MOVIE REVIEW: ETERNALS

MOVIE REVIEW:  ETERNALS  

One of the movies out of Marvel Studios Phase Four that hit theaters this past year was Eternals.  This is about one of the more relatively unknown set of Marvel heroes that are fairly immortal, and were sent to Earth over 5000 years ago.  This is their story.  

This movie took us back in MCU history, very much predating the Avengers.  In 5000 BC, the Eternals - a race of superpowered beings from the cosmos sent by the Celestial Arishem to Earth to battle a race of evil beings called the Deviants.  The group...led by Ajak (Salma Hayek), along with nine others:  Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), and Thena (Angelina Jolie), did just that, and also showed the people of Earth their extraordinary gifts. Ajak then told her compatriots to go and live among the humans, and experience life.  And they did for the next 500 years...awaiting the time for Arishem to tell them that they could leave.

Skipping to modern times, Sersi is in England, dating a man who works for the Natural History Musem named Dane Whitman.  Sprite has tagged along with Sersi , when a Deviant shows up in England and attacks.  Ikaris returns to help chase off the Deviant Kro, and they decide to head to South Dakota to find Ajak, and inform her that the Deviants have returned, but once there, they find that she has been killed.  Sersi is posthumously anointed the leader of the remaining Eternals by Ajak.  She is then granted the power to communicate to Arishem, which she does, only to discover that their REAL job was to prepare Earth for the birth of a new Celestial....what Arishem refers to as "The Emergence".  For millions of years, the Celestials have planted seeds all across the universe on plants with large populations, as the seeds fed off the energy of said population, and then The Emergence happens:  a new Celestial is born.  However, in the process, that planet ends up being destroyed.  The Deviants were created and sent to each world to seek out the apex predators of the planet, and destroy them.  But then the Deviants evolved, and started attacking the population, that's where the Eternals came in....to battle them, and preserve the population so that they'll be ready for The Emergence.  With the Blip...Earth is now ready for the newest Celestial - Tiamut - to be born.  

Sersi looks to delay the Emergence, and gathers her fellow Eternals, and they head into the Amazon forest, where they meet up with another Eternal, Druig, and there, they are attacked by the Deviants again.  They are destroyed except for Kro, who kills Gilgamesh before feeling.  Phastos proposes something called the "Uni-Mind", which unites all of the Eternals' powers in order for Druig to be able to put Tiamut to sleep.  However, Ikaris reveals that Ajak told him of the Emergence centuries ago.  Six days ago, she also suggested stopping The Emergence, but Ikaris, loyal to the Celestials' plan, betrayed Ajak, and pushed her off a cliff, where she was slain by the Deviants, and Ikaris plans on ensuring that the Emergence will go on as planned, and Sprite joins him, having had unrequited love for him for centuries.  Kingo takes off, not wanting to stop the Emergence, but also won't fight his friends.  

Makkari discovers that The Emergence will take place at an active volcano in the Indian Ocean and the team heads there in their ship, The Domo, to stop it from happening. Ikaris and Sprite attempt to stop their friends from stopping the inevitable, Thena slays Kro, while Ikaris breaks free of Phastos' restraints, and goes to kill Sersi, who is trying to help Druig put Tiamut to sleep, but they are unable to.  But Ikaris cannot kill Sersi because of his love for her.  He and Sprite then join the Uni-Mind, and turn Tiamut into marble, thus preventing The Emergence, and saving Earth.  Ikaris, guilt stricken, leaves the Earth and flies into the Sun.  Meanwhile, Sersi uses the leftover power from the Uni-Mind to turn Sprite into a normal human, thus ending her eternal youth-like state.  Thena, Druig, and Makkari take off to find the other Eternals, and let them know about what the Celestials are doing, while Sprite joins Kingo, as she starts her life as a human.  Sersi and Dane reunite, and later on at a stroll in the park, Dane is about to reveal a major secret about his family lineage, when Sersi is suddenly taken away by Arishem.  He is displeased by their betrayal, but he tells Sersi, Kingo, and Phastos, whom he also brought to him, that he will spare humanity if the Eternals' memories can prove they are worth saving.  He than takes them into a singularity, and they're gone.  In the extra credits scene, Thena, Druig, and Makkari meet up with Eros---who is Thanos' brother---and his companion, Pip the Troll, and offers his help in finding their friends and the other Eternals.  

