S01.E07: Man Of Steel

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Clark struggles to help Jordan who is grappling with a new power.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

I love Clark using his freeze breath to get Jordan’s attention. I hope they keep using his powers in little ways like that. It’s so what we all would do.

Well Luthor’s first name isn’t Marcus. Not a surprise but it destroys my Waldo Luthor theory so I’m sad.

So Luthor’s Superman was a good guy until one day when he and Edge’s army started destroying everything. And Luthor and his Lois had a teenage daughter. It makes sense that he’s concerned that our Supes will follow the same path. Too bad he doesn’t know the name of the show. I wonder if there’s any commonality between him and John Henry Irons besides their face. 

Jon needs tons of hugs and a Brother Of The Millennium trophy. He does have a cute girl paying attention to him and got to tell off Jordan. 

So now Clark and Lois know that Luthor’s a Luthor, have theorized he’s from another Earth, and arranged a meeting with Superman. I’m liking the pace on this.

I’m glad they realized having Jordan’s powers be connected to the family was the way to go. It’s working so well.

I like Lana’s friend Emily and I hope things work out for her when Lois takes down Edge.

New theory: Morgan Edge is also from Luthor’s Earth and that’s why he’s been so deliberate about things like hiring Lana and the others. He knows they were part of the team previously and he wants everything to be the same. 

Brother bonding! And Kent family truth telling! Can’t wait for next episode.

[AimingforYoko]

Well, Wolé Parks is not as physically intimidating as Shaq, but he is a much better actor. They kinda have to turn him now, don't they?

[Jediknight]

This freaking show.

David Paul Ramsey hyped a big reveal, and delivered on 4 of them.  Lois and "Luthor" had a daughter, Superman killed Lois, Steel, and there's no connection to Luthor they just stole the AI.  Freaking hell.

Can't wait for Steel to realize that Clark won't turn on humanity, and join up with him.  Steel, Superman and the Kents vs Edge, his army, and Sam Lane finishing up the season.

[bettername2come]

I loved Clark’s use of the gentle icy wind to get Jordan’s attention when he had the noise-canceling headphones on. Also, he has super hearing but noise-canceling headphones block everything out? 

Didn’t expect to see Luthor and Lois with a kid. 

Lois confronting a guy who just lied about his identity alone in the middle of nowhere at his creepy RV? Classic Lois, yet so stupid. I love seeing Lois and Clark investigating things together and using his super-vision for the mundane but super-useful task of following bad guys at a safe distance. I guess based on the conversation that included “based on what we know now about the multiverse” that they are Earth Prime Lois and Clark, but I don’t like it. They’re too isolated from the other shows. 

Evil Supes just murdering Other Lois on live TV is tragic. 

John Henry Irons must be the most on-the-nose comic book name I ever heard. Wasn’t familiar with the character before. I did not call him not being a Luthor. I feel a little tricked, but good job keeping the real identity under wraps. 

I was afraid Jon was going to get hurt by Jordan again when he came home after his conversation with Sarah. Glad they were able to work together and be back to their usual selves celebrating their rescue of Dad. How heavy was that hammer? Was this a sign of Jonathan getting powers? Or does he just take after his Mom? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOKVFAuanyY
 

[cambridgeguy]

Kudos for hiding the big twist right in the episode title.  I'm assuming that we'll get more backstory on the Prime Earth's John Henry Irons since Lois recognized him immediately.  And since he's the only version around there's no way he stays an antagonist for much longer.  It did look like Clark was about to start beating him up before Lois stopped him, so I don't think they'll be buds anytime soon though.

Lois had better hope Leslie Larr doesn't decide to start eavesdropping on her more often - that'll blow Clark's identify for sure.  Superhearing might be a little powerful given its huge range and relatively quick learning curve.

[Primal Slayer]

Of course, good episode! With a nice twist. Luthor isnt the big "bad", a doppleganger of JHI/Steel is! But of course this Earths John is dead. How very Black Siren of him.

I'm going to assume that John/Lois's E? daughter will end up being Johns niece in Earth Prime.

[Lady Calypso]

Yet another solid episode. This show continues to impress. Now, as someone who is not familiar with Superman lore in general, the reveal didn't work on me as it would with others who are familiar with John Henry Irons, but they certainly made it clear that he's a very important character. And the backstory they gave here for John really did work better than the last few episodes. John and Lois had a daughter from his Earth! Whoa! And she helped him build his suit!

Interesting that Lois seemed to recognize his name immediately, so clearly there is even a connection with Lois and John. I wonder what that connection is, but it makes sense that she would. It does tie both worlds together a little bit more, and it makes sense as to why John would not trust Superman, since he killed Other Lois on live television. 

But they've made it clear now that John will become an ally more than an adversary down the line. 

I can't even fathom the nefarious plans Edge and Leslie have with X-Kryptonite, besides building an army. There's more going on there. 

And poor Lana trying to be a spy but now has a friend in danger's way. This has become more complicated for her, and I fear for Emily's life.

Now, onto my favourite part of the show, which is the family stuff. I love that Clark and Lois chose to finally tell the boys the entire truth. I think it's important for them to be aware of everything since, with their parents, there comes a little bit of danger to their family. And I like that the family won't keep secrets from each other.

The show did a good job at showing the pain that Jordan was in with his superhearing. I can handwave a little bit that Jordan adjusted to his new power very quickly, partially with his connection with Sarah but also with his family. It led to a badass Superboys saving their father. I love that Jonathan even got to use the hammer to smash the lights. I also liked the fight with Jonathan and Jordan. It felt very realistic, especially on Jonathan's end. He just broke his wrist the night before because of Jordan, and now had to lie again to people about Jordan being sick. Unfortunately, the little line from Lois about Jonathan not making any friends is too true. Poor kid is struggling to adjust, so he needed to let that anger out somewhere. He wasn't aiming to hurt Jordan permanently; just in that moment, he saw Jordan in pain and took advantage because it made him feel better for a moment. 

I do hope this ISN'T leading to a weird love triangle, though. I could see Jonathan having a crush on Sarah because she has treated him better than anyone else in the school by far, but I hope that it's more him leaning on the one person who he has somewhat befriended in the last couple of months in Smallville. 

But I love that Jordan/Jonathan made up through saving their father and bonding over 14 year old Jonathan stealing their mother's car and driving it without a permit. Impressive they made it to John Henry Irons' hideout to begin with.

Great reveals overall, and another really solid episode.

[UnoAgain]

I haven't kept up with so many shows and too little time... But does lois know that she and JHI were a thing where he's from... Does she know Bout Their kid?... It'll be interesting to see that dynamic... How does Natalie interact with essentially her Half-brothers and bio mom... And vice versa

[BeautifulFlower]

30 minutes ago, UnoAgain said:

I haven't kept up with so many shows and too little time... But does lois know that she and JHI were a thing where he's from... Does she know Bout Their kid?... It'll be interesting to see that dynamic... How does Natalie interact with essentially her Half-brothers and bio mom... And vice versa

No, she doesn't know any of that. All she knows is that he's John Henry Irons from another Earth. She might find out down the line.

