Superman and Lois
Season 1 - Episode 4 - "Haywire"
Clark/SM / Lois: Lois asking Clark to be her surrogate at the town hall already smelled like a problem waiting to happen, and although she says she understands that he had Superman business to deal with, she blurts out that she feels like she's the last on his priorities list. Why should she expect better time/dedication management from Clark? They have teenage sons--one who needs to be monitored / mentored, and yes, there's the Superman business. She complains to Lana how romance is not really there, but in a marriage with kids and major responsibilities, its not going to be Year One Marriage every day.
Further, she's feeling like her identity is lost because of her failures in relation to Edge troubles, but she signed up for the Smallville move, so logically, no one should expect the kind of life and career granted by the big city would flow into a small town.
Jonathan / Jordan Kent: Jonathan always defending his brother--asking his father to allow him to be special, and now he regrets it. How did he not know that was coming. SEE NOTES.
Fellow student Tag Harris--his arm injured by the explosion caused by Jordan--is undergoing some transformation...either being exposed to Kryptonian powers has some mutagenic property for humans (which I concluded was happening before Jordan said the same thing), or he's already an unknowing experiment..and sure enough, I predicted Edge had something to do with Tag's issues, probably using the X-Kryptonite mined in other towns to experiment in smaller trials.
Sam Lane: Ahh...Sam says the military is afraid of Superman, Thaddeus Killgrave (who hates Superman) is transferred from a Metropolis prison, only to be freed by Intergang for a--frankly--pointless diversion in this episode.
The second Lane let it slip that the Department of Defense has a "school" for kids with powers, I assumed Lane--thinking Superman is unreliable (and buying Alt-Luthor's story) will use the kids as his own super-force, much like the reason the "Ultimen" were created in the three-episode arc of Justice League Unlimited.
Edge/Kyle/Lana/Sarah: Six years earlier in Saskatchewan, Edge and his team tracked some glowing object, which fell to earth, which he referred to as the "resurrection"...
Notice how he tests the waters with how far he can pull the chains on those he controls, such as the way he referred to Lana as "one of his." Lana was clearly disturbed by it, yet Kyle, ever enthralled by Edge's wallet--played it off as no big deal. Still, he's trying, and Lana--at least--tries to recognize whatever good there is to be found in him.
NOTES: Between "Subjekt 11" (the man who attacked Lois in episode 3), Edge's X-Kryptonite "resurrection" plans and Sam Lane's own contingency plans, I'm hoping the series is not going to end up copy+pasting the metahuman arms race plot already explored on Black Lightning. One series was / is enough for that, especially when it produced many great, dramatic results.
Next week: Jonathan is the odd man out, and Alt-Luthor makes his move, attacking Superman. Whether he's working with Sam remains to be seen.
GRADE: C+.
