S01.E10: Oh Mother, Where Art Thou?

[Nialla]

17 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The real world limitations (Supergirl's actress being pregnant and the pandemic primary among them) could easily have been worked around if they wanted to. Just an off-handed line "Remind me to tell you about the time Cousin Kara went to her prom and her sister had to babysit her," or a text/e-mail from Kara and mission accomplished. TPTB want to go their own way, which I can kind of respect, but find kind of frustrating. 

I don't know if the Kent farm is close enough to its neighbors for the average Smallville resident to know about the DOD having set up shop there a number of times. The average military guy probably figures Lois is close to Superman, and is a target that needs to be protected both because of that and being Gen. Lane's daughter. It would be a stretch to think that Superman is really Sam's son-in-law. 

I assume we are to think that this Morgan Edge has nothing to do with the Morgan Edge played by Adrian Pasdar in Supergirl. 

If we are to believe Morgan's flashbacks, he arrived on Earth before Clark did and was captured as a teen. How the British held him is somewhat of a mystery, but maybe they lucked into having Kryptonite or something handy? Also, different Superman mythologies display development of powers differently. Like in the Silver Age Clark was essentially fully powered as a teen and even as a baby. In the 80s, the continuity was that he was basically normal until he got into his teens and then started developing his abilities. So it could be that on first arrival, Morgan had only begun being super and could be taken down.

I would imagine that someone with superhearing, speed and X-ray vision could pretty easily make a fortune in business without breaking a sweat or revealing himself. And that's even excluding using the full array of superpowers to mine precious metals, extort people, threaten competitors, etc.   

The part that would be hard to explain IMO is why Edge did not act sooner. He has (presumably) had knowledge of Kal-El for some time, with Superman having canonically been in operation for two decades. Similarly, he presumably has had the Eradicator for some time as well. 

I kept expecting a dialogue reference to Kara at some point. She was on Argo or something along those lines. IIRC, they first introduced Clark as messaging Kara, so even Clark receiving a text or PM from her would be a nice callback. I understand the reason why there isn't an in-person appearance, but TPTB could have done this sort of thing easily. It has me wondering why they're not even trying. Though part of it could be the two shows have a very different tone and TPTB don't want to cross the streams.

All those DOD vehicles have to get to the Kent farm, and trust me, a small town is not going to miss a military convoy passing through, even if some might write it off to the general visiting his daughter with an entourage required by his job. Smallville being so remote is actually what I think might play a part in Lana figuring out the truth. She's going to notice the military folks, she's going to notice more Krypton-related shenanigans, and eventually put together Clark's return is when it started.

I'm very curious about how long Morgan was here before Clark arrived. And like Kara, Morgan was young, but old enough to be able to defend himself somewhat, even if it wasn't under his full control. If he departed Krypton before Clark, we're talking 30+ years of living on earth.

The British wouldn't have even known about Kryptonite until Superman became a known entity ~20 years ago. How they managed to contain him for any length of time is a mystery, and how they managed to keep it a secret from other countries during the tail end of the Cold War adds to the mystery. How did he get away from the Brits and create the persona of Morgan Edge without someone involved spilling the beans about who and what he was? Unless he managed to kill everyone involved when he escaped, but it's still hard to believe no one alive read a top secret file with a photo of him.

I'm thinking once he escaped, he had to establish himself as Morgan Edge to get the money to fund his project(s), but it's also likely he had to get his Kryptonian stuff back. Tracking down his ship, the Eradicator, etc. that were possibly in separate locations by that point and would take time. Not to mention getting the Eradicator working, then starting the testing on humans.

He may have also held off on contacting his half-brother because his public persona as Superman is very pro-human. Better to wait until you have backup in the form of a reincarnated Kryptonian army before trying to convince a sibling who doesn't know you even exist to help you. If what he told Kal-El is even true in the first place.

[Affogato]

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

The part that would be hard to explain IMO is why Edge did not act sooner. He has (presumably) had knowledge of Kal-El for some time, with Superman having canonically been in operation for two decades. Similarly, he presumably has had the Eradicator for some time as well. 

My guess is the answer lies in the deterioration of any subjects who weren’t raised in smallville. He may have been experimenting for decades and only recently found the kryptonite or experimented withe the connection.  Maybe he accidentally had a success and looked into it. In fact they say that, don’t they?
 

The mines in kansas are lead after all.  So the alien stuff wouldn’t be immediately obvious if Edge flew over. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

My guess is the answer lies in the deterioration of any subjects who weren’t raised in smallville. He may have been experimenting for decades and only recently found the kryptonite or experimented withe the connection.  Maybe he accidentally had a success and looked into it. In fact they say that, don’t they?
 

