S01.E06: Broken Trust

[arc]

5 hours ago, PAForrest said:

I always thought Smallville was supposed to be a, well, small one-horse kind of town surrounded by family farms.

Yeah, back when Superman was first created Big Agribusiness wasn’t as much of a thing, but as I understand it mining towns were already near-feudal societies beholden to the local oligarch. Which would actually work better for his Golden Age roots as the defender of the little guy, but all the same it is a break from the usual interpretations of Supes and his roots in Smallville. The whole salt of the earth, heartland farm boy thing. We don’t mythologize miners nearly as much as farmers.

(also, my very limited understanding is that mines almost by their nature despoil the nearby land so mining and farms don’t usually mix.)

So my main beefs with the show are about small town life, mining, farming, and journalism. Which is basically everything the show does besides the family dynamics. Sigh. (Second edit:) The teen drama stuff doesn’t bother me that much either, I guess.

Edited May 21, 2021 by arc

[Affogato]

15 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The mines itself could have always been there, but the X-Kryptonite could have been a relatively new development. In other words, the mines were trying to excavate coal/copper/fill-in-the-blank, but either no one knew about the existence of X-K there (perhaps because they were focused on the known items they were digging for) or somehow the X-K only formed relatively recently (Crisis did it!). 

Maybe the kryptonite landed with baby clark but the mine has a lot of a substance that blocks it. Lead? A quick google shows that lead and zinc are mineable in Kansas. 

one now wonders about the groundwater and how healthy the crops are to eat. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Affogato
Spelling

[Chicago Redshirt]

On 5/19/2021 at 5:29 PM, dwmarch said:

Luthor says that a black man going in to the mine alone would be suspicious but Smallville doesn't seem to be that kind of town, at least as far as we have seen. And if Smallville was that kind of town, a black man going into the mine with a tiny, adorable white woman who clearly doesn't belong there would not be any less suspicious. FWIW, it appears Lois was just humoring Luthor's flimsy excuses in order to find out more about what he's up to so maybe that's why she didn't call him on it at the time. 

Not to get too political, but pretty much any American town or city is going to run the risk of having people be unduly suspicious or dismissive that a black professional is who he says he is. It's not uncommon for lack lawyers get presumed to be criminal defendants, executives to be thought of as secretaries, and the like. So it's not an unreasonable thing for "Marcus" to claim even assuming Smallville is as enlightened as the next town.   

I'm curious as to the in-universe reason why Luthor is trying to enlist Lois in being aware of what is going on in the mines. Is it just because he's missing his version of her? Because he knows that she and Kal-El are together and wants to put a wedge between them somehow? Because he thinks involving her is the best way to get to the truth?

Does he have his own agenda with the XK? I think that his AI had said that he had run out of regular K to power his suit. Is XK a viable substitute? Or is he worried about the possibility of multiple quasi-Kryptonians popping up?

Random speculation:

Given Morgan Edge's talk about enough XK to resurrect an army of Kryptonians, is it possible that he is not the original recipe Morgan Edge but is somehow a Kryptonian himself or influenced by one? Possibly Zod?

[immortalfrieza]

On 5/20/2021 at 3:11 PM, PAForrest said:

Wasn't the whole reverse mortgage thing in the beginning a way to try and save family farms? Isn't that why Martha took one out on her own farm - to help other family farms? I always thought Smallville was supposed to be a, well, small one-horse kind of town surrounded by family farms. The mine doesn't really seem to fit that scenario, and certainly not for a suburb of Metropolis - which for sure wouldn't account for the supposed miles between Metropolis and Smallville.

From what I can piece together from the previous episodes, it seems like Morgan Edge was behind the widespread foreclosings. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been systematically cutting Smallville off from any possible sources of prosperity long before the series started so he could swoop in with this whole "make this a mining town!" thing, use the town as cheap labor, and then abandon it when he got what he wanted.

