Superman and Lois Episode 4
One of the most tired arguments in comics is about whether or not Superman is too powerful to tell good stories with. The plethora of exceptional, meaningful, moving Superman stories out there should put that argument to bed for good, but if they haven’t, feel free to direct anyone making it to “Haywire,” the fourth episode of what’s shaping up to be one of the best Superman arcs ever. To my mind, the key Superman conflict has nothing to do with his power level and everything to do with the fact that he can’t be everywhere at once. He is a man who wants to help everyone, but has to prioritize where he can be and how much time he can stay there, and those choices all have consequences. That’s basically the thesis statement of this episode: Clark is being pulled in a thousand different directions at once, with his father-in-law climbing on his back about not being seen enough in Metropolis; an Intergang prisoner transfer going down; Morgan Edge about to close the deal on a mine outside of Smallville and Lois trying to run headfirst into Edge; and the boys trying to navigate school and also one of their classmates developing super speed. But the thing that makes this episode, and the show as a whole, such a good Superman story isn’t necessarily the content of the story. It’s the storytelling, too. Superman & Lois excels at showing and telling. It weaves the three storylines – Clark, Lois and the kids – in and out, contrasting points against each other by bouncing from scene to scene to heighten the point. There are two spots this week where this is really well done. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense was moving a super-prisoner out of town because Superman’s lack of presence in town was making the authorities skittish about keeping him in town. And at the same time, Sam Lane was giving the kids a hard time about being too needy now that they know their dad was Superman, because the rest of the world needed him more. Of course, nothing works out right. Superman takes way too long on a wild goose chase, so Edge wins the town vote nearly unanimously, while the stuff with Jordan and Jon takes some time to blow up. The performances really carry this sequence over. Hoechlin’s Clark agonizes over missing the vote and practically begs Tulloch’s Lois to be mad at him, and their argument is so natural and honest feeling that it’s immediately relatable. Later, when the family finds out what Sam said to the kids, there’s an argument in the farmhouse that is also immediately recognizable and yet perfectly performed. Clark is pissed at Sam, but Superman’s anger is so often played as some world-ending threat, with glowing red eyes and menacing body language, yet here Hoechlin plays it completely straight – as an angry dad dealing with a shitty in-law. I’m sure we’re going to keep talking about this as the show goes along, but the amount of acting Hoechlin and Tulloch do with only their body language, and the way it conveys exactly who Superman and Lois are both alone and in relation to each other is a HUGE part of the mastery of this show.
