Mayoral election day is upon the town of Smallville, but bigger issues loom for some of its more prominent residents.

If you’d have told me that this show – which has done so many great and brave things with its characters already – would attempt its central conceit here and not just pull it off but genuinely soar, I would have been doubtful. But then again part of this show’s enduring charm is its endless capacity to surprise.

Yes, with Clark off on a mission only he can attempt, the limelight is left to focus on the various stories of others in Smallville, and by crikey, that means there’s an awful lot of ground to cover.

With Superman absent, John Henry is kept busy trying to fill in for him as best he can, echoing of course the comic book version’s arc of the character, albeit in different circumstances. It’s nice to see the character get something to finally do after having been sidelined by injury, but his dedication to the cause and his determination to fill in means he doesn’t leave himself time and space for other things closer to home. Natalie becomes increasingly upset, and it’s not just the usual stuff worrying about her Dad being in harm’s way – something deeper is going on.

As ever, that deeper, more personal thing is a million times more compelling than any amount of explosions and such (though you do start to wonder how quite so many serious incidents seem to happen so regularly in Metropolis and Smallville). Wolé Parks gets some serious dramatic stuff to get his teeth into here as he wrestles with loss and his own ways of dealing with it.

Meanwhile, also occasionally filling in while his Dad is absent is Jordan, who pulls off a daring rescue and then immediately lands in trouble when his mother (you might remember, the prize-winning investigative reporter) finds out. Of course, when she finds out who’s been training him, she’s angrier still. What I like here is that the show makes some interesting choices, whether it’s Lois realising that her authority as a parent might not be enough to keep a super-powered son in check or how Jonathan finally ends up being brought to the table to tell the truth and how that then gets handled. The show might be called Superman & Lois, but it has so much more to give for a whole variety of characters.

And then there’s the election. The Cushing-Langs are somewhat fractured still, and Lana doesn’t necessarily have the time, energy or inclination to notice what her daughter can see, that Kyle is struggling more than he might easily admit. Desperate to help her mother win the election, Sarah is still concerned for her father, and unfortunately for her, her boyfriend doesn’t seem all that interested in being there for her. It may well be true that Jordan has some legitimate reasons for holding things back from Sarah, but it’s equally true that he’s still struggling with the idea of her new friend.

All in all, it’s an episode with a lot going on, and it proves the point once again that this is a character and a universe that can tell a multitude of interesting, relevant and human stories when in the right hands. What’s worrying me now is, given how attached I am to these versions of these characters, how much suffering seems to be being stacked up for them in their near future. As the credits roll, it’s hard to feel very hopeful for a happy ending for any of them.

Verdict: Dark, bold and brilliantly executed. 9/10

Greg D. Smith