[scarynikki12]

11 minutes ago, UnoAgain said:

I haven't kept up with so many shows and too little time... But does lois know that she and JHI were a thing where he's from... Does she know Bout Their kid?... It'll be interesting to see that dynamic... How does Natalie interact with essentially her Half-brothers and bio mom... And vice versa

Lois doesn't know. At the pace the show's going she may find out next episode but right now we the audience are the only ones other than Irons who know anything about the Earth he's from. I'm assuming that there's an Earth Prime version of their daughter but I really hope they don't start acting like she's Lois' and Irons' daughter. First because she will have her own parents (I could see Earth Prime Irons still being her dad). Second, and more importantly, doppelgangers are their own people. Arrow made me crazy by not only having a story where Quentin Lance tried to turn Black Siren into his dead daughter, and her doppelganger, Laurel but the other characters eventually signed off on it. Except the two women were not the same person and should never have been treated as such. In one of the crossover events we learned that the Quentin's Nazi doppelganger murdered his daughter (and Earth Prime's doppelganger of Sara from Legends of Tomorrow) for being bisexual. Based on Quentin's behavior on Arrow there should have been a whole arc of Sara hating him because his doppelganger murdered hers but there wasn't because the actions of their doppelgangers had nothing to do with them.

To bring it back to this show I think Lois learning about the life Irons led with her doppelganger before Crisis will be important to laying the foundation for him becoming an ally to Superman and taking down Edge but it will hurt the show to act like he's her second husband or the twins stepfather. I can see them bringing in Earth Prime Natalie but she's not the daughter of this Lois or this Irons and they shouldn't pretend that she is.

As you can see I have strong feelings about doppelgangers and the Arrowverse. It's leftover trauma.

I totally forgot to single out David Ramsey's direction. He did a great job and it made me imagine Diggle in Green Lantern mode watching over everyone.

[thuganomics85]

Damn, they really weren't messing around with this episode, huh?

So, it looks like "Captain Luthor" might not be a Luthor after-all.  Instead, he is John Henry Irons; a name that clearly screams "from the comics!"; someone who died six years ago in this universe, but from his universe, he not only was married to Lois, but they even had a child!  Oh, and he (and their daughter) get to watch Lois get straight-up murdered by Evil Superman in his universe and that is why he is understandably not his biggest fan: multiple universes be damned.  There are still a lot of questions I have about what went down in that universe, but I'm hopefully it will be explained going forward.  Wole Parks got a lot of meaty material in this episode, and did a pretty great job, I thought.

Meanwhile, as I find myself saying numerous times on this show, poor Jonathan.  Kid spends his entire day covering for Jordan's absence and the video, and still tries to be a good wingman for him with Sarah, only for Jordan to eavesdrop at a moment where Jonathan and Sarah are bonding, and assume that he is trying to make a move.  Yeah, I don't blame Jonathan for chewing his ass out for that (he especially has a point that Jordan hasn't even officially tried to start anything with her yet, so possessive much, buddy?)  And while at least Clark did thank him for the assist (really, save) at the end, I noticed during Clark's conversation with Lois on the porch that he only mentioned they were lucky that Jordan was able to figure out his hearing powers in time and not credit Jonathan for a) driving, b) motivating Jordan to concentrate and c) running John Henry Irons' ass down at the right time.  I'm just saying, the poor guy is really going the extra mile here and isn't getting enough credit.  I almost won't blame him if he went full-blown supervillain with all the shit he has to deal with, but I doubt it will happen, because he's just that damn good of a person.

Annoyances with his behavior aside, I can only imagine how crazy and painful it must have been for Jordan to figure out all of that superhearing stuff and not being able to control it at first.  I liked the sound editing and now the episode made it feel for him.

I'm guessing Lana was being cagey about her friend signing up to the outreach program because she was (correctly) worried about it being part of whatever scheme Morgan Edge is cooking up.  But him signing her up himself wasn't an accident.  Does he suspect that Lana might be a mole or was it just a simple power play?  Either way, watch yourself, Lana!  Not sure you can even trust your husband, since I feel like Kyle might love Morgan more than you at this point!

I do hope Morgan's guys eventually get off that mountain Supes put them and the van on, heh.

Great seeing David Ramsey's name in the credits again and I hope he gets another shot in the director's chair.  Thought he did great work here.  Of course, even if Arrow is done, I would be down for old Diggle to pop up on any of the Arrowverse shows (well, maybe not The Flash right now, unless they can get their shit together soon...)

Love it whenever Clark and Lois team-up.  Even when Clark is concerned for her, you can see how much he trusts her and knows when to follow her lead.  In general, their entire relationship is so refreshing.

Irons' A.I. certainly seems to be matching most of the snarky A.I. out there on television, with her "Maybe you wouldn't have to repair me if you didn't crush me last time, you jerk!" bit.

Another good episode.  I hope they keep this momentum going.

[Diapason Untuned]

You got me, show. I'm not too proud to admit that. I honestly didn't see the Steel reveal coming, even when the show was dropping hints with his daughter and working for Lex once. I love when a show can genuinely surprise me.

Really, this show is just getting more and more excellent by the day. Just brilliant. I really liked how Jordan tried to power through his superhearing training and kept failing, until of course he manages it by spying on his crush. That's so teenagery it almost hurt, especially the hypocrisy he showed to Jon there. I'm glad the show gave him a win when he saved Clark, he needed it.

Edge is real nasty piece of work the way he keeps manipulating all the women around him, even that poor assistant of his. She really came through for you this episode, Edge. Treat her a little better than that.

[Primal Slayer]

If they introduce Prime Irons "daughter" they should just pull directly from the comics and not pull a Flash

Natasha Irons is Johns niece in the comics

Gives a new and different dynamic.

[Cthulhudrew]

That was a clever twist. I actually recall thinking way back in ep 1 or 2 that "Captain Luthor"s suit looked a lot like Steel, but the writers totally surprised me. Didn't see it coming.

Overall, a pretty meaty episode. A lot of plot advancement.

Just two things that bug me, and I'm sure the answer is "because plot reasons":

1) Why did Clark have to go into the camper to investigate rather than just use his x-ray vision like he did later in the episode?

2) Why doesn't Leslie Larr use her super-hearing to listen in on Lois' conversations more frequently and learn Clark's (and Jordan's) secret?

[dwmarch]

4 hours ago, bettername2come said:

Glad they were able to work together and be back to their usual selves celebrating their rescue of Dad. How heavy was that hammer? Was this a sign of Jonathan getting powers?

I guess he's worthy...

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

And poor Lana trying to be a spy but now has a friend in danger's way. This has become more complicated for her, and I fear for Emily's life.

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

I'm guessing Lana was being cagey about her friend signing up to the outreach program because she was (correctly) worried about it being part of whatever scheme Morgan Edge is cooking up.  But him signing her up himself wasn't an accident.  Does he suspect that Lana might be a mole or was it just a simple power play?  Either way, watch yourself, Lana!  Not sure you can even trust your husband, since I feel like Kyle might love Morgan more than you at this point!

I have a feeling Edge is not fooled by Lana's amateur hour tradecraft for even a second. He knows she's sneaking around behind his back and he's going to kill one of her friends for it and he doesn't even care if she knows. Boss.

2 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Annoyances with his behavior aside, I can only imagine how crazy and painful it must have been for Jordan to figure out all of that superhearing stuff and not being able to control it at first.  I liked the sound editing and now the episode made it feel for him.

Looks like he's not the scientist of the family. Why did he go right up to the clock before taking his headphones off? If your hearing was suddenly magnified to head-exploding volume wouldn't you want to start with soft, distant noises first? Take the headphones off halfway maybe?

I don't think there will be a love triangle since it looks like Jonathan is going to end up with the "out of his league" gal who approached him this episode.

