S02.E04: The Inverse Method

[scarynikki12]

Quote

Lois and Chrissy are on a mission to find Lois' sister Lucy and Jonathan and Jordan become more and more unsettled as Clark's painful visions continue.

 

 

[scarynikki12]

LUCY! Missed you honey! 

Ally is a creepy fucker (Rya is excellent in the role) and I can't wait to watch Lois take her down.

Yeah, don't make it a habit to use your super hearing on Lois, Jordan. Right now it's podcasts but it can quickly be sexytimes with Clark and that trauma will last forever.

I'm sure it was because of Irons own experience but I'm still surprised that Nat has so easily accepted Superman being a good guy.

Glad the Bizarro/Superman percussive blast didn't hurt Irons or the house. Also glad his hammer works without his suit.

I agree with Kyle that they should get some ammo against Mayor Shithead's son BUT I also agree with Lana that they shouldn't go public with it. What they should do is make Mayor Shithead think they will to get him to back off Sarah.

Snuggle Muffin seems to still be in investigating mode so I'm hopeful but the reveal that the KryptoSteroid gives the user a Superman enhancement may be tempting enough for him to actually take it. If he does I hope he just gets the super smell and it makes him never take it again.

Denise is cute and thinks Jon is cute so fingers crossed that the foundation for a better girlfriend is being laid.

Jordan calling Lane for help and Lane's absolute annoyance was gold. Jordan annoying various family members is a great recurring bit. 

Dammit Jon you are supposed to be investigating the KryptoSteroid not taking it! And of course Coach likes this version of Jon which will make him want to keep taking it.

Whelp, Lois found Lucy and Lucy is not having it. Meanwhile Ally made Chrissy instantly so things are going well. I'm sure Ally's people keep her well informed of the family and friends of her cultists' family and friends but I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up having powers too.

All of this stems from Mommy Issues which makes sense. Lucy needed to express her trauma while Lois kept hers bottled up.

Lucy saw her other self? Ok, so Ally gave her LSD? Dude, you don't need her for that. Just go to a music festival instead. You'll hear some good music while you take that trip.

Go Sarah for not letting anyone make her feel ashamed for her medical history.

Yeah, no way the JV Squad was going to win against Bizarro.

I'm confident Irons will be ok (he better be show!) but I'm glad Nat's upset with Supes. Should provide some good conflict.

Ah, so Mayor Shithead is going to go after Kyle's alcoholism instead of Sarah's depression. Oh, and Kyle's cheated on Lana? Dammit Kyle!

Chrissy better be in reporter ode with Ally but I expect them to go with the obvious route and have her end up a disciple. Ally will need to gather some Smallville people before Lois can defeat her.

[cambridgeguy]

You'd think Sam would know better than to train Jordan behind his parents' back.  Lois is going to explode when she finds out, although that eruption will be nothing compared to what she'll do when Jon's steroid use comes to light.  The kid is going to wish he was facing glowing eyes Clark instead when the time comes.

If Lucy really wants to see her other self then Lois should call J'onn and he can unlock her pre-Crisis memories. 

[scarynikki12]

8 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

If Lucy really wants to see her other self then Lois should call J'onn and he can unlock her pre-Crisis memories.

OH! Maybe that's what Ally's LSD does? Her disciples get a glimpse of who they were before Crisis and they just think it's some spiritual awakening. So Lucy sees the version of herself that was emotionally healthy, with a fancy military career, a family in tact*, and mistakes it for her spirit ascending or whatever bullshit Ally's peddling. The next question is if Ally herself knows what her LSD is doing or actually believes in her own bullshit.

*Until we know otherwise I assume that Mama Lane only abandoned the family post-Crisis. 

[bettername2come]

Jonathan Kent, you illogical dumbass. Gee, what's the one thing Smallville has that nowhere else does? You half-Kryptonian dumbass who's gonna get poisoned.

I enjoyed seeing Jordan and Sam connecting. And it was weirdly sweet the way he gave advice on how to avoid security cameras. I think it'll be fun to see Sam giving him superhero lessons.

Dammit, Chrissy, someone on this show better only be making questionable decisions as a cover for their investigation. It ain't Jonathan, so the hope lies with you.

Kyle, don't you dare drink or cheat on Lana. You'd be nothing without her. And does the mayor seriously think Kyle's drinking problem isn't already known to the entire town?

I kind of thought they'd kill off Tag because the emotional impact would be more severe and would give Clark a reason to get to know the other two. But alas, they were only red shirts. Ah, well, at least Tag gets to live.

Not sure what's going to happen with Bizarro, and that's exciting and different. I love the relationship with John Henry and how close they've become. But please don't do anything stupid guys. I don't want Natalie to become an orphan and get adopted by the Kents.  

Jenna Dewan looks so different compared to her time on Supergirl. If I didn't know better I would've thought they'd recast. She's doing a great job in the role. And I feel like they've done a good job with the cult stuff and her psychology that a lot of shows haven't handled as well. 

It was weird to see everybody have their own storyline. They barely intersected. Not bad, but unusual for this show. 

 

[Lantern7]

Scene: A quiet spot in Earth's upper atmosphere.

Superman: Things are getting out of hand. There's a warped version of me flying around, and it just killed two "Supermen of America." John Henry tried to help, and now he's in serious condition. Natalie hates me for not stopping him. And on top of all that, Lois is losing a battle with her sister and a cult on the other side.

(zoom in on Superman's ear)

Jonathan: Wanna compare notes this week?

Jordan: Well, I used freeze breath to thwart shoplifters, not realizing that cameras were installed. Luciky for me, Grandpa replaced the footage . . . and now I'm going to train with him because Dad really needs the help.

Jonathan: Wow. Okay, so I found out the guy who I've been obsessing about has been taking drugs . . . except they're wacky mineral-based inhalants or something.

Jordan: So you're gonna try and get to the bottom of that?

Jonathan: No, I'm going to use that to get the position clearly destined for me. My senses got so jacked up! I was in turbo mode  while I was behind the line. Coach actually noticed me this week!

(zoom back on Superman)

Superman: (facepalm) Rao . . . damn it.

(Zeta-Rho's old home)

Lara Hologram: I do not understand, Kal-El. Why would you ask me if my bloodline includes cousins that wed and mated with each other?

Superman: Look, I'd ask Jor-El's hologram, but that's destroyed, and I know the stupid isn't from the Lanes. No way my sons should be that dumb.

Oh, and Kyle may have cheated on Lana, which . . . figures. Kyle's probably remorseful as all hell, but the mayor is going to be tugging on his short hairs for at least two episodes.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Lantern7

[dwmarch]

Wow, the Clarks sure suck at undercover stuff. The DoD is all over Superman's solo adventures, Lois and Chrissy were two steps behind the cult the entire time and Johnathan takes some X-K and goes from bench warmer to... I don't know football, I'm Canadian... Tom Brady I guess. Because no matter how much he wins his balls are going to get deflated for this. And let's not forget Jordan who puts on a display of superpowers in front of a camera and has to have the DoD remotely mess with the footage. Shameful work all around!

Kyle on the other hand is good at undercover work at least with that saucy bartender.

I liked Sarah's approach to finding out that her issues might become a political pawn. She can advocate for mental health or just remind people that it's none of their damn business. Either way, I don't think the sleazy mayor is going to find any mileage going after her.

 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I don't like that we're already on a hiatus between new episodes, darn it!

Unspoiled Speculation Theory: This Inverse Society is somehow bringing "other selves" from another dimension or something. What Lucy saw wasn't  a drug-induced hallucination. It was Bizarro Lucy. And for some reason, they have pulled over Bizarro. It would be an interesting to connect the main Lois plot to the main Clark plot. 