Finally, we have Dane opening a case containing the Ebony Blade, and a mysterious voice off camera asks him if he's ready to use it. 

This movie was good.  Not on the level as some of the other MCU movies, but it was BEAUTIFULLY shot by Chloe Zhao.  The cinematography was exquisite, and I really liked how the colors popped on screen.  The action scenes weren't bad, and I thought they did a good job with the CGI in bringing about each Eternals' powers.  It was a shame that we didn't get more of Selma Hayek as Ajak, and didn't realize HER part in this movie was going to be short, as the movie was really about pushing Gemma Chan's character, Sersi, to the forefront.  Gemma's performance was great, and I liked HER character the most.  I was also surprised at the subtle performance by Angelina Jolie, whom I mistakenly believed was the leader of The Eternals. But she had a tough role as Thena---who remembered things from the past (Eternals, when evolving, are supposed to have a memory reset), and it's caused a lot of mental breakdowns for her.  But, Jolie can always deliver a tough role with confidence.  Everyone else played their roles very well, and the story sets up a sequel with HUGE galactic proportions coming soon.  It's a great way to introduce characters that not too many people have heard of.  It's expanding the MCU across the cosmos moreso than the Avengers, and makes this Phase 4 VERY interesting down the road.  I'm interested in seeing the OTHER Celestials, and I wonder...juuuuuust wonder...if we MIGHT get a Galactus appearance as well.  

Kit Harrington's character holds major importance, as Dane Whitman's history will be revealed more...but for spoilers:  He's related to Sir Arthur Pendragon...and the Black Blade is part of his lineage as well, as we're this much closer to adding a new hero to the mythos:  Black Knight. As for the character talking to him OFF screen---there's been many rumors...the biggest being Blade. 

Overall, I did enjoy the movie, and it told a very solid story, and sets us up for what's coming in the future....especially now that Eros (also known as Starfox), and Pip the Troll, helping out the Eternals find their friends.  I admit, Harry Styles nailed the personality of Eros, and he looked great.  

What about YOU all?  What did YOU think of The Eternals?  Was it a "yay" or "nay" for you?  Feel free to express yourselves by subscribing to the page, and posting a comment below.

Until next time....

BATWOMAN 3.11

RECAP - BATWOMAN  3.11:  "Broken Toys"  

With Poison Ivy off the canvas now, and heading towards Coryana with Renee Montoya in tow, the Bat Team now has to face another problem entirely:  Jada Jet's request for Batwoman to turn herself in, as SHE believes that that the recent rise in crime, due to the Bat villains weapons getting loose on the streets is all on the Scarlet Knight, it puts Ryan in a bad position, as now public opinion is going to be swayed against her.  And this also makes it harder to cure her brother Marquis, who still needs that help from the joy buzzer to get him back to normal.  Meanwhile, Mary is going through the motions with having known she killed somebody, and is trying to figure out how to deal with it.  Alice's future is up in the air, as her deal with Montoya expired the minute Montoya let Ivy loose.  Luke seems to be more ready to rejoin the Bat Team as Batwing now that he's gotten through his PTSD, and then there's finally the issue between Ryan and Sophie....are they an item or not?  

While Mary has been apologizing for putting the team in dire straits, they're in her clinic going to get Marquis for Jada, but all they see is a doll---and know that he's on the loose.  Mary feels bad, but Ryan assures her that they'll get the joy buzzer and fix Marquis before he causes trouble.  Alice mentions that there IS one way to get the buzzer fixed...by the person who made it:  Kiki Roulette, who used to make all the Joker's deadly toys.  And while Sophie wants to talk about the kiss, and what happens next, Ryan is feeling that they should park the convo until they resolve the situation with Marquis.  And they don't have to wait long for him to make an appearance, as he's on every channel in Gotham, having a press conference outside of Arkham Asylum, saying that the REAL criminal is out on the streets:  Batwoman.  He says he's made a deal with the heads of Arkham to help improve their facility, and he hopes that Batwoman will be put there so that she can "get the help she deserves".  Ryan KNOWS that he had EVERY opportunity to blow her secret ID to the entire public, but he didn't.  Mary and Alice decide to take a trip to that last known location of Kiki Roulette, and Ryan heads over to Jet Industries to confront Jada about the information she has on Marquis in order to stop him before he really does something bad.  

