SUPERMAN & LOIS 1.8

 

RECAP - SUPERMAN & LOIS  1.8:  "Holding The Wrench"  

We got some SERIOUS pent up anger and frustration going on in this latest installment of our Man of Steel and his intrepid reporter wife.  Aside from having to deal with Jordan's growing powers that he can't quite managed yet, we still have the frustration Lois feels for being led on by John Henry Irons, who's been lying about his real ID, super powered people like Leslie Larr...and whatever its that Morgan Edge has planned.  It's pushing Lois to the edge, and we're gonna wait to see if and when she blows.  Meanwhile, John himself is frustrated an angry that he hasn't completed his mission to kill Superman, and destroy Morgan Edge's threat of amassing a super-army.  And we KNOW Jon is still a bit pissed off about having broken his arm trying to save Jordan from exposing himself and killing his old bully from Metropolis.  So...nerves are raw, and let's see what happened THIS week....

This week we saw Lois doing something I'd thought I'd NEVER see:  talking to a therapist.  Especially one that's a friend of the old man.  Lois was going over what she had done in regards to nearly ruining her relationship with her son Jon.  Since she and Clark first informed the boys about what exactly is going on, it's put the Kent Family on high alert.  While Clark has gone to talk to John Henry Irons, and get information out of him about what's going on, Lois and Jonathan decide to investigate the confiscated RV of Irons, and is now in the Kent barn.  As they step in, the AI security goes on alert, and asks for verification.  Lois speaks up, and it recognizes her.  They rummage through the RV for information, and they discover a control panel where they see Irons' life on his world.  Jon points out to his mother about her doppleganger on Irons' world, and how they were together.  This hits Lois pretty hard, and they leave the RV.  She needs some time to process everything before going back in and searching further. Jon, however, gets REAL curious, and enters the RV, trying to gather more answers.  He discovers Iron's armory of weapons, but then sets off the security alarm, and the RV goes into defense mode, with laser sights pointed at Jon, and the RV seals itself up...windows and all.  Jon tries pounding on the door to get out, and Lois hears the alarm, banging on the door to try and get her son out.  

Meanwhile, Superman is at the DoD, and he sits down with John, and wants answers as to why he's trying to kill him.  John says that Morgan Edge is creating an army, and soon Superman will join him....join his kind.  Despite what the Man of Might says, John is unconvinced.  He believes he needs to kill Superman...before he takes over the world, and kills this world's Lois Lane...just like he did on his world.  A little later, General Sam Lane feels he needs to chat with John...military man to military man.  Sam wants to know John's story, but John just doesn't want to discuss it.  He feels that Sam is being led astray by Kal-El, and that he'll join his fellow Kryptonians in destroying the Earth.  Sam tells him that Superman won't betray them, but he won't say anymore until he sees Lois.  At this point, Superman hears Lois as she cries out for help, and he's off...racing back to Smallville to barely save Jon from being shot up by Irons' booby-trapped RV.  Afterwards, Jon tries to justify going back into the RV, but Lois EXPLODES at him, and just shreds the poor scared kid with a severe tongue lashing with how he was stupid, didn't listen to her, and how he could've been killed.  She sends him away, and Clark wonders whether or not Lois crossed the line.  She's shaken, scared, and angry all at once, and Clark suggest she talk to her dad's friend who's a therapist.  Lois does talk to her, and says there are times that her words can be harsh, and she can be verbally abrasive.  But we learn some VERY interesting things from this session:  namely, Lois and Clark got pregnant a third time, but Lois had a miscarriage.  Lois has blamed herself for it for awhile, and it was something she never coped with---the loss.  She just threw herself into her work and the two children she still has.  But the therapist convinces her that she needs to accept that the miscarriage wasn't her fault, and that she needs to let it go.  

Superman is back at the DoD, and Irons is still silent until he talks to Lois, and while ONE of the soldiers...a man named Trask...wanted to torture Irons until he got what General Lane wanted out of him, the other soldier wouldn't let him do it.  Turns out, the smaller soldier was an agent of Edge, as he has superpowers, and kills Trask.  He leads Irons into the armory of the DoD.  Superman and General Lane find out what's going on with the alert in the building, and Superman says he's got to stop the solider and save Irons.  Sam let's Superman know that there's Kryptonite weaponry down there, and he could be killed.  Superman goes anyway, and he and the super powered soldier fight.  They end up exposing themselves to Kryptonite gas, and pound on each other, as General Lane and his men try to breach the armory to stop the soldier from killing Superman and Irons.  Superman does get the soldier down, but Irons takes a staff with Kryptonite at the end of it, and kills the soldier.  General Lane's men manage to break in and got guns on Irons, as he has Superman on the ground---ready to kill him.  Lois...who had been in the building, came down and talked to John.  She understands what he's going through, and knows his story.  But she convinces him that he can trust Superman, and that she stakes her life on him to protect the planet.  John backs down and the threat ends.  Later on, Sam and Superman talk, and the General apologizes to Superman about how he found out about the Kryptonite weapons.  But he makes Superman understand why he has them.  He knows he's got to earn the Man of Steel's trust again, but he's willing to try.  

Later on, Lois sits down with Jon, and she apologizes for how she acted and how she lashed out at her son.  She makes him understand how scared she was.  She then shows the picture of the sonogram of the little sister he and Jordan was going to have...and how she lost her.  She makes Jon understand that while THEY are the two non-powered people in a family and world of superpowered people, they need to lean on each other, and be there FOR the super powered ones in order to survive.  A tender moment for both, and hopefully, Jon stepping up more.  

