SUPERMAN & LOIS 2.1

RECAP - SUPERMAN & LOIS  2.1:  "What Lies Beneath"  

Like the poster says:  Small Town.  Big Secrets.  Welcome back to Smallville, and the First Family of this little town, as we dive into another season of the Man of Steel and the rest of the Kent clan.  And when we last left off with the Kansas town, it was recovering from the fallout of the Morgan Edge situation, and his near takeover of the town and more, as he tried to convert the town into new Kryptonians to revive the lost planet of Superman's birth.  We also get the fallout from the appearance of John Henry Irons' daughter Natalie, who has made her way to New Earth to find her dad, only to discover that the Lois Lane on THIS planet is VERY much alive----but it's not who she thinks.  It's a time of adjustment, but it appears that NOT everyone is taking it well.  Plus...Superman is about to face a new super threat lurking beneath the surface of the town---as well as dealing with the new head of the DoD as General Lane has stepped aside to be more of a father and grandfather.  

This opening episode of the season sees everyone in SERIOUS need of a Prozac.  Most notably Lois...who, upon seeing Natalie try and run towards her when Nat seems to think that's her mother, does nothing more but get stone faced and walks off.  Throughout this episode, she's been in total bitch mode, as she TRIES to throw herself into work, where Chrissy is TRYING to hire more help, but Lois hasn't been much help in THAT department.  On top of that, she's avoiding Clark and turning the cold shoulder to him, as he's off doing the Superman thing when needed, and ends up leaving the boys without adult supervision.  We see her discover Jon and his new squeeze Cassie in a near-sexual escapade, leading her to go off on Clark when he returns from his latest mission, and thus argues with him about the fact that Jon was left unattended, and nearly got into huge trouble with Cassie.  Not only that, Jordan went off with Sarah, and they have NO idea what HE is up to.  She argues with Clark, and it forces him to take off to the Cushings without her.  He gets some friendly advice from Kyle, who is also having some hard feelings of his own.  He and Lana seem to be having issues again, as she's now campaigning for the new Mayoral candidate...but seems to be devoted to THAT moreso than spending time with her.  It's caused the both of them to seem distant, and looks to fracture their current stability.  Clark seeks Lana's advice, and they both realize that issues are causing their relationships to go awry.

For Jordan and Sarah, things seem off because of the fact that she was gone at Summer Camp, and as a counselor.  When she returned, she seemed different.  And...she seemed to want to avoid Jordan at all costs.  Jordan's been missing her, and is just excited to spend time with her, but she seems to want to avoid him.  When he tries to show her a little romance, it fails big time, and it leaves him dejected.  She explains that she's just not feeling up to the romance at the moment to her Dad, and he tells her to just take things slow, and let things play out naturally.  That also allows him and Lana to have THEIR little pow wow, and Lana explains that she just wants what's best for the town, but by no means does her time spent with the new mayoral candidate mean that she's trying to ignore him, or not mean she doesn't want time with him.  

Jordan and Jon talk, and Jordan pours his heart out to his brother, who tells him to try not to stress about it.  Things will be okay.  Clark manages to talk to BOTH his boys, and without giving them the actual "lecture", let's them know that what happened CANNOT happen again.  They promise him they'll be better, but Clark warns them that their mother WILL lecture them, so expect it coming.  Speaking of parents and kids, John explains to Natalie about the whole Lois situation, and tries to get her to adjust to life in Metropolis, but she can't.  She doesn't fit in, and the friends that were her friends on her world, their dopplegangers here are not.  She's not happy here, and feels she doesn't belong, and wishes she had died when her mother did. 

Lois finally does talk to Clark, and she says that she's felt bad since she saw Natalie, because she understands how Natalie feels....because her own mother left her and Lucy when they were younger.  And that sense of abandonment hit Lois hard, and she couldn't deal with it when it came to Natalie.  Clark assures her that she is not her mother, and that talking to Natalie might actually help them both.  So, Lois calls John and Natalie, and they'll be hanging out at the Kent Farm while Nat and Lois get to know each other, and better understand each other.  

As for Superman....well...he's got another problem.  After performing a rescue of a North Korean sub, he got the lecture from Col. Anderson, who is now the head of the DoD, about having that sub dropped closer to American territory.  Superman explains to him that his loyalty is to the world at large, and Anderson tells him that he needs to have his loyalty to America first.  Tremors start happening in Smallville, and it's up to Superman to try and stem the shaking, and goes underground to perform a rescue, only to bump into two members of the DoD dressed in super suits and performing rescues, as the tremors subside, and they take off.  Superman tries to find them, but they're gone.  He then pays a visit to Anderson again, who hands back the signal that calls Supes to them, and says that when he wants to join their team, he'll welcome him back....but America's interests come first.  And that means his new team members will obey HIS orders.  But they also bear the crest of the House of El, and Superman is NOT happy that they wear it, and feel they don't have the right, but Anderson feels differently.  Meanwhile, at the end of the episode, we see what it is that's causing all the shaking going on, as we see a big hand pounding through some rubble.  

So, we've got A LOT of stress going on in town, with THREE families, and between the Man of Steel and the DoD.  We now see just how big a buffer General Sam Lane was between them AND Superman.  He's now going to be tested on his loyalty, and called out onto the carpet for it by the DoD and quite possibly the country in later episodes.  Superman has given his loyalty to protect the world, NOT just America, but this is just the problem with the DoD, as is with America in general:  protecting America FIRST tends to leave the rest of the world out in the cold, and thus makes our country a little LESS humanitarian, despite the belief that we perceive ourselves as "the good guys".  But, we all know that when it comes to the military, or America as a whole---powers like what Superman has is believed by us that those kinds of powers are best used when WE have them...NOT anyone else.  So, there's going to be a great divide between Superman and America coming at some point.  If they REALLY wanted to do a deeper dive into this story, they could also include the Justice League into it as well...making the citizens of the country make the heroes draw a line as to where their loyalty lies.  

As for Nat and John....hoping that time with the Kents will soften Nat up, and she'll be able to better adjust.  Not sure what this will mean with her relationship with Lois, but that will be interesting to watch grow.  For Jordan and Sarah, I see trouble on the horizon, and not sure if this high school romance is going to last long.  I have a feeling that Sarah's time away from Smallville made her realize that she's just not into Jordan like she thought she was, and it's going to lead to HIS broken heart.  Jon and Cassie have gotten a little TOO close, but hopefully, they don't split THEM up.  We need SOMETHING good.  For Kyle and Lana...I have a feeling it's going to be A LOT of this Kyle feeling inadequate to her, and her having to reassure him otherwise.  He needs to get over that.  And for Lois---she's going to need to be strong for Clark when this crisis about Superman's loyalties comes into question, and it puts him on the hot seat.  Then there's this new threat....and I have a VERY bad feeling that the disturbance underground might be Doomsday.  

Overall, not a bad start to the new season...it sets up the drama among our characters, and gives us a new, unknown threat at this time, that will become bigger as the season goes on.  I just hope the drama doesn't get TOO heavy to where it drags the show down, and slows the pace of any growth.  But...what we got set us up for what's to come nicely.

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