Meanwhile, it looks like Marquis is going through all the inmates of Arkham, as if he's looking for new foot soldiers.  And he just so happens to stumble across Victor Szasz, with whom he offers some work for.  Since he's bringing in a "work release program".  Victor's just first on the list.  

Mary and Alice arrive at the home that Kiki was last living at, and Mary is still feeling guilt over the death of the man she killed in the forest.  Alice tries to tell her to bury those feelings deep.  They approach a woman at the home and inquire where Kiki is, and she says that Kiki is no longer there.  But Alice knows better...and pulls a knife on the woman...calling her Kiki.  She admits that she gave up that life, and has tried to lead the straight path.  They tell her about the joy buzzer and that it needs to be fixed.  She's reluctant to do anything with it, since she said that the buzzer took away Marquis' empathy...but one zap from the buzzer could reactivate it.  So, they have to go to her old hideout to get the tools needed to get the buzzer working again.  

Ryan goes to see Jada, and appeal to her to take the video footage she has of Marquis to put a stop to him before it's too late.  He's hot for revenge, and they're top of his list.  And that's all too true, as Victor enters Jada's office, having killed his guard, and says hello to Ryan, which gets Jada's attention.  He says that unless Batwoman shows up within the hour, he's going to kill Jada.  Victor says that now would be the time for the two women to clear whatever air they have.

Meanwhile, Luke and Sophie break into Marquis' office at Wayne Tower to find the A.I. of Lucius Fox.  Luke teases Sophie about Ryan, and she admits she had a crush on Ryan before she ever became Batwoman.  They find the A.I., and they also take the time to break into Marquis' laptop to get some info that he may have there.  But....they're caught by Marquis and his goons.  

Jada finally admits to Ryan that she didn't abandon her---she had given $2 million to the family that was supposed to adopt her, but the doctor pocketed the dough, and left her on a doorstep.  This is all news to Victor to find out Ryan and Jada are daughter and mother.  The deadline passes, and Batwoman doesn't show.  Victor is about to kill Jada, but Ryan tells her to duck, and Ryan takes a letter opener from Jada's desk and nails Victor with it.  They fight, and Ryan goes into Batwoman mode and beats his ass.  Jada finally realizes that the reason Batwoman didn't arrive on Victor's deadline was that she was there the whole time:  Ryan.  

With Alice, Mary, and Kiki at Kiki's old hideout, Kiki begins working on the joy buzzer, as Mary asks her how she dealt with the deaths she caused---she says she endures, but never gets over it.  She talks about her therapist letting her know that it took hard work to walk the straight and narrow, and gain some semblance of peace of mind.  Alice is admiring Kiki's old toys.  Kiki fixes the joy buzzer, and it's good for one buzz.  But, she turns the tables on Mary and Alice and they're captured.  Kiki says that her therapist was Harleen Quinzell...and she wasn't interested in doing the hard work.  And she seems to be working with Marquis.  

As Victor is taken away, Jada says that it seems the best thing she did was give up Ryan, because she grew up strong and able, and she coddled Marquis.  She felt she let both her kids down.  Sophie calls Ryan, and says that Marquis has plans on using the Arkham inmates for his private army.  But that's when Marquis comes in with his goons, and they're trapped.  

Batwoman goes after Alice and Mary, and ends up talking to Marquis.  He says he can blow her secret ID and hurt her, but she says he won't do it.  Because all it will prove is that she accomplished what SHE did with NOTHING, while all he accomplished with EVERYTHING was nothing.  She rescues Alice and Mary, and Kiki manages to escape.  Meanwhile, Sophie and Batwing take down the goons at Wayne Tower, and Marquis bails.  

In the aftermath, Ryan goes to see her mother, and Jada says that despite everything, she always thought about Ryan.  Ryan tells her that Marquis has the buzzer.  Jada says she let down both her kids, and that she doesn't want Ryan to become her.  Luke finally gets the A.I. of his father back into the cowl of the suit, and Lucius finally shows pride in his son, for finally realizing that he DIDN'T need the suit to be a hero.  

As for Ryan and Sophie....they finally talk, and Ryan says that she's always kept everyone at arms length, but she won't with Sophie anymore.  And finally...the tease ends, as the two women finally hook up and make love.  