While the Kent Family was dealing with Irons and the renegade soldier, Sarah Cushing was looking to enter a talent contest at school.  Lana is all for this, and encourages her.  Even Kyle is looking to give her a helping hand in getting ready, and said he'd be there to help her through her nervousness.  However, before the talent contest arrives, Kyle has a chat with Leslie Larr, and she says that Morgan Edge was disappointed that he didn't take the offer for the job Edge had.  Kyle is surprised by this, because he didn't turn the job now, and he didn't even know the offer was on the table.  So, he bumps into Lana later, and he questions her about it.  Lana explains to him that Leslie doesn't know everything, and that Edge doesn't see Kyle as leadership material, and that's why he didn't get the job.  This must've struck a nerve with Kyle, because when it came time for Sarah's audition, he as missing in action.  Just so happens that she had a backup plan...unbeknownst to her---Jordan.  Apparently, Jordan is adept at playing the piano.  Jon wants to talk to Jordan just as Sarah is about to go on, and says that he needs to chat with him, and he really needs him to be there for him.  Jordan promises, but then sees Sarah in trouble.  So, he goes up, and starts playing the piano as Sarah sings.  It looks like these two are getting ever closer, as Jon looks on.  When we see Sarah later, she's not interested in her father's explanations, as he said he found out about a job opportunity he missed, and it left him deflated an disappointed.  So, she doesn't want anymore promises from him.....she's been disappointed enough.

After Superman informs Sam about what he believes Morgan Edge is up to with the X-Kryptonite, and creating an army, and believes what John says, he visits John at the farm with Lois, and says that he'll need John's help in stopping Morgan Edge before he gets his army together.  John is willing to call a truce, but he needs to focus on what he has ahead of him.  Lois offers encouragement.  He wants to say something to Lois...just not THIS Lois.  As he is about to take off, he tells the AI to change the ID for access to John Henry Irons.  

This episode gave us A LOT of emotional beats, and we finally got a little more into Lois that we did not know before.  It's true, Lois comes off as tough and strong...she's HAD to in order to be a star reporter AND having a life with Superman.  But now...she's a mother, and that takes on an extra added weight...so her reaction to Jon's situation was completely believable, and I got where she came from.  You understand the fear and panic in her voice...even in her anger, that she was terrified to lose her son.  The therapy session also allows us to discover that Lois and Clark were going to have another child----but she miscarried.  It's a situation it seems that Lois NEVER managed to work through, and that blame she put upon herself, carries over into the two boys she has.  Plus, knowing what she now knows about John Henry Irons, and the wife from HIS world...it's a bit jarring...so Lois is on an emotional high this episode.  Jon, sadly, became the focus of that emotion when he went back into the RV and almost got killed.  I love the depth and honesty for which Elizabeth Tulloch brings to her rendition of Lois.  There's an honesty to it.  

As for Clark...well, he's desperate to reach John Henry Irons, and but meets with a lot of resistance.  There's frustration within him this episode, because he always believes he can try to reach a person's sense of goodness within them. He doesn't understand exactly what John has lost, so it's difficult to relate.  But Clark  wishes to earn John's trust by allowing him to go and find some solace in what he's lost.  While John doesn't want to trust Superman, or work with him, he won't kill him.  John himself is going to take time to find out who he is in this new world.  So...while there's a cease-fire between the two men, it's going to take time before these two will cross paths and work together.  Believe me when I tell you---Steel is coming.  As for Clark and Sam---well, at least the General was honest with him about the Kryptonite weapons...and he tries to get Clark to understand his side of things.  He also knows that trust must be rebuilt between the two, but he's willing to work on it.  

As for trust going bad----that's Sarah Cushing's situation.  Poor Sarah has had to deal with the her own failures and depression, but we also see the extreme faults in her parents as well.  And while Lana has made strides in her relationship with her oldest daughter.  But when it comes to her father...there's fissures in that relationship, despite Kyle's efforts for this talent show.  But he's been SO obsessed with Morgan Edge and his deal, that when he finds out from Leslie Larr that Edge wanted him for this new job, he was utterly disappointed to find out that Lana didn't tell him about it, because SHE said that Edge didn't find him "leadership material".  So, he got so depressed and went to get sloshed to drown his depression.  This made him miss the audition---which, thanks to Jordan, was successful---and when she got home, he tried another lame excuse for his behavior, but she's over it....she doesn't want anymore promises from him.  Kyle is so in lockstep with Edge, that he will seem like he'll to ANYTHING to make an impression.  And I bet that the reason Lana didn't suggest him to Edge, is because she is suspicious of what Edge is up to, and doesn't want Kyle involved.  But I feel that's going to happen anyway.....and bad results will happen.  And I feel it will create MORE of a rift between him and Lana once he finds out that Lana is secretly working with Lois to expose Edge's plans.  It's sad to see a man like Kyle...who IS honorable in his own way...feel slighted by his wife, and break  a promise to his daughter, all because he's upset that HE wasn't considered for this new job by Edge....because HE has been THE most vocal supporter of Edge, and thinks it's unfair.  I wonder what is going to happen when he discovers the truth, and how he'll handle it.  

Again, the writers of this show are doing a good job, and the story is intriguing, and loving the developing family dynamic of the Kent clan.  Things aren't being rushed, and they're slow building to the crescendo of this arc.  What did YOU guys think of this week's installment?  Subscribe and drop me a line below.  

Until next time....Up, up, and away!