The mines in kansas are lead after all.  So the alien stuff wouldn’t be immediately obvious if Edge flew over. 

Even assuming he has only recently been able to crack the secrets of implanting Kryptonians in humans, one would think that he would have wanted to make the acquaintance of his brother and intervene in various threats to Earth over the years. Even putting aside sentiment, Kal-El could (and does) have access to technology that would make his planning easier.

[Affogato]

55 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Even assuming he has only recently been able to crack the secrets of implanting Kryptonians in humans, one would think that he would have wanted to make the acquaintance of his brother and intervene in various threats to Earth over the years. Even putting aside sentiment, Kal-El could (and does) have access to technology that would make his planning easier.

But Kal’s a good guy. Yuck. i mean why assume he would help? He is obviously going to oppose edge’s evil and selfish plans to replace innocent humans with kryptonian overlords. he’s Superman. Geez! Why alert him? 
 

is this going to become the miniature kryptonian city at the fortress? I’ve forgotten how that came to be. I should go check. 
 

Maybe Kandor will figure in. Braniac is in the Arroverse, right? But i don’t see how the eradicator fits in there. Nevermind. May e they can happily live in the kandor version of second life. 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Affogato

[arc]

22 hours ago, Nialla said:

Does anyone else think it's strange that no one in Smallville has noted the frequent DOD presence at the Kent farm? Or that the rest of the military folk with Gen. Lane haven't done the math and figured out he's Superman's father-in-law?

Maybe X-Kryptonite makes people very credulous?

22 hours ago, Nialla said:

then somehow managed to lock him up for a time? How?

It’s not at all said explicitly, but the way his teenage escape was shot, I think the story is that he was deprived of solar power until those soldiers unwisely took Edge near a window, where he powered up and incinerated them.

19 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't know if the Kent farm is close enough to its neighbors for the average Smallville resident to know about the DOD having set up shop there a number of times.

I think it’s close enough that teens too young to drive can bike to town or to their neighbors’ houses? I vaguely recall seeing one of the kids bike at one point.

[ouinason]

Everyone knows Lois is Superman's contact, and that her dad is a highly visible General, they probably just assume she lets them use her place to meet up for stuff.  

 

I am more concerned about what happens when Jordan's changing body stops responding to his anxiety medication.

[legaleagle53]

3 hours ago, ouinason said:

Everyone knows Lois is Superman's contact, and that her dad is a highly visible General, they probably just assume she lets them use her place to meet up for stuff.  

 

I am more concerned about what happens when Jordan's changing body stops responding to his anxiety medication.

That's certainly a good point. His developing invulnerability will eventually nullify the effect of any human medications on him. It's the same reason that neither Superman nor Supergirl can ever get drunk on ordinary alcohol.

[Chicago Redshirt]

17 hours ago, ouinason said:

I am more concerned about what happens when Jordan's changing body stops responding to his anxiety medication.

It's seemingly been a while since the subject of Jordan having panic attacks, anxiety and other such things has come up, let alone his taking medication. I don't think there has been a reference to him being in therapy either for a while.

As much as Jordan generally annoys me, I would like to see a scene similar to Lois-in-therapy for him. Maybe they don't have faith in the actor to pull it off, though...

 

On 6/20/2021 at 8:57 AM, Affogato said:

But Kal’s a good guy. Yuck. i mean why assume he would help? He is obviously going to oppose edge’s evil and selfish plans to replace innocent humans with kryptonian overlords. he’s Superman. Geez! Why alert him? 
 

is this going to become the miniature kryptonian city at the fortress? I’ve forgotten how that came to be. I should go check. 
 

Maybe Kandor will figure in. Braniac is in the Arroverse, right? But i don’t see how the eradicator fits in there. Nevermind. May e they can happily live in the kandor version of second life. 

We are conditioned by eight decades of Superman to know that mainstream Clark would never turn evil. 

But Edge comes from a different perspective. He thinks that appealing to his Kryptonian heritage and their literal DNA ties could help sway Clark. Or at least, he makes an effort to convince him in 2021. The question I have is why not in 2005 or whatever? Edge doesn't even need to dive in at first with the "By the way, I am planning to resurrect Kryptonians and plan to use willing humans to do it." Befriending him and working him up to the idea would probably work out better.

Kandor was scooped off of Krypton by Brainiac, and then rescued by Superman. 

