Lana struggles to deal with the enormity of Clark’s revelation. Clark has an unconventional plan for destroying the pendant. Ally reveals a startling new element to her powers.

How do you deal with the fact that the person who is your best friend in the world has been lying to you about who they are for your entire life? Any hopes that Clark may have had that Lana would react well to the news he’s Superman get dashed fairly quickly. She’s angry, though not entirely for the reasons you might expect – not even at the person you might expect.

It’s fascinating because the show doesn’t take the easy route on any of this. The Kents are forced to examine here the reasons for the secret they’ve kept from everyone for so long, why that might not have morally or practically been the best path after all. It’s an accepted, automatic part of Superman (and general superhero) mythos that a superhero must protect their identity. Even Clark’s encounter with his Bizarro family seemed to confirm the inherent rightness of the choices he and Lois had made. But as they survey the spiralling hurt caused by their secrecy, they’re forced to question those choices, and they don’t always like the answers they arrive at.

On Lana’s side, the hurt she feels is compounded by everything she’s recently been through – her marriage breakup, the viciousness of the mayoral campaign and her new responsibilities. Frankly, finding out her best friend is Superman is the last thing she needed at this point. Her strange behaviour also has Kyle and Sarah asking questions about what exactly is going on with her, and for Kyle’s part, he arrives at entirely the wrong (but an understandable) conclusion.

Meanwhile, the world is still under an existential threat from Ally Allston, and Clark has an idea about how exactly to deal with that, though it’s born out of his determination not to go with Sam and John Henry’s far more destructive plans. Given John Henry’s origin and background, it’s fascinating to watch the two of them square off in this particular debate, with Clark proving once again why he’s a better class of hero than perhaps the world deserves. His plan, involving his brother, gives Adam Rayner another chance to get his teeth really into Tal-Rho, and once again I find myself wanting to believe there’s a way back for the man even though deep down it feels impossible to trust to that being the case.

When Ally does finally show up for a confrontation though, she’s more powerful than anyone could have predicted, and has a terrifying new ability which works to somewhat neutralise any advantage the Kryptonians might have against her. As the episode races towards its conclusion, it seems inevitable that if the world is to stand any chance of survival, Superman won’t stand a chance if he stands alone.

Verdict: By turns raw, emotional, gently funny and deadly serious. 9/10

Greg D. Smith