they are. This episode a non-compete clause was dropped, followed by a scene with Lois explaining how it would never hold up in court if she counter-sues.

Enhanced humans working for a paycheck is right in that line. 99% of the population isn’t going to turn into a hero or a villain if they got powers; they’d just find a career where they could cash in on using them. Enter Morgan Edge.

[arc]

29 minutes ago, Chris24601 said:

It’s not like Edge keeps his wealth in gold bullion they can just walk off with after offing him; it’s tied up in buildings, land, corporations and stock shares. How exactly do you lug off Galaxy Communications after offing the boss?

I guess the thug from ep 3 would think that way, but a corporate lieutenant like the redhead would probably know about stuff like moving stolen accounts and other illiquid assets to offshore bank accounts and shell corporations.

[Chicago Redshirt]

6 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

They're really borrowing hard from Smallville here, what with the billionaire and his vaguely religion coded secret plans and obsession with caves in small towns.

Also:

The XK-Freak of the week is a direct parallel from one in Smallville's first season, played by journeyman genre actor Tony Todd (who you may remember from such roles as lead in the original Candyman franchise, Worf's brother Kurn in ST:TNG and the voice of Zoom in the Flash)

Editor (whose name I have not remember and may not ever bother to remember) is kinda Chloe 2.0 

[Diapason Untuned]

6 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Also:

The XK-Freak of the week is a direct parallel from one in Smallville's first season, played by journeyman genre actor Tony Todd (who you may remember from such roles as lead in the original Candyman franchise, Worf's brother Kurn in ST:TNG and the voice of Zoom in the Flash)

Wow, I had totally forgotten about that. 

 

Quote

Editor (whose name I have not remember and may not ever bother to remember) is kinda Chloe 2.0 

Her name is Chrissy (which kind of sounds like Chloe). Add her own Wall of Weird and I wouldn't be surprised if they originally wanted to go with a multiverse variant of Chloe but couldn't because of what happened with Allison Mack.

[Cthulhudrew]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:19 PM, cambridgeguy said:

So who runs the Arrowverse version of Xavier's school for gifted youngsters? 

Hopefully John Diggle.

Speaking of youngsters, I'm not entirely clear if S&L is supposed to be 14-16 years in advance of the other Arrowverse shows, or if the time Clark and Lois spent on Argo somehow accelerated the kids' growth, or if Crisis aged them.

18 hours ago, themadman said:

OK, does Tyler Hoechlin not have a razor? Because his constant 5 o'clock shadow is a bit distracting. 

I guess Gillette doesn't stock Kryptonite razor blades.

[arc]

I bet Arrowverse Hogwarts for metahuman teens will be the place to ship off the various teen meteor freaks of the week, but if they do that, each time they do it’ll be all the weirder why Jordan isn’t sent there.

[Writing Wrongs]

14 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The XK-Freak of the week is a direct parallel from one in Smallville's first season, played by journeyman genre actor Tony Todd

I kept saying, "Dude has the jitters!".

 

Maybe it's done offscreen, but I would think the boys would have a lot more questions. Do they wonder how Supergirl is connected to them?

[cambridgeguy]

8 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I guess Gillette doesn't stock Kryptonite razor blades.

Hoechlin also seems to be one of those guys who gets a five o'clock shadow five minutes after he shaves. 

8 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

Speaking of youngsters, I'm not entirely clear if S&L is supposed to be 14-16 years in advance of the other Arrowverse shows, or if the time Clark and Lois spent on Argo somehow accelerated the kids' growth, or if Crisis aged them.

The simplest explanation is that the Crisis changed it to Jon and Jordan being born 14 years ago.  I don't think they went to Argo because Sam Lane would have had a complete meltdown and never would have forgiven him if Superman had just left the planet for years, especially since Kara/Barry/etc. weren't active when the twins were babies.

[TheLastKidPicked]

13 hours ago, Cthulhudrew said:

I guess Gillette doesn't stock Kryptonite razor blades

 

4 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Hoechlin also seems to be one of those guys who gets a five o'clock shadow five minutes after he shaves. 

Those of you who are in the theater know the reason for Tyler Hoechlin to always have a five o'clock shadow.  Once they filmed a few scenes with him that way, they have to shoot EVERY scene that way.  This is because some scenes will need to be re-shot and Tyler needs to look the same in the re-shot.