Supergirl has shown Indigo and Brainiac 5 and shrinking technology, but I don't think it has explicitly shown Brainaic himself or referenced Kandor.

[blackwing]

On 6/19/2021 at 4:10 PM, Nialla said:

I still have a niggle in my brain about why there's nary a mention of Kara in this series. An army of pseudo-Kryptonians, with an actual one in charge and related to Clark? Let's call in his cousin, who also remembers Krypton, yet is not trying to kill all humans.

Does anyone else think it's strange that no one in Smallville has noted the frequent DOD presence at the Kent farm? Or that the rest of the military folk with Gen. Lane haven't done the math and figured out he's Superman's father-in-law?

 

On 6/19/2021 at 6:47 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't know if the Kent farm is close enough to its neighbors for the average Smallville resident to know about the DOD having set up shop there a number of times. The average military guy probably figures Lois is close to Superman, and is a target that needs to be protected both because of that and being Gen. Lane's daughter. It would be a stretch to think that Superman is really Sam's son-in-law. 

I assume we are to think that this Morgan Edge has nothing to do with the Morgan Edge played by Adrian Pasdar in Supergirl. 

I have never seen an episode of Supergirl so the lack of any mention of her doesn't bother me in the least.  From earlier comments, I know that all of the CW Arrowverse shows are supposedly now in the same continuity, and that Lois and Clark are aware of the existence of the multiverse, but I'm not sure if that means that the Lois here is aware of the "other" Morgan Edge.  The more it gets discussed on the show, the more confused I get.

I don't think there is anything odd about the DoD presence at the Kent farm.  I'm not sure if the world at large would necessarily be aware that Lois' dad is a high ranking person at the DoD... but the world certainly knows of Lois' special connection to Superman.  So if somebody appears to be a threat to Superman, it seems natural to want to protect the one person that he does seem to be close to.

I understand that this Lois and Clark appeared in the Crisis crossover arc on the Arrowverse shows... were they already married with kids?  I'm curious about how Lois discovered that Clark is Superman, if it wasn't already seen on these shows, it'd be interesting to have a flashback episode.  Now I'm reminiscing about "Superman II" when Margot Kidder jumped into the Niagara River with a "bye bye baby" expecting Clark to turn into Superman and rescue her, and then when she discovered he was Superman after his hand went into the fire in their suite in the hotel.

 

[miasth]

I would need to go back and look at previous episodes because I don't remember.  Has Edge ever interacted with Clark Kent? Pretty bad if he could not see that was his brother Kal-El. Even if he is also blinded by whatever makes people not see Clark is Superman it should have dawned on him especially since he knew Kal arrived as a baby that he most likely has an Earth name and life.

Little weirded out by Lana-Lara considering her history with  Clark. I was really liking Lana this episode however.

Edge mentioned eradicating Supes if he didn't fall in line so I wonder if that is what happened on JHI earth.

I have been giving Jor-El a pass because he is AI but knowing this is his consciousness uh not sure I like this incarnation of him.

I wonder which Kryptonian inhabited Kyle and when will he return to attack Jonathan.  Edge must have picked all the bad guys though why were these non peaceful Kryptonians uploaded in the 1st place? Hoping that the "plot holes" in this episode is stuff that will be expanded on later.

Edited June 21, 2021 by miasth

[legaleagle53]

15 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I understand that this Lois and Clark appeared in the Crisis crossover arc on the Arrowverse shows... were they already married with kids?

They were already married and had one infant son, Jonathan, who was born in Argo City. Crisis changed that so that apparently, they married about ten or fifteen years earlier and had twins (somehow, everyone missed the foreshadowing in the first Crisis episode when Superman tells Lois that somehow, he'd always imagined that they'd have two kids by that point!).

Edited June 21, 2021 by legaleagle53

[Chicago Redshirt]

8 hours ago, miasth said:

I would need to go back and look at previous episodes because I don't remember.  Has Edge ever interacted with Clark Kent? Pretty bad if he could not see that was his brother Kal-El. Even if he is also blinded by whatever makes people not see Clark is Superman it should have dawned on him especially since he knew Kal arrived as a baby that he most likely has an Earth name and life.

Little weirded out by Lana-Lara considering her history with  Clark. I was really liking Lana this episode however.

Edge mentioned eradicating Supes if he didn't fall in line so I wonder if that is what happened on JHI earth.

I have been giving Jor-El a pass because he is AI but knowing this is his consciousness uh not sure I like this incarnation of him.