2 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

She really came through for you this episode, Edge. Treat her a little better than that.

She did seem to be at her most effective although I couldn't help but notice she spent most of the episode standing around smirking. Not sure why she takes shit from Edge when she could fold him like a lawn chair at any given moment.

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Now, as someone who is not familiar with Superman lore in general, the reveal didn't work on me as it would with others who are familiar with John Henry Irons, but they certainly made it clear that he's a very important character.

I'm in the same boat but the reveal worked well for me because it made me want to know who this guy was (like the reference to Solomon Grundy in the Crash Test Dummies "Superman's Song" - the only villain Superman ever went up against whose name kinda rhymes with money!) The way Lois reacted made it clear that they know him and they're somewhat afraid of him or what he could potentially do.

Having said that, why did he wait until his meeting with Superman was set up before putting his fancy lights together? If Supes had gone scouting earlier in the day, he would have known he was flying into a trap.

For that matter, "bad guy wants to meet you in a very specific location" should be a sign that Superman is headed towards a trap but he's fallen for it a few times so far.

I also feel compelled to note that Irons has not behaved in previous episodes like he's got a teenage daughter back home who is expecting him to "be right back".

My first question at Superman's AMA would be "how is it that your glasses are such an effective disguise?" I feel like a few people should recognize him by now, especially in a small town.

[arc]

Hologramps sucks as a person -- no empathy -- but also, they couldn't get the actor back in person? Just voiceover? What's the in-universe explanation? The computer's GPU is overheating?

Edge's undercover X-kryptonite operation in Smallville has posters saying "the future of humanity starts today"??? ROFL.

I really don't buy that little ol' human hearing protectors -- which do about 31 dB of noise reduction -- would help Jordan that much. Esp since those things wouldn't block sound from the inside. That is, sound reaching his eardrum or cochlea via the blood vessels carrying his heartbeat, or the Eustachian tubes. The latter would considerably increase his exposure to outside sounds any time he swallowed, gulped, or yawned. (Really, try it some time while wearing earplugs or noise reduction ear muffs!)

Wait, did Clark really just enter the RV blind? The man has X-ray vision and superhearing!!!! And this was even worse when he met up with not-Luthor in the warehouse/workshop of doom. The limited series "Superman: Secret Identity" is so much better with a (justly) paranoid Superman who scans for threats from long range and then uses long range heat vision to disable them before entering the scene.

"that's what her call was about" -- Irons isn't wrong thanks to the writers making it so but WTF, that is a huge leap. Similarly, Lois finding out the not-Marcus is actually John Henry Irons who died six years ago -- how would that lead her to think he's The Stranger??? These leaps in logic are technically right but they're not supported by anything!!!!! At least Clark heard Irons speak Kryptonian. Clark is the only one here who made the right deduction logically rather than just guessing right because the writers needed him to.

I am super skeeved out that Lana is doing these leadership applicant interviews in an open-plan office.

Why in the world did genius inventor John Henry Irons rig up his red solar lights to all blow up if one of them was knocked out????? I think I'm beginning to see why he couldn't kill his world's Evil Supes. Also, his plan was to confront Evil Supes the moment Irons' tracker started working? Without a working hammer, or red sun lights, or kryptonite? He basically planned to fail. Also, to be clear, there are at least five other evil Kryptonian-level superhumans in this world so a "plan" to kill the leader and then "come right back" seems like he'd be leaving the job 85% unfinished.

"Morgan Edge called me himself […] Mr Edge even said seeing you and I together is what convinced him to choose me" -- this is the most ridiculous "billionaire hanging around his most podunk operation all the time" since Newsradio's Jimmy James. I mean, OK, sure, we know this is the linchpin of his master plan, but to everyone in the show, this is super ridiculous. But it's cool that Smallville has a florist that's open late at night.

I think it's a cute little homage that Leslie Larr is wearing a poofy-armed blouse, not unlike what Ursa wore in 1980's Superman 2. BTW, did Morgan Edge really risk his right-hand woman to an ultra-dangerous experimental procedure? Or did he elevate her to that position after she gained her powers?

Did Clark really leave the warehouse of doom and the RV unexamined after the fight? Because they're waiting for Sam Lane to start work in the morning? There is a bad guy with Superman-killing technology who's been dead for six years!!! Who had a super-suit and a literal spaceship!!! Call the boss in even if it's the middle of the night!!!!

6 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

I'm assuming that there's an Earth Prime version of their daughter but I really hope they don't start acting like she's Lois' and Irons' daughter. First because she will have her own parents

It's TV so they'll probably have an Earth Prime version of their daughter, but she literally won't have the same parents!!! I can buy John Henry Irons having an exact duplicate on the two Earths. But his daughter in one world will have 50% different DNA in another, maybe 100% if she's not descended from this world's John Henry Irons. How would she possibly look the same?

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, arc said:

I really don't buy that little ol' human hearing protectors -- which do about 31 dB of noise reduction -- would help Jordan that much. Esp since those things wouldn't block sound from the inside. That is, sound reaching his eardrum or cochlea via the blood vessels carrying his heartbeat, or the Eustachian tubes. The latter would considerably increase his exposure to outside sounds any time he swallowed, gulped, or yawned. (Really, try it some time while wearing earplugs or noise reduction ear muffs!)

Wait, did Clark really just enter the RV blind? The man has X-ray vision and superhearing!!!! And this was even worse when he met up with not-Luthor in the warehouse/workshop of doom. The limited series "Superman: Secret Identity" is so much better with a (justly) paranoid Superman who scans for threats from long range and then uses long range heat vision to disable them before entering the scene.

"that's what her call was about" -- Irons isn't wrong thanks to the writers making it so but WTF, that is a huge leap. Similarly, Lois finding out the not-Marcus is actually John Henry Irons who died six years ago -- how would that lead her to think he's The Stranger??? These leaps in logic are technically right but they're not supported by anything!!!!! At least Clark heard Irons speak Kryptonian. Clark is the only one here who made the right deduction logically rather than just guessing right because the writers needed him to.

I am super skeeved out that Lana is doing these leadership applicant interviews in an open-plan office.

Why in the world did genius inventor John Henry Irons rig up his red solar lights to all blow up if one of them was knocked out????? I think I'm beginning to see why he couldn't kill his world's Evil Supes. Also, his plan was to confront Evil Supes the moment Irons' tracker started working? Without a working hammer, or red sun lights, or kryptonite? He basically planned to fail. Also, to be clear, there are at least five other evil Kryptonian-level superhumans in this world so a "plan" to kill the leader and then "come right back" seems like he'd be leaving the job 85% unfinished.

"Morgan Edge called me himself […] Mr Edge even said seeing you and I together is what convinced him to choose me" -- this is the most ridiculous "billionaire hanging around his most podunk operation all the time" since Newsradio's Jimmy James. I mean, OK, sure, we know this is the linchpin of his master plan, but to everyone in the show, this is super ridiculous. But it's cool that Smallville has a florist that's open late at night.

I think it's a cute little homage that Leslie Larr is wearing a poofy-armed blouse, not unlike what Ursa wore in 1980's Superman 2. BTW, did Morgan Edge really risk his right-hand woman to an ultra-dangerous experimental procedure? Or did he elevate her to that position after she gained her powers?

Did Clark really leave the warehouse of doom and the RV unexamined after the fight? Because they're waiting for Sam Lane to start work in the morning? There is a bad guy with Superman-killing technology who's been dead for six years!!! Who had a super-suit and a literal spaceship!!! Call the boss in even if it's the middle of the night!!!!