On 5/20/2021 at 10:33 AM, blackwing said:

In this map above, where is Smallville?  Is it too unimportant in the grand scheme of things (since nobody knows that Superman is from Smallville) or is it under the girl's arm?

Can't help but point out, that girl in front of the map? That's actually a guy.

On 5/20/2021 at 7:06 AM, PAForrest said:

 ... except for you Jonathan Kent. All you get is perpetually screwed over. Yikes. I understand now why I've quickly come to resent this lopsided relationship between the bros and will always feel sorry for the older brother who is mostly overlooked and/or forgotten by his parents on a weekly basis. I already endured a version of it for 15 years on another CW series. Jonathan, sweetie, honey, cookie - if you keep on this path giving 100% and getting back, on a good day 40%, but most of the time 2%, it will not end well for you. It will end very very very badly for you. Seriously, you might want to consider running away and joining the circus or the military. Save yourself!

My biggest worry is they're setting Jonathan up for either a big depression storyline or worse turn him into a supervillain as a result. I don't think they'll actually go there, but considering how Jonathan has been royally screwed over every single day while his brother has been coddled and babied even when he royally screws up ever since Jonathan went to his grandma's funeral I wouldn't be surprised.

[Quark]

I cannot stand Jordan. I wish he would go to the same school that Tag went too (and didn't come back).

Other than that, this was a very enjoyable episode. I love Lois.

[Proteus]

So glad this show is back.

I enjoyed the Lois/Lex team up.

[moonshine71]

On 5/18/2021 at 11:08 PM, bettername2come said:

I think you're forgetting the obvious...26 letters in the alphabet...DC obsession with the number 52...There's two worlds of each letter!

 

On 5/19/2021 at 8:36 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I think S&L employs the same geography as the show Smallville, namely that Metropolis is a big town in Kansas about three hours away from Smallville, rather than a New York proxy on the East Coast. In which case, it would make sense that they would be on the same football schedule.

One thing that occurs to me: the twins are canonically freshmen and the move to Smallville seemingly happened early during their freshman year. So there probably wasn't much time for all the taunting and other problems to have taken place while they were at Metropolis. Sure, some of the kids may have gone to the same junior high as the twins and been douches then. But the notion of a longstanding torment doesn't make sense if they were in Metropolis High for like a month.

 

1. Plausible, maybe, but not especially likely. Most high schools will play about 7 league games(pretty local) and 3 non-league ones which will usually also be relatively local. A 3 hour trip is unusual. A team like Metropolis, who Lois referred to as one of the top programs in the nation, is more than likely going to fill those non-league spots(especially a game that requires that kind of travel from one of them) w/ another powerhouse program. Also, wtf kind of name is Metropolis High? That's like having Chicago High, New York High, or L.A. High. At least give it a direction.

 

Even more unusual would be spending the night in a hotel. One, for budget reasons. Two, for the exact reason we see, so they don't have to worry about kids getting into any kind of trouble. A post-game 3 hour bus trip is absolutely the norm for that type of situation. 

 

2. They couldn't even have been in school for a month. Football season hadn't started yet. Most states the football season starts concurrently with or even the week before the school year. Nothing about the whole bullying thing made sense. Apparently, the powerhouse program of Metropolis has like a dozen 14 yr old freshmen in their starting lineup.

Edited May 23, 2021 by moonshine71

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 hours ago, moonshine71 said:

 

1. Plausible, maybe, but not especially likely. Most high schools will play about 7 league games(pretty local) and 3 non-league ones which will usually also be relatively local. A 3 hour trip is unusual. A team like Metropolis, who Lois referred to as one of the top programs in the nation, is more than likely going to fill those non-league spots(especially a game that requires that kind of travel from one of them) w/ another powerhouse program. Also, wtf kind of name is Metropolis High? That's like having Chicago High, New York High, or L.A. High. At least give it a direction.

 

Even more unusual would be spending the night in a hotel. One, for budget reasons. Two, for the exact reason we see, so they don't have to worry about kids getting into any kind of trouble. A post-game 3 hour bus trip is absolutely the norm for that type of situation. 