I wonder which Kryptonian inhabited Kyle and when will he return to attack Jonathan.  Edge must have picked all the bad guys though why were these non peaceful Kryptonians uploaded in the 1st place? Hoping that the "plot holes" in this episode is stuff that will be expanded on later.

We have not seen Edge and Clark-as-civilian-self in a scene together so far to the best of my recollection. In the pilot, I think that Edge had just bought the Planet and caused layoffs including Clark. It was my speculation (based on a combo of how real-world layoffs might happen at a newspaper and the conventional wisdom that Clark would have both seniority and prestige at this point in his career) that Edge deliberately targeted Clark. Generally, news organizations try to offer "buyouts" to reporters where they offer them some amount of money to step down and then only do layoffs as a last resort. Forcing basically one of your top tier reporters out makes no sense. 

But so far, Edge has shown no recognition that Clark is Kal-El.

Interesting. I wonder if you could put a Kryptonian consciousness into a Kryptonian body. I suppose there's no reason one couldn't.

It could be the Kryptonians uploaded were fiddled with by Edge to make them more evil, or that any old Kryptonian would basically see humans as lesser beings. Jor-El seems to be a condescending douche, and presumably, he is one of the nice ones. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

13 hours ago, blackwing said:

 

I have never seen an episode of Supergirl so the lack of any mention of her doesn't bother me in the least.  From earlier comments, I know that all of the CW Arrowverse shows are supposedly now in the same continuity, and that Lois and Clark are aware of the existence of the multiverse, but I'm not sure if that means that the Lois here is aware of the "other" Morgan Edge.  The more it gets discussed on the show, the more confused I get.

...

I understand that this Lois and Clark appeared in the Crisis crossover arc on the Arrowverse shows... were they already married with kids?  I'm curious about how Lois discovered that Clark is Superman, if it wasn't already seen on these shows, it'd be interesting to have a flashback episode.  Now I'm reminiscing about "Superman II" when Margot Kidder jumped into the Niagara River with a "bye bye baby" expecting Clark to turn into Superman and rescue her, and then when she discovered he was Superman after his hand went into the fire in their suite in the hotel.

 

Mileage will vary of course on the desire to see references to Supergirl here.

When Supergirl started, it seemed odd to me that there were of course references to Superman, but initially neither Supergirl nor Jimmy Olsen (his supposed best pal and a regular character in the early seasons) really ever spoke to Superman for advice or help, Despite the first season plot (an invasion of actual Kryptonians intent on brainwashing the planet) and Supergirl then being a rookie hero, Supergirl mostly only alluded to the Man of Steel. Such is life.

Anyway, the original Arrowverse depicted Clark and Lois as having gotten married relatively recently, like somewhere between 2018 and 2019. As opposed to the current continuity, which seemingly has them having gotten married 15 or so years ago, having had the twins and Lois having had a miscarriage at some point after that.

In case people don't want the details of what was shown, I'll put it under spoiler bars. But if you have Netflix, the relevant stuff happened in Supergirl S. 4, episode 9 and Season 5 episode 9, respectively. For people who love Tyler and Elizabeth together. it could be worth watching because they are fun and cute and all those good things. And for people conducting research into Tyler's build, you can see him in his previous, unpadded suit.

 

During at the end of the 2018 crossover event, Clark and Lois told Supergirl that Lois was pregnant and that they were going to go to Argo City. a place of refugee Kryptonians that somehow got saved from Krypton's explosion and that exists under a red sun so the Kryptonians there don't have active powers. That way Lois did not have to worry about being super-kicked to death by her half-Kryptonian kid. (And so Superman wasn't around to help during whatever arc Supergirl was dealing with that season). There was also a scene in that 2018 crossover finale where Clark squeezed a diamond out of coal, put it in a ring and proposed.

Then in the 2019 crossover with Crisis, we saw Clark and Lois in Argo City with baby Jonathan. The background was that a wave of anti-matter energy was washing over each of the various universes, and this wave hit Argo City first. Clark and Lois sent baby Jonathan to Earth in a one-person rocket ship ahead of the wave in a parallel to Clark's origin, while Clark and Lois got saved from it by another figure.

 I don't think the pre-Crisis continuity explained how Lois found out that Clark was Superman. By the time we were introduced to her, we just knew that she knew.

Then after Crisis happened, we now have what we have: Lois and Clark have been married for around 15 years, they have twin boys and Lois had a miscarriage.