Marquis and Kiki prepare for his next phase of his plan for Batwoman and Gotham....with the joy buzzer ready to go.  More than likely ready for Batwoman. And then, we finally end the episode with Mary bringing some of Alice's clothes to her, and telling her that now is the time for her to bail Gotham and go be free.  But apparently, noticing Mary went to the funeral service for the man she killed.   Alice said that she doesn't want to be a sciociopath anymore, and convinces Mary that she has a sister that could use the joy buzzer.  

Well...we got the return of Victor Szasz this installment, albeit brief, but it shows what Marquis' ultimate plan is:  to let the inmates run the city...and make it the asylum.  And he will no doubt try to use the joy buzzer on Batwoman to get her as crazy as he is.  And with Kiki Roulette at his side, he'll have A LOT of explosive toys to play with.  But I also know that he'll want his revenge on his mother as well, so I wonder---with two episodes left---whether or not Jada Jet will even survive the experience.  But we DO know that the joy buzzer Kiki fix is only good for one zap----and while Jada and Ryan want to use it on Marquis---it now appears that Alice has convinced Mary that SHE can use it.  And Mary...having the possibility of having Beth instead of Alice...might be taking her up on the offer.  So, it's going to be interesting to see how this race for the buzzer happens.  

Jada finally realized that her daughter is a superhero, and that seems to ease SOME tension between them...and maybe a full reconciliation.  But again...I worry about Jada's lifespan the next two episodes.  Luke got his father's A.I. back, and now he's fully ready as Batwing to help Batwoman in the field.  It looks like Mary is going to be going through the motions of extreme guilt over what she did, and it's hard to say whether or not she'll get over it.  

And FINALLY....FINALLY....we got Ryan and Sophie to hook up, and apparently, the CW was allowing this to get REAL steamy.  But I think it's safe to say that these two will officially become an item now.  

Overall, another solid episode, and they've built the stakes and storylines well to see how it all comes together is going to be fun over the last two episodes.  Camrus Johnson helmed this episode as director, and he did a fantastic job.  This show has gotten better with each season, and I think it's found it's legs finally.  What did YOU all think of this episode?  Subscribe and drop a comment or theory or idea below....would LOVE to hear from ya!

Until next time...the Signal is OFF. 

DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW 7.11

 

RECAP - DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW  7.11:  "Rage Against the Machines"  

With the season finale close at hand, the Legends are up against the wall to try and get back home, as well as repair any and all damage they've done to the timeline.  Right now, they're stuck in 1914, where they just tried to stop the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, and thus stop World War I happening, and with the help of Eobard Thawne, who's there to keep that fixed point in time in place, has allowed her and the team 40 minutes to draw the robo Legends to them, and for them to try and take the Waverider over, and stop Evil Gideon from destroying them.  But...as we all know...things don't ALWAYS go as they plan.  After all...what do you expect from our time travelling misfits?  It wouldn't be THEM without some sort of mishap on their caper.

At the time bar, Gideon and Davies are discussing the issue the Legends are facing, and it makes the rest of the bar patrons want to assist the team, but that's just going to create more problems than they need.  The rest of the team is outside, awaiting the robo Legends, and they realize that they're dopplegangers of themselves, and while they try to see if they can distract their counterparts, the Legends' plan to overtake the ship backfires, as Evil Gideon catches onto their plan.  Sara tells them to scatter, but Ava gets shot in the process by robo Behrad, and he trails her, as she's leaving a trail of blood behind her, as they get her back to the mansion in the pocket dimension. He manages to trail them there, but Astra conks him out.  And as for Thawne, who had been keeping the fixed point in place, Evil Sara puts and end to him by stabbing him.  As they take off to find the other Legends, and the real Sara catches up to him, and he hands her his watch, meaning that SHE is now in charge of protecting the fixed point.  

She later gathers the team, and she says she's going to try and appeal to the evil Legends, despite her teammates thinking it's a bad idea.  She tries to go an appeal to evil Nate, but they fight, and he ends up snapping her neck.  Davies, who had followed her, freaks out a little bit when he sees her dead, and drags her off. She recovers back at the mansion, but doesn't feel they can beat their robo counterparts.  She asks Davies, who was a soldier, what he would do.  He says that it's time for them to fight dirty, and create a distraction, so that one of them can sneak aboard the ship.  Since they have the robo Behrad, it means that Behrad himself to sneak aboard, and try to disconnect Gideon, allowing them to take over the ship.  So, he disguises himself as his doppleganger, and manages to get aboard the Waverider, where he's got to put on the act for evil Spooner, and then get his "upgrades" with Dr. Sharpe.  Before he does, he heads to the bathroom, and uses the key to get back to the mansion, where he says that his sister's counterpart is the one who's taking care of Gideon, and that she needs to sneak aboard and then disconnect Gideon.  Behrad goes back with Zari, and Gideon wants to help, but Astra is insistent that she stay behind.  