The football scenes aren't face-palm inducing, so progress. I wish they explicitly said that Jordan dropped football and why. It doesn't so much make sense that he basically got his first set of friends by being a football stud and he's just dropped off of it. 

Am I right that the two "Supermen of America" that Bizarro killed are the first explicit villain casualties of the series? Like I don't think Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr actually killed anyone all last season. It might have been nice to get to know something about them before their deaths...their names, their powers...maybe we'll see that next episode.

Am I reading too much into it, or did they make Chrissy into an Allison Mack-type in her undercover gig? It seems like going on the "Dark Web" is not where a cult leader trying to re-establish her base would want to go. It seems like she's going to want to cast as wide a net as possible and get as many money and followers as possible. Restricting herself to the Dark Web is probably not going to likely attract vulnerable and gullible people in particularly high numbers. Ally and Lucy took a big chance that Lois would say something seemingly incriminating about her piece and methods without dropping more truth about either Ally or Lucy. 

I really like that Emily is being used as a recurring character well. I don't like that Kyle has apparently had a fling with a bartender at the Smallville equivalent of Cheers. 

Is it supposed to be suspicious that Sam was so johnny on the spot to help out Jordan? Also, both he and Jordan should know it's a baaaaaaaaaad idea to train without going through Clark and Lois. 

[kickingnames]

Ugh, Jonathan, no. And again — louder this time, for the writers in the back — “THAT’S NOT HOW GENETICS WORK!”

Anyway… Should’ve known there was a schedule break coming — too many people were making dumb decisions tonight. Well-meaning, but dumb. I’m not even mad at Lois for burying the lede (along with her journalistic integrity) with the Ally story, although I’m totally on board with the theory that Lucy and the others are seeing themselves from other universes, even pre-crisis ones. That’d be a cool way to tie this show back in to the others (although I don’t necessarily need that; I’m liking it separate as it is just fine). Just as long as Chrissy is truly doing undercover work. For now I’m choosing to believe she’s trying to do what Lois was to close to the situation to do — go in deep to uncover what’s really going on, good or bad. (It will almost certainly be bad.)

What are the men of this show thinking? Anderson refuses to bring in Superman and gets two of his young, hip superheroes murdered. John Henry takes off in a damaged suit to help Clark after he promised not to and very-nearly gets murdered. Natalie probably wants to murder Clark for letting her dad get hurt. Lois will definitely want to murder the rest of her male relatives when she finds out about the “heroics” they’re each sneaking around to do. And Kyle’s absolutely dead meat when Lana finds out about his past dalliances with that bartender.

Is it sad that I already feel bad for Bizarro? It seems like he keeps attacking because he’s just trying to get Clark out of his head just as much as Clark wants Bizarro out of his own head. Curious about the effects of the crystal Tag snagged. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by kickingnames
Getting my train of thought back on track

[JapMo]

4 hours ago, bettername2come said:

I enjoyed seeing Jordan and Sam connecting. And it was weirdly sweet the way he gave advice on how to avoid security cameras. I think it'll be fun to see Sam giving him superhero lessons.

LOL, Sam tells Jordan to keep it on the down low that he's going to help train the kid, never thinking in a million years Clark might have heard their plotting...he also has super hearing Gramps, remember?

[JapMo]

Oh Chrissy....you're just so pathetically bad at the newspaper business.  Spending all night playing around on the dark web to try to help Lois.  Hey, Lois doesn't need your help.  Get a clue, Nancy Drew.  Lois is the franchise.  She gets front page, and you print anything she turns in...with a huge by-line.  Her name alone on an article is what's keeping your rag afloat.  You do the crossword puzzles, funnies, human interest (who's cow just birthed a calf, what's the weather predictions for the next week), obits, and report on who made the Smallville High wrestling team. In between, you endlessly and without shame promote the LL name to hustle for advertisers.  Get your butt into work at 6 AM and don't leave a second before 6PM, unless it's to cover the retirement party for the Chief of Police.  If Lois breezes in and works 15 minutes a week, none of your business.  If she fudges on her quotes or sources a little bit, you pull a Sgt Schultz ('I know nothing...I see nothing).  

In other words, keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself, and accept that you will never, EVER, be a real reporter.  But as consolation, you are permitted to brag about your Journalism degree from Des Moines Jr College or whatever at the local Suds & Duds in between separating colors from whites.

 

[Terrafamilia]

No, "who are you" or, "what do you want" to Bizarro? He could have then said, "You am got no jurisdiction in Bolivia" or something. Was he looking for his own bizarro fortress down there? I do like that Freddie Mercury look with the 'stache.

[Paloma]

7 hours ago, dwmarch said:

I liked Sarah's approach to finding out that her issues might become a political pawn. She can advocate for mental health or just remind people that it's none of their damn business. Either way, I don't think the sleazy mayor is going to find any mileage going after her.

I liked her reaction also but I'm not sure sure it's realistic for a 15-year-old to have such a mature reaction (especially given that she didn't handle the situation with Jordan and the summer kiss all that maturely). But I'll go with it because it's a good message for viewers, especially younger ones.

6 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Is it supposed to be suspicious that Sam was so johnny on the spot to help out Jordan?

I wasn't suspicious because I just assumed he wants to always be available to his grandsons, maybe to make up for his past lack of availability to his daughters. But I was confused about how he was able to scramble and/or replace the surveillance video in a shop so quickly. Are we supposed to think that the DoD has 24/7 access to all the surveillance video in all locations in the US, even a new small convenience store in a small town? And even if they do, if Sam is retired how does he still have immediate access to whatever his family needs from the DoD? I guess we have to hand-wave the last question because of "connections."

5 hours ago, kickingnames said:

Is it sad that I already feel bad for Bizarro? It seems like he keeps attacking because he’s just trying to get Clark out of his head just as much as Clark wants Bizarro out of his own head. Curious about the effects of the crystal Tag snagged. 

Interesting idea, and now that you bring it up it did seem like Bizarro was acting confused and as if his head hurt at times. Maybe having two of the same people (or maybe just Kryptonians) exist in the same dimension would cause both of them to have terrible physical and psychological effects? If that's the cause, it would be good if they could work together to find a way to get Bizarro back to his own dimension.

I had to leave the room briefly during the Lois-Lucy confrontation in the hotel room, and I apparently missed some big revelation from Lois that caused Chrissy to lose faith in her and that gave Lucy and the cult leader the ammo they needed to destroy Lois's credibility. Up until the point I left the room, I didn't hear anything incriminating to Lois--if anything, it was confirming that she wanted to protect Lucy from the dangerous cult leader. Can someone tell me what Lois said to Lucy that was incriminating?

[128survivor]

Do we know the names of the 2 actors that bizarro killed ?

[cambridgeguy]

9 minutes ago, Paloma said:

had to leave the room briefly during the Lois-Lucy confrontation in the hotel room, and I apparently missed some big revelation from Lois that caused Chrissy to lose faith in her and that gave Lucy and the cult leader the ammo they needed to destroy Lois's credibility. Up until the point I left the room, I didn't hear anything incriminating to Lois--if anything, it was confirming that she wanted to protect Lucy from the dangerous cult leader. Can someone tell me what Lois said to Lucy that was incriminating?

Lois admitted that she left some stuff out of her original story which allowed it to fit the narrative she wanted to push.  If anything, it goes to show that she shouldn't be reporting on stuff that involves her family (all of her stories with Superman, the Sam stuff from last season) since she's willing to bend the rules to protect her own.  However, that shouldn't be enough to send Chrissy spiraling into a cult leader's open arms unless she's hopelessly naive and/or there's something else going on.  We don't really know anything else about her.

