Superman & Lois Review: “What Lies Beneath”

Three months have passed since the end of season one, and Clark still can’t get a shave. Meanwhile, John Henry Irons tries to bond with his daughter, Lois is distant and irritable, Superman isn’t getting along with the DOD, and the drama amongst the world’s oldest fifteen-year-olds has been turned up to Riverdale2 (while their antics remain CW-PG).

Titles: “What Lies Beneath”

Directed by Gregory Smith
Written by Brent Fletcher, Todd Helbing

Cast

Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent / Superman
Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane
Jordan Elsass as Jonathan Kent
Alex Garfin as Jordan Kent
Wolé Parks as John Henry Irons
Tayler Buck as Natalie Irons
Emmanuelle Chriqui as Lana Lang Cushing
Erik Valdez as Kyle Cushing
Sofia Hasmik as Chrissy Beppo
Joselyn Picard as Sophie Cushing
Inde Navarrette as Sarah Cushing
Ian Bohen as Lieutenant Mitch Anderson
Daisy Tormé as Voice of A.I. Device
Nathan Witte as Daniel Hart
Monique Phillips as Aldy Manning
Leeah Wong as Emily Phan
Danny Wattley as Coach Gaines
Samantha Di Francesco as Candice Pergande
Aaron Paul Stewart as Reporter/Blog Guy
So-Choon Lee as Korean Submarine Captain
Emma Yi, Harry Han as Submarine crewmembers
Evelyn Gonda, Dominique Termansen as Supermen of America

Premise:

Smallville’s fortunes have turned for the better, but the Kents are on the outs and the children are taking part in a bad after-school special. Meanwhile, the DoD has created its own Super-doers, and their wearing a familiar red-and-yellow symbol.

Don’t they know that DC sues over copyright at the drop of a cowl?

High Points

Lois Lane has been the balancing center of this family; making her less stable, while her husband still has a world to save, makes for an interesting dynamic.

I have always enjoyed the manner in which the DC and Marvel universes integrate their most fantastic elements with the broader culture. Your town was the center of an alien invasion, but superheroes saved you? Hey, let’s cash in on the tourists!

Low Point

The series has always tried to balanced DC superheroics with CW angsty drama. I don’t blame them for keeping with a formula that has worked, but they need to dial down some of the CW histrionics. Natalie’s plot would demand some– but Natalie’s plot should be handled thoughtfully. This girl has gone through things that we cannot really imagine.

Now why, exactly, they decide to enroll her in that particular school…

The Scores:

Originality: 2/6 They eliminated the evil Kryptonians, so now we have a different Reign of the Supermen/women plot? That seems like lazy writing– even if they’ve spoilered already that the Big Bad this year will be Doomsday, as some viewers guessed from the ending of this episode.

Effects: 5/6 We have a couple of well-produced effects sequences interrupting our overwrought drama.

Acting: 5/6

Production: 6/6

Story: 4/6

Emotional Response: 4/6

Overall: 4/6

In total “What Lies Beneath” receives 30/42

3 replies on “Superman & Lois Review: “What Lies Beneath””

  1. This continues to feel like a good Superman show wrapped in a bad CW show, like a filet mignon in a wonderbread sandwich. I’d be interesting to see if someone could go back and edit the CW out of it, and give us half hour episodes of a good Superman show.

  2. It would be funny to do the reverse– edit out the Superman parts. You’d have a CW drama where weird stuff occasionally happens and dad is a deadbeat who keeps disappearing at critical moments.

    • While I agree that would be entertaining, I can’t imagine I’d want to actually watch that for a significant amount of time.

      Maybe a quick YouTube video of the kids with some quick cuts of teen drama, then dad saying “I have to go…”, teen drama, “Sorry I missed your game,” teen drama, “Go on ahead,” teen drama, “Wait, were’d dad go?”

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