If you want to have some fun, watch some of the shows that were created before the internet, TiVo, and forums like this one.  They didn't have to be quite as careful and you can see the difference.  For example, if you watch a Dukes of Hazzard rerun, it's fun to notice:

"Hey!  Cooter had a beard when he pulled up to the Duke Farm.  Then he was clean shaven while he was in the farmhouse talking with the Dukes, and then had a beard again when walking back to his car!"

Of course, those episodes were filmed before they knew people would have the ability to rewind the scenes, take screenshots, and come on these boards to talk about it.

If you enjoy the behind-the-scenes action, then you will enjoy watching for anomalies like this.

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by TheLastKidPicked

[norcalgal]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:36 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Sam certainly is going all in with the whole "Don't distract your dad with your angsty teenage problems or people can die!" speeches, huh?  Grandfather of the year right there!  Safe to say that it makes sense that he and Lois are so distant.  And now it looks like he is getting ready to plan some kind of anti-Superman force, because Clark isn't just going to drop everything and work for him all the time.  Yeah, you're kind of becoming a bit of dick there, General Lane. 

 

On 3/17/2021 at 7:48 AM, cambridgeguy said:

He clearly expects Clark to be Sam 2.0.  Sam definitely fits the stereotype of the military dad who ignored his kids aside from treating them like junior officers and did it all in the name of his country.  He expects nothing less from Clark, who actually is the most important person on Earth (suck it Kara, Barry, Jefferson, etc.!)

I kind of feel like Sam Lane feels proprietary towards Superman *because* Supe is his son-in-law. So it's not just his military background where Country Above All Else reigns, but since Sam is related to the most powerful person on Earth, it's like he thinks Superman should just be on call all the time.

On 3/16/2021 at 9:19 PM, rtms77 said:

Ok I’m sorry but there is no way the twins are 14, not with what they are doing. The drinking, driving around with a license already?  Staying out till all hrs? These guys are at least 16 or 17. None of their friends are 14 yrs  old either. 

Jon is going to break I just know it, and I bet his powers come out when he does just like Jordan’s did. 

Re: the bolded, I posted something similar before on this forum. Yes, teens IRL do drink alcohol, but on this show, it's portrayed like it's no big deal so that even the adults take a laidback attitude about teen drinking - esp. involving younger teens if the twins are supposed to be 14!

 

13 hours ago, arc said:

I bet Arrowverse Hogwarts for metahuman teens will be the place to ship off the various teen meteor freaks of the week, but if they do that, each time they do it’ll be all the weirder why Jordan isn’t sent there.

Who gets to decide which meta-teen goes to Arrowverse Hogwarts, and which ones don't?  Good point about why Jordan doesn't have to go there, while Tag seemed to be immediately (and I do mean immediately) shipped there.  Where do Tag's parents think he is? 

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

31 minutes ago, norcalgal said:

Re: the bolded, I posted something similar before on this forum. Yes, teens IRL do drink alcohol, but on this show, it's portrayed like it's no big deal so that even the adults take a laidback attitude about teen drinking - esp. involving younger teens if the twins are supposed to be 14!

 

Who gets to decide which meta-teen goes to Arrowverse Hogwarts, and which ones don't?  Good point about why Jordan doesn't have to go there, while Tag seemed to be immediately (and I do mean immediately) shipped there.  Where do Tag's parents think he is? 

 

I have no problem believing that teens affiliated with a football team go to parties with alcohol flowing freely. The 14 year olds aren't the ones who buy the alcohol most likely. All that has to happen is that one of the older kids has a hookup or a permissive parent.

I would assume the government tries to scoop every meta teen to Arrowverse Hogwarts that they can, and the only reason why Jordan was not so scooped is because a) the government broadly doesn't know about his existence b) the one person who does is his grandpa and c) they would not want to mess with Big Blue if knowledge of him went beyond Sam Lane.

[Quark]

Another enjoyable episode although I still can't stand Jordan.

Lois is becoming the MVP of this show. I love her takedowns of Morgan Edge.

[immortalfrieza]

On 3/16/2021 at 9:06 PM, bettername2come said:

There's a metahuman Hogwarts?? Uh, this better not lead to another spinoff.

That was more my thought. Does DC have an equivalent? I don't recall if I've ever seen one.

On 3/16/2021 at 9:21 PM, Primal Slayer said:

Only minor complaint is that I wish once Jonathan called him for him, they showed him try harder to fight back against Kilgore instead of basically be like "ok, im tired of this game. THUNDERCLAP!