They also snuck in a little comics easter egg:

Spoiler

Ally Alston is actually (one of) the versions of the Parasite, a Superman villain who can absorb other people's powers and memories.  Other versions of the Parasite showed up on Supergirl.

 

[Lady Calypso]

Oh, why did this episode have characters make stupid decisions left and right? Let's start with Anderson, whose actions to hide things from Superman got two of his team members killed. At least it wasn't Tag?

Oh, Jonathan. I had REALLY hoped that his plan when buying the X-K from his shady girlfriend was to investigate, not to take it. I get why he's taking it, but still. And I'm a little surprised, and disappointed, that it's actually affecting him like any regular human. I had hoped his Kryptonian nature would have caused either an adverse reaction or no reaction. Alas, now we get Jonathan taking X-K, which will surely not turn out well for him either way.

Sam next for deciding that he's going to tell Jordan to keep their training a secret from Clark and Lois. Yes, Sam, of course that's a smart idea. Keep that hidden from his own parents and see how that goes when Jordan inevitably gets hurt. It was good for Sam to be there to help Jordan out, and I'm all for Sam/Jordan scenes, but this won't end well.

John Henry, no! I know he'll be all good in an episode or two, or maybe his injury will carry through to the rest of the season, but I feel bad for him. All he was trying to do was help, but just didn't have his suit ready in time for the next fight. 

The Lois/Lucy stuff was decent. It's good to see Jenna Dewan back in the universe, albeit a different version of Lucy this time. And as frustrating as it was to see her so against Lois, I think it's good drama for the sisters. I, too, assume that whatever Ally has her cult members seeing is actually real, which will make this even more complex. But that means Ally has a nefarious plan that won't end well for anyone. 

As for Chrissy, she BETTER be going deep undercover and not actually turning on Lois. I think what doesn't work with Chrissy potentially actually falling for Ally's manipulations is that we don't know enough about Chrissy to know if she's vulnerable enough for Ally to get. Lois withholding information about the story isn't enough for Chrissy to turn to Ally. 

And now, Kyle. So, are we seeing that he had an affair with that bartender when he was an alcoholic and he was going to her to make sure she keeps her mouth shut? If so, it's now a ticking clock to see when that information gets revealed. Also, BAD KYLE. I hate it, I hate affair twists. I hope it didn't go beyond flirting, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case.

Bizarro is still fun, but are we going to get his motives for being here soon?

[kickingnames]

1 hour ago, cambridgeguy said:

They also snuck in a little comics easter egg:

  Reveal spoiler

Ally Alston is actually (one of) the versions of the Parasite, a Superman villain who can absorb other people's powers and memories.  Other versions of the Parasite showed up on Supergirl.

 

Yes, I saw that tidbit elsewhere and it makes me interested in seeing where they go with this Inverse Society or whatever it’s called, beyond the obvious.

[legaleagle53]

8 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't like that we're already on a hiatus between new episodes, darn it!

 

Would you rather have new episodes competing against the Winter Olympics for half of February?

[JapMo]

42 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Also, BAD KYLE. I hate it, I hate affair twists. I hope it didn't go beyond flirting, but I'm pretty sure that isn't the case.

Maybe Kyle can take a page from his daughter's excuse book and tell Lana 'it was just a kiss'.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

Would you rather have new episodes competing against the Winter Olympics for half of February?

I can understand that rationale for holding off on episodes, but a) I think it likely a vestige of old-school thinking that same day live ratings should matter so much in an age of DVRs and streaming services b) no way to prove or disprove it but I'm guessing that there is not much likelihood that people who watch S&L are going to care so much about the Winter Olympics that they would prefer to watch the WO rather than S&L c) assuming for discussion's sake that there would be a measurable downturn because of the WO, the heart wants what the heart wants, and I want more S&L without having to wait weeks. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

3 hours ago, Paloma said:

I liked her reaction also but I'm not sure sure it's realistic for a 15-year-old to have such a mature reaction (especially given that she didn't handle the situation with Jordan and the summer kiss all that maturely). But I'll go with it because it's a good message for viewers, especially younger ones.

I wasn't suspicious because I just assumed he wants to always be available to his grandsons, maybe to make up for his past lack of availability to his daughters. But I was confused about how he was able to scramble and/or replace the surveillance video in a shop so quickly. Are we supposed to think that the DoD has 24/7 access to all the surveillance video in all locations in the US, even a new small convenience store in a small town? And even if they do, if Sam is retired how does he still have immediate access to whatever his family needs from the DoD? I guess we have to hand-wave the last question because of "connections."

Interesting idea, and now that you bring it up it did seem like Bizarro was acting confused and as if his head hurt at times. Maybe having two of the same people (or maybe just Kryptonians) exist in the same dimension would cause both of them to have terrible physical and psychological effects? If that's the cause, it would be good if they could work together to find a way to get Bizarro back to his own dimension.

I had to leave the room briefly during the Lois-Lucy confrontation in the hotel room, and I apparently missed some big revelation from Lois that caused Chrissy to lose faith in her and that gave Lucy and the cult leader the ammo they needed to destroy Lois's credibility. Up until the point I left the room, I didn't hear anything incriminating to Lois--if anything, it was confirming that she wanted to protect Lucy from the dangerous cult leader. Can someone tell me what Lois said to Lucy that was incriminating?

When I was talking about Sam, I was referring to his ability to insta-fix the situation almost before even requested. I could buy that Sam spent extra time/took extra steps with Smallville because he's aware of the importance of it, and also the DOD had just been occupying it. But to have that level of control that he could mess with the video system of a store that had only just recently opened up there, and that he would know off the cuff where the blind spot in its video is either suggests some advance prep that would make Batman jealous or something. I mean, I assume we're supposed to take it at face value.

In essence, Lois repeatedly said she would do anything to take down Ally and to keep Lucy safe with her, and she admitted that she did not include what would be an important bit of information for the sake of balance. Ally's teachings apparently involve some sort of confrontation of another self. Lucy had told Lois that in whatever she was doing that Lucy had started to see her other self, and questioned Lois on why that wasn't included in the article. Lois basically said that Lucy was clearly whacked out of her mind so she kept it out. So it then becomes clear that Lois has an agenda and allowed it to shape this story (even though it seems clear that the agenda was a legit one).

[Diapason Untuned]

I feel like I'm repeating myself here, but I do wish this show would at least put in the effort not to act as though it isn't on Earth-1. I know about the filming restrictions and the different writers, but still.

11 hours ago, dwmarch said:

 Tom Brady I guess.

I wonder if it's coincidence or not that Jonathan was wearing Brady's number on the day he announced his retirement?

 

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Oh, Jonathan. I had REALLY hoped that his plan when buying the X-K from his shady girlfriend was to investigate, not to take it. I get why he's taking it, but still. And I'm a little surprised, and disappointed, that it's actually affecting him like any regular human. I had hoped his Kryptonian nature would have caused either an adverse reaction or no reaction. Alas, now we get Jonathan taking X-K, which will surely not turn out well for him either way.

Jon's girlfriend is really starting to bug me now. It's one thing to sell drugs to help feed your family, but it's another to upsell your boyfriend. Jon, you need to dump that chick.

On the matter of the X-K, I don't see why JOn would have an adverse reaction due to his half-Kryptonian heritage. I would almost think it would be the opposite.

Quote

The Lois/Lucy stuff was decent. It's good to see Jenna Dewan back in the universe, albeit a different version of Lucy this time. And as frustrating as it was to see her so against Lois, I think it's good drama for the sisters. I, too, assume that whatever Ally has her cult members seeing is actually real, which will make this even more complex. But that means Ally has a nefarious plan that won't end well for anyone. 