 

2. They couldn't even have been in school for a month. Football season hadn't started yet. Most states the football season starts concurrently with or even the week before the school year. Nothing about the whole bullying thing made sense. Apparently, the powerhouse program of Metropolis has like a dozen 14 yr old freshmen in their starting lineup.

I generally agree with you, but...

I know Chicago has had Chicago Vocational Career Academy and many of the suburbs here have high schools just named after them, so it's not as off-putting that there might be a "Metropolis High School" as the main public school there.

Many years and pounds ago, I ran high school cross country at my private school here in Chicago. We annually did a road trip for a meet in Michigan for some reason that included an overnight stay. So the dynamics were of course different -- the meet was in the morning versus the evening, different sport, private vs. public, but it at least seems possible to me that Smallville High has boosters that make a big deal about showing the big city slickers what for and subsidizing the trip. 

Which I guess brings up a point the show glossed over: I wonder how the Crows attempted to square what happened with the supposed chaperones for the trip. "So we were heading to the liquor store, like we do, when suddenly these Metropolis kids started sassing Jordan, and Jordan decided to throw a punch at one of them, but somehow Jonathan got in the way and Jordan broke his arm." Doesn't seem like the that would go over well.   

Obviously underaged drinking is a thing, but Clark and Lois should have a talk with the kids about it. I'm guessing at least one of them have been drinking or trying to get drinks in at least half the episodes by now. The bonfire in the pilot, a house party they went to, Jonathan got trashed during the town festival thingamajig, and now this episode.

[moonshine71]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I generally agree with you, but...

I know Chicago has had Chicago Vocational Career Academy and many of the suburbs here have high schools just named after them, so it's not as off-putting that there might be a "Metropolis High School" as the main public school there.

Many years and pounds ago, I ran high school cross country at my private school here in Chicago. We annually did a road trip for a meet in Michigan for some reason that included an overnight stay. So the dynamics were of course different -- the meet was in the morning versus the evening, different sport, private vs. public, but it at least seems possible to me that Smallville High has boosters that make a big deal about showing the big city slickers what for and subsidizing the trip. 

Which I guess brings up a point the show glossed over: I wonder how the Crows attempted to square what happened with the supposed chaperones for the trip. "So we were heading to the liquor store, like we do, when suddenly these Metropolis kids started sassing Jordan, and Jordan decided to throw a punch at one of them, but somehow Jonathan got in the way and Jordan broke his arm." Doesn't seem like the that would go over well.   

Obviously underaged drinking is a thing, but Clark and Lois should have a talk with the kids about it. I'm guessing at least one of them have been drinking or trying to get drinks in at least half the episodes by now. The bonfire in the pilot, a house party they went to, Jonathan got trashed during the town festival thingamajig, and now this episode.

Good points.

 

Suburbs sure. But even in my suburb outside of Columbus, Ohio we have 3 high schools, so there's Hilliard Darby, Hilliard Davidson, and Hilliard Bradley(often just referred to by their second names) and most of the surrounding suburbs are the same. Columbus has multiple high schools, including Columbus West, North, etc, and other non-directional names. Most other cities will use a direction, a historic figure, or a description like the example you described(Chicago Vocational Career Academy)when naming a school, i.e. Columbus Alternative School, Cincinnati Taft, Dayton Stebbins.

 

Metropolis is literally supposed to be... a metropolis. The city school district would have multiple high schools. They could have at least called it Metropolis Central. It just seems so lazy. 

