S01.E04: Haywire

[Lady Calypso]

53 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?

Lois and Clark might not be perfect parents and they are clearly making mistakes, but they are most definitely better parents than Sam is. Sam wasn't necessarily absent, but he was very strict on what his child(ren) could and could not do. We know he had certain expectations of people and we've seen how he treats people when they don't match those expectations. He doesn't seem to really listen to Lois and he's not a Family First kind of guy.

Lois/Clark may have made missteps, but you can see how much they care for their children and how they will put them first. So that DOES make them better parents than Sam Lane. They may not see their child's pain, which is unfortunate but Jonathan hasn't been sitting them down to talk about it with them. Parents CAN miss things in their child's lives, but it doesn't make them bad parents. Just parents who make mistakes.

You could say the exact same about Sam, that he's missed things about his own children and he's too busy with his career, but he ALSO doesn't put his children first. 

[waving feather]

6 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

They may not see their child's pain, which is unfortunate but Jonathan hasn't been sitting them down to talk about it with them.

Very few teenagers will sit their parents down to talk about their issues, especially things that make them feel bad about themselves. Most likely they will act out in other ways which is up to the parents to recognise or not.

My point is not in defence of Sam Lane but that none of them is a perfect parent. Lois is resentful of her father, and in the same way, Jordan was resentful towards his father before they came to Smallville and if things continue like it is, Jon might become the resentful one. What Lois and Clark has on Sam is that they seem more willing to make changes if necessary. But I somehow can't get over the fact that they weren't wise enough to bring Jonathan to the fortress too at least once with Jordan. That's just dumb parenting if you ask me.

[legaleagle53]

20 hours ago, waving feather said:

Very few teenagers will sit their parents down to talk about their issues, especially things that make them feel bad about themselves. Most likely they will act out in other ways which is up to the parents to recognise or not.

Very true. Lana Lang learned that lesson in last week's episode when she finally got Sarah to open up about what had been going on that had prompted Sarah to attempt suicide a year earlier. She learned that there are things that every parent needs to learn to recognize, because their children aren't always going to be forthcoming about everything that's going on in their lives no matter how much of an open-door policy the parents may have. Clark and Lois (and hopefully even Sam) are still learning that lesson.

Edited March 21, 2021 by legaleagle53

[Affogato]

In fairness Lois and Clarke  are in the middle of major life stressors. Fired. Moving. A death in the family. Clark has his superman villains and being the only one that can stop multiple nuclear disasters. Lois has her job issues. 
 

the kids also are stressed. Bad time to move teenagers, although if they are 14 probably better than 16? 
 

the family clearly is used to all supporting/protecting  Jordan and that is the default, even if Jonathan needs help now. Also I may venture that Clark needs more support, too. 
 

They are having problems shifting gears. 

Maybe youth sports will fix everything. 

[Terrafamilia]

On 3/17/2021 at 3:44 AM, themadman said:

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

He would have to get his face waxed to eliminate it.

[legaleagle53]

2 hours ago, Terrafamilia said:

He would have to get his face waxed to eliminate it.

I've pretty much trained myself to ignore the 5 o'clock shadow.  I think part of what makes it so distracting is that most of us grew up with the Silver Age comic book rule that Kryptonians can't grow any kind of facial or body hair (or even their fingernails or toenails) under Earth's yellow sun because of their invulnerability, so Superman shouldn't always look as though he forgot to shave that day. For those of us who are used to a completely clean-shaven Superman, it's a bit jarring to see one with such constantly prominent stubble (incidentally, that rule was abandoned after the 1986 comic-book reboot, but I personally still never warmed up to a Superman who had to shave using his heat vision and a mirror).

[Chicago Redshirt]

I don't remember it being stated that Kryptonian men couldn't grow facial hair. And of course, Zod in the Chris Reeve movies had his goatee before John Byrne showed how Clark shaved himself.