We get confirmation that Lucy's life did not go so well post-Crisis. I'm assuming that she has vestigal memories of her life there which is what is causing her unhappiness and Ally can connect her more fully with those memories.

 

Quote

Bizarro is still fun, but are we going to get his motives for being here soon?

I rather like that Bizarro is thus far an unknowable monster; it's the fact that you can't communicate with them that makes a monster truly scary.

Also liked the hear breath, very classic stuff there.

[tennisgurl]

Not a great day for the Kent family, or for pretty much anyone. So many bad choices are being made, I really hope that Chrissy is playing Ally and that Jon is trying to investigate the drugs, but I can see things going really badly, especially now that Jon took the drugs and he suddenly had the coaches full attention. I really dislike Jon's girlfriend, she might be able to easily justify selling seemingly harmless drugs to help her family, but trying to pressure her boyfriend into taking them is really messed up. 

I guess that's what you get when you send out a bunch of kids who cant have been trained for more than a few months out against a supervillain, even if they do have powers. At least Tag is alright. No one is having a great time of it, but Clark might have been having the worst day out of everyone, dealing with these horrible painful visions causing his powers to screw up, connected to this unknowable monster who looks like a zombie version of him, and now he feels guilty for John Henry getting hurt. 

I really like the idea of Ally showing people their past lives from the pre-crisis world, no wonder Lucy wants to get back to that happier more well adjusted version of herself. Ally is certainly bad news, but there is actually a pretty good chance that she really showing people something supernatural. It could be their post crisis self or maybe a version of them from one of the other worlds, but while there is a pretty good chance that she isn't actually a fraud, I am also very sure that she has some kind of evil plan that she is using people for. I like the actress playing her a lot, she's charming but in this very icy way, you can see how quickly she can go from comforting to creepy.

Sam training Jordan to more responsibly use his powers isn't a bad idea, but it IS a bad idea that they aren't telling anyone what he's doing. Lois is going to lose her absolute shit when she finds out that her dad has been training her son to be a superhero behind her back. I don't even know why it has to be a secret, I think Lois and Clark would be alright with Jordan learning more about his powers, even if they wouldn't be thrilled about the idea of him joining his dad in superheroing.

Oh no Kyle, what did you do? I know that Kyle and Lana were having issues when the series started, but an affair with the sexy bartender? In an episode filled with poor life choices, that is pretty high up there.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

I feel like I'm repeating myself here, but I do wish this show would at least put in the effort not to act as though it isn't on Earth-1. I know about the filming restrictions and the different writers, but still.

Yeah, when Supes and John act like the only options to help Supes are John and the "Supermen of America" (arrogant much) when there's Supergirl, J'onn and the rest of Team Supergirl, Flash and Team Flash, as well as Black Lightning and the Pierces (I will accept that Batwoman and the Batfam could be considered utterly useless vs. Bizarro) is a glaring oversight.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 2/2/2022 at 7:18 AM, Paloma said:

I had to leave the room briefly during the Lois-Lucy confrontation in the hotel room, and I apparently missed some big revelation from Lois that caused Chrissy to lose faith in her and that gave Lucy and the cult leader the ammo they needed to destroy Lois's credibility. Up until the point I left the room, I didn't hear anything incriminating to Lois--if anything, it was confirming that she wanted to protect Lucy from the dangerous cult leader. Can someone tell me what Lois said to Lucy that was incriminating?

Lois didn't report the content of the drug-induced hallucination Lucy had when Ally had her overdose and nearly died, which Lucy says proves she made contact with the other side, because it wasn't relevant to her story. A very thin reason to lose faith in someone's journalistic integrity, if you ask me.

Also, Ally looks and talks like a creep. How are all these people not running the other way?

.

Edited February 8, 2022 by Noneofyourbusiness

[Noneofyourbusiness]

20 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Like I don't think Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr actually killed anyone all last season.

Derek Powell, the test subject who went missing and then showed up and was taken over by a Kryptonian consciousness. The Kryptonian in him committed suicide by heat vision to avoid being captured, which of course murdered Derek.

.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Noneofyourbusiness

[Noneofyourbusiness]

18 hours ago, JapMo said:

LOL, Sam tells Jordan to keep it on the down low that he's going to help train the kid, never thinking in a million years Clark might have heard their plotting...he also has super hearing Gramps, remember?

Yeah, but he doesn't listen in on family members.

[Chicago Redshirt]

20 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Lois didn't report the content of the drug-induced hallucination Lucy had when Ally had her overdose and nearly die, which Lucy says proves she made contact with the other side, because it wasn't relevant to her story. A very thin reason to lose faith in someone's journalistic integrity, if you ask me.

Also, Ally looks and talks like a creep. How are all these people not running the other way?

.

There was the other component too -- Lois said that she would do anything to protect Lucy and to take Ally down. That's not exactly suggestive of fair and balanced journalism.

I think someone pointed out that Ally resembles one of the leaders in Allison Mack's actual cult, Nancy Salzman. And some combination of being broken and drugs and so forth probably makes her message more attractive than it has any right to be.

6 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Derek Powell, the test subject who went missing and then showed up and was taken over by a Kryptonian consciousness. The Kryptonian in him committed suicide by heat vision, which of course murdered Derek.

.

I don't count that one of the test subjects committing suicide in the same category as the villains actually intentionally killing someone. 

[scarynikki12]

12 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Also, Ally looks and talks like a creep. How are all these people not running the other way?

That I buy because Jim Jones and Keith Raniere (sp) both were/are beyond creepy yet they had devoted followers for their cults.

The theme of the episode, and I hope the season, is how dangerous it can be to keep your emotions/trauma/secrets bottled up. Lois chose to deal with Mama Lane's abandonment by ignoring it and refusing to talk about her but Lucy wanted to express her feelings and have a sympathetic ear. Ally was probably the first person willing to listen to Lucy as a way to suck her into the cult. The Cushings have secrets (Kyle) and trauma (Sarah) that Mayor Shithead wants to expose for his own benefit and doesn't care about the collateral damage. Lane's telling Jordan to keep quiet about them training together which we all know will backfire when Lois and Clark find out. I expect when Jon's KryptoSteroid use is discovered he'll talk about feeling less than for not having powers/abilities despite being half-Kryptonian and felt he couldn't/shouldn't tell anyone. I'm certain Nat is bottling up emotions about Superman being good on this Earth, Lois being her mom's doppelgänger, and everything she's experienced in the past few months and it may come out poorly now that she's adding anger about her dad's injuries to the list. Whatever ends up happening with Chrissy she's for sure upset that Lois didn't give all the details about Lucy's experience with Ally's LSD. That theme hit pretty much every character this episode and it's a good one to explore so I hope they keep doing it.

[JapMo]

7 minutes ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Yeah, but he doesn't listen in on family members.

So he says.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

14 hours ago, Paloma said:

I wasn't suspicious because I just assumed he wants to always be available to his grandsons, maybe to make up for his past lack of availability to his daughters. But I was confused about how he was able to scramble and/or replace the surveillance video in a shop so quickly. Are we supposed to think that the DoD has 24/7 access to all the surveillance video in all locations in the US, even a new small convenience store in a small town? And even if they do, if Sam is retired how does he still have immediate access to whatever his family needs from the DoD? I guess we have to hand-wave the last question because of "connections."

And Sam might figure that if Jordan is determined, he's going to do it with or without his help, so better that it be with.

In real life, that stunt would not be possible, not in such a short amount of time and without an office to work from. Hollywood Hacking strikes again.

19 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

There was the other component too -- Lois said that she would do anything to protect Lucy and to take Ally down. That's not exactly suggestive of fair and balanced journalism.

Chrissy didn't hear that part, from near the end of the episode. It was a flashback to a conversation Lois and Lucy had years ago when Lois first set out to publish the article. They were in a different room and wearing different outfits.

