Superman & Lois review: “Broken Trust”

Superman & Lois returns after a two-month hiatus, and it simply does not disappoint. As I’ve said many times before, this DCTV series is number one on my list and I’m so relieved it is back!

No time is wasted getting right back into the thick of things as Superman & Lois picks up right where it left off with