Superman and Lois
Season 1 finale - Episode 15 - "Last Sons of Krypton"
Clark/SM / Lois / Jordan: Edge/Daddy/Jordan (or rather Alex Garfin) was doing his damnedest to give a possessed Reagan MacNeil performance. After the "will he go too far' preliminaries passed, you knew it was going to come down to the family connection to pull Jordan back. The plot subverted expectations by having Jonathan be the one to finally reach Jordan, instead of Lois.
The one good Chrissy moment was her question about the possibility of humans fearing Superman...and they should (more than this series will ever explore) because yes, he is an overpowered alien with next to no opposition. It does not matter if people knew Edge was the threat, a Kryptonian is a Kryptonian, and humans would be fearful of an unstoppable, unchecked force doing (or capable of doing) anything he desired.
Irons: His daughter surviving, leaving her world and landing at the Kent farm....yes, Plot Convenience 101. Further, having her look of shock at Lois (the "mom" business") and Clark (evil) cannot be the basis of a major plot for season two. One, it would be rinse and repeat of Irons' early arc, and two, Irons himself could explain that away in five minutes. Depending on her age, she might end up sticking around to attend high school with the Kent boys.
Edge: So that's it, for now (SEE NOTES).
Sam Lane: Once again, the Smallville townsfolk lay their misplaced blame at the D.O.D.'s feet, and accuse them of everything under the sun. Sam should have asked them, "What would you do?" but he's not a tit-for-tat guy, so that was not going to happen (to his credit).
Sam stepping down from thew D.O.D. only makes sense if the showrunners are going work on fully integrating him into his family's lives, and not end up a marginalized punching bag like--for one example--Jacob on Batwoman.
Jonathan / Tegan: Jonathan certain loves guns (that dumping scene), but it was a nice moment for Lois to trust him with the Killgrave rifle--no debate or fear, just trust. About Tegan: I'm still hoping there are no soap opera-esque hidden dramas that frames their relationship.
Lana/Kyle/Sarah: At least the Cushings displayed some family unity in this episode, but it did not need the often hated Kyle saving someone in order to win Sarah's respect, when it should have been there long ago. Despite his earlier fanboying of Edge, a few of his decisions were made in his family's best interests, which Sarah is old enough to at least try to understand.
NOTES:
...and a Kryptonian threat makes itself known to all, and there's no other Arrowverse superheroes to be found, a fact made more apparent with Sam's "World's finest" line, and yeah, he was referring to Superman and Irons, but this is the ever-so-connected Arrowverse, and if ever there was a need for other heroes to show up....
As predicted, main character Jordan was never in real danger, and unfortunately, I still see the Edge/daddy plot bleeding into season two with another stab at hurting or corrupting one (or more) of the Kents.
While Jonathan is leaning in his grandfather's direction, I imagine he would face threats more as a vigilante type than ever serving in the military or associating with the D.O.D. (years down the road, of course).
Season one: As a series, Superman and Lois is..serviceable, but unadventurous TV fantasy. Noted weeks ago, Elizabeth Tulloch was the "get" for this series and its true anchor--something never seen in any other live action Superman production. Yes, this speaks to the writers knowing how to write to Tulloch's many strengths, but it also casts a revealing light on the weaknesses of Heochlin as Clark/Superman. It is understood that he's portraying a Clark at a different, older stage of life, but at times, he appears to be sampling a "father" plug-in because the plot says so, but the dominant side of his performance borrows a bit too much from Reeve's (more the unsure routine, not the bumbler act). Every actor ever to take on the role tried to make it their own (with a lot of hit and miss interpretations), and if successful, tapped into how this fantasy alien would function in the world, which meant there was little borrowing from actors who represented an approach and perception of another era.
Hoechlin does not (or cannot) work to make his Clark/Superman his own when he's channeling the performance of another. Whether that's a showrunner mandate, or actor decision, either way, the character is weaker for that choice.
The series had a number of necessary irons in the fire (family adjustment to Smallville, teen growing pains, etc.), but the hook--the fantasy element (Edge) that calls Superman to be Superman--was patently underwhelming. Rayner's best Edge moments were early on, as the mustache-twirling, big money ass, but as Tal-Rho--the reason he was on the show--he dipped into the same pool of too many comic adaptation villains: the chest juts out while going on about threats, plans, and yeah, no one can stop you. Not for a moment did Edge feel like he would be a legitimate threat to Smallville, Metropolis (or anywhere else); he was just angry, and his plans all seemed so pedestrian. Obviously, there have been far better, believable Kryptonian threats in live action, whether one is talking about Shannon's seething, entitled Zod or Stamp's (mainly in the Krypton prologue of 1978's Superman), both convincing the audience that there would be no peace if they were--frankly--still breathing. That's how to write a strong villain, something lacking in this series' Edge.
By now in the Berlanti production house, it should be expected that the all-important first season (shortened or not) would come out of the gates making a bold statement saying, "this is what a superhero show can be", (see: Black Lightning's 1st season) but it did not. The series has its good points, but in no way is it a great representation of Superman by any stretch of the imagination, or the far and away best of this era--which is Man of Steel.
GRADE: C-.