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Sam training Jordan to more responsibly use his powers isn't a bad idea, but it IS a bad idea that they aren't telling anyone what he's doing. Lois is going to lose her absolute shit when she finds out that her dad has been training her son to be a superhero behind her back. I don't even know why it has to be a secret, I think Lois and Clark would be alright with Jordan learning more about his powers, even if they wouldn't be thrilled about the idea of him joining his dad in superheroing.

Keeping unnecessary secrets is an easy source of drama.

9 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

Jon's girlfriend is really starting to bug me now. It's one thing to sell drugs to help feed your family, but it's another to upsell your boyfriend. Jon, you need to dump that chick.

At least Jordan and Denise agree with you.

[Noneofyourbusiness]

41 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I don't count that one of the test subjects committing suicide in the same category as the villains actually intentionally killing someone. 

 Derek, the test subject, didn't commit suicide. One of the villains, the one possessing his body, intentionally killed him along with himself. Derek had no say. The Kryptonian was a separate person. That was murder. Arguably moreso than the deaths of the two superteens, since they were in a fight with Bizarro but Derek was purely an unconscious and helpless victim who wasn't even awake when the Kryptonian killed him.

.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Noneofyourbusiness

[PAForrest]

16 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

There was the other component too -- Lois said that she would do anything to protect Lucy and to take Ally down. That's not exactly suggestive of fair and balanced journalism.

I think someone pointed out that Ally resembles one of the leaders in Allison Mack's actual cult, Nancy Salzman. And some combination of being broken and drugs and so forth probably makes her message more attractive than it has any right to be.

Yeah, that was me - and she does a little if you look at the photos of Nancy, or saw clips of her in either of the two documentaries about Nxivm that aired a couple years ago. Obviously the writers are morphing Nancy and Keith Raniere into the one character of Ally.  Are they afraid it would be too on-the-nose if they had a Keith stand-in for the cult leader instead, because that ship has sailed, folks. Clearly Chrissy with the blond wig was very much an Allison Mack stand-in at that point.  Again I ask, why is the CW so comfortable with this blatant takeoff on Mack's involvement with Nxivm given her tie to their network and Smallville. It's making me a little uncomfortable.

No, Lois is definitely not coming across as unbiased. OTOH, the way Lucy is talking is exactly the way a person neck-deep in the throes of a cult would talk, and if Lois had included the part about the drug-induced hallucination in her piece, that's exactly how general audiences would have read it anyway. Sounds completely cray-cray to me, so I certainly can't blame Lois as a sister and person for believing Lucy is just a tad bit unbalanced. Given that this is a genre show, obviously more is going on here. But just the fact that Lucy blames Lois's 8-year-old self for driving mom away is not even a little rational.

And if Chrissy isn't pissed off that Lois was set up to be recorded and have that recording blasted to the audience and possibly the internet, she's not thinking rationally either. In fact, she appears to have been way too easily compromised by Ally after just a few minutes that Chrissy herself cannot be trusted as a journalist either. I think it may be time for Lois and Chrissy to dissolve their partnership.

16 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

The theme of the episode, and I hope the season, is how dangerous it can be to keep your emotions/trauma/secrets bottled up. Lois chose to deal with Mama Lane's abandonment by ignoring it and refusing to talk about her but Lucy wanted to express her feelings and have a sympathetic ear. Ally was probably the first person willing to listen to Lucy as a way to suck her into the cult. The Cushings have secrets (Kyle) and trauma (Sarah) that Mayor Shithead wants to expose for his own benefit and doesn't care about the collateral damage. Lane's telling Jordan to keep quiet about them training together which we all know will backfire when Lois and Clark find out. I expect when Jon's KryptoSteroid use is discovered he'll talk about feeling less than for not having powers/abilities despite being half-Kryptonian and felt he couldn't/shouldn't tell anyone. I'm certain Nat is bottling up emotions about Superman being good on this Earth, Lois being her mom's doppelgänger, and everything she's experienced in the past few months and it may come out poorly now that she's adding anger about her dad's injuries to the list. Whatever ends up happening with Chrissy she's for sure upset that Lois didn't give all the details about Lucy's experience with Ally's LSD. That theme hit pretty much every character this episode and it's a good one to explore so I hope they keep doing it.

This does sound like the best explanation for what happened in this episode for sure, and possibly is the theme for the season. I guess we'll see.

However, I despise the trope where a couple is getting on really good after a rocky patch (aka the Cushings), so the writers decide, hey, that's boring, let's throw in a past drunken affair to screw things up for a while - or permanently. Gag me, this isn't a daytime soap opera, people. Really hated that twist, and I'm already over it.

Are they trying to tell me Sam Lane trained Superman, because that sounds unlikely - and so him training Jordan in secret isn't really logical and doesn't sit well with me. If Lane was teaching his fully human grandson how to fight to defend himself since he doesn't have super-duper powers, that would be a logical step, especially since Clark isn't stepping up to the plate where Jon's concerned. But of course, once again Jon doesn't factor into any of his supposed family member's lives.

If the drug Jon is taking doesn't trigger some latent half-Kryptonian power in him - and I don't think the showrunner will allow it since Jordan is his special Sue - then I'm going to continue on the assumption that Jon isn't really Clark and Lois's natural son.

It is simply nonsensical that Tag develops almost full blown Kryptonian powers after the incident at the lake, where he was completely human, and Jon gets at best heightened senses like any LSD-like drug would do for most people. We'll see how this story progresses, if it does at all after another episode, but I'm not expecting anything more for Jon.

Unlike everyone else, I think Jon taking the drug, and not turning into a 15-year-old junior reporter right off the bat, is the first truly human teen behavior I've seen from this kid. I know most folks want Jon to stay in the background nice and quiet, and come out only to support Jordan Sue and his parents occasionally, etc., but that's not believable behavior. I'd like to think Jon taking the drug would wake up his family to the fact that they don't pay enough attention to this kid, and that he's got some serious anxiety issues in not being special in Smallville, especially in a family of superheroes where he's certainly not anyone's favorite kid. Sadly I'm sure all this is going to lead to is Clark and Lois screaming at him again and sending him to his room, which is pretty much their go-to in dealing with Jon on a weekly basis. I really enjoy Clark and Lois in most situations on this show, but not where it comes to how they deal - or in most instances don't at all - with Jon, supposedly one of their kids.

It also won't be believable teen behavior if Nat immediately forgives Clark/Superman and Lois for JHI getting hurt after this. She should be angry for quite a while, and should no longer want to cozy up to Lois as her faux-mom. I'd expect her to move out of Jon's room and back into the trailer after this. We'll see if that happens.

Edited February 3, 2022 by PAForrest

[kickingnames]

10 hours ago, Noneofyourbusiness said:

 Derek, the test subject, didn't commit suicide. One of the villains, the one possessing his body, intentionally killed him along with himself. Derek had no say. The Kryptonian was a separate person. That was murder. Arguably moreso than the deaths of the two superteens, since they were in a fight with Bizarro but Derek was purely an unconscious and helpless victim who wasn't even awake when the Kryptonian killed him.

.

Also there’s the Kryptonian-possessed guy who showed up to attack Lois and Sharon Powell at the hotel (when Lois borrowed Clark’s truck). After he lost the fight with Superman, Leslie Larr showed up on the road in front of his car and straight up heat-visioned him to death.