Meanwhile, the rest of the team is out in public, doing everything the can to create a distraction to keep the rest of the evil Legends occupied, while B, Zari, and Astra are aboard the Waverider to take out evil Gideon.  So, for every distraction they create to disrupt the timeline, the evil Legends are coming from behind them to correct the timeline.  While B is aboard the ship, he manages to use a concoction created by Gary to make evil Astra and evil Ava preoccupied, which it works.  Evil Ava and Astra are led into the mansion, where they are pushed into hell.  Meanwhile, Spooner meets up with Evil Gary and she convinces him that her counterpart is the real Spooner, and she hides as the two evil versions argue with each other, which then evil Gary eats evil Spooner, but he soon gets destroyed from the inside, taking the both of them out. 

Gary tries to comfort Gideon, who feels left out, but she's not in the mood to talk. Gary asks Astra why she was so hard on Gideon, and it seems as though Astra doesn't want Gideon to get hurt---mostly because she brought Gideon back, and it's like a parent protecting a child...which Astra tries to deny, but we can see differently. Zari is ready to sneak aboard, but she is met by her evil twin, and they begin to fight with each other.  Astra says Gary should eat both of them, but he refuses. But the real Zari unplugs robo Zari's CPU.  She gets aboard to try and disconnect evil Gideon, but evil Gideon is on to her, and will extract all of the oxygen on the ship for any human caught on board.  Zari then rips all the wires out, and it allows Astra and Behrad to gain control of the ship, and they go out of their way to land it, which they do.  And Behrad FINALLY kisses Astra after the incident.  

Evil Sara and Nate are still on the hunt for the rest of the team, while they're getting the rest of the team aboard the Waverider.  Sara says that she has to stay behind because she made a promise to Thawne to stay and protect the fixed point from were on out.  However, in a stroke of genius, Gideon tells the robo team that they accomplished their mission, and to unplug their CPU's.  Nate has an idea, and tricks the robo Nate in taking Thawne's watch, thus making him the new protector of the fixed point, and taking him out of the equation altogether.  Sara is spared, and the team heads to the ship.  Astra is proud of Gideon for her idea, and she only was hard on her, because she brought her here, and she didn't want her hurt.  Gideon hugs her and says "Thanks, Mom", and goes to tell the rest of the team that they need to get aboard the Waverider, but she's stabbed from behind by the robo Astra, who managed to make it back from Hell.

With a couple of episodes left, we're getting a bit more steam picked up in getting this team back home.  Taking care of their android counterparts was a good coup by them in their own typical way, by using distractions like the singing fish, and giving away movie spoilers in order to keep the rest of the android group occupied, while Behrad did his thing aboard the Waverider.  Everything worked out, as they now have some control of the ship, but there's still the matter of saving Davies' boyfriend, and putting things back properly in the timeline through the messes they've made on their way back, since Bishop disrupted everything.  So, there's still some work left to be done, and we'll see how the last two episodes to play out.  

Sara has experienced some serious doubt this season as Captain of this motley crew, and it's a vulnerability we've really not seen much.  But with the circumstances having been what they are, she's been feeling like she's at a loss.  Thankfully, the rest of the team has been able to step up and lead in the wake of her inability to lead at times.  Davies' experience in the military was the huge key in winning the day for them this installment.  It was also great that Behrad, Zari, and Astra to get the Waverider back.  And we FINALLY see Behrad and Astra secure the moment with THEIR long-awaited kiss.  Speaking of Astra---she's been VERY overprotective of Gideon since she brought her back.  And, as much as she's never wanted to admit it, she's come off like an overprotective mother---something Gary had to point out to her, but she refused to believe it.  But, they day also would NOT have been won, had Gideon not been able to use her idea of tricking the androids to disconnect their CPU's.  So, Astra finally admitting to not only Gideon, but herself that she's that important to her, and with Gideon acknowledging her as "mother", it was a sweet moment.  But now with Gideon stabbed by Astra's evil robot twin, I am curious as to how she gets saved.  