It's TV so they'll probably have an Earth Prime version of their daughter, but she literally won't have the same parents!!! I can buy John Henry Irons having an exact duplicate on the two Earths. But his daughter in one world will have 50% different DNA in another, maybe 100% if she's not descended from this world's John Henry Irons. How would she possibly look the same?

It would have been way better to make it so they were super Kryptonian ear protectors that were whipped up to look like normal noise-cancelling headphones. And if they explicitly said something about the internal sounds.

It would have been better if the RV was lead-lined. As to the warehouse, Clark was trusting that the enemy of his enemy is his friend. It's easy to say knowing that Steel is a villain (for now) that Clark should have been more paranoid. But with the information that Clark had, he had every reason to think that Steel was on the level or even if not, Clark could easily deal with or escape from him. 

It really is not that huge a leap that Lois Lane, investigative reporter and woman he presumably thinks he knows really well because he was with her doppelganger for what looks to be around two decades based on Natasha's age, would need a major development to tear her away from investigating the mysterious story he presented. Yes, technically, she could have gone for any number of lesser things even, but it is a reasonable assumption based on what Steel knows that one of the few things that would  cause her to suddenly bolt was a development with the mines. 

Other posters have said that Lois seemed to have recognized the name John Henry Irons. So she may know more about this world's John Henry Irons than the audience does to help her reach the conclusion that he is the Stranger. But even assuming that this is the first time she had heard the name, she knows: 1. the Stranger is from another world. 2. John Henry Irons is believed dead. 3. The multiverse had been a thing where people who are dead in this world could have doppelgangers who are alive in other worlds. It is a reasonable hypothesis that Steel is one such doppelganger. There are of course other possibilities -- the military was simply wrong about the prime universe's John Henry Irons dying, or that John Henry Irons was somehow brought back to life through any of the many ways to resurrect people in the Arrowverse, or that we are dealing with a shapeshifter/clone. But Irons being a guy from another universe is as good a hypothesis as any. Add in a few more facts known to Lois: 4. The Stranger has access to levels of technology allowing him to face off with and escape Superman. 5. The person who seems to be John Henry Irons has used technology to enable him and Lois to escape superpowered Leslie 6. The Stranger and the person she met both know things that are not common knowledge (Clark's Kryptonian name for the Stranger, the existence and relevance of XK for JHI).

I was under the assumption that time was of the essence to confront Evil Supes, and there's something of the notion that cutting the head of the snake would potentially limit the threat. 

I think we saw Edge seeing Lana and friend together.  Edge has enough reason to hang out in Smallville: he wants to oversee the mining and shipping of XK and to create more quasi-Kryptonians and he wants to win a charm offensive with Smallville residents to ensure he can continue to mine XK unbothered. I assume most people in the town are on a watered-down version of Kyle's love for Morgan Edge and his potential revitalization of the town that they are flattered that Edge is personally staying in town and doing whatever, rather than leaving it to whatever subordinates. 

I am operating under the assumption that Larr got elevated because she got powers that ended up being stable 

Clark puts too much faith in the DOD in general, and in particular after he just got hit with kryptonite darts. I would have packed up the RV and everything in the warehouse to the Fortress and analyze it privately. 

It's possible through whatever post-Crisis excuse led to Steel ending up on Earth Prime that his Natasha has also ended up on Earth Prime. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[arc]

12 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It would have been better if the RV was lead-lined.

Smarter Superman stories from at least the 1990s have Supes realize that a seemingly normal thing being lead-lined is itself a big red flag that something bad is going on. It can still be worth it for a bad guy to hide their secret plans and equipment, but it’s not a move with no downsides.

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Well, Wolé Parks is not as physically intimidating as Shaq, but he is a much better actor. They kinda have to turn him now, don't they?

 

9 hours ago, Jediknight said:

This freaking show.

David Paul Ramsey hyped a big reveal, and delivered on 4 of them.  Lois and "Luthor" had a daughter, Superman killed Lois, Steel, and there's no connection to Luthor they just stole the AI.  Freaking hell.

Can't wait for Steel to realize that Clark won't turn on humanity, and join up with him.  Steel, Superman and the Kents vs Edge, his army, and Sam Lane finishing up the season.

 

9 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

Kudos for hiding the big twist right in the episode title.  I'm assuming that we'll get more backstory on the Prime Earth's John Henry Irons since Lois recognized him immediately.  And since he's the only version around there's no way he stays an antagonist for much longer.  It did look like Clark was about to start beating him up before Lois stopped him, so I don't think they'll be buds anytime soon though.

Lois had better hope Leslie Larr doesn't decide to start eavesdropping on her more often - that'll blow Clark's identify for sure.  Superhearing might be a little powerful given its huge range and relatively quick learning curve.

I suppose I might be in the minority here, but I hope this Steel turns at best an antihero who grudgingly teams up with Clark to fight Morgan Edge and Co. 

I think a heel-face turn would be unrealistic given that he has every reason to believe that Supes can and will turn evil at some point. At least hypothetically, a good John Henry Irons from another planet could have also survived Crisis and gotten to Earth Prime. 

8 hours ago, UnoAgain said:

I haven't kept up with so many shows and too little time... But does lois know that she and JHI were a thing where he's from... Does she know Bout Their kid?... It'll be interesting to see that dynamic... How does Natalie interact with essentially her Half-brothers and bio mom... And vice versa

Lois knows pretty much nothing about JHI beyond: he knows a lot about XK, he had enough high-tech tools to help them escape a powered person, he lied to her about his true identity, and he claims to be on a mission to save the world. 

We don't know one way if JHI's Natalie has made it from their pre-Crisis world to this one, and technically an Earth Prime version of Natalie that looks like the Natalie we saw in this episode should not exist in the same way because Lois and JHI did not have a child two decades ago. 

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Lois and JHI did not have a child two decades ago. 

That we know of. But it would be very unlikely that Lois has a child that she never mentioned before. And she would have recognized Marcus as John Henry Irons if that had been the case. I guess it could work if JHI somehow disguised himself back then and Lois gave their daughter up for adoption.

[Chicago Redshirt]

19 minutes ago, paulvdb said:

That we know of. But it would be very unlikely that Lois has a child that she never mentioned before. And she would have recognized Marcus as John Henry Irons if that had been the case. I guess it could work if JHI somehow disguised himself back then and Lois gave their daughter up for adoption.

I think it would be a stretch to think that Our Lois would have had a previous relationship with some one that resulted in a pregnancy 20 years ago.

There would be a lot to have to explain

1. Why Lois didn't recognize JHI as looking like, sounding like etc. her baby daddy

2. How Lois, even then presumably a professional journalist, had this pregnancy and baby without apparently impacting her career

3. How the subject of Lois's adopted baby never came up.

It seems like a lot of work to have the same actress play Natasha when you can just handwave that Earth Prime Natasha looks like JHI's original Natasha.

It is interesting I am trying to remember Lois having been depicted as having had serious boyfriends other than Clark in the main continuity of comics and movies, and the only one I can come up with was Richard from Superman Returns. 

[miasth]

How was John Henry Irons not in the hospital after not only getting hit by a truck but thrown as well? 

As usual I still love the relationship between Jon and Jor. I am really hoping the writers stick to little tiffs and do not destroy their close relationship for the sake of drama.

Lois and Clark learned though Lois was a smidge slower than Clark...no more family secrets. The family dynamics and chemistry is so great and for me makes the show.