Maybe Metropolis Luthor...😂s

 

Also, I didn't mean to imply an overnight trip never happens in high school sports. We did them for wrestling tournaments that lasted 2 or 3 days. And would certainly make sense for the x-country trip you described. But for a 3 hr trip, a post game overnight is pretty unlikely.  I know the distance hasn't been specified, but if was significantly greater than that, an overnight trip BEFORE the game would be in order(no coach wants there kids to get off a 6 hour bus trip and then immediately try and play game, plus the notion that Sarah was going to go that day suggests it couldn't be THAT far). Pre-game overnights are a lot more common. Hell, i played football at a small college, and that's how we did it, even for night games. Overnight before the game, the whole thing was super structured w/ films, walk throughs, meals, and lights out. Then back on the bus and straight home after the game. Even for 8-10 hour trips. They weren't messing around w/ us in a hotel after a game w/ nothing to do but get into mischief, and we were adults. This had a bunch of kids w/ virtually no supervision(the twins are 14?) just left to do whatever they want. No chaperones I guess.

 

And just going out to buy booze.😕

I don't want to hear about how bad Jordan wants to play our how sad Jon is that he is out for the season, because that is literally something that would get all the kids involved kicked off the team for the rest of the season, and they didn't give a shit about that. Yeah, high school kids drink, but having the audacity to pull something like that on a team trip? Any coach that would let something like that go would lose control of his team. Hell, it would likely be out of his hands, because any competent school or district would have clear rules for that kind of thing.

Edited May 23, 2021 by moonshine71

[kickingnames]

One more point for the “I wish the writers understood football in high school, or football, or high school”:

The premiere episode had the twins starting their first day of high school the day that Martha Kent died. So exactly how long were they at Metropolis High before they moved to Smallville? Sure, they could have former classmates from elementary/middle school, but the whole set up for “bullies from our old school” is just wonky.

[scarynikki12]

I went to a K-12 school so that was my default assumption until I came here. The simplest answer is that they all went to the same elementary and middle schools before the Kents moved to Smallville.

[arc]

15 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

but it at least seems possible to me that Smallville High has boosters that make a big deal about showing the big city slickers what for and subsidizing the trip. 

According to Kyle, the town has no prospects besides Morgan Edge and the mines, so Smallville High probably doesn't have rich boosters.

12 hours ago, kickingnames said:

Sure, they could have former classmates from elementary/middle school, but the whole set up for “bullies from our old school” is just wonky.

It totally is, but there is one line in there that tries to establish Jordan and his bullies knew each other from before high school. In the game, Cutter says "gonna stick your ass*, Jo-jo. Just like grade school."

* <shrug> I dunno, I don't think this is common slang but I don't know modern youth culture.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, arc said:

According to Kyle, the town has no prospects besides Morgan Edge and the mines, so Smallville High probably doesn't have rich boosters.

It totally is, but there is one line in there that tries to establish Jordan and his bullies knew each other from before high school. In the game, Cutter says "gonna stick your ass*, Jo-jo. Just like grade school."

* <shrug> I dunno, I don't think this is common slang but I don't know modern youth culture.

First of all, Kyle is not exactly a reliable narrator on this point. It is surprising that he can still talk while kissing Morgan's ass 24-7..

But accepting for discussion's sake that Kyle is telling the truth that Smallville as a whole is hurting nd will die without the great and powerful Morgan Edge, this does not mean that a) there are not people who are well to do within the town who might get together to allow their football team to have this indulgence or  b) that even the people of the town can't really afford it and it would be more sensible to spend their money elsewhere, they have made the choice to do something nice for the kids and/or to try to put a brave face on when confronted with their financial problems. 

In the big scheme of things, I wouldn't even say it's that much money. Let's say for discussion's sake, there are 50 players on Smallville High's team. You would probably then want somewhere on the order of 15-20 rooms, including coaches and chaperones. Let's say the hotel rate is $150/night/room. So we would be looking at about $3000 for the hotel stay, Maybe an extra couple of hundred to pay for the bus driver working two days (as opposed to overtime on one) and to reimburse for some expenses. 

Indeed, Morgan Edge himself could find that kind of money in the seats of his limo if it were needed and he wanted to continue on his campaign to win the hearts and minds of Smallville. So for me, the notion that the trip was an unaffordable indulgence for struggling Smallville is not much of a concern.