This link has a bunch of panels from old comics, including one where Supes said his whiskers didn't grow, and one where he tries to have Supergirl and Krypto give him a trim, in addition to the Man of Steel panel that establishes the curved spaceship metal deal:

https://superman.fandom.com/wiki/Superman's_beard

Edited March 22, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[Lantern7]

From the "Heritage" thread:

On 3/3/2021 at 1:41 AM, Lantern7 said:

The real question is if Morgan Edge rolls up waving a contract that would prevent Lois from writing anywhere else but the Daily Planet. I know, she's going to be gnawing on his ankles for a while, but it would be a legitimate claim.

I called it. I mean, it wasn't too hard to guess, what with Lois writing about how Satan checks under his bed every night to make sure Morgan Edge isn't there.

Also from "Heritage":

On 3/3/2021 at 3:39 PM, legaleagle53 said:

Non-compete clauses are notoriously difficult to enforce if they're too broad in scope with regard to either length or geographic reach. For example, a clause that would forbid Lois from working for any other newspaper anywhere in the country for any length of time, or a clause that would forbid her to work for any other paper in the Daily Planet's marketing area for say, five years, would almost certainly be laughed out of court the moment Morgan tried to enforce it.

In real life, sure. But this is the Arrowverse, so the second-tier Lex Luthor would send someone to stop Lois, and the threat would be legit.

Is Clark going ot get a job? I'm just thinking he should have something "on the grid." He could probably not eat or drink for a while, and he could make diamonds out of coal, but Clark Kent would need to be seen making money along with his wife. It does bring up a question I had a few year back: if Superman were created today, with no precedents for the character prior to it beyond what Siegel & Schuster had, would Clark have becoe a reporter? The whole deal was that he chose that field so that he'd respond to emergencies as soon as it reached the Daily Planet (or the Star, if you're really old-school)

And yeah, I did think of "Jitters" from Smallville seeing Tag's situation. Apparently, Jordan will be responsible for most mutations in Smallville instead of plot rocks premise stones Kryptonite. Okay, then.

[Chicago Redshirt]

36 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Is Clark going ot get a job? I'm just thinking he should have something "on the grid." He could probably not eat or drink for a while, and he could make diamonds out of coal, but Clark Kent would need to be seen making money along with his wife. It does bring up a question I had a few year back: if Superman were created today, with no precedents for the character prior to it beyond what Siegel & Schuster had, would Clark have becoe a reporter? The whole deal was that he chose that field so that he'd respond to emergencies as soon as it reached the Daily Planet (or the Star, if you're really old-school)

And yeah, I did think of "Jitters" from Smallville seeing Tag's situation. Apparently, Jordan will be responsible for most mutations in Smallville instead of plot rocks premise stones Kryptonite. Okay, then.

This is presumably just a few weeks, if that, after he was fired and his mom died. So in normal circumstances I think that it would be too soon to expect him to be working again.

But I think that on paper, he is running the old Kent farm solo. 

I think that the concept of Superman would have to be retooled with his power set. Back when he could only leap over tall buildings with a single bound, there was only so much he could do and it made somewhat sense for him to be a reporter, because he might as well keep in touch, and what better way than being a reporter?

Well, in this day and age and with his current power set, there's a lot of them. Using some combination of super-hearing and super-vision and super-speed, it would be far easier to know what's going on and to intervene than spending up to 8 hours a day on office BS, on covering up your secret identity, etc. I mean, it seems like it would be hard for Superman to live with himself that in the five minutes he deal with Steve Lombard trying to pull a practical joke on him or something, he wasn't able to help victims of an earthquake in Bolivia or a dozen people died in a mass shooting in Bludhaven or something. In the era of 24-7 global news networks, not to mention blogs and the like, Superman could find out what's going on far more easily through the efforts of other reporters than being in the mix as a reporter himself.

I think we still have plot rocks, except this time they are called X-Kryptonite and are red, as opposed to regular old green Kryptonite.

[Maverick]

 Jordan did not turn Tag into a meta.   Lois' father said they reviewed cell hone video from the party and there was a yellow powder in the fire pit and when it exploded from Jordan's heat vision it spewed the yellow powder on him.   The yellow powder is almost certainly ground up X-Kryptonite, which apparently Kansas has an abundance of.   So, still meteor rocks creating meteor freaks.  Only this time they're yellow.

