# Superman and Lois Season 1

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\
**Created:** [February 16, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031 "2021-02-16T12:11:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 10

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/199 "2021-06-16T14:16:50Z")

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> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> Kyle didn’t know what was going on when he was possessed, so it seemed pretty safe. Also, I thought they were pretty subtle about it.

Kyle _said_ he didn’t know what was going on. Kyle is also not a reliable source of information, semi-possessed Kyle even less so. A semi-possessed Kyle who needs an excuse/alibi because he’s injured and has let down his family (again) and is in trouble with his wife (again) should not be trusted.

Also, he and his mom indicated that Lois was his wife and that they had two children together. If Lana was conscious at all, she knows that Clark is Superman. Hopefully, though, it’s right that she was completely under.

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**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/200 "2021-06-16T16:20:18Z")

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Yeah, it sets up a whole bunch of possibilities.

1. The Big Blast awakening Jonathan’s powers, or stabilizing Jordan’s.
2. Lana knowing the secrets, or getting a brain-supercharge from being posessed by a scientist.
3. Lois making up with her father, after seeing the need for kryptonite weapons.
4. The army now has some functioning Kryptonian equipment. Who the hell knows what they can make now.

And I’m also VERY happy in how Jonathan acted - LETS JUST TALK. NO MORE SECRETS. Holy crud, was I happy to hear this in a show like this!

Plus, PLUS, they had Lana say the whole (paraphrased) line - “Everything was so quiet in Smallville! What changed?” Lois - “Morgan Edge came to town.”. PERFECT cover for it, and it moves the focus from the weird stuff coming because the Kents came back to town.

The episode did feel a little rushed, but its a TV show, so I can give them some hand-waiving. And the cutting out of Supergirl was that when this was made, it was known the show was getting canceled, so I’m sure they wrote around it.

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**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/201 "2021-06-16T16:22:19Z")

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> [@amarinth](#):
>
> > [@Terminus\_Est](#):
> >
> > Also, where’s Kara in all this? I mean, if he wants to get the whole Kryptonian gang back together, shouldn’t he also want her onside?
> 
> I have a bunch of Supergirl episodes to catch up on, so I don’t know what’s up with Kara.

Don’t. Just… Don’t. Leave the happy memories you have. Don’t follow the last two seasons. Just… dont.

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/202 "2021-06-16T16:29:06Z")

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Too late.  
I’ve already started this season, I’m just about 5? 4? episodes behind. But yes, I watched the season premiere and spent half of it wondering what the hell had happened. And I have been thoroughly disappointed many times already. Maybe the Arrowverse really did need Arrow to make any sense (even though I didn’t watch that one, maybe producing it kept everything else in check.).

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**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/203 "2021-06-16T16:46:44Z")

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I’m so sorry. I believe they have formed a support group for this. Therapy can help with the trauma.

For me, I LOVED Black Lightning with a passion. I wish this final season hadn’t happened. The fantastic storytelling of the previous seasons just… disappeared.

I’m going for a cookie and a blankie right now…

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/204 "2021-06-17T02:06:52Z")

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A couple of questions.

What, in universe, is the DOD? Or am I mis-hearing that? The agency General Lane is in? Up until now, I thought everyone was saying DoD, as in the Department of Defense. After all General Lane and everyone else we see are wearing U.S. Army uniforms. But in this episode, Jonathon refers to the “DOD” as a “threat reduction agency that deals with aliens”, which I thought was the role of the DEO in the Arrowverse, before it got blown up? Is the “DOD” or whatever it is they’re saying the successor to the DEO? Has this been been discussed in an episode and I just missed it?

Was there some significance to the cliffs Morgan/Tal-Ro and NotMercyGraves were approaching in the final shot?

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/205 "2021-06-17T03:51:46Z")

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The Department of Defense is in charge of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marines. It also runs the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. It’s also responsible for a host of other functions and agencies. Oh, and the Space Force. If there’s a super-secret “threat reduction agency that deals with aliens”, I’d expect it to be under the DOD. If the agency is so secret that you can’t say its name, then it’s easier to just say DOD especially if you’ve got a bunch of US Army soldiers running about.

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/206 "2021-06-17T13:01:44Z")

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Here’s the line:

> [@](#):
>
> Look, these military guys showing up, they’re from the DOD.
> 
> It’s a threat reduction agency headed by our grandpa to keep the Earth safe from aliens, and these scientists, they’re looking at your dad right now trying to help him, but I honestly–

That _really_ doesn’t sound to me like Jonathon is saying that the DoD (Department of Defense) _has_ an alien threat reduction agency, it sounds like he’s saying the “DOD” (whatever it is) _is_ an alien threat reduction agency.

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/207 "2021-06-17T13:18:31Z")

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🤷‍♂️  
Jonathan is also a high school freshman so maybe he’s hazy on the details of what exact agency his grandpa is working for.

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/208 "2021-06-18T01:44:52Z")

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Was Larr in the final battle, or was she somewhere else taking care of other business? She certainly got to the rendezvous point before Edge.