The show has said that Clark told Lois his secret, which I guess doesn't conclusively rule out that Lois figured it out on her own. I think tomorrow's episode is supposed to have some flashbacks, so we will see what they do with the current timeline. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Chicago Redshirt

[blackwing]

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Mileage will vary of course on the desire to see references to Supergirl here.

When Supergirl started, it seemed odd to me that there were of course references to Superman, but initially neither Supergirl nor Jimmy Olsen (his supposed best pal and a regular character in the early seasons) really ever spoke to Superman for advice or help, Despite the first season plot (an invasion of actual Kryptonians intent on brainwashing the planet) and Supergirl then being a rookie hero, Supergirl mostly only alluded to the Man of Steel. Such is life.

Anyway, the original Arrowverse depicted Clark and Lois as having gotten married relatively recently, like somewhere between 2018 and 2019. As opposed to the current continuity, which seemingly has them having gotten married 15 or so years ago, having had the twins and Lois having had a miscarriage at some point after that.

In case people don't want the details of what was shown, I'll put it under spoiler bars. But if you have Netflix, the relevant stuff happened in Supergirl S. 4, episode 9 and Season 5 episode 9, respectively. For people who love Tyler and Elizabeth together. it could be worth watching because they are fun and cute and all those good things. And for people conducting research into Tyler's build, you can see him in his previous, unpadded suit.

  Hide contents

During at the end of the 2018 crossover event, Clark and Lois told Supergirl that Lois was pregnant and that they were going to go to Argo City. a place of refugee Kryptonians that somehow got saved from Krypton's explosion and that exists under a red sun so the Kryptonians there don't have active powers. That way Lois did not have to worry about being super-kicked to death by her half-Kryptonian kid. (And so Superman wasn't around to help during whatever arc Supergirl was dealing with that season). There was also a scene in that 2018 crossover finale where Clark squeezed a diamond out of coal, put it in a ring and proposed.

Then in the 2019 crossover with Crisis, we saw Clark and Lois in Argo City with baby Jonathan. The background was that a wave of anti-matter energy was washing over each of the various universes, and this wave hit Argo City first. Clark and Lois sent baby Jonathan to Earth in a one-person rocket ship ahead of the wave in a parallel to Clark's origin, while Clark and Lois got saved from it by another figure.

 I don't think the pre-Crisis continuity explained how Lois found out that Clark was Superman. By the time we were introduced to her, we just knew that she knew.

Then after Crisis happened, we now have what we have: Lois and Clark have been married for around 15 years, they have twin boys and Lois had a miscarriage.

The show has said that Clark told Lois his secret, which I guess doesn't conclusively rule out that Lois figured it out on her own. I think tomorrow's episode is supposed to have some flashbacks, so we will see what they do with the current timeline. 

Thank you!  This is very helpful, provides a lot of background to viewers who haven't seen any of these characters before.

[TV Anonymous]

I am a bit confused with Tal-Rho quest to convert Terrans to Kryptonians. He and Kal-El are far from the last surviving Kryptonians. There are General Non and his Kryptonian army. Granted, he will need to let them loose, but they are there. Also, the Argo City is full of Kryptonians. In addition, why does the DoD deal with aliens? I thought it was DEO's responsibility?

[FnkyChkn34]

On 6/15/2021 at 11:34 PM, dwmarch said:

I still need an explanation for why no one recognizes Superman and Clark Kent as being the same person. Lana should see Superman standing next to Lois and notice that if you put Supes in civilian clothes and put glasses on him he'd be identical to Clark Kent! They have the same voice, same hair, same mannerisms... is there some low-level hypnosis going on here?

 

On 6/15/2021 at 11:40 PM, legaleagle53 said:

No, it's just a commonly-accepted trope that harks back to the days when people  believed that "men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses." It's the same reason that nobody except for Cat Grant and Lex Luthor  ever did the math and figured out that Kara Danvers and Supergirl are the same woman. Just roll with it.

I think it's just more commonly accepted in DC Comics-land, the old trope about dating a girl with glasses notwithstanding.  In every single iteration of any Superman story, you just have to go with it.  In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, I remember Teri Hatcher's Lois belittling herself for not figuring it out - but that's just the way it is.  No one figures it out, and it just has to be that way.

On a different topic, and I apologize if someone already said this but I didn't see it - it's definitely a good thing that Lana became Clark's mom and not Lois.  Could you imagine the next time that Lois and Clark wanted to get intimate if Lois had become his mother?  I don't think Clark would be able to look at her the same way for awhile... 