That has been a constant problem with Superman. Sure, a villain might have Superman on the ropes with Kryptonite or whatever but 9 times out of 10 all of sudden he gets a second wind, waves his hand or uses super speed or whatever, and the villain is done. They make it look like Superman could've just THUNDERCLAPed Kilgrave at any time but decided to be all dramatic about it until his kids needed him. That, and considering it's a SONIC weapon he shouldn't have been able to hear the emergency beacon while getting blasted anyway. They should've had Clark come up with something in the environment he could use to neutralize the weapon instead of just using a power he always had. Give the guy some intelligence instead of making the classic Superman writer mistake of just making him dumb muscle who brute forces everything.

On 3/17/2021 at 2:38 PM, arc said:

And being pissed at Clark for Killgrave escaping means he is focusing on the wrong stuff. (1) Killgrave made an explodo-gum in prison right under the guards' noses and (2) Intergang busted his prison transport out with just regular armed thugs, meaning the US military can't even deal with criminals with small arms. 

Yep. It sounds to me more like he just wants Superman to fly when he says fly, even if it's just to resolve his own screw ups.

[PAForrest]

Well, I was right in thinking Sam Lane had a backup plan for containing Superman/his damn SiL whenever he feels like it. At this point his issue with Supes seems more in line with the guy not jumping each and every single time Sam says jump - not so much that he's really worried he's going to break bad.

And Morgan is planning on creating his own little Kryptonite-infused army, thus his interest in Smallville. I wonder how many Smallville kids are going to end up being sent to Metahuman Hogwarts by the end of the season? Is this really going to be a thing - are we going to see it? Once again poor Jonathan gets screwed over by Jordan, as what looks to be his one and only friend has to go away because of something Jordan did at the bonfire.

And I fear I'm now actively hating on Jordan. His whole "whatever, boo-hoo" attitude toward Jonathan's increasing feelings of being lost and an outsider puts him in full-on asshole territory, especially considering Jonathan still, after everything, puts Jordan's needs first. And his parents continue to not really notice or care about what's happening with Jonathan. WTF? Seriously, Lois, I wouldn't be holding yourself and Clark up as the perfect models of parenthood to your dad given your inability to recognize that Jonathan needs a little attention from you. Glass houses and all, sister.

No, I'm not buying these kids are 14.

If Superman could have thunderclapped his way out of Kilgrave's sonic ray anytime he felt like it, why didn't he do that in the first place? Yeah, we're supposed to see that it's because his kids needed him, and the papa bear part of him is stronger than anything else despite the fact he doesn't notice Jonathan most of the time. Still, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

I actually liked Lois and Lana commiserating over shots. But I think it was a little fast for Lana to decide by the next morning that everything was hunky dory with her hubby. I did like seeing Kyle making breakfast for the girls, it felt like the first little layer we've really seen of him in four episodes. I assume he'll soon discover his association with Morgan Edge isn't a good thing after all. At least, I hope so.

Edited March 19, 2021 by PAForrest

[blackwing]

I am glad to see that Jonathan acknowledged that Jordan's rise (powers, football star) is kind of getting him down.  He loves his brother but as Jordan and Sarah said, he is used to getting all of the attention.  That must be tough.  They haven't even shown Jonathan calling his girlfriend, he only mentioned calling her once.  We have yet to really be introduced to any other girls his age that he could even pair with, besides Sarah, who is clearly intended for Jordan.  I do think Jonathan should talk to either Clark or Lois about how he is feeling.

Sam Lane is turning out to be a villain... disappointing.  So 7337 is that tag that alternate reality Luthor gave him.  And now Sam wants to figure out how to contain Superman because his feelings are hurt?  What an ass.

So the woman who heat visioned the guy on the road is the same woman as Edge's lawyer who threatened Lois and the same woman who punched a hole in the mine?  I had no idea.  If Edge had no qualms about having her kill the guy in the truck, why wouldn't he just have the lady kill Lois and be done with it?  They already tried once, why aren't they trying again?  I guess she can be brave knowing that her husband will always be there to protect her.

So does Tag now know that Clark is Superman?  Wouldn't he have heard  Jordan and Jonathan talking about Superman etc.?  Or was he too distracted by the pain he was experiencing?  How did Sam explain to him what was happening?  Surely he's going to remember that Jonathan and Jordan were there?