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**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/209 "2021-06-18T13:48:44Z")

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I know that it’s a trope, but when Lana was talking to Lois and Superman, it really bothered me that she didn’t recognize him as the guy she used to date, who is now married to Lois, who recently started appearing in Smallville just after Lois and Clark moved back, and who never seems to be around when Superman appears.

I kept hoping she’d slip and call him Clark.

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**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/210 "2021-06-18T14:00:18Z")

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It was subtle, but I thought the actor was looking at Superman/Clark like she recognized him. She tells Lois something like, “It’s just so weird to actually see Superman here, in person”. But I think that may have just been her covering. The way the camera lingered on her expression, and on Superman’s profile, I thought they were subtly hinting that she was realizing just how much Superman looks like Clark up close, and starting to put together some of the weird things that used to happen in Smallville, before Clark moved away, and some of the weird things Clark did growing up, and…I _think_ the show was trying to be deliberately ambiguous as to whether Lana recognized Superman as Clark.

But, as I stated, it was subtle, and it’s entirely possible I was reading more into those shots than was intended.

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/211 "2021-06-18T14:30:07Z")

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> [@gdave](#):
>
> She tells Lois something like, “It’s just so weird to actually see Superman here, in person”.

I really liked that line - it’s nice to remind us that for Lana, Superman is the most famous person in the world, and the idea of being in the same room as him is overwhelming; this might be a reason why she doesn’t recognize him.

On the other hand, she does say something to the effect “I know you’re used to it, Lois” - which could have a double meaning.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/212 "2021-06-18T14:48:55Z")

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Edge was definitely flying with all the other turned Smallville residents, but Larr was not shown. I think she had gone on ahead to prepare Edge’s fortress.

As for Superman’s identity, his own kids didn’t believe that their dad could be Superman until he demonstrated it incontrovertibly. John Henry Irons, with an understandable hate-on for Kal-El, still doesn’t recognize that Lois’ husband is the object of his hatred. The show, I believe, is going to play it straight and Lana will have no clue that Clark and Superman are one and the same until and unless Clark tells her so.

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/213 "2021-06-18T14:53:17Z")

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So she didn’t return to human either because the process had gone to completion and/or she was nowhere near by the device when Clark activated it.

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/214 "2021-06-18T15:17:38Z")

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While Superman was hurting, neither Edge nor Larr appear to have been affected by the device, Edge because he realized what Superman was intending and got the heck out of Dodge. Presumably Larr was also far enough away.

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**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/215 "2021-06-18T15:38:05Z")

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> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> Edge because he realized what Superman was intending and got the heck out of Dodge.

Edge wouldn’t have been affected any more than Superman was, because they’re both original, flesh and blood Kryptonians. The device only affected those who were downloaded into humans.

Edge took off because he realized that his about-to-be-curbstomping was about to become much less one-sided.

What that says about Edge is left as an exercise for the viewer.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/216 "2021-06-18T15:57:44Z")

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Presumably it means that Edge still needs Clark alive for some reason (Edge could have taken Clark after the device went off - it took enough out of Clark that he was crawling, while Edge could still fly)

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/217 "2021-06-18T16:02:12Z")

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> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> On the other hand, she does say something to the effect “I know you’re used to it, Lois” - which could have a double meaning.

Yes, but Lois has a long association with Superman. She was the first to cover him for the Daily Planet and the first to interview him. She even gave him his name. Lois has long been connected in the public consciousness with Superman.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/superman-and-lois-season-1/933031/218 "2021-06-18T16:40:43Z")

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> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> While Superman was hurting, neither Edge nor Larr appear to have been affected by the device, Edge because he realized what Superman was intending and got the heck out of Dodge. Presumably Larr was also far enough away.

> [@Horatius](#):
>
> Edge wouldn’t have been affected any more than Superman was, because they’re both original, flesh and blood Kryptonians. The device only affected those who were downloaded into humans.

> [@Andy\_L](#):
>
> So she didn’t return to human either because the process had gone to completion and/or she was nowhere near by the device when Clark activated it.

My understanding of what happened: Clark used his stored solar energy to power the device, which is what walloped him - the device itself had no effect on him. Morgan Edge/Tal-Ro was unaffected because he was an actual Kryptonian, but had his own reasons (yet to be revealed) for not pressing the fight. Possibly as simple as he didn’t really know what was going on, just that his army was being depowered, so he left to regroup. At that point, I _think_ he knows that the DOD has Kryptonite weapons, so he doesn’t want to press the issue without an army at his back. Larr isn’t affected, _probably_ because, as noted upthread, she’s been possessed so long that the Kryptonian consciousness has completely taken over, and the device is no longer effective, something Mama El warned about. Or, _maybe_, Larr is something else entirely…(but I think it’s the former).

I asked upthread about the cliffs Tal-Ro and Larr are approaching in the final shot, and didn’t get a direct response. Is that supposed to be Tal-Ro’s Fortress of Solitude?

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