[Diapason Untuned]

1 hour ago, PAForrest said:

Yeah, that was me - and she does a little if you look at the photos of Nancy, or saw clips of her in either of the two documentaries about Nxivm that aired a couple years ago. Obviously the writers are morphing Nancy and Keith Raniere into the one character of Ally.  Are they afraid it would be too on-the-nose if they had a Keith stand-in for the cult leader instead, because that ship has sailed, folks. Clearly Chrissy with the blond wig was very much an Allison Mack stand-in at that point.  Again I ask, why is the CW so comfortable with this blatant takeoff on Mack's involvement with Nxivm given her tie to their network and Smallville. It's making me a little uncomfortable.

I'm wondering if someone in the writer's room thought that if they were going have a cult storyline, they shouldn't ignore the issue? Or maybe someone in there just doesn't like her?

 

Quote

Are they trying to tell me Sam Lane trained Superman, because that sounds unlikely - and so him training Jordan in secret isn't really logical and doesn't sit well with me.

I didn't get the impression that Sam trained Clark...at all. The secrecy stuff is grating, but I can understand why Sam agreed, since Jordan was a mistake away from blowing his family's secret.

 

Quote

 

If Lane was teaching his fully human grandson how to fight to defend himself since he doesn't have super-duper powers, that would be a logical step

 

As far as Sam knows, Jon isn't getting himself or his family into trouble, so Jordan really needs more help than he does.

 

Quote

It is simply nonsensical that Tag develops almost full blown Kryptonian powers after the incident at the lake, where he was completely human, and Jon gets at best heightened senses like any LSD-like drug would do for most people. We'll see how this story progresses, if it does at all after another episode, but I'm not expecting anything more for Jon.

I was assuming his arm strength got a boost too, based on some of those passes he was throwing.

 

 

Quote

 

Unlike everyone else, I think Jon taking the drug, and not turning into a 15-year-old junior reporter right off the bat, is the first truly human teen behavior I've seen from this kid. I know most folks want Jon to stay in the background nice and quiet, and come out only to support Jordan Sue and his parents occasionally, etc., but that's not believable behavior. I'd like to think Jon taking the drug would wake up his family to the fact that they don't pay attention to this kid, and that he's got some serious anxiety issues in not being special in Smallville, especially in a family of superheroes and certainly not being anyone's favorite kid. Sadly I'm sure all this is going to lead to is Clark and Lois screaming at him again and sending him to his room, which is pretty much their go-to in dealing with Jon on a weekly basis. I really enjoy Clark and Lois in most situations on this show, but not where it comes to how they deal - or in most instances don't at all - with Jon, supposedly one of their kids.

It also won't be believable teen behavior if Nat immediately forgives Clark/Superman and Lois for JHI getting hurt after this. She should be angry for quite a while, and certainly should no longer want to cozy up to Lois as her faux-mom. I'd expect her to move out of Jon's room and back into the trailer after this. We'll see if that happens.

 

From what I've seen a lot of people post from multiple series, they don't want kids reacting like kids to stuff, they want them acting like little adults.

[Chicago Redshirt]

2 hours ago, PAForrest said:

Yeah, that was me - and she does a little if you look at the photos of Nancy, or saw clips of her in either of the two documentaries about Nxivm that aired a couple years ago. Obviously the writers are morphing Nancy and Keith Raniere into the one character of Ally.  Are they afraid it would be too on-the-nose if they had a Keith stand-in for the cult leader instead, because that ship has sailed, folks. Clearly Chrissy with the blond wig was very much an Allison Mack stand-in at that point.  Again I ask, why is the CW so comfortable with this blatant takeoff on Mack's involvement with Nxivm given her tie to their network and Smallville. It's making me a little uncomfortable.

No, Lois is definitely not coming across as unbiased. OTOH, the way Lucy is talking is exactly the way a person neck-deep in the throes of a cult would talk, and if Lois had included the part about the drug-induced hallucination in her piece, that's exactly how general audiences would have read it anyway. Sounds completely cray-cray to me, so I certainly can't blame Lois as a sister and person for believing Lucy is just a tad bit unbalanced. Given that this is a genre show, obviously more is going on here. But just the fact that Lucy blames Lois's 8-year-old self for driving mom away is not even a little rational.

And if Chrissy isn't pissed off that Lois was set up to be recorded and have that recording blasted to the audience and possibly the internet, she's not thinking rationally either. In fact, she appears to have been way too easily compromised by Ally after just a few minutes that Chrissy herself cannot be trusted as a journalist either. I think it may be time for Lois and Chrissy to dissolve their partnership.

This does sound like the best explanation for what happened in this episode for sure, and possibly is the theme for the season. I guess we'll see.

However, I despise the trope where a couple is getting on really good after a rocky patch (aka the Cushings), so the writers decide, hey, that's boring, let's throw in a past drunken affair in to screw things up for a while - or permanently. Gag me, this isn't a daytime soap opera, people. Really hated that twist, and I'm already over it.

Are they trying to tell me Sam Lane trained Superman, because that sounds unlikely - and so him training Jordan in secret isn't really logical and doesn't sit well with me. If Lane was teaching his fully human grandson how to fight to defend himself since he doesn't have super-duper powers, that would be a logical step, especially since Clark isn't stepping up to the plate where Jon's concerned. But of course, once again Jon doesn't factor into any of his supposed family member's lives. If the drug Jon is taking doesn't trigger some latent half-Kryptonian power in him - and I don't think the showrunner will allow it since Jordan is his special Sue - then I'm going to continue on the assumption that Jon isn't really Clark and Lois's natural son.

It is simply nonsensical that Tag develops almost full blown Kryptonian powers after the incident at the lake, where he was completely human, and Jon gets at best heightened senses like any LSD-like drug would do for most people. We'll see how this story progresses, if it does at all after another episode, but I'm not expecting anything more for Jon.

Unlike everyone else, I think Jon taking the drug, and not turning into a 15-year-old junior reporter right off the bat, is the first truly human teen behavior I've seen from this kid. I know most folks want Jon to stay in the background nice and quiet, and come out only to support Jordan Sue and his parents occasionally, etc., but that's not believable behavior. I'd like to think Jon taking the drug would wake up his family to the fact that they don't pay attention to this kid, and that he's got some serious anxiety issues in not being special in Smallville, especially in a family of superheroes and certainly not being anyone's favorite kid. Sadly I'm sure all this is going to lead to is Clark and Lois screaming at him again and sending him to his room, which is pretty much their go-to in dealing with Jon on a weekly basis. I really enjoy Clark and Lois in most situations on this show, but not where it comes to how they deal - or in most instances don't at all - with Jon, supposedly one of their kids.

It also won't be believable teen behavior if Nat immediately forgives Clark/Superman and Lois for JHI getting hurt after this. She should be angry for quite a while, and certainly should no longer want to cozy up to Lois as her faux-mom. I'd expect her to move out of Jon's room and back into the trailer after this. We'll see if that happens.

I agree about Allison Mack.

The journalistically responsible thing to do would be, well, of course a) to turn the story over to someone else because you can't possibly be fair and balanced as to a family member or b) to be upfront with readers and disclose that you are writing about a family member. After all, it's not really protecting Lucy from Ally -- Ally has to know the source is Lucy. It's protecting Lucy from the rest of the world. Which is probably futile since Ally again knows or could presumably figure it out. Indeed, it's sort of surprising that Ally didn't just try to blow up the story by playing on the "Lois is biased and she manipulated Lucy into saying these awful lies" card as she easily could have. But within the universe of Lois covering the story herself, it would not have really changed things to include something like "The source stated that she saw her 'other self' after taking drugs and almost dying. But a. here's  her sounding like a crazy person b. experts say that's just how cults work is by using drugs and such to alter perceptions and c. even if it's true, SHE NEARLY DIED and someone else did."

I think that being secretly recorded accurately is not necessarily something to be upset about. But I don't know a) if I would take it as a given that it was an accurate recording and b) I would in these circumstances be leery about it being a setup. 

