Ally’s terrifying new powers allow her to formulate a new plan to bring about the fusion of both Earths. Clark spends some time bonding with his sons. John Henry gets a surprise. Lois and her father reach out to Lucy.

How do you defeat a being with not only Superman-like powers but the apparent ability to drain powers and life force from anyone who stands against them? That’s the mega conundrum facing the gang this week as Ally Alston goes full rampage, having established that she has another method with which she can attempt to fuse the inhabitants of our Earth and its Bizarro mirror. John Henry’s suit’s apparent immunity to her powers might present part of the solution, but he’s got a surprise coming on that score.

In fact, as usual, the most interesting stuff the show does is far removed from the big action set pieces and focused on family, with the struggles of the Kents, the Lanes, the Cushing-Langs and the Henrys all paralleling one another as age-old family conflicts, albeit with a superhero-fused edge.

For John, it involves finding out his daughter has built a suit of her own which might even be the superior of his. His instinctive response is anger – he wants his daughter to be safe, rather than in the line of fire. To her credit, Natalie not only convincingly fights her corner, she doesn’t fight too hard, leaving John to work his own way to a set of truths that will ring true to any parent.

Those same truths form the basis of a conversation between Clark and Jonathan, as they finally work their way through Clark’s disappointment that Jonathan lied about the XK. Once again, the acting between these two is absolutely fantastic, with a genuine feeling of father and son, and they work through some issues before getting to the next problem that might undo all that good work again.

Yup, Jordan can’t quite take the notion he can’t go near Sarah, and decides in typical teenager fashion to confront the problem head on. An emotional scene between him and Lana ensues, he being completely open and honest, she being bluntly firm as she tears his arguments to shreds. When Clark catches up with him, they have a little father-son bonding of their own to do, but Clark would do well to recall that he has two children…

Lana’s problems grow when she discovers exactly where Sarah had her little open mic session, and that is the cause of another potential rift between her and Kyle. But then Kyle responds in exactly the way you might once have thought he wouldn’t. I love how the writers have given this character space to breathe and grow, and whereas they don’t seem set on a saccharine sweet ending for him this season, they’re certainly going a long way to make him every bit as important as the rest of the characters here.

As for the Lanes – Lucy is still convinced that Ally will return to save her and the dwindling number of fellow cult members. When Lois and her father arrive to try to talk her out of it all, there’s the usual predictable conflict, with a slight twist. Then Ally does arrive, and things get interesting all over again.

As the episode closes, it really does feel as if it’s living up to its title. The only remaining question – in a show that’s made some bold moves so far with such an established character, how far are they willing to take this new twist?

Verdict: How does a show about an orphan from space with superpowers manage to do such grounded family drama week after week? Because these writers get the character. 10/10

Greg D. Smith