We got a couple of adventures to go before we seal up Season 7.  How do YOU see it playing out?  What happens to Gideon?  And will this team FINALLY get back home, and fix all the mess they've made?  And does that mess in the timeline effect anything ELSE going on in the Arrowverse?  We DO know that when The Flash comes back, we're focusing on Bart & Nora, and the timeline being in flux---does the Legends' messing up things have ANY correlation?  Let us now by subscribing and dropping a theory or comment on our comments section.

Until next time....time is on our side.

SUPERMAN & LOIS 2.4

 

RECAP - SUPERMAN & LOIS  2.4: "The Inverse Method"  

This episode reminds me of the Beatles' song "Do You Want to Know A Secret", because we had a few of them pop up during this episode.  And it's not even so much about Lois and the boys keeping  Clark's secret as Superman, but on a much deeper level.  Jon has a secret, Jordan has a secret, Clark has his...but it appears that Kyle Cushing has a MUCH bigger secret HE's not fessing up to, and we have the ONE person I'd NEVER thought would have any reason for us to question HER moral integrity:  Lois.  Seems that THIS week's meet with her little sister Lucy brings up a whole pile of wreckage between the two, and it does NOT pain Lois in a good light.  

Lois is NOT having a good go of it lately.  Bad enough that Clark is going through his situation with this Bizarro thing that's been playing with his head, but now she has to deal with blowback from the story she did on the cult led by Alison Alston, which involved her sister Lucy.  She felt she needed to save Lucy at the time, who had appeared lost due to the fact that their mother abandoned them when they were kids, and Lucy pulled away and sought comfort elsewhere.  She thought she had saved Lucy, but they've had this rift since then, so when Alison started having people debunk Lois' story, it appears that the only thing she can do to salvage her job and reputation is to talk to Lucy, and have her help expose Alison once and for all.  But when we start this episode off for Lois, Lucy doesn't show up---Lucy sends Alison instead, and Alison goes and says that she was helping Lucy "ascend" to another level, and Lois promised to take Alison down.  Alison then has her goon squad show up, saying that she doesn't take threats lightly...although that really wasn't impressing Lois much (knowing who she has as a husband, the goon squad is a joke).  She then plots with Chrissy about infiltrating Alison's next gathering in order to get more info about Lucy, and finding her.  So, Chrissy invents a person on the dark web, and gets and invite.  They show up, and Chrissy's in disguise, going into the seminar, while Lois is waiting outside waiting to hear from Chrissy about Lucy.  But then Lucy shows up, and Lois confronts her.  Lois tries to get Lucy to let her talk to her, and Lucy gives her 5 minutes.  Once in this motel room, she and Lucy argue about how Lois handled things, and Lois said that Lucy was doing drugs, and almost overdosed, and Lucy said that Alison was trying to help Lucy ascend to a newer level.  Lois said she was trying to do everything she could to help her since their mother left, but Lucy said Lois didn't help her. 

Meanwhile, Clark is still suffering from his mental attacks because of the Bizarro thing, which was up at the Fortress trying to get in and used the amulet around his neck to get in, but it's not happening.  He flies off.  Meanwhile, at the farm, Clark and John Henry are talking about the kids, especially Natalie, when the Bizarro shows up.  Clark and he then battle each other briefly, before John hits him with the hammer, and he flies off.  Afterwards, he and John managed to find a way to get a signature on Bizarro based on the amulet.  But they can't trace it without the DOD's help.  John tells him that the suit is damaged, and he can't help him.  And he may need to enlist Anderson's help with his team to get this creature stopped.  Once he meets with Anderson, and gives him the flash drive that will allow them to track the Bizarro. Anderson says that Superman is not in the best shape to be handling this thing, and Superman tells him that Tag and his team isn't ready.  But just let him know when they find him.  Later on, Anderson's crew tracks Bizarro down, and sends his own super team out to confront him.  Back at the farm, Superman gets another mental attack as he and Lois are talking about her fallout with Lucy, and he's noticed that two of Anderson's super team have been killed.  Tag is the only one left, and he's off to face it.  John Henry asks Lois what happened to Clark, and he asks if he has help, but Lois says it's not enough.  Good or bad, John Henry takes off to meet up with Superman and help.  When Superman arrives, he tells Tag to take off, and Tag does, grabbing the amulet in the process.  Superman and Bizarro once again battle, when Steel shows up, but with his weakened armor, he's no match for Bizarro, who punches Steel away.  Superman punches Bizarro away, and then races John Henry to the hospital, where he's suffered considerable damage.  He tries to apologize to Natalie who shows up, but orders him away.  Clark is just at a loss at what to do.  