We really know absolutely nothing substantial about who Chrissy Beppo is other than she's a Lois Lane fan and the co-owner of the Gazette. So maybe there is something in her past that actually makes her buy Ally's line of BS.

Tag's exposure was to pure xK, which we know can be manipulated to give full Kryptonian powers. (Although I don't know if we have seen him display much beyond superspeed.) Plus, the government may have also done stuff over the last year to enhance his powers. Jon's just had one hit of an xK derivative that we are told affects people different ways. So I can buy that he is only getting enhanced vision. I hope the day comes soon where he gets equal love to Jordan, whether or not that requires him to get powers of his own. 

Last season, it seemed like almost every episode either Jon or Jordan was getting into some underaged drinking. So far this season, not one example. 

[blackwing]

I find myself not caring at all about Lois' storyline.  I never watched Supergirl, apparently Lucy was on that show too?  And is in a cult?  Yeah, I don't really care.  I couldn't care less about Chrissy either and her now-butthurt feelings.  Whatever.  Lois can quit and start her own online news site and make oodles of money.

Does Jon know that he is taking X-Kryptonite?  Does he not think this is something he at least should tell Jordan about?  After seeing what X-Kryptonite did to the town and the residents, doesn't he think he should say something to at least his grandpa?

Superman obviously can fly there in seconds, but where is this DoD location that General Lane and now General Anderson are at?  It was close enough that Lane was able to get to Smallville easily and quickly.  Where is Lane supposed to now live?  Last week he was in Minnesota or somewhere fishing, this week he is on a golf course, but he had no issues popping in to check on them.  

I am liking the Bizarro storyline and I am surprised they killed off black guy and blonde woman SoA, considering these two were two of the only three that we have seen, and did we even get their first names?  Are they just going to be replaced next week with new people?  As far as I can tell, Superman didn't even bring their bodies home from Bolivia.

[Affogato]

10 hours ago, PAForrest said:

 

It also won't be believable teen behavior if Nat immediately forgives Clark/Superman and Lois for JHI getting hurt after this. She should be angry for quite a while, and should no longer want to cozy up to Lois as her faux-mom. I'd expect her to move out of Jon's room and back into the trailer after this. We'll see if that happens.

It seems John Henry promised Natalie a ‘normal’ life now and he is still flying around in his suit, getting hurt. this is a irons family problem of trust and expectations. 
 

John Henry is a grown assed man. Clark and Lois aten’t making him do anything. 
 

she may focus her anger at the Kents, as you say, but she would be wrong. She is mad at her Dad, and perhap herself, for enabling him. 

Edited February 3, 2022 by Affogato

[thuganomics85]

Heh, Clark with the whole "Don't use your super hearing power to spy on your family, Jordan!  But since you already did...."

Lucy Lane is back in the form of Jenna Dewan again, but definitely seems to be a lot different from the one that first appeared on Supergirl.  Certainly looks like Ally did a number on her, but it also does seem like there are just a lot of issues between her and Lois, over their mom abandoning them and how Lucy feels like Lois has handled it by basically acting like their mom doesn't exist anymore.  Certainly a lot to handle and something a creepy cult leader like Ally can easily exploit.  I'm sure it will eventually work out, but it's going to be a tough one, I suspect.  Especially after Lucy helped Ally make a massive dent in Lois' journalistic integrity.

That said, for now, I'm thinking that Chrissy is actually trying to be a double agent against the cult.  Even if she is truly that mad at Lois, I just don't see her completely being willing to throw in with Ally.  Or at least I don't thinks he would.  I could be proven wrong, but I'm thinking she's working another angle here.

Dammit, Jonathan!  Kid really is just taking that drug just so he can be better at football.  Frustrating as hell, but I guess it makes sense because he probably still feels like he is lesser than the rest of the family due to not having any powers (or Lois' success), and feels like he needs to succeed at something.  But this is clearly going to backfire on him horribly.  At least Natalie already sees where this might be heading and will hopefully be able to help out when it all comes crashing down.

Jordan almost gets busted taking out some shoplifters, so he's now asking Sam for help, which isn't a bad idea by itself, but keeping it a secret from Clark and everyone else is.

Funny to think back to season one where Irons was flat-out trying to kill Superman and now here he is drinking coffee with him, sacrificing his hammer for him, and even putting his own body on the line.  Now, that's friendship!

No surprise that Bizarro is a force to be reckoned with due to, well, basically having Superman's powers.  Glad Tag at least made it out, but I really want to see how Anderson reacts to basically losing two of his "soldiers" in that looked like a mere few seconds.

What did you do, Kyle?!!

Look likes it is time for a break since even the Man of Steel doesn't want to tangle with the Olympics!

[Noneofyourbusiness]

2 hours ago, Affogato said:

It seems John Henry promised Natalie a ‘normal’ life now and he is still flying around in his suit, getting hurt. this is a irons family problem of trust and expectations. 
 

John Henry is a grown assed man. Clark and Lois aten’t making him do anything. 
 

she may focus her anger at the Kents, as you say, but she would be wrong. She is mad at her Dad, and perhap herself, for enabling him. 

Yeah, I don't think Nat will keep focusing her anger on Clark after John Henry wakes up and tells her it wasn't Clark's fault. And people say things like that when they've just seen their loved ones hurt. She'd be right to be upset at her dad for being reckless, though.

9 hours ago, blackwing said:

I never watched Supergirl, apparently Lucy was on that show too?  And is in a cult?

In Supergirl, she wasn't in a cult and was a major in the military with a job as a JAG prosecutor. She appeared along with Sam. She was James's ex-girlfriend and made some unflattering remarks about her sister Lois, who didn't appear until seasons later. Seems like Crisis may have rewritten her life for the worse.

9 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Tag's exposure was to pure xK, which we know can be manipulated to give full Kryptonian powers. (Although I don't know if we have seen him display much beyond superspeed.) Plus, the government may have also done stuff over the last year to enhance his powers.

Speaking of which, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that Anderson was the secret source of the X-K, in hopes of creating more superteens.

.

[Maverick]

 The Bizarro plot plays like it has something to do with the multiverse/Crisis.  It seems very similar to what happened with Alice on Batwoman.  But they do like to lead you down the garden path on this show.   That mine cleanup was deliberately trying to pull something through so who knows.

 Interesting theory that the cult is giving people a peek at their lives pre-Crisis.   Presumably Lois and Clark have their pre-crisis memories so shouldn't Lois be more bothered that her sister went from a great life to cult fodder?   

 Maybe they'll use whatever is going on to finally explain why all signs to this point to this show taking place in a completely different universe.   

[ukgirl71]

Just a thought, but what if Anderson uses Bizarro’s medallion to give himself powers?  And don’t start me on how little the show has tackled the implications of Crisis, such as what exactly the timeline has been, i.e. did baby Jonathan instantly become pre-teen twins, or has it now been years since Crisis, and will it ever be addressed how Jordan wouldn’t otherwise have existed?  

[legaleagle53]

15 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Interesting theory that the cult is giving people a peek at their lives pre-Crisis.   Presumably Lois and Clark have their pre-crisis memories so shouldn't Lois be more bothered that her sister went from a great life to cult fodder?   

Clark presumably does; Lois presumably doesn't. That's why in the final episode of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Clark was surprised to learn that he had TWO kids, and Lois had no idea why he thought otherwise.

However, in the first episode of that mini-series crossover, Clark told Lois that he'd always imagined that they'd have two kids by the point in their relationship that Jonathan was born (in Argo City, no less), and I was always surprised that everyone missed that particular anvil.