I kept getting the feeling edge was suspicious of Lana.  I am not sure if it is the acting choices or the knowledge as a viewer but Edge just screams slimy in every scene he is in. 

Clark going to punch JHI even though he was down bothered me especially after all that talk about control. He was mad and rightfully so but it seemed out of character. 

Seems like we will be getting the full story about Alt Earth soon.  I suspect there is more to it than Supes just turning evil and going all World Domination!

[bettername2come]

43 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

It is interesting I am trying to remember Lois having been depicted as having had serious boyfriends other than Clark in the main continuity of comics and movies, and the only one I can come up with was Richard from Superman Returns. 

Lois on Smallville dated Oliver Queen for several months. And she almost married Lex Luthor on Lois and Clark, although they hadn’t dated long when that happened.

If we do get a Natasha doppelgänger on Earth Prime, I’d prefer it be someone completely unrelated, i.e, Ray Palmer and Clark of Earth-96 just happening to look identical except for eye color, despite being from different species. 

[cambridgeguy]

2 hours ago, miasth said:

How was John Henry Irons not in the hospital after not only getting hit by a truck but thrown as well? 

He should be, but if you want to hand wave it away he was able to get the hammer between the truck and himself.  So with the hammer absorbing most of the impact and a bunch of cardboard boxes to cushion his landing he'll be fine.

2 hours ago, miasth said:

Seems like we will be getting the full story about Alt Earth soon.  I suspect there is more to it than Supes just turning evil and going all World Domination!

Maybe the X-Kryptonite will work like the tar version from Superman III and (slowly) turn him evil.  Clark was standing right next to that sample and had no visible reaction, but that doesn't mean it didn't have an effect.  It would explain why he looked ready to start beating a defeated John.

[tennisgurl]

I continue to be really impressed by this show, I really did not see the Steel twist coming at all. They totally got me with him being a different worlds Lex Luther, even as I noticed that his suite looked a lot like Steel's suite, so kudos to them for not only going for a surprising reveal but for not dragging it for ages. Its even in the damn episode title! So The Stranger is John Henry Irons AKA the hero Steel, which does make me wonder if he will end up realizing that Superman in this Earth is a good guy and will be teaming up with him and Lois to bring down Edge. We also get a bit more of a look at what happened to his world, where Superman was once a hero but for whatever reason not only turned evil (or revealed his true evil intentions) but lead a whole evil Kryptonian army against Earth. It gives him even more reason to think that this Superman is only pretending to be a hero if that's what the evil Superman on his world did. 

I love how much Clark and Lois trust each other, especially when Clark knows that Lois is going into a potentially dangerous situation. He will be there the second he is needed, but he knows that she can handle herself, no "its too dangerous I cant let you go!" nonsense. He worries about her, but respects her abilities and knows that if things get out of hand, she will give him a call, but otherwise this is her specialty. Likewise, Lois worries about Clark going out and fighting evil, but she knows that he's good at what he does, and also that he will always come running the second she needs backup. She knows it sucks that he has to leave at a moments notice to save lives, but she gets it, and his desire to save people is one of the things she loves about him. I am also really glad that Clark and Lois have decided to be honest with the boys about what is going on, keeping secrets like this will inevitably end up doing more harm then good. I've seen the rest of the Arrowverse, I know that keeping secrets from your loved ones will only make things worse, even if its with good intentions. 

Jonathan really needs all of the hugs, he tries so hard to be a good brother, son and all around kid but things always end up going badly for him, he isn't clicking at his new school, and his needs always end up being secondary to Jordan's. I cant blame him for being pissed off that, just days after Jordan accidently broke his arm and who he is now covering up for again, he gets home only for Jordan to start yelling at him about moving in on his not girlfriend while apparently spying on him. Hitting the wall to mess with his hearing was petty, but his frustration is really understandable. I feel for Jordan too, he is in a lot of pain and keeps getting these new powers that he cant control that are hurting him and other people, so while it was crappy of him to get on his brothers case about talking to his crush, its understandable in a teenager way. Its pretty rare for teenagers on a family show to be the highlight, but I really love every scene between the twins. They do a great job of showing how they argue and get on each others nerves, but are also very close and always have each others backs when it matters. Loved the twins jumping in to save their dad with the truck, and then later how they went from scared about everything happening to giddily excited about how badass driving that truck and stopping JHI was. That hammer really did look heavy, is it just that Jonathan is naturally athletic, or is it some powers slowly kicking in. 

Great seeing David Ramsey no matter if its in front of or behind the camera, I think he did a great job directing. 

Lana should probably work on her spying skills, she is luckily charming enough to make her nerves seem like she's just excitedly nervous about the new job and not engaging in a bit of espionage in finding out Edge's evil plan, but he could end up getting suspicious pretty soon. Hopefully things go alright for her friend who just got hired. 

Edited May 26, 2021 by tennisgurl
My theory didnt make much sense when I thought about it for two seconds.

[scarynikki12]

27 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Of course, do we know for sure that The Stranger is from the multiverse? Could he be from the future, where Morgan's plans to create an evil army of Kryptonian ghosts in human bodies succeeds and one of the ghosts possessed Superman, and this will be revealed to be happening later on this Earth? Or maybe this is what happened when Morgan Edge tried to take over the world in John Henry Irons Earth? 

I don’t think so since he doesn’t know Clark is Superman and there was nothing about Lois having a first husband or a reference to the twins. I think his Earth saw Edge follow the same path he’s currently on and when Crisis somehow brought Irons to Earth Prime it was earlier on the timeline so he can try to stop it. I assume Irons Earth had Superman never become a reporter so he never had a reason to get to know Lois. I do think she had a working relationship with Superman before he went bad since Irons expected Prime Lois to say that she trusts Prime Supes with her life. Good guy Superman would never go after a married woman even if he was in love with her so that would explain them not having a personal relationship. 

I hope we get a full breakdown of all this soon. 

[ukgirl71]

This show hasn’t produced a bad episode so far - please dear writers, keep it up, cos we’ve already seen that these cracking actors will bring the good stuff no matter what.  I love, love, love the Kent family dynamic, which feels so real, from the boys squabbling, but ultimately having each other’s back, to Lois and Clark loving each other enough to not stifle each other’s unique skills, while still worrying for their spouse.  This show ultimately has heart, which is why I’m hooked.

I’m not a great comic book person, so I’m still lost on the significance of John Henry Irons, but I’m happily prepared for the ride.  

If Jon’s powers aren’t slowly kicking in from what we saw in this episode, I’ll eat notMjolnir.  I was so glad they gave Jon the “active” role in saving their dad - he deserved a moment to shine.  Alex did a really good job showing Jordan’s extreme frustration and discomfort with his new super hearing.  I’m not sure who brought it up, but I agree that emotions, particularly in relation to family do seem to be the trigger for the powers.

I must admit I’m slightly creeped out by any version of Lois being with anyone other than Clark - I am THAT invested in them as a couple.  I’m already anticipating Lois and Clark’s reaction to that revelation, particularly if Natalie somehow makes it to Earth Prime.  And now I’m also waiting for creepy Lesley to eavesdrop on Lois and Clark, or even the boys, at the wrong moment.  It’s also good to see that Sarah doesn’t seem entirely convinced that Jordan isn’t wrapped up in Smallville’s new (for her) weirdness.

Oh, and a final bonus, welcome back Snarky Gideon - I’ve missed you!

