S04.E05: Break The Cycle

[scarynikki12]

 

 

[Galileo908]

"Do you know what it's like to suffer?"

"I DIED, Luthor."

Hey, Elizabeth Luthor was Elizabeth Henstridge (Agent Simmons from Agents of SHIELD)! 

And hell yeah, good on Lois for getting through to Doomsday. Mutated to hell, but he was still Bizarro. Doomsday broke the cycle, Luthor didn't.

[scarynikki12]

Flashback alert!!! Are we getting the AMAZING WIG??? 

WE'RE GETTING THE AMAZING WIG!!!! NOW GO EAT CLEVELAND!!!

No surprise Lex is a shit husband and father. I bet he hired the AMAZING WIG to kill his wife.

Lex looked to be more upset at someone thinking he was a shit father than the fact he was one. Which tracks.

I love how casually comic book characters can say "he killed you" and it's just one of many facts about the subject of the conversation.

I missed this character's name but she's already got the compassionate hero thing down better than Frog Boy. Hire her for Hero Lessons and then you'll get it right.

I would love a movie told exclusively from the point of view of the people you know are watching Supes and Lex from those houses along the road. 

Lex hired the AMAZING WIG to be his lawyer. AMAZING WIG isn't bad, having convinced Lex to let his ex have whatever property she wants but is falling short on the custody dispute. 

I hope Candace and Jordan end up forging a nice friendship like Jon and Sarah have.

Lex Luthor's daughter is Simmons from Agents of SHIELD. Let's go full DC/Marvel crossover cause I want to see the look on Lex's face when she tells him about her time on an alien planet.

Jordan in "trying to come up with believable bullshit" while Jon flies Lois around is pretty fun. They should have been doing this all along.

Ah now the AMAZING WIG is giving therapy a try.

Lex you're telling Elizabeth she's the one good thing he's done in the flashbacks yet you object to her viewing you as a monster in the present. Your own words support her perception.

Black market puppies? Jordan should NEVER have been Frog Boy. He should only have been the one to come up with cover stories. The more absurd the better.

Elizabeth is a doctor? I'm telling you this is a DC/Marvel crossover.

Lex you had private investigators following your own daughter like a bunch of creepers? Of course. 

I appreciate Clark and Lois showing compassion to Lex regarding Elizabeth but she doesn't want a monster for a father and that should be that. Elizabeth wants him to take responsibility for his actions and he can't/won't do it. That's the key here not how upset he was when Lane helped her hide.

I feel for child Lex but that doesn't excuse the crimes of adult Lex. 

Of course Lois decides to call Doomsday without telling anyone. Would she have done anything else?

Good on Elizabeth for issuing the ultimatum and following through. Lex would never choose her. He will always choose himself, this time in the form of revenge.

Lois and Clark really need to talk to the twins about what they need to tell people so they don't go around blabbing just because someone's mad at them.

Lois defeats Doomsday with only her words. Absolute superhero.

The image was muddled at the end. Did Dooms kill himself? 

[historylover820]

The CW (mostly) behaved on me. So, I was so happy I got to experience Lex's amazing wig. Yay to that. So, agree to the above.

At this point, every single person in the entire world knows Clark Kent is Superman. Worst kept secret ever. Good grief, a couple of teenage girls are better at keeping Clark Kent's secret than his own sons.

But, I did kind of love Jordan's cover stories. Jonathan is a reporter on the side! Yeah, black market puppy ring! Why won't you believe me?

What was that at the end? Did Doomsday kill himself? I wasn't sure what I was looking at because that's when the CW decided I'd seen enough and started freezing and pixelating like crazy. So I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

And thank you for the above posters to identify who the actress playing Elizabeth was. That was driving me crazy! I knew her, but I was having the hardest time placing her. So, thank you.

Edited October 29 by historylover820
Thought of something

[opus]

1 hour ago, Galileo908 said:

Hey, Elizabeth Luthor was Elizabeth Henstridge (Agent Simmons from Agents of SHIELD)! 

She also directed this episode.

[DanaK]

I too couldn’t tell what happened to Doomsday at the end. Did he tear his heart out or something?

Nice seeing Elizabeth Henstridge again. I kept thinking I knew her from somewhere then figured out who she was maybe halfway or 2/3 of the way through

Man, Lex pined for his daughter for years and here she was asking him to let go of his vendetta and she would be back in his life with her son, but he couldn’t do it

[thuganomics85]

Damn, Lex was such a bad father that his daughter fled to the rival comic book studio and became an Agent of Shield for a few years!  Okay, not really, but it was still great seeing Elizabeth Henstridge as Elizabeth (with an added bonus of directing this thing!  Good days/week work for her!) and I thought she did an excellent job.  Glad she held firm and called Lex out on his shit, but I can see why it hurt for her to finally cut ties with dear old daddy for good.