As to "stick," one football slang for the word is "a hit" or "to make a good tackle." It's possible that the writers meant it that way, but that of course would raise other questions.. I think it would be unlikely that a grade school would be playing football,, although there's Pee Wee football. I also think it would be unlikely that any football would be tackle, or if it was touch/flag that Cutter would talk about it being a "stick." And of course, it that loner Jordan would be playing football even if it was. All this is probably WAY overthinking the notion that he was probably threatening to hit him in the game like he did off-the-field in grade school.

[blackwing]

I'm getting really tired of the Jordan Show.  As others have said, I really couldn't care less about him or his issues.  This show is called "Superman and Lois".  It's supposed to primarily be about Superman and Lois.  I get that this is a more middle-aged version of Superman and Lois than we are used to... typically they are presented as being no more than early 30s.  And one huge difference in this version of the story versus others is that they have teenaged kids.

However, I for one am really not here for the teen angst.  There's a reason why I avoided all those shows during the WB network days like Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, 7th Heaven, Felicity etc.  Just don't really care for it, and I am not liking it at all here.  I'm tired of whiny annoying Jordan whining about how "I finally found something I'm good at and you're trying to take it away".  Well yeah, cause you are having difficulties controlling your temper and you are going to end up killing someone and exposing not just yourself but your dad as a metahuman.

17 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

I went to a K-12 school so that was my default assumption until I came here. The simplest answer is that they all went to the same elementary and middle schools before the Kents moved to Smallville.

Yeah, but this is supposed to be Metropolis, a huge city.  I would assume there is more than one high school in Metropolis.  I've been trying to decide whether the Kent kids went to private school in the city.  Their parents are "the world's most famous reporter" and a senior reporter in his own right, so they would have had good family income.  Most public schools in big cities are stereotypically considered not great (I'm looking at Chicago and Los Angeles as examples).  So maybe they have been at private school for their entire education?  If that's the case, why would a rich private school like Metropolis High be playing a podunk poor country town high school like Smallville, even not considering the geographic distance?  I guess there is a lot of handwaving that must be done.

If the Kent kids went to public school... with public school systems in any decent sized town, generally there are one to three elementary schools which feed into one junior high (middle) school.  Then several junior high schools feed into the high school.  There was a group of about 10 Metropolis kids that showed up for the Jets vs. Sharks brawl.  I guess I have to handwave that those 10 kids (out of.... say 50 to 80 total on the Metropolis football team) were a group that all lived in the same area along with the Kents and progressed through the same series of schools.

5 hours ago, arc said:

It totally is, but there is one line in there that tries to establish Jordan and his bullies knew each other from before high school. In the game, Cutter says "gonna stick your ass*, Jo-jo. Just like grade school."

* <shrug> I dunno, I don't think this is common slang but I don't know modern youth culture.

 

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

As to "stick," one football slang for the word is "a hit" or "to make a good tackle." It's possible that the writers meant it that way, but that of course would raise other questions.. I think it would be unlikely that a grade school would be playing football,, although there's Pee Wee football. I also think it would be unlikely that any football would be tackle, or if it was touch/flag that Cutter would talk about it being a "stick." And of course, it that loner Jordan would be playing football even if it was. All this is probably WAY overthinking the notion that he was probably threatening to hit him in the game like he did off-the-field in grade school.

I took it as typical teen taunting of each other... I think of it more literally.  He's saying he's going to give it to Jordan up the chute, he's going to anally penetrate him.  I don't think he is saying he actually wants to do it, but it's just a version of the emasculating taunting that teen boys say to each other.

[Peace 47]

On 5/20/2021 at 8:06 AM, PAForrest said:

I suspect not a single writer on this show has ever even been to a football game, much less understands how it's played or supposed to be coached. It's time to move away from this sport - and maybe the writers should stay away from sports entirely. I don't think it's their thing at all.

Like him or not, Jordan is a danger to everyone around him except Clark. At this point he should be home-schooled until such a time as he gets a handle on his powers.