[tennisgurl]

4 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

I don’t think so since he doesn’t know Clark is Superman and there was nothing about Lois having a first husband or a reference to the twins. 

Yeah the second I re-read that theory I realized that it made no sense at all, I was just stuck on the imagine of evil Superman and his Evil Army, but yeah Steel being married to Lois with a teenage daughter really throws a rift into that one, plus the twins and no way would Lois and Clark not be together. I swear I think my mind is still on This Is Us and its constant flashback/flashforward plot twists. "You thought it was the past...but its NOT! Its three Tuesdays from now!" 

I do think that whatever Morgan Edge's plan is will tie into whatever happened to Steels home Earth and the alien ghosts. I really want to know what happened on that Earth. The whole scenario really reminded me of *Spoilers for the Amazon show Invincible*

Spoiler

Omni-Man's plan to conquer the world, where he and his people are clear stand ins for Superman and the Kryptonians where they sent in Omni-Man as a "hero" to eventually weaken Earths forces while he pretended to be a good guy until his people could come and conquer everything. 

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

9 minutes ago, ukgirl71 said:

I’m not a great comic book person, so I’m still lost on the significance of John Henry Irons, but I’m happily prepared for the ride.  

In the 1990s, the comics "killed" Superman. He fought a genetically engineered killing machine called Doomsday and died in the struggle. In the wake of his death, four people came forth using his famous insignia. Two of them claimed to be resurrected versions of him. One was a teen-aged clone that used some of his DNA and some of Lex Luthor's.  The final one was Steel, or John Henry Irons.

Basically, he was an engineer who created a set of armor and the hammer we saw in this episode. The character was the subject of a mediocre movie starring Shaq. At some point in the comics, JHI's niece Natasha took the mantle of Steel in her own right. 

I think it's a tribute to the writers that it was not obvious that the Stranger was alt-John Henry Irons, even though he was obviously an armored black guy.

When they showed Natalie, I had to do a couple of takes because he referred to her as "Nat-bug" and I was like OMG, is that Steel?

His appearance makes me hope that they reboot Steel as a movie character.

 

[akg]

1 hour ago, ukgirl71 said:

If Jon’s powers aren’t slowly kicking in from what we saw in this episode, I’ll eat notMjolnir.  I was so glad they gave Jon the “active” role in saving their dad - he deserved a moment to shine.

I was thinking that too but, if Jon was using kryptonian powers, wouldn't he have been affected by the red krypton? Both Clark and Jordan were down until the lights were off.

[metaphor]

1 hour ago, ukgirl71 said:

This show hasn’t produced a bad episode so far - please dear writers, keep it up, cos we’ve already seen that these cracking actors will bring the good stuff no matter what.  I love, love, love the Kent family dynamic, which feels so real, from the boys squabbling, but ultimately having each other’s back, to Lois and Clark loving each other enough to not stifle each other’s unique skills, while still worrying for their spouse.  This show ultimately has heart, which is why I’m hooked. 

If Jon’s powers aren’t slowly kicking in from what we saw in this episode, I’ll eat notMjolnir.  I was so glad they gave Jon the “active” role in saving their dad - he deserved a moment to shine.  Alex did a really good job showing Jordan’s extreme frustration and discomfort with his new super hearing.  I’m not sure who brought it up, but I agree that emotions, particularly in relation to family do seem to be the trigger for the powers.

I must admit I’m slightly creeped out by any version of Lois being with anyone other than Clark - I am THAT invested in them as a couple.  I’m already anticipating Lois and Clark’s reaction to that revelation, particularly if Natalie somehow makes it to Earth Prime.  

Yes to all of this. 

I did find it interesting that the Red K affected Jordan (who is manifesting powers) but seemingly not Jon. That's the aspect that makes me wonder if Jon's powers are already starting to manifest, or if we're still waiting for them to kick in. I must admit, it was helpful to have had Jon unaffected so that he could help protect his dad and brother. It made me think in that moment that that was the upside to Jon's not having powers yet. 

In any case, I'm glad Lois and Clark decided to be more open with the boys. It wouldn't do for them to start barreling into danger without a clue. 

I feel the same way about Lois and Clark, @ukgirl71. I realize that they've had alternative love interests in some other tv shows/films, but this JHI and Lois were married with a kid, so it goes a bit deeper than those! But I'm trying hard to keep an open mind. I'm not familiar with Steel, so it'll be interesting to learn more about him.

Count me in among those who just love the Lane-Kent family dynamics. Jon and Jordan quarrel sometimes, but it's absolutely clear that they have each other's back. Lois and Jordan's relationship is sweet. Loved the hug before Jordan went to bed. I think it's also lovely continuity with the pilot, with Lois giving him extra care due to his anxiety disorder. 

Now I just need more of a story for Jon, and to get a deeper look at his relationships with both his parents, too. In the pilot, Clark said raising Jon was easy. But he's been struggling in Smallville and I need his parents to recognize that more. 

 

[waving feather]

Finally we see some fire from Jonathan. He's been so mellow the entire time, but it would be weird if he wasn't properly upset by his broken wrist. Even though Jordan didn't mean to hurt him, it still happened and a great inconvenience to him. I'm warming up to Jordan now too. He's starting to show as much consideration over his brother as Jon does to him. I like Lois and Clark and the whole family but the boys relationship is the heart of the show.

I'm also pleasantly surprised by what an interesting character Sarah is. I find myself looking forward to her scenes. I still do not see romantic chemistry between her and Jordan, so I hope they do not revisit that.

I like all the characters on this show except for Morgan and his hench woman with powers. Not because they are baddies but they are very one note. Especially the hench woman who can't act.

Edited May 27, 2021 by waving feather
Edited to remove comment about the previous episode.

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, akg said:

I was thinking that too but, if Jon was using kryptonian powers, wouldn't he have been affected by the red krypton? Both Clark and Jordan were down until the lights were off.

What our heroes experienced was not red Kryptonite, which traditionally has random effects on Kryptonians (and in Smallville, turned them into angry douchebags, or more angry douchebags depending on your perspective).

Rather, what Steel set up were lamps that simulate red solar radiation. Along with Kryptonite and magic, red solar radiation is one of the biggest weaknesses Superman and other Kryptonians have.

The main reason Kryptonians have super powers in most Superman stories is that Earth has a yellow sun (sometimes, there was credit to Earth having lighter gravity than Krypton, but that part has been largely left by the wayside). Kryptonian biology allows them to store and translate the yellow sun radiation into the array of abilities we know and love. At least in the Arrowverse, Kryptonians can get charged up through exposure to simulated yellow sun radiation, and they can use all their stored energy in a single burst called a "solar flare," after which they are just as vulnerable as ordinary humans until they can recharge. 

However, expose them to red solar radiation like from the original sun Krypton orbited and their stores of energy either start to deplete slowly or they immediately renders them completely powerless (usually the latter, but there have been stories where it's the former). 

I don't think Jon did anything that needed superpowers while he was under the red sun radiation or even after. I'll have to watch again, but I think that he had the trouble lifting Steel's hammer one might expect a 14-year-old kid (with a broken wrist!) to have. 

[akg]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Rather, what Steel set up were lamps that simulate red solar radiation. Along with Kryptonite and magic, red solar radiation is one of the biggest weaknesses Superman and other Kryptonians have.

Thank you for this. The effects from what I thought was red krypton didn't match what I've seen before on Supergirl so I was confused. But I thought it was maybe a comics thing I don't know about. This makes much more sense.