[Chicago Redshirt]

39 minutes ago, TV Anonymous said:

I am a bit confused with Tal-Rho quest to convert Terrans to Kryptonians. He and Kal-El are far from the last surviving Kryptonians. There are General Non and his Kryptonian army. Granted, he will need to let them loose, but they are there. Also, the Argo City is full of Kryptonians. In addition, why does the DoD deal with aliens? I thought it was DEO's responsibility?

We don't know all the parameters of how Crisis has reset the continuity of the unified CW Earth.

We don't know what has become of General Non and the Fort Rozz Kryptonians from Supergirl S1, or the Daxamites from Supergirl S2. They could have never existed in the first place in the new normal, or all have been destroyed. Supergirl S6 pulled Zor-El from the Phantom Zone, and presumably there might be other Kryptonians trapped there. It also referenced Argo City, so it presumably still exists in some form. 

At the same time, there is no inherent reason to believe that Edge knows much about these other possible Kryptonians existing, let alone figuring out a way to unite with them.  Even if he knows of the existence of these Kryptonians, he could still think his way of bringing back Kryptonians is better. It could be that it is more reliable, easier, or just that it would bring back more Kryptonians. The number of Kryptonians in the Eradicator could easily be more than the ones in Argo/the Phantom Zone/etc etc.

IIRC Supergirl had Luthor dismantle the DEO at some point after Crisis. Also, even before Crisis, there was some overlapping responsibility that the Department of Defense had for dealing with aliens. In Supergirl S1, a prior incarnation of Sam Lane deployed the Red Tornado android against Supergirl for such a reason. 

[Affogato]

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

 

I think it's just more commonly accepted in DC Comics-land, the old trope about dating a girl with glasses notwithstanding.  In every single iteration of any Superman story, you just have to go with it.  In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, I remember Teri Hatcher's Lois belittling herself for not figuring it out - but that's just the way it is.  No one figures it out, and it just has to be that way.

 

One of the good things Reeves did was really change his whole demeanor. If you noticed the two looked similar, still…how could you imagine clark was anything like superman? A slight resemblance, sure.  I think that was originally supposed to be true in the comics. But this Clark acts just like Superman, minus the flying, and it makes no sense.  

[Lantern7]

As far as swerves go, Edge being Clark’s half-brother was pretty neat. And he was the kid Lara had via traditional Kryptonian ways? Bonus. Thinking about it, now I’m hoping Jordan calls him “Uncle Radditz.” I can’t see Jonathan being an otaku.

The person that reviewed this episode for AVClub figures the series isn’t in continuity with Supergirl. That would be logical, but it’s probably not the case. Right now, it’s easier for me to not integrate the series just yet.

Man, What’s-His-Name’s journey probably won’t be included in British tourism anytime soon. Maybe his getting hunted was a poke at Doctor Who?

[bethy]

19 hours ago, Affogato said:

But this Clark acts just like Superman, minus the flying, and it makes no sense.  

When we see Clark outside of his family, though, he is more awkward and goofy. Like when he was interacting with the coach or when he was "struggling" with the water jug. Because of the nature of this show we see Clark much more often around people who know who he is. Personally, I've been struck by the gravitas Tyler brings when he's being Superman and is around the soldiers or others who only know him as Superman. To me, there is a difference, but I think you're right that the contrast isn't as obvious as it was when Christoper Reeves was playing the role. 

[Affogato]

3 hours ago, bethy said:

When we see Clark outside of his family, though, he is more awkward and goofy. Like when he was interacting with the coach or when he was "struggling" with the water jug. Because of the nature of this show we see Clark much more often around people who know who he is. Personally, I've been struck by the gravitas Tyler brings when he's being Superman and is around the soldiers or others who only know him as Superman. To me, there is a difference, but I think you're right that the contrast isn't as obvious as it was when Christoper Reeves was playing the role. 

You are right we mostly see him in his pod. 

[immortalfrieza]

On 6/15/2021 at 9:46 PM, cdnalor said:

Yeah, the idea that Superman is the last survivor of a dying planet is really taking a beating what with big brother Edge landing here first and cousin Kara having been sent to babysit Kal-El so technically also senior to him.  Just too many Kryptonians popping up for my taste.

I think it makes significantly more sense that there's a lot of Kryptonians popping up. Rather than like in most Superman media where somehow, someway, everybody in a planet with at least a population in the hundreds of millions full of advanced technology doesn't notice the planet is going to explode or doesn't care, resulting in... in this continuity 3 Kryptonian kids whose parents who gave enough of a crap to let them evacuate the planet. If anything the idea that there wasn't mass exodus to planets like Earth is ridiculous.

