Clark struggles to maintain control as the visions get worse. Lois reaches out to her father for help. Lana embarks on her mayoral campaign. Jonathan discovers a troubling secret.

Superman & Lois pulls a few surprises out of the bag this week, and upends a lot of what we might expect from the show, while still remaining true to its own themes.

First up, Clark’s visions are getting worse, meaning they are harder to control. He can’t get anywhere near the mines to check out what’s going on there and he’s starting to lose control of his emotions, leading to scary confrontations with each of his sons when they behave, well, like teenagers. Tyler Hoechlin has always done a great job of portraying the vulnerable moments of the man of steel, and here he’s absolutely excellent, going between the raw rage the visions impose on him and the helpless resignation and worry of a man who knows he’s losing control. Powerful stuff.

And on the subject of the Kent boys, each of them is having their own issues. Jordan can’t get past how Sarah’s confession makes him feel, until a heart to heart with Jonathan makes him see the parallels with the secrets his own family must keep. However, the course of action he decides would help this is what brings him into conflict with his father.

Jonathan meanwhile is still obsessing over whatever drug it is that’s keeping his teammate on the team and him on the bench. When he gets to the bottom of it, he makes some unexpected choices, though in fairness when one really considers it, they make total sense. Jonathan has to deal with a lot – the move, the discovery of who his father is, the revelation that his brother has powers and he doesn’t. Jonathan is a good kid who’s always stepped up and sacrificed when he needs to for the good of those he loves, and I can see this thread going to some interesting places.

Lois, desperate to help her husband and also to put a stop to the nonsense being stirred up by the podcast, reaches out to her father for help. General Lane may be retired from the military but he’s still a family man. Unfortunately for Lois, that cuts both ways, leading to some conflict on the subject of the podcast and her sister. Seems there’s more than a few issues in the Lane family, and again I look forward to seeing how the show unpicks this.

And John Henry Irons steps up to offer what help he can in investigating what exactly is at the bottom of the X Kryptonite mines, but neither he nor Clark could possible be prepared for what they find down there. However powerful it might be though, it’s not as intimidating to John as facing his daughter to admit he may have broken a promise.

As for Lana, she steps up her campaign to be Mayor, but finds out early on that it’s not as easy as she might have hoped it would be. Various members of the small town have long memories, and it isn’t just her involvement with Edge which makes them suspicious of her.

It’s a nice gear change for the series and just the right time to do it, before the audience gets too much ‘into the groove’ of familiarity. A lot happens here which is unexpected and which sets the show off in interesting new directions, and I can already see how this will tie in with things seeded in the first two episodes. This is shaping up to be an interesting second season indeed.

Verdict: Surprising, bold and still just as wholesome as ever. 9/10

Greg D. Smith