 I'm wondering if Edge is going to turn out to be Zod somehow.  He wants to raise a superhuman army and reinventing Zod as someone posing as a Lex Luthor-lite would make him fit better in this incarnation.  

[Parker]

Kyle and Morgan Edge are such tropey characters.  The jerky husband of a main character who is easily fooled.  And the scheming businessman that fools the city gov't and flirts and tries to manipulate wife of board member.   

The show writers must have bought the "Tropes in TV" book.  

Want to bet one of the Kent's kids will be kidnapped this season?

 

Clark is allowing his son to play football with super powers just to make him feel better because he has done such a terrible job parenting?

I'm sure this is going end well.

[Affogato]

17 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:Superman could find out what's going on far more easily through the efforts of other reporters than being in the mix as a reporter 

Yeah. That is assuming he is more Superman than Clark. 
 

and Clark, family, the work ethic, etc, is what keeps him not take over the world. 
 

given the dvil superman storyline I bet this is what the show is about. Sam, if he succeeds in getting Clark to run through his hoops, Sam would regret it.

[Paloma]

On 3/17/2021 at 1:53 PM, tennisgurl said:

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. 

Petty and stupid--talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! Even if Superman was not available for every crisis, he would still be a valuable asset for situations that need fast response and superpowers.

 

On 3/17/2021 at 1:53 PM, tennisgurl said:

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.

Great perspective, and I think it's not uncommon in real life when someone has a sibling (especially a younger sibling) with issues that he or she is expected to be the "easy" kid or even to help with taking care of the sibling with issues. But eventually that role gets to be a burden. When this series started I was more sympathetic to Jordan, but now I am more sympathetic to Jonathan for the reasons you give.

[Bruinsfan]

On 3/17/2021 at 3:44 AM, themadman said:

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

I recall back in his Teen Wolf days someone remarking that lots of times they'd be looking at him admiring the subtle job makeup did with the hairiness, fangs, and pointed ears to indicate he was on the verge of wolfing out, and then realize that's just how Tyler normally looks.

[John Potts]

Wow, they really made Sam Lane a jerk here. “Clark, it’s really important that you, an unpaid volunteer, watches over this prisoner transport. I mean, although it's my actual job to make sure a purely mundane prisoner doesn't escape, it’s perfectly fine for me, to spend the weekend visiting my grandkids. If you don’t, I will immediately consider dealing with an organisation devoted to bringing you down.”

Glad Jonathan got to be actually jealous of his brother. A little sibling rivalry is perfectly believable (so long as they don't overdo it).

Really? Nobody has any trouble with Edge except Lois (and her boss, I guess)? He's, at best, the sort of big city businessman who small town conservatives should be suspicious of. I can accept that people want the jobs he brings, but I don't believe they would lay out the red carpet for him like they did.

Glad Lois is bonding with Lana and isn't going to be a romantic rival (however dissatisfied she is with her marriage). Lois’ complaining to Clark felt entirely believable as the sort of argument an actual couple would have. And Clark really does care about Lois in organising the date night.

On 3/17/2021 at 2:02 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

we are assuming that Morgan Edge does not himself have powers.

I can’t see them ever giving Edge powers. He’s the Lex Luthor of this show (do we know what happened to the regular Luthor – not Captain Luthor who’s from another Universe – here?) and the usual dynamic is for the Uber-powered Supes to go up against an unpowered genius.

On 3/17/2021 at 2:44 PM, Affogato said:

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

I hear there are mountains too!

On 3/22/2021 at 3:37 AM, Lantern7 said:

if Superman were created today, with no precedents for the character prior to it beyond what Siegel & Schuster had, would Clark have become a reporter? The whole deal was that he chose that field so that he'd respond to emergencies as soon as it reached the Daily Planet

You’d want to be self employed, I’d imagine. Working on a farm is actually pretty good (he can even use powers to make it easier). And Lois would run an investigative website with its own Patreon Account.