On 6/15/2021 at 10:32 PM, madhacker said:

You could tell this episode was written with COVID-19 writing restrictions in the fact that under normal circumstances, Clark would've called Kara in for backup. Oh hell with this threat, he'd be safe calling in everybody in the League, including the Legends.

I don't think it has anything to do with COVID-19, I think that they've basically decided that Superman & Lois functionally take place on a separate continuity from the rest of the Arrowverse, even if in actuality they're supposed to be on the same planet. Particularly Supergirl and Superman & Lois don't effect each other in any way whatsoever. Most of the plots in both shows don't make any sense with the existence of the other show because they never call each other from backup or even acknowledge each other's existence. Hell, long before this show came along they rarely ever had Clark show up on Supergirl or even be mentioned even when he really really should be.

It probably doesn't hurt that half of the arrowverse shows left are being/have been cancelled this year including Supergirl. I wouldn't be surprised if Flash follows within a year or 2 after and Legends are busy hopping around time rarely ever even at the same time period as the other shows are anyway.

On 6/16/2021 at 7:15 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

T2.  Edge knows or suspects Lara would disapprove of his corruption of the Eradicator and doesn't want her resurrected ever, or at least until she basically is in no position to thwart his resurrection of Krypton.

Considering that Lara is the first Kryptonian consciousness to be downloaded we've seen that hasn't been shown to be a total psychopath willing to kill humans and even other Kryptonians because Edge says so I have a sneaking suspicion that either Edge is cherry picking who he lets out of that Eradicator thing, brainwashing them somehow, or both.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The notion of there only being a handful of Kryptonians who survive the destruction of Krypton simply is incompatible with the modern Superman notion of a civilization that has been around enough to have mastered interstellar/interplanetary travel and for it to have been commonplace.

Even assuming that the destruction of Krypton came as a complete surprise such that no one could muster the energy/resources to do an emergency evacuation, surely there would be at least some Kryptonian colonists, explorers, diplomats or tourists who would just luck out to have not been on or near Krypton when it exploded.

[legaleagle53]

11 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The notion of there only being a handful of Kryptonians who survive the destruction of Krypton simply is incompatible with the modern Superman notion of a civilization that has been around enough to have mastered interstellar/interplanetary travel and for it to have been commonplace.

Even assuming that the destruction of Krypton came as a complete surprise such that no one could muster the energy/resources to do an emergency evacuation, surely there would be at least some Kryptonian colonists, explorers, diplomats or tourists who would just luck out to have not been on or near Krypton when it exploded.

The reason that there was never a mass exodus of Kryptonians isn't that they weren't capable of leaving. It's that they didn't believe that their planet was dying. They were in deep denial about the planet's imminent destruction and openly mocked Jor-El's repeated warnings until it was too late.

You are correct, however, that there were many  involuntary survivors besides Kal, Kara, and the entire population of Argo City in Silver Age canon because they happened to be already off-world at the time of Krypton's destruction. There were the Kryptonian criminals who had been sentenced to the Phantom Zone, and there was also the city of Kandor, which Brainiac had stolen from the surface of Krypton years before Krypton exploded.

Edited June 25, 2021 by legaleagle53

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

The reason that there was never a mass exodus of Kryptonians isn't that they weren't capable of leaving. It's that they didn't believe that their planet was dying. They were in deep denial about the planet's imminent destruction and openly mocked Jor-El's repeated warnings until it was too late.

You are correct, however, that there were many  involuntary survivors besides Kal, Kara, and the entire population of Argo City in Silver Age canon because they happened to be already off-world at the time of Krypton's destruction. There were the Kryptonian criminals who had been sentenced to the Phantom Zone, and there was also the city of Kandor, which Brainiac had stolen from the surface of Krypton years before Krypton exploded.

The original origin came against a backdrop where spaceships on Krypton were seemingly rare, and putting one together took Jor-El a long time.

In most modern incarnations, space travel is as common in Krypton as cars are to us.

What I am saying is that even while disbelieving Jor-El until disaster started to strike would not prevent a sizeable number of Kryptonians from firing up their ships and leaving once it became obvious that disaster was there. That number would be far greater than the acknowledged Kryptonian survivors you mentioned.

[arc]

17 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The notion of there only being a handful of Kryptonians who survive the destruction of Krypton simply is incompatible with the modern Superman notion of a civilization that has been around enough to have mastered interstellar/interplanetary travel and for it to have been commonplace.

