Clark Kent is about to have a very bad day.

The age-old issue with Superman, as understood by several of the people who’ve written screenplays for movies and TV shows involving the Big Blue Boy Scout over the years, is that he’s so powerful, providing him with a challenge is, well, a challenge. Unless you’re throwing equally superpowered Kryptonian warriors or actual space monsters at him, what’s to really provide him with a meaningful test of his powers?

But he didn’t acquire that moniker by accident. Superman is, at its core, the story of a man who has all the physical power in the world yes, but more importantly a conscience that’s as unwavering as a rock, a sense of duty and a desperate, physical need to do the right thing. That’s all well and good when he’s trying to just balance life as roving reporter Clark Kent, sometime love interest of Lois Lane and also the man of steel. But what if he had a few more things to deal with as well?

That’s the basic premise of this show, which sees Clark and Lois settled in family life with 14 year old twins, each very different from the other, and trying to juggle an awful lot. Domestic life, a rapidly evolving job situation with the Daily Planet taken over by a company that doesn’t care too much for ‘people interest stories’ and a persistent, mysterious villain who keeps making trouble at nuclear powerplants for Supes to clear up.

And then things start getting really messed up.

Seriously, the writers cram an awful lot onto poor Clark’s shoulders by the end of this one. Family tragedy, employment issues, the simple dramas of being a parent of teenage boys magnified by the struggle of whether and how to tell them who their Dad is and what the implications of that might be for either of them. Turns out, when you understand a bit about character generally and this character specifically, making challenges for him isn’t a problem at all.

And what’s really nice about this, as contrived as some elements may feel, is how achingly earnest it is in every way possible. Tyler Hoechlin (who I understand has been doing very well in numerous Supergirl appearances, having not yet watched that series myself) really radiates the sort of guileless, homespun energy that Clark the farmboy needs, every bit as much as Elizabeth Tulloch embodies the hard-edged cynicism of a lifelong investigative journalist and the powerful heart of a wife and mother trying to do her best for her family. Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin as twins Jonathan and Jordan Kent are the perfect mixture of energy, Jonathan the cocky jock and Jordan the troubled moody emo teen and though they often bicker, there’s also a powerful sense there of brotherly love that cuts through all the nonsense when needed.

That’s not to say that this is all apple pie Americana though – the world in which the show takes place feels all too familiar, with powerful corporations flexing their financial muscle and not much caring who’s impacted while small town folk struggle to just make a living from day to day. There’s a scene early on where we meet Clark’s old flame Lana and her husband Kyle, who seems to be a complete irredeemable two-dimensional asshole. But then through a combination of exposition delivered organically elsewhere and Clark’s own irrepressible need to be the good guy in every situation, you start to appreciate that Kyle is just a guy struggling with the weight of the responsibilities the world has put on him, and if that makes him a little short or a little difficult to like, it’s not just because he likes being a dick for the sake of it.

That sort of depth of character is visible throughout the cast, whether it’s General Sam Lane, Lois’ father who knows who Superman is and is simultaneously happy enough that she’s happy but frustrated at her insistence of Clark trying to balance his home life with his ‘other’ life, or Kyle and Lana’s daughter Sam, herself struggling with life as a teenager every bit as much as Jordan, but clear-eyed enough to be able to deal with it without just being bratty or a cliched ‘moody teen’. Nobody here is just a comic book cut out of a character, which means you can’t help but be swept up in the earnestness.

If there’s a ‘weaker’ part to the episode, aside from the aforementioned contrivances that push some plot points forward, it’s the subplot involving the mysterious menace doing all the nuclear sabotage. Not because it’s a weak point in and of itself – in fact the identity of this new nemesis promises much when revealed – but just because the show does the actual heartfelt family drama so well that when it just gets to do the actual visual Superman bit, of flying around and punching and such, it can’t help but feel like something you have to get through so you can get back to all that other good stuff.

Overall then, it’s a strong start with very few low points. I look forward to the show exploring the dynamics between various characters as it progresses, and I especially look forward to seeing what they do with the big family decision made near the end of the episode, in the context of the dynamics established in Clark’s old home town.

Verdict: The earnestness of the original Reeve movie mixed with a healthy dose of modern issues and family drama and some superb character writing and acting. This promises to be a good one. 9/10

Greg D. Smith