Welcome to the Couch Club, our recurring column devoted to all things #DCTV! This week, Mandy Curtis checks in with the first four episodes of Superman & Lois's latest season.
In the nearly ten real-world months between the end of season two of Superman & Lois and the start of season three, only 27 days have passed for the intrepid Kent family and the rest of Smallville in-show. But in those 27 days, they all took some great leaps toward getting past the world-altering events of their previous few months.
To quickly recap season two for those of us who need the refresher—it has been ten months, after all—the citizens of Earth nearly merged with their Bizarro counterparts thanks to the actions of cult leader-turned-unlikely super-villain Ally Allston. Clark, working with his half-brother Tal-Rho and the rest of the Super Crew regulars, stopped the merge from happening and removed Ally from the equation, saving both Earths and their people. Everyone deserves a break after such an ordeal, but there's only so much downtime you get when you're Superman (or his family).
The biggest change for the Kents this season is not the introduction of a new actor to play Jonathan Kent (now played by Michael Bishop—welcome to the show!), but something much more poignant and personal. In the season premiere, Lois gets news that she might be pregnant, and she and Clark celebrate the idea after spending some time coming around to it. (As a mom of a one-year-old, I get that. Having an infant is hard and I can't imagine doing it again when your kids are already sixteen years old.) Their happiness is unfortunately short-lived, though, when Lois gets some news that's all the way on the other end of the emotional spectrum: she isn’t pregnant, but rather has an aggressive and rare form of breast cancer and it's already stage three.
It's a brutal reveal and a truly heartbreaking one. I have high hopes that Lois will come through it fine, but I can only assume that it's going to be an agonizing struggle throughout the rest of the season. That said, I kind of look forward to the story arc. Do I want to see someone suffer? Absolutely not. But the emotional punches Superman & Lois regularly pulls are what makes this show stand out amongst the crowd. Sure, it's great when Clark saves the day from the series’ many villains, but it's the stories with his family that make the show so good. Meanwhile, Lois is just as powerful as Clark in her own way, and Superman & Lois does an amazing job of highlighting and celebrating that. She's no damsel in distress, and the Kents are partners in every way they can be.
Of course, Lois' cancer isn't the only plot line of the season. (It is a superhero show, after all.) There are shenanigans afoot with some shady (and creepy) new characters, led by Bruno Mannheim, the leader (although he vehemently denies it) of the criminal group Intergang. He's up to no good, using Clark's blood to give at least one criminal/former Superman foe superpowers and bring him back (repeatedly) from the dead. It's unclear what Mannheim’s ultimate goal is, but it's obviously not for the greater good.
Mannheim's also working with someone with very different powers than Clark's who might be a familiar face to Green Arrow fans. Although they've not yet been named in the show, the powerful Intergang enforcer looks and acts an awful lot like Onomatopoeia, a villain who, in comics, wears a creepy spiral black-and-white mask and is known for his ability to imitate sounds. The show's version seems to have a slightly different power set and attacks by creating focused sound waves, but still wears the mask, which acts like a speaker or an amplifier and is even creepier in live action. (It moves, y'all. Definite nightmare fuel.)
Lest you think the season is only focusing on Clark and Lois, however, John Henry Irons is deeply involved in the Mannheim plot, the Lang-Cushing family is dealing with the repercussions of the divorce, Jonathan and Jordan continue to struggle with teenage life, and Sam Lane still bumbles through various grandpa things. (I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but c'mon dude. Stop trying to make your grandchildren soldiers. They're kids.)
Every show has its ups and downs, but Superman & Lois just gets better and better with each new storyline. And season three promises to be the best one yet.
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CT) on The CW.
Mandy Curtis writes about comics, specifically DC’s Young Adult line, and TV for DC.com. You can find her on Instagram at @mandyannecurtis.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Mandy Curtis and do not necessarily reflect those of DC Entertainment or Warner Bros., nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
