Superman & Lois just wrapped up its third season amidst a lot of uncertainty about its future.  Fans still seem to be raving about it online, and three years in it seems as if Superman & Lois, unlike the DC movies, is almost universally loved, or at least, not hated, which is pretty huge today!   Its Rotten Tomatoes score has been good for each season, and apparently ratings are solid enough too, as it has survived a recent wave of CW cancellations.

There’s a lot that we could say already about where this show ranks compared to other Superman shows (a good idea for a future post..!), but overall I would have to agree with a lot of the praise the show is getting.  For me, it’s been a dependable, watchable show each week, something that has also been fun as the experience of network television has been dwindling in recent years.  It has been a worthy torchbearer of the Superman brand at a time when little else has, unfortunately, and season 3 was no exception.  Let’s get into it!

Pros

The writers of this show continue to understand that the Kent family is the centerpiece of this story and the main reason that most of us tune in.  Clark and Lois’ marriage, as well as their relationship with their sons, is very strong and isn’t eclipsed by the big fight scenes or sub plots.  A writer’s challenge with any ongoing story is to put the characters through the ringer, so to speak, and challenge them in such a way that they continue to grow and have tension so that the audience can continue watching to find out what comes next.

The major arcplot of this season, Lois’ cancer, is a unique and creative way to put the entire family through a challenge in which the antagonist was something different than superhero fans are used to but no less formidable. The world was once again threatened, but this time it was the characters’ world, and not the physical world.  Superman, who usually deals with threats to his family very dutifully, is for once rendered totally powerless against this enemy in a way that Kryptonite never could.  It was a brilliant decision by the writers to make this the overarching “villain,” even if it did make for some heavy viewing at times, which may not have been everybody’s cup of tea.

Jordan’s arc about continuing to develop superpowers and loving the attention was also a highlight of the season for me.  I found it to be a way of bringing in some of the typical high school problems that teenagers face- “do people love me for who I am,” “will I be popular if I try to be something else,” peer pressure, etc- which no doubt resonate with the CW audience without making it just about the usual teen angst, something which was way over the top in season 2.

Plus, straight nods to stories in the comics are ALWAYS great fan service, and a chance to wear a young Superman costume in this season was great.

The villains in this season- something which I can happily say have been pretty good throughout this show and definitely better than season 2, were also a strength.  While I wasn’t crazy about the way the show adapted Bruno Manheim for the screen, it did allow for the introduction of Intergang, an antagonist unlike the other, superpowered antagonists Clark and Lois have faced in the past.  The idea of experimenting on humans to give them metahuman powers is intriguing, and made even more so when we realize that Manheim is doing this to save his family.

A little “Kingpin trying to cure his wife of her disease and Daredevil getting in the way,” sure…

… okay, a lot.  But whatever, it was still good!

And of course, we finally, FINALLY got to see Lex Luthor in this show, Superman’s greatest archnemesis without a doubt, and Michael Cudlitz is a great casting choice.  Luthor has been presented in so many DC adaptations lately, each a slightly different interpretation, that it no doubt was a challenge to introduce him yet again here in a new way.  The path chosen was to show a more “organized crime” version of Luthor, a ruthless man with great influence who can ruin his enemies’ lives with the mere lift of a finger, with absolutely no remorse in doing so.  To be sure, this was a huge part of the John Byrne/Marv Wolfman Lex Luthor, and it works here.  Cudlitz is also a solid actor and is electric on screen, especially when talking to the Kents.  His introduction gave the show a spark that was most welcome.

Good villains, good family stories… and even a shorter season which made for less filler, lots to like here! Unfortunately, it wasn’t all positive.

Cons

I mentioned above how the cancer arcplot was heavy, just as it is in real life.  While I can’t fault the creators for wanting to make chemotherapy and doctors visits as accurate as possible, it did make for some emotional viewing at times.  I can’t exactly say this is a “con,” per se, but it definitely wasn’t always fun to watch.

The other cons are pretty much the standard fare and more or less the same gripes as season 2: too much teen angst being the main one, although I guess I should expect this given the network on which this show airs.  Still, I thought season 1 was a much more tolerable level of it to be sure.

A negative that was unique to this season (which I feel kind of bad for saying, but here goes), was the new actor cast to play Jonathan Kent.  Michael Bishop is a good actor and played his part just fine, but man, he is a completely different personality from Jordan Elsass!  If you’re going to recast a role, at least try to make the actors somewhat similar.  Elsass’ direct, confident demeanor characterized Jonathan for the first two seasons, and contrasted nicely to Jordan’s more introverted and emotional personality.  Bishop, however, seems even more timid than Jordan!  Shows have recast roles before and done okay, but having gotten used to one personality for Jonathan for two seasons, it was difficult to get used to a completely new take in the third.  Although it got a little better as the season went on, it was pretty jarring for most of his scenes.

If there’s anything else to gripe about, I guess one could maybe talk about the Kyle/Chrissy relationship and how it pushes the show into soap opera territory..?  I guess it wouldn’t bother me much if there wasn’t so much teen angst already on this show, but for me it was a bit much.  Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.

All in all, there was a lot to like in this season, and I do think this show has been a nice addition to Superman’s mythos.  Final verdict- marginally better than season 2, but still not as good as season 1, a solid superhero show. Here’s hoping it goes for a few more years!

Capeage Meter: 7 out of 10