SUPERMAN & LOIS 2.12

 

RECAP - SUPERMAN & LOIS  2.12:  "Lies That Bind" 

Superman's life just went from normal (for HIM, anyway), to beyond his control AT ALL.  This episode, we get to see a tiny recap of Clark's time with Lana when they were kids, and he fills her in on how he became Superman.  Lana, of course, is in total shock. And, naturally, she's pissed off at him for keeping such a huge secret.  She blows him off, and refuses to talk to him, while she's trying to process this new information about her best friend.  Clark, meanwhile, just feels miserable about it, but knew it had to be done. Lois says she'll talk to Lana and try to smooth things over with her, but she also tells the boys to get back to school, since they're finally allowed to.  For Jon, that isn't easy, as he's still getting picked on by the other members of the football team, as they're still pissed as well at him for blowing their season.  Natalie shows up just in time to pull the boys away on a side project of hers:  the new battlesuit she'd been building.....for Jon.  But they need some X-K to power it---so they head into the quarry to get some.  

Superman makes the rounds to get some answers and help.  He first talks to Bizarro Jon at the DoD, looking for help in stopping Ally.  Jon tells him that there is no way of stopping Ally from merging, and bringing Bizarro World to Earth.  Jon says that Ally is a god.  Kal-El than makes a stop to visit his brother Tal, and tells him about what's about to happen. Tal says that he'd be able to help, but he wants something in return.  He is aware of the Bizarro version of himself.  Superman figures the combined effort of Tal and himself could destroy the pendant, and thus preventing Ally from merging. He agrees, but wants something first.  Meanwhile, Lana is in her office after telling Kyle to pick up the kids from school, when she's visited by Lois.  Lois explains to her why Clark hid who he was, but there's more---and it involves Jordan.  Lana realizes that she isn't so much mad at Clark---she understands he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders, but at Lois---for not telling her about Jordan and Clark.  So when Lois arrives home, she is met by Clark and Tal.  Tal goes out of his way to apologize for his transgressions, and wants to start making amends.  Sam shows up, and he doesn't believe they can trust Tal to help out---but Clark explains to him AND John Henry Irons, whose also in on the plan to stop Ally.  But Superman tells them it's the only shot they got.

In the quarry, the youthful trio are trying to gather more X-K, when Jordan tries to use his heat vision to slice a few more pieces out, but they almost cause a cave-in.  They manage to escape, but they revel in their little adventure.  But they know they need more X-K to power the suit.  But they'll figure it out for another time.  

Lana has been distracted with all the revelations regarding the Kents, and while she's about ready to tell Sarah, she decides against it.  Meanwhile, Kyle asks his eldest daughter about what's going on with her, and thinking she might be dating someone new, but Sarah puts that off.  Meanwhile, Kyle takes her to the bar that Tonya used to work at, and it's an open mic night, so he encourages Sarah to sing her songs there.  

Tal and Superman are in a volcano, while Sam and John Henry are monitoring them.  They begin using their heat vision on the pendant to destroy it.  Ally shows up, however, to stop the proceedings, and as Tal goes to battle her, she stops him cold, and begins to drain his energy.  He's blasted back, and Superman tries his hand at stopping her, but he too is having his energy sucked away by her.  John Henry arrives in his Steel battlesuit to knock Ally away.  Tal and Superman recover enough to destroy the pendant, and Ally manages to get past Steel, who distracted them enough to destroy the pendant.  Ally takes the pieces and leaves.  Far as Tal goes...he too has disappeared. 

Lois and Clark fill Lana in on what happened, and tell her about the Bizarro Lana that might be after her.  They promised full transparency, and they wanted to make sure Lana was in the loop, so she knows what's going on.  Lana then drops a big bombshell on the Kents:  while she'll eventually forgive them for lying to her...she wants to make a break of things for awhile.  So, the Kents are not allowed around the Cushings.  Lana doesn't want anything to do with them....for now.  It's devastating to Clark, but it's how it's got to be. 

For Tal, however, he's been captured by Ally and the Bizarro Lana, who wonders just how they're going to finish their mission.  Ally tells her not to worry.  And Tal tells her that he's seen her plan in action....and it will ultimately fail.  Ally retaliates to his words by draining him of his entire life essence...killing him. 

This episode had ONE very big important beat to it:  the lies, and how they effect those around them.  And for the Kents this installment---that was a heavy price.  For Clark....telling his best friend his greatest secret was hard...and having her mad at him....then ordering him AND his family to stay away from hers is heartbreaking.  But we feel Lana's pain, and her anger towards Clark, at first, then Lois...because she considered Lois a friend.  When Lana's life was falling apart, she turned to Lois.  Now that betrayal is and open wound.  And Lana doesn't want the Kents around until they she works it out.  Not only that, she's lied to her kids, and that's not cool with her.  So you feel for Lana.  But you also feel for Lois for having the reasons for not opening up to Lana more about Clark....it was ultimately Clark's story to tell.  As for Clark...it's a HUGE gut punch, because he just lost his best friend.  And while Lana isn't AS mad at him as much...after all...he's Superman, and she understands the weight he carries---but that still doesn't sit well that he kept this MASSIVE secret from her.  Knowing Jordan is also a part of that mix, and it's going to be hard for him to keep away from Sarah, seeing as how he wanted to tell her everything.  But he's forbidden to do so now, and that's going to be hard to tell a teenage kid no.  So, the boys will have to deal with that fallout as well.

Speaking of the boys---and Natalie.  It seems we got a trio here looking to do their part in helping stop Ally from following through on her master plan.  While they had a mishap in the quarry, it seems as though the boys and Natalie will get closer in doing the hero thing, as she builds a suit for Jon.  It's good to see Nat open up, and for her to bond with Jon and Jordan.  So, we'll see how well this trio works together when called upon when Ally finally makes her big move.

As for Ally herself, she and Bizarro Lana are looking to bring more of their people to Earth in order to initiate the merge.  And they killed Tal in the process to help further their agenda...and because he knew the outcome:  it would fail.  And now with Tal dead, it's another member of Clark's family that is gone.  This is going to motivate Superman even moreso to stop her.  But his act of destroying the pendant with his brother, then standing up to her is his final redemption act.  And it raises the stakes before the final couple of episodes.  

This show continues to raise the drama, get better character interaction and depth, and the dangers this season have been raised.  They've expanded on what they've done last season, and it's flowing better.  Dare I say that this has supplanted The Flash as the best CW Arrowverse show right now.   So....what did YOU all think of this episode?  How do you think the season will turn out?  Subscribe to the blog and leave me a comment below. 

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