 

[Lantern7]

Great swerve. "Captain Luthor" is a black man with a shaved head and a suit of armor. I just thought "different Earth, different Luthor." I didn't think of John Henry Irons once.

I have to give it to the kid playing Jordan . . . he really looks like he's in agonizing pain. I mean, I could put find a pic of that and post it with the label "#KentSexFace." Naturally, there's friction between him and Jonathan. Happily, they get over it to save their dad. Gotta love how they're having the final act heart-to-heart . . . and then immediately realize how awesome it was hitting a dude with their car. I mean, said dude was hurting their father, so you gotta let it slide.

On 5/25/2021 at 9:59 PM, scarynikki12 said:

I love Clark using his freeze breath to get Jordan’s attention. I hope they keep using his powers in little ways like that. It’s so what we all would do.

Yeah. Like how Kara does Supergirl stuff while not in the costume. I call it "Kara Fu." Mild freeze breath was a nice touch.

[legaleagle53]

I had already figured out that Jordan's super-hearing had started to manifest itself last episode and that it was causing sensory overload because Kara went through the same thing when she first arrived on Earth. That's why she wears glasses -- they're made of a special lead alloy invented by her foster father that works as a dampener to keep her hearing and vision powers in check, which is why she has to remove them in order to use her super-senses. I wonder whether Jordan will eventually have to go that route now that HIS super-senses are developing.

[arc]

The red sun lights shouldn’t have incapacitated Jordan. Traditionally, these things just depower Kryptonians, so they’re like regular humans. Clark was being beat to hell by the hammer and without his invulnerability power, so it makes sense he’d be feeling awful. But Jordan should basically have been like the Jordan of a couple of months ago, before he started manifesting powers.

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 minutes ago, arc said:

The red sun lights shouldn’t have incapacitated Jordan. Traditionally, these things just depower Kryptonians, so they’re like regular humans. Clark was being beat to hell by the hammer and without his invulnerability power, so it makes sense he’d be feeling awful. But Jordan should basically have been like the Jordan of a couple of months ago, before he started manifesting powers.

Indeed, but even before Clark had been hit by Steel, he reacted to the light as if he was hurt by it. 

The in-world explanation might be that Steel rigged his "solar flares" to hurt/it is an exception to the "red sun radiation drains powers painlessly" rule.

The real world explanation is that TPTB  either conflated the effects of red sun radiation with Kryptonite or thought it would be more dramatic to act that way or they wanted to clear the path to Jonathan getting his long awaited W by having Jordan somewhat sidelined. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

22 hours ago, arc said:

Smarter Superman stories from at least the 1990s have Supes realize that a seemingly normal thing being lead-lined is itself a big red flag that something bad is going on. It can still be worth it for a bad guy to hide their secret plans and equipment, but it’s not a move with no downsides.

True, but it would have been better for Steel to have built those precautions and better for the story for Clark not to break in someone's RV in broad daylight without apparently even trying to use his X-Ray vision. 

Clark is extremely lucky that Steel's AI is not all that bright and that Steel didn't set up internal surveillance cameras. "Captain Luthor, we had an intruder. Here is a holo-image of him. Also, I detected Kryptonian DNA."

[PAForrest]

14 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

In the 1990s, the comics "killed" Superman. He fought a genetically engineered killing machine called Doomsday and died in the struggle. In the wake of his death, four people came forth using his famous insignia. Two of them claimed to be resurrected versions of him. One was a teen-aged clone that used some of his DNA and some of Lex Luthor's.  The final one was Steel, or John Henry Irons.

Basically, he was an engineer who created a set of armor and the hammer we saw in this episode. The character was the subject of a mediocre movie starring Shaq. At some point in the comics, JHI's niece Natasha took the mantle of Steel in her own right.

Of course, the Nat in this iteration is his and alt!Lois's daughter, right? I assume we'll see her again, and that she will have found a way into this universe, setting up for much more awkwardness with Lois who isn't her or JHI's Lois.

Anyway, thanks for the insight into this character as well as the red solar radiation. I wasn't really aware who this character was, but as we were watching the episode last night my husband figured it out. So essentially it looks like this guy is DC's cross between Iron Man and Thor. And obviously DC took the name "John Henry" from American folklore as "the a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock in constructing a railroad tunnel" (tm Wikipedia). His backstory was interesting, though I still think this JHI flipped the switch much too quickly on "Must Kill Any and All Superman" with zero evidence that this Superman would go bad. I can understand him warning Sam Lane and the DOD on what could happen, but he went there way too fast in his execution. Though I guess we can assume his grief pushed him over the edge long before he hopped worlds. At some point obviously he's going to have to come to terms with the fact that this Supes is different and team up with him to defeat Edge.

OTOH, there was that moment when it looked like Superman's anger was getting the best of him before Lois yelled at him and snapped him out of laser-eyeing JHI. So maybe JHI has a point too.

So apparently Lana's job is to line up candidates for Edge to infect with x-kryptonite, unbeknownst to her, obviously. Still, building her 401K on the bodies of the residents of Smallville is not something that makes for sleeping well at night. Is Edge keeping Kyle in reserve to keep Lana tied to him - or does he just not believe Kyle would be a good candidate for the experiment?

I am not even a little convinced that Jon is supposed to develop powers in this version of Superman's story. Maybe he will, but so far it doesn't look like the story is going there. I can't get past the feeling that Jordan is a raging Sue who is a showrunner insert. If that's the case, Jon won't develop powers precisely because a Sue needs to be propped up by someone considered "lesser than" himself/herself, otherwise the Sue can't stand; and sadly so far being a prop appears to be Jon's lot in life. That's why his story - or rather lack thereof - is frustrating to watch, because he doesn't appear to be a character anyone is putting actual thought into or even seeing as a character in his own right. Sure, I'm glad they let him be a little mad at Jordan the Sue, because he should be mad as hell. But he's only allowed to have legit human feelings for a few seconds a show until the show needs him to prop up Jordan the Sue - or in this case drive him around. 

It was surprising the writer allowed the "prop" to wield the Thor hammer to kill the radiation lights - even though with a broken wrist it really shouldn't have been possible. But then later Clark only credits his super boy son's super hearing with the save and doesn't even mention Jon. Wow. Seriously Clark, you suck the hairy big one sometimes as a parent.

If Jon is going to remain human, and I'm fine with that, someone on this writing staff needs to be tasked with putting thought into him as a fully fledged character. And Lois should be spending more time and energy with Jon, not Jordan the Sue, as the human parent who can relate to not having powers. Of course, we're not seeing that at all so far because everyone has to woobie Jordan the Sue.

As for Sarah, she and Jordan the Sue have zero chemistry, so I hope they don't go the predictable route and make her his or anyone's gf - because I certainly don't want to see her with Jon either. Sarah works infinitely better simply as a friend to both brothers.

Is Lex Luthor supposed to be alive on this world? Will some version of him show up eventually?

I think Dave Ramsay did a good job directing this episode. I thought Diggle was supposed to show up too, but obviously not.

[paulvdb]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Clark is extremely lucky that Steel's AI is not all that bright and that Steel didn't set up internal surveillance cameras. "Captain Luthor, we had an intruder. Here is a holo-image of him. Also, I detected Kryptonian DNA."

We know that the AI can't recognize people because it thought that John Henry Irons was Lex Luthor (assuming that Captain Luthor was Lex; I guess it could have been another Luthor).