Jordan and Sarah are on the mend, and go into the convenience store when Jordan witnesses a robbery in place, and tries to use his powers to stop them, but is unable to.  In the wake of their getaway, the clerk for the store says it's okay, because they have security cameras that can see what's going on, and that forces Jordan to call his grandfather Sam, and Sam says that he's gotten it taken care of, but warns Jordan that if he's going to play hero, be aware of his surroundings, as to NOT blow his secret.  In the wake of what happened with John Henry, Jordan talks to his grandfather, and tells him to train him.  Sam agrees, but tells him that it's got to be off the books---and that NO ONE can know.  

As for Jon this episode, he manages to talk to Candice and she hooks him up.  He shows up at practice, and once he gets used to the drugs, he ends up appealing to the coach to just let him practice, and the coach likes his attitude.  So, Jon ends up showing what he can do with the coach with the enhancements, which is pretty much showing up his rival.  

As far as the Cushings go, they inform Sarah that the Mayor may go after her because of her past, and Sarah is okay with it..she's not afraid of Mayor Dean, so he can say what he likes.  Later on, Lana and Kyle run into the Mayor, and he'll agree that the kids are off the table as far as the campaigning goes---but don't be surprised if Kyle's past comes to light.  It gets Kyle upset, but Lana talks him down.  Later on, we see Kyle himself head to the bar, and tell the bartender they need to have a talk.

What I have gotten out of this episode is that EVERYONE is keeping a secret---and NO ONE is being honest.  Lois and Lucy are not honest with each other, Lois isn't honest with Chrissy, Jon isn't honest with his family, Jordan isn't being honest with Sarah and NOW his parents, Sam isn't honest with Lois, and Clark...well, HIS secret he's GOT to keep from everyone NOT in the family (minus Lucy), and Kyle apparently is keeping secrets from HIS family.  For a story about Superman...no one seems to be anything of a paragon of virtue.  Now, I get the HUMAN aspect of all this drama, and the motivations BEHIND the deception...but it also seems that NOBODY is coming out the BETTER for it, or LOOKS better for it.  Clark I can understand his wanting to keep his secret ID a secret.  And NOT wanting Anderson to bring Tag and his teammates in is well founded, since two of them got destroyed because of Bizarro, but he's got to understand that he CANNOT do this on his own.  And the more Bizarro is around, the more Clark is LESS effective.  This is HONESTLY where Superman NEEDS his cousin....or J'onn...or even the REST of the League for help.  And I kind of put Lois at blame here for wanting John Henry to help Clark out---he wasn't in a position to...and now has Natalie's wrath to deal with....aside from Lucy's AND Chrissy's.  

Jordan I can sympathize with---he WANTS to do more for his family, and wants to do more for his dad.  He knows he has these abilities, and wants to do the right thing with them...just not sure going behind Lois and Clark's back is the best decision.  We'll see how well Sam prepares him for this.  As for Jon...no.  This is selfish, and it's going to get him in deep trouble.  Not just with his coach, but with his parents, and who KNOWS what kind of effect this will have on him down the road.  And for Kyle...I know he's going to try and nip this in the bud, but I feel HIS mistakes are going to have a long term effect on the election...AND his marriage to Lana...AND his daughters.  Who knows HOW Sarah responds to this.  And will Chrissy really believe that what Alison tells her will be the actual truth about Lois...or is this just Alison manipulating Chrissy to get her on her side to control the narrative and twist it against Lois?  And what about Lucy?  How much does she believe in whatever Alison is telling her, and how far down the rabbit hole has she fallen?

Either way,..at the end of all this...NO ONE is coming out of this smelling like a rose, and it's going to take A LOT to mend some fences before it's all said and done.  But that's why we watch.  How about all of YOU?  What do YOU think of our denizens of Smallville NOW in the wake of all this?  And will John Henry recover?  Lemme know what you think by subscribing and leaving a comment below.

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