45 minutes ago, PAForrest said:

If Superman could have thunderclapped his way out of Kilgrave's sonic ray anytime he felt like it, why didn't he do that in the first place? Yeah, we're supposed to see that it's because his kids needed him, and the papa bear part of him is stronger than anything else despite the fact he doesn't notice Jonathan most of the time. Still, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

What I don't understand is how exactly does this thunderclap work?  Does he have to actively will the power into the thunderclap?  Otherwise, what if he is just at school applauding his sons on the football field?  And I agree, as soon as Kilgrave turned on the sound machine, not sure why he didn't clap it away immediately.

[arc]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Does he have to actively will the power into the thunderclap?  Otherwise, what if he is just at school applauding his sons on the football field?

Well yeah but by the same token how does he lift a briefcase or a smartphone and not send it into the sky? In other versions, Superman generally has a deep understanding of how to apply his powers and even how to hold back his super strength.

As it is, we have to accept as a genre thing that the thunderclap can knock people off their feet but doesn't burst all their eardrums. Esp in this case, where it's in the middle of a city and there were clearly innocent bystanders around too, not just bad guys.

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

So does Tag now know that Clark is Superman?  Wouldn't he have heard  Jordan and Jonathan talking about Superman etc.?

BTW, as I rewatch that scene, the most ridiculous thing is Jonathan asking the stunned Jordan "Where's the ELT?". Like, Lois and Sam already have their own, why are you guys being so cheap to make your TWO sons share one superdad-beeper??? 

But to your question, while Jonathan did say "dad" and a reasonable person there could have connected that to Superman, Tag was almost definitely too caught up in the super jitters to have paid enough attention.

[akg]

1 hour ago, arc said:

Esp in this case, where it's in the middle of a city and there were clearly innocent bystanders around too, not just bad guys.

I don't know if this really makes sense but I initially thought Clark held off on the Super Clap because there were so many bystanders. When he called in to the authorities, he asked them to sent ambulances because people had been hurt. So I figured Clark had been trying to find a way to fight Kilgrave without hurting anyone else until his kids needed him and then he switched over to the quick but riskier path.

[shapeshifter]

1 minute ago, akg said:

I don't know if this really makes sense but I initially thought Clark held off on the Super Clap because there were so many bystanders. When he called in to the authorities, he asked them to sent ambulances because people had been hurt. So I figured Clark had been trying to find a way to fight Kilgrave without hurting anyone else until his kids needed him and then he switched over to the quick but riskier path.

That’s was my thought too, but it took a minute for me to grasp that, and by then they were onto the next scene.

[AnimeMania]

8 hours ago, blackwing said:

Sam Lane is turning out to be a villain... disappointing.  So 7337 is that tag that alternate reality Luthor gave him.  And now Sam wants to figure out how to contain Superman because his feelings are hurt?  What an ass.

The tag number is 7734 and spells out hELL when turned upside down.

[waving feather]

Sam Lane might have been an absentee parent but I don't see Lois or Clark much better. They are good at giving the kids attention when they are literally crying for it but there is no consistency in the day to day because they are both busy with their own things. 

If they have been paying attention, they would have noticed Jonathan's off-hand passive aggressive comments here and there that show he is not okay. He's a teenager so they can't expect him to come to them with a heart to heart, they need to reach out to him. Are they only going to notice him when he throws a full grown tantrum like Jordan?

[Chicago Redshirt]

45 minutes ago, waving feather said:

Sam Lane might have been an absentee parent but I don't see Lois or Clark much better. They are good at giving the kids attention when they are literally crying for it but there is no consistency in the day to day because they are both busy with their own things. 

If they have been paying attention, they would have noticed Jonathan's off-hand passive aggressive comments here and there that show he is not okay. He's a teenager so they can't expect him to come to them with a heart to heart, they need to reach out to him. Are they only going to notice him when he throws a full grown tantrum like Jordan?

My understanding of the flaw in Sam's parenting is not that he was absent, but that he had specific rigid expectations of how Lois (and presumably sister Lucy, although we haven't yet had her or other Lanes referenced post-Crisis) should act and didn't allow for what Lois actually might want or who Lois actually was or was interested in becoming.

So far Clark and Lois have been perfectly willing to spend time with the boys, but despite having super-senses and a top reporter's perceptveness, they can't see that Jonathan is suffering. It's perhaps more obvious to us as viewers because we aren't burdened with 14 years of Jonathan being easy-going and we are seeing first-hand a lot of moments where Jonathan shows himself to not be OK that Clark and Lois don't get to see.