Speaking of which, while I get their backs were against the wall, I did feel kind of uncomfortable the way both Clark and Lois seemed to be pushing Elizabeth to try and make amends with Lex, even when she clearly wasn't comfortable with it.  In particular, Clark's scene with her was borderline guilt-tripping that wasn't pleasant to watch.  Again though, with everything that happened and the looming threat of Doomsday, I can go past it and believe that this was them going to the extreme to try and starve off another likely ass-kicking.

But, hey, the Doomsday threat has been stopped as Lois herself ends up talking to the creature, reminding him about his Bizarro past and his own family, and it seems like he killed himself?  I think?  Either way, Lex and Yvonne Chapman's character aren't happy, but I suspect this is far from over.

Oh, hey, it's time to check in with Candice, I guess.  Not really wild about this character, but I guess it's good that she and Jonathan are still a thing.  And now she knows the truth.  As does Denise.  Par for the course when it comes to the Arrowverse and secret identities.  By the end of its run, I was pretty sure everyone in Central City actually knew Barry was The Flash, but just played along in order not to hurt his feelings!

Actually thought that whatever they threw on top of Michael Cudlitz head wasn't too bad at first, but once we got to that final scene, it was back to its epic ugly glory!  Oh, The CW!  You will be remembered for a lot of things, but your knack for bad wigs will always have a special place in my heart!

[iarwain]

7 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

The image was muddled at the end. Did Dooms kill himself? 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one having trouble interpreting that image.  I wasn't sure if I was looking at Doomsday's dead body lying there, or a big, mangled hole in the floor where he had exited.

It looked like he had exited stage right instead of down though, so who knows?  Wow, if Lois can talk a guy into offing himself, that's pretty harsh.

I also recognized Elizabeth Henstridge from Agents of Shield.

[baldryanr]

Would Lois really be OK with Lex just walking away with his daughter?  The man had her dad killed!  Even with all the talk of ending the cycle, that's incredibly forgiving.  Other Lexes probably would have tried to fake it for a while, but this one can't even pretend to lay off. 

At this point Lex should just get it over with.  Go after the boys and/or out Clark to the world. 

[kickingnames]

I think that was just his mangled “food” left on the floor, not Doomsday himself. The recording showed him tearing into to something, then hearing the ELT and leaving. I think he never came back and Lex was just looking into the space where Doomsday should have been but wasn't.

Edited October 29 by kickingnames

[edhopper]

Count me as another confused by the end of Doomsday.

 

We have to meet Elizabeth's husband, and he has to be played by Iain De Caestecker .

[DanaK]

3 hours ago, kickingnames said:

I think that was just his mangled “food” left on the floor, not Doomsday himself. The recording showed him tearing into to something, then hearing the ELT and leaving. I think he never came back and Lex was just looking into the space where Doomsday should have been but wasn't.

That would make sense given his associate said next that someone had summoned him and showed the video of Doomsday exiting his room

[paulvdb]

5 hours ago, kickingnames said:

I think that was just his mangled “food” left on the floor, not Doomsday himself. The recording showed him tearing into to something, then hearing the ELT and leaving. I think he never came back and Lex was just looking into the space where Doomsday should have been but wasn't.

That's also what I thought when I watched the episode. Doomsday is still alive, but he left Lex.

[kickingnames]

Lovely seeing Elizabeth Henstridge again. She directed one of my favorite episodes of AoS, so I'm always glad to see more from her. Of course, she knows how to bring the emotions in front of the screen too. Some great scenes with Lex, but we knew he'd choose vengeance over redemption.

I'm glad calling Doomsday worked out for Lois. I mean, I knew it would, but when she was looking meaningfully at that ELT in Sam's box I was like, "This is where Jordan gets it from!" Haring off alone to go call the monster who ripped out your husband's heart and who your husband says can't be killed.... tsk tsk.

The boys have a nice change of pace with Jonathan having to bail on his girlfriend and Jordan being the one with the cover story. And what a silly cover story, but he was so sweet about it! I really liked this because Jordan has always seemed like he was not a fan of Candice (not maliciously or anything, just sometimes you just don't vibe with your sibling's SO), but him choosing the supportive brother role seemed bring the two of them to a better understanding. 

[Quark]

Favourite episode of the season so far.

Love Elizabeth Henstridge, so that was an unexpected treat. Would be great to see more of her (if possible).

I'm also confused by what happened to Doomsday. Whatever the case may be, I imagine Luthor still has our Superman's heart and will end up doing something nefarious with it to combat our Superman. If Doomsday returns, Clark should just find a mechanism to send him home (can't remember how Bizarro came in the first place, was it related to Parasite, is she alive)?

[cdnalor]

My first thought when Lex was looking at the mess that Doomsday left behind was that Bizarro managed to literally shed the Doomsday carapace that was created by Lex through his treatments, so maybe we'll see Bizarro back in his normal form?  It's the last season so his story needs an ending.