Post-Crisis, they squared this circle in the comics by saying that Krypton had gone through a profoundly xenophobic stage ages ago where they abhored all outside influence, going so far as to force a genetic change in all Kryptonians that bound them to the planet. Jor-El knew about this and had Kal-El's DNA changed in preparation for sending him away. Also, the Krypton of Jor-El's time was so extremely emotionally repressed and sterile that he knew he and Lara could not psychologically adapt to (any) Earth culture which is why he didn't build a bigger rocket.

Edited June 25, 2021 by arc

[moonshine71]

On 6/21/2021 at 10:23 AM, miasth said:

 

I have been giving Jor-El a pass because he is AI but knowing this is his consciousness uh not sure I like this incarnation of him.

 

He's a million times better than Smallville's Jor-El, who was a complete asshole, so I can't complain...

[methodwriter85]

I really wonder if this was meant to be a season finale and then they extended the season order so they only slightly tweaked things. This still felt like it would have made sense as a season finale.

[John Potts]

So Morgan Edge landed in Britain and was hunted with guys with shotguns? That seems incredibly unlikely. Not saying there are no guns in Britain, but they are rare. And a farmer who shot at a kid would certainly be arrested.

Loved Lana’s response to “Are you OK?” being “No!” (probably with a few expletives deleted for broadcast). You’d have to be remarkably phlegmatic to absorb the knowledge that your husband was not only possessed by a dead alien but also just tried to kill you and be OK. And did nobody point out that if Lana dies (or was unrecoverable) then Sarah could lose both her parents? I'm fine with Lana choosing to do so anyway (glad that she gets a hero moment), but you'd think Clark would point that out.

There seemed rather too many Neo Kryptonians given how few were entered into the program. And for all Jor-El’s optimism, it does seem that Kryptonians tend mostly to the “Evil” side (though I guess Edge can choose ones who agree with his way of thinking).

On 6/16/2021 at 3:39 AM, thuganomics85 said:

So, Morgan Edge really is Superman/Kal-El's brother, huh?  Yep, apparently Lara was initially paired/married with someone else, but left him for Jor-El, which apparently was quite a scandal (I do wonder what divorce is like on Krypton?)

It’s amazing how Krypton has exactly the same socio-political arrangements as Earth! Could they not have taken a leaf out of Man of Steel and said Edge was brewed in a lab (“Like most Kryptonians”) but Lara & Jor-El fell in love and had Kal ”the old fashioned way”?

On 6/16/2021 at 3:13 AM, AimingforYoko said:

So Kal's mother's consciousness was placed in the body of someone he dated*. Holy Oedipus Rex, Superman!

...and her son's wife (seems to be) her best friend and their children are sort of dating. Jerry Springer would love it!

On 6/16/2021 at 3:09 PM, Lady Calypso said:

I like how Jonathan is the voice of reason and very open to telling the truth to Sarah. I get Jordan wanting to protect her, but I also get Jonathan just wanting her to know the truth. It did seem to help a lot, so that's good

It was refreshing given traditionally comics take the line “We have to keep it a secret!” and nobody responds “Why?” One of the best moves the MCU took was deciding that secret identities were pretty ridiculous and doing away with them right at the start.

On 6/16/2021 at 7:42 PM, jcin617 said:

how did they know where to find Lara's consciousness?   I guess Edge had already found it, but hadn't downloaded it yet...?

Maybe Jor-El knew the filing system but Edge doesn't?

On 6/18/2021 at 6:54 AM, arc said:

"I'll find them." Wait, Edge didn't put a lojack on his one-of-one Eradicator?????? He didn't even set up an alarm?

I'd imagine the problem won't be finding it so much as getting it back, since we've seen Gen Lane has anti-Kryptonian security systems. Obviously he will anyway, because we have to have a big showdown in the Finale!

On 6/21/2021 at 3:09 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Edge comes from a different perspective. He thinks that appealing to his Kryptonian heritage and their literal DNA ties could help sway Clark. Or at least, he makes an effort to convince him in 2021. The question I have is why not in 2005 or whatever? Edge doesn't even need to dive in at first with the "By the way, I am planning to resurrect Kryptonians and plan to use willing humans to do it." Befriending him and working him up to the idea would probably work out better.

Yes, he should present it as “Hi, brother I’m a fellow Kryptonian and I have the back ups of several Kryptonians, including our mother! I think we can bring them back! Isn’t that great?” Obviously you don't mention the "It totally overwrites the personality of the humans we stick them in" to maintain your Villain with Good Publicity credentials.