On the first point, it made me think that the writers were like that one SNL sketch from a few years ago, where Kenan Thompson, playing a movie director, was asking the extras on a movie shoot if they had any sports background at all, and one of the extras was like, “I took a sports movement class at Juilliard.”

On the second point, that is sad that Jordan is so dangerous to everyone but Clark and makes you think how difficult it was for Clark that he had no one to mentor him on the “powers” front (except that stone cold AI of his bio father that he eventually found).  I know that they are realistically portraying a 14-year-old in emotional turmoil, but I did think Jordan nearly killing that bully might have been a little far if this kid is supposed be Superman Jr.  It’s a fine line, though.

On 5/20/2021 at 11:12 AM, legaleagle53 said:

Except that the final episode of the Crisis crossover made it clear that Superman, Supergirl, Flash, and Black Lightning all exist on the same earth -- Earth-Prime.

I have only a passing familiarity with the other Arrowverse shows, and I know that posters here have mentioned that production staff have mentioned outside of the four corners of the show that it is supposed to be in the same continuity and that there was a Batwoman crossover that didn’t happen, etc., but I kind of wonder if they will eventually just decide to keep this show separate and in its own continuity, just based on where the show has developed so far and the positive critical response so far.  

I agree with everyone about Jonathan needing some wins.  I don’t want all his goodness to be drained out of him by suffering defeat after defeat.  It was nice that Lois had a moment with Jordan in the ep, but I think there is a lot of room for Jonathan and Lois to bond over being the non-powered family members.  Lois is remarkable and could teach Jonathan to be a remarkable “normal” human. 

[Avabelle]

I’m so exhausted by Jordan. He gives me the vibes of a kid who would shoot up his school. It’s so annoying watching Clark and Lois ignore Jon time and time again in favour of all Jordan’s drama. Jordan breaks Jon’s arm and messes up his potential football future* yet it’s all about how Jordan feels.

*cannot take either kid seriously as a potential footballer. They’re tiny - in height and frame.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Avabelle

[John Potts]

So more fraternal conflict. Did like that it was both Kent boys who won the game, not just Jordan. And seriously, nobody’s too old for ice cream (especially in this weather)!

It must be weird to be in a family where you can casually drop, “Hey, I was nearly killed today…”

I guess they can’t avoid making Sam Lane villainous, resorting to lethal force at the first opportunity.

I wonder if this “Special School” Tag is attending (or rather, playing truant from) will turn out to be run by Cadmus?

On 5/19/2021 at 3:21 AM, cambridgeguy said:

They never really explained why Metropolis would host Smallville, did they?

Maybe they’re both in Kansas? I know traditionally Metropolis is somewhere like NY or DC (or these days, Chicago) but possibly its closer in this version.

On 5/20/2021 at 9:11 PM, PAForrest said:

I always thought Smallville was supposed to be a, well, small one-horse kind of town surrounded by family farms. The mine doesn't really seem to fit that scenario, and certainly not for a suburb of Metropolis - which for sure wouldn't account for the supposed miles between Metropolis and Smallville.

I’ve heard it said that Metropolis is NY by day and Gotham in NY by night (though possibly NY also exists in the DCEU).

On 5/19/2021 at 3:27 AM, bettername2come said:

Nor was it unrealistic that they explicitly ignored their father's command for them to stay in the room. They are believably dumb teenagers who make believably dumb decisions. It's quite refreshing.

I liked that. They’re not out stealing cars or dealing meth, just doing dumb teenage stuff.

On 5/19/2021 at 3:37 AM, Lantern7 said:

As much of a drag a Clark can be as a father, as one-note as he might come across as Superman, you can see why controlling his emotions is an ongoing battle for him. It's not always easy to be a good person.

I thought we might get a version of his Word of Cardboard speech.

On 5/20/2021 at 9:33 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

The mines itself could have always been there, but the X-Kryptonite could have been a relatively new development.

Didn't it arrive in the meteor shower we saw in the teaser to the last episode? (It helps binge watching them rather than viewing them "live")