[statsgirl]

One thing that I really like about this show is that there are so many different plots going on that if you don't like one, wait a minute and another will come in. Superman's fight, Lois' story, Jordan and his powers, Jon and  his investigation, Lana running for mayor, Natalie and her father ....  so many balls and well juggled.

I hope that Irons makes it, I'm really enjoying the bro vibe that he has with Clark now.

Not surprised that Kyle had an affair while he was drinking. An addiction affects everything.

On 2/2/2022 at 7:12 AM, Terrafamilia said:

No, "who are you" or, "what do you want" to Bizarro? He could have then said, "You am got no jurisdiction in Bolivia" or something. Was he looking for his own bizarro fortress down there? I do like that Freddie Mercury look with the 'stache.

l kept wondering if I had missed something because wouldn't one of the first things Superman would do would be to try to make contact with his doppleganger and find out why he's so angry?

On 2/2/2022 at 8:46 AM, Lady Calypso said:

As for Chrissy, she BETTER be going deep undercover and not actually turning on Lois. I think what doesn't work with Chrissy potentially actually falling for Ally's manipulations is that we don't know enough about Chrissy to know if she's vulnerable enough for Ally to get. Lois withholding information about the story isn't enough for Chrissy to turn to Ally. 

Chrissy would be very naive if she thought that Lois never put an angle on a story so hopefully she's doing investigation rather than falling for Ally. That Ally and Lucy set up Lois like that should be a big red warning sign that Ally is not to be trusted.

[scarynikki12]

16 hours ago, Maverick said:

Presumably Lois and Clark have their pre-crisis memories so shouldn't Lois be more bothered that her sister went from a great life to cult fodder? 

J'onn gave Clark back his pre-Crisis memories in the final episode of the crossover but I don't remember them confirming if he did the same with Lois. I always assumed he did as J'onn went around to all the (at the time) current Arrowvese characters, both on and off screen, and gave them back their pre-Crisis memories so there's no reason to leave Lois out. 

Lois probably is bothered by Lucy's life being messed up in the new timeline but there's not a whole lot she can do about it on a cosmic level. She can't ask Spectre Oliver to reset the timeline again for several reasons with the main one being that it could mess things up even worse. If the theory that Ally's LSD is showing her followers their pre-Crisis lives is correct then Lois will get an opportunity to explain everything that happened to Lucy but there's not really a reason to tell her before that. J'onn left Lucy out of the memory restoration and telling her about her generally great life in the prior timeline would cause unnecessary hurt and drive her further away.

[Affogato]

On 2/6/2022 at 3:42 PM, statsgirl said:

 

l kept wondering if I had missed something because wouldn't one of the first things Superman would do would be to try to make contact with his doppleganger and find out why he's so angry?

I get the impression proximity increases the painful wjatever—visions or feedback or static—probably for both of them. 

[Xantar]

On 2/2/2022 at 8:49 PM, Noneofyourbusiness said:

Lois didn't report the content of the drug-induced hallucination Lucy had when Ally had her overdose and nearly die, which Lucy says proves she made contact with the other side, because it wasn't relevant to her story. A very thin reason to lose faith in someone's journalistic integrity, if you ask me.

Yeah, I fully don't understand this argument. 

Lucy: "Why didn't you include the contents of my hallucination that has absolutely no verification behind it other than my statement which I made as a result of taking drugs and almost dying?"

Are we really supposed to believe that is going to damage Lois' credibility? I think the writers really needed to workshop this idea a little more.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 hour ago, Xantar said:

Yeah, I fully don't understand this argument. 

Lucy: "Why didn't you include the contents of my hallucination that has absolutely no verification behind it other than my statement which I made as a result of taking drugs and almost dying?"

Are we really supposed to believe that is going to damage Lois' credibility? I think the writers really needed to workshop this idea a little more.

From a traditional journalism standpoint, Lois's reporting of this story was at least arguably unethical on several fronts.

For comparison, the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics is here:

https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

1.  The SPJ says, "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts." Lois had an obvious conflict of interest in that the story was about her sister. Rather than avoid it, she dove right into it. And Lois did not disclose this conflict of interest to at a minimum her readers, thereby depriving them of the ability to judge her reporting fairly. (I'd like to think that she disclosed it to Perry White or whoever her editor was, but who knows?)

2. The SPJ says, "Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Explain why anonymity was granted." Lois obscured that her source was her sister, granting anonymity where it may not have been warranted. Indeed, Ally presumably knew the source was Lucy (unless she has so many cultists almost dying who might have talked to Lucy's sister that she couldn't figure it out.) Hiding Lucy's identity might have shielded her from some other sorts of wrong, but I would say it was not warranted.

3. The SPJ says, "Provide context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story." That Ally's practices may have succeeded (or may have just caused Lucy to have drug-induced hallucinations) is an important part of the context to the story that Lois stripped from the story because she clearly had a conflict and an agenda. 

Even though these things may not seem like much especially in this context where we a) implicitly trust Lois and b) know that Ally is sketchy AF, I can understand how to a reporter who idolized Lois, all three of these things together could make it seem like she actually has feet of clay.

[Xantar]

16 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

From a traditional journalism standpoint, Lois's reporting of this story was at least arguably unethical on several fronts.

For comparison, the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics is here:

https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

1.  The SPJ says, "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts." Lois had an obvious conflict of interest in that the story was about her sister. Rather than avoid it, she dove right into it. And Lois did not disclose this conflict of interest to at a minimum her readers, thereby depriving them of the ability to judge her reporting fairly. (I'd like to think that she disclosed it to Perry White or whoever her editor was, but who knows?)

2. The SPJ says, "Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Explain why anonymity was granted." Lois obscured that her source was her sister, granting anonymity where it may not have been warranted. Indeed, Ally presumably knew the source was Lucy (unless she has so many cultists almost dying who might have talked to Lucy's sister that she couldn't figure it out.) Hiding Lucy's identity might have shielded her from some other sorts of wrong, but I would say it was not warranted.

3. The SPJ says, "Provide context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story." That Ally's practices may have succeeded (or may have just caused Lucy to have drug-induced hallucinations) is an important part of the context to the story that Lois stripped from the story because she clearly had a conflict and an agenda. 

Even though these things may not seem like much especially in this context where we a) implicitly trust Lois and b) know that Ally is sketchy AF, I can understand how to a reporter who idolized Lois, all three of these things together could make it seem like she actually has feet of clay.

Those are all true, but the thing is Chrissy already knew #1 and #2. The only thing she learned that is new in this episode is #3, and it's hard to see why that is what shattered Chrissy's faith in Lois. If Lois' source had been completely unrelated to her, it would have been a perfectly defensible editorial decision to leave out a description of that hallucination. It doesn't really matter whether Lucy genuinely believed that she got a glimpse of some alternate self. The only thing a sane reader would care about is the fact that she was high on drugs and nearly died.

[Chicago Redshirt]

1 minute ago, Xantar said:

Those are all true, but the thing is Chrissy already knew #1 and #2. The only thing she learned that is new in this episode is #3, and it's hard to see why that is what shattered Chrissy's faith in Lois. If Lois' source had been completely unrelated to her, it would have been a perfectly defensible editorial decision to leave out a description of that hallucination. It doesn't really matter whether Lucy genuinely believed that she got a glimpse of some alternate self. The only thing a sane reader would care about is the fact that she was high on drugs and nearly died.

I agree that in a vacuum not saying "Lucy claimed Ally's method worked and she saw her other self. But experts say she was wackadoo at the moment and almost died" is a defensible editorial decision, if not ideal. But it could be that 1 and 2 compound 3 and make it seem more biased than it is.

It also could be a case of the straw breaking the camel's back. Like you could forgive any one of those things in a vacuum, but the combo of all three is just too much.