Are we to assume that Clark's superhearing is still lacking so he didn't hear the signal that drew Doomsday to Lois?  Did she not think that the boys would hear it?

[tvmom]

12 hours ago, edhopper said:

We have to meet Elizabeth's husband, and he has to be played by Iain De Caestecker .

^This! 

[norcalgal]

On 10/29/2024 at 8:59 AM, DanaK said:

That would make sense given his associate said next that someone had summoned him and showed the video of Doomsday exiting his room

 

22 hours ago, cdnalor said:

Are we to assume that Clark's superhearing is still lacking so he didn't hear the signal that drew Doomsday to Lois?  Did she not think that the boys would hear it?

Both quotes are plot nits for me. For the first one, just because Doomsday cocks his head and then goes flying off, how does Lex's associate  (can't recall her name) know that meant someone *summoned* Doomsday?  When my dog cocks his head and runs off, doesn't mean *I* called him over!

And for the second quote, goooood point! In fact, Jordan did hear the ELT and that's why he sent Jonathan to find out what's up.

 

[Affogato]

I was so distr aed. Y how everything else fell away from lex and he was reveled to be exactly like my mother. How can they ll be the sme? But they are the same, and Elizabeth’s exit was also relatable. Breaking the cycle, indeed. The strong suit of this show. I loved Elizabeth’s tiny nod when he gave her the answer she expected. 
 

i wonder if that is yhe excess material frome Doomsday and bizarro will reappear. As if he shed a skin. 

 

[tennisgurl]

It was great to see Elizabeth Henstridge here, plus she got to sit in the directors chair! She's always a treat to see, I miss AoS a whole lot. I felt really badly for Elizabeth, she's stuck having to make peace with her awful father for the greater good after been free of his drama for years. This Lex might be different than a lot of other iterations of Lex, but they all share the huge flaws of never taking responsibility for their own actions. Its Superman's fault, its Lois's fault, its his ex's fault, and he just cannot let anything go. He had the perfect opportunity to start again with his daughter and grandchild, but he threw it away. 

The twins terrible excuses were hilarious, no wonder all of Smallville knows who Clark really is. 

[MJ Frog]

"There has to be a price!"

Short memory, buddy. You tried to kill her husband and succeeded in killing her father.

And this warm fuzzy between Elizabeth and Lex is nice and everything, but even if they had reconciled he'd still be a murdering psychopath who should be in prison or, better yet, six feet under.

Edited November 29 by MJ Frog

[Mario500]

On 11/29/2024 at 1:10 AM, MJ Frog said:

"There has to be a price!"

Short memory, buddy. You tried to kill her husband and succeeded in killing her father.

And this warm fuzzy between Elizabeth and Lex is nice and everything, but even if they had reconciled he'd still be a murdering psychopath who should be in prison or, better yet, six feet under.

(suggestion: a certain "golden rule" and a sense of empathy)

[MJ Frog]

2 hours ago, Mario500 said:

(suggestion: a certain "golden rule" and a sense of empathy)

I have plenty of empathy, but it stops just short of people who murder and hurt other people. Even if Luthor managed to have a nice relationship with his daughter, that doesn't undo what he's done, nor does it negate the fact that he remains a clear and present danger. I stand by my statement that for the good of humanity he should be removed from the population, with death being the best, and safest, method for doing so.

[Affogato]

3 hours ago, MJ Frog said:

I have plenty of empathy, but it stops just short of people who murder and hurt other people. Even if Luthor managed to have a nice relationship with his daughter, that doesn't undo what he's done, nor does it negate the fact that he remains a clear and present danger. I stand by my statement that for the good of humanity he should be removed from the population, with death being the best, and safest, method for doing so.

The title of the episode is ‘break the cycle’. It is not Perpetuate the cycle.’  Shooting Lex in the head continues the violence. It is what Lex would do. 

[baldryanr]

37 minutes ago, Affogato said:

The title of the episode is ‘break the cycle’. It is not Perpetuate the cycle.’  Shooting Lex in the head continues the violence. It is what Lex would do. 

Plus it's the antithesis of everything Superman is supposed to stand for.  It's one thing if Clark kills in a heat of the battle moment, but he's not going to float into Lex's office and vaporize him on the spot for the greater good.  Evil Superman stories are the ones that have him turn into judge, jury, and executioner.

[MJ Frog]

28 minutes ago, Affogato said:

The title of the episode is ‘break the cycle’. It is not Perpetuate the cycle.’  Shooting Lex in the head continues the violence. It is what Lex would do. 

Well of course a show about Superman isn't going to end up with a bullet in the head for Luthor, nor am I suggesting it should. I merely maintain that if there were such a person in our world, unbound by the needs of a dramatic series, a bullet in the head would have averted a lot of suffering and death. But this is Superman and Lois, and they will have to find another way.