[blackwing]

I recognised the name John Henry Irons immediately from "The Death of Superman" story arc.  But I'm a bit lost on this multiverse concept.  Lois seemed familiar with it.  I don't think it has been mentioned before on this show, are we supposed to just have this knowledge from watching other Arrowverse shows?

I understand that this John Henry Irons is from a world in which he and Lois are married and have a child.  How did he get here?  Did the worlds merge?  Is there a curtain or ripple or something that he crosses over?  Is the daughter now in the prime world in the lab or something, or is she still in her original world?

Was there a reference to "The Stranger" before?  If so, I must have missed it.  Lois and Clark both seemed instantly aware of who "The Stranger" is.

I truly couldn't care less about Jordan and his Frodo Baggins journey.  Everything about Jordo Baggins is annoying.  I'm glad that Jon called him out on how he has always covered for him.  I'm more interested in Jonathan's story.  I was hoping Clark would leave Jordo at the Fortress of Solitude for three weeks.  Let Grumpy HoloGramps train him.

I was surprised when Lois said that Jonathan doesn't have any friends.  Interesting considering that he was portrayed in the premiere episode as the wildly popular BMOC jock.  They implied that he has the outgoing personality that associates with someone who makes friends easily wherever he goes.  Jordo was the weird kid who just played video games in his room.  But now Jordo is the big popular football star who gets the girl while Jonathan is the friendless one?  Doesn't make sense.

I couldn't tell... was Edge trying to get Lana to pick Kyle for the internship program?  Knowing that the program is a sham and is just there to get test bodies for the X-Kryptonite treatment?  If he knows that every single candidate except for Leslie has died, is he trying to kill Kyle, so has done nothing but fawn over him?  Why not just approach Kyle and say "hey do you want some superpowers"?

On 5/25/2021 at 9:18 PM, cambridgeguy said:

Lois had better hope Leslie Larr doesn't decide to start eavesdropping on her more often - that'll blow Clark's identify for sure.  Superhearing might be a little powerful given its huge range and relatively quick learning curve.

I am curious about that too... Leslie was listening in earlier, and I guess Lois doesn't know that she did, otherwise she wouldn't have said "Bye Superman" to Clark.  If Clark is aware that Leslie is a threat, why doesn't he just confront her?

 

[scarynikki12]

24 minutes ago, blackwing said:

 

I recognised the name John Henry Irons immediately from "The Death of Superman" story arc.  But I'm a bit lost on this multiverse concept.  Lois seemed familiar with it.  I don't think it has been mentioned before on this show, are we supposed to just have this knowledge from watching other Arrowverse shows

 

In this case yes. The multiverse was introduced on Flash and all the other shows pre-S&L utilized it at different points.

 

25 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I understand that this John Henry Irons is from a world in which he and Lois are married and have a child.  How did he get here?  Did the worlds merge?  Is there a curtain or ripple or something that he crosses over?  Is the daughter now in the prime world in the lab or something, or is she still in her original world

Post-Crisis the CW Earths all merged to remove doppelgängers and have just the one (CW) continuity. Unbeknownst to them the multiverse still exists but it’s each Earth is a different DC property rather than infinite duplicates. They could reveal that his daughter somehow made it to Earth Prime as well but her Prime doppelgänger is more likely to be the one still standing. The question of how Irons made it here is still unanswered but I’m assuming temporal shenanigans and his tech protected rather than erased him.

[bethy]

On 5/25/2021 at 8:59 PM, scarynikki12 said:

I love Clark using his freeze breath to get Jordan’s attention. I hope they keep using his powers in little ways like that. It’s so what we all would do.

I loved this, too. It was such a gentle way to get Jordan's attention when I would have been tempted to snap at the kid in that moment. 

[bethy]

37 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I was surprised when Lois said that Jonathan doesn't have any friends.  Interesting considering that he was portrayed in the premiere episode as the wildly popular BMOC jock.  They implied that he has the outgoing personality that associates with someone who makes friends easily wherever he goes.  Jordo was the weird kid who just played video games in his room.  But now Jordo is the big popular football star who gets the girl while Jonathan is the friendless one?  Doesn't make sense.

I think that's certainly who Jon was in Metropolis, but Jordan's new powers have forced Jon, in a way, to put Jordan's need/crisis ahead of his more typical social role with their peers. While Joh's always protected Jordan from bullies, now he's protecting not only Jordan, but also Clark's secret identity and people who might be hurt by Jordan. Plus, I think this is Lois's perspective, probably based on a comparison with the number of friends Jon had had in Metropolis. We've seen him interact with the other boys on the football team, who seem to like him, but his caretaking role for Jordan has gone into overdrive so he's less focused on making friends for himself. Which is part of what led to his blowup at Jordan when Jordan accused him of whatever it was with Sarah. 

[AD35]

Another very good ep and hope the quality remains as high as its been and continues into the next season.  Loving the family dynamics and willing to give Clark and Lois some slack in the parenting department. No one has written a parenting guide where one or more members in the family has super powers.

Edited May 27, 2021 by AD35

[moonshine71]

On 5/26/2021 at 3:01 AM, dwmarch said:

The way Lois reacted made it clear that they know him and they're somewhat afraid of him or what he could potentially do.

 

I've seen this response about Lois "recognizing" John Henry Irons several times in this thread, or that she/they "had history" w/ him, and I couldn't disagree more. 

Why would she recognize his name but not his face in even the slightest bit? 

 

Her reaction was in recognition of the fact that the John Henry Irons of their earth had been dead for 6 years, and that this John Henry was likely from another earth, which would make him a prime suspect for being "the stranger".

[moonshine71]

17 hours ago, metaphor said:

Yes to all of this. 

I did find it interesting that the Red K affected Jordan (who is manifesting powers) but seemingly not Jon. That's the aspect that makes me wonder if Jon's powers are already starting to manifest, or if we're still waiting for them to kick in. I must admit, it was helpful to have had Jon unaffected so that he could help protect his dad and brother. It made me think in that moment that that was the upside to Jon's not having powers yet. 

 

 

That wasn't red-k, it was red solar radiation, as from a red sun, to weaken Clark. Obviously not enough to make him completely human, since he was still durable enough to survive hits that would kill a normal man instantly, but enough to give John Henry a chance.

Red-k doesn't harm or even weaken Clark, it makes him lose his inhibitions and go kinda bad. Probably the last thing you would want around if you were fighting him, he might just go ahead and kill you when normally he would hold back.

 

Jordan was still incapacitated because of his super-hearing. Although that creates a bit of a plot hole, since the red solar radiation should have dampened his abilities, too.

[moonshine71]

19 hours ago, ukgirl71 said:

 

If Jon’s powers aren’t slowly kicking in from what we saw in this episode, I’ll eat notMjolnir.  I was so glad they gave Jon the “active” role in saving their dad - he deserved a moment to shine.  Alex did a really good job showing Jordan’s extreme frustration and discomfort with his new super hearing.  I’m not sure who brought it up, but I agree that emotions, particularly in relation to family do seem to be the trigger for the powers.

 

I don't know if Jon will get powers, but the suggestions that him using the hammer is evidence of it doesn't work for me. He was being bathed in red solar radiation, which takes away Kryptonians powers and makes them "human", it's the reason John Henry was able to kick Clark's ass so easily. 

That said, Jordan was still incapacitated by his superhearing when it should have been at least dampened to some degree, but I'm chalking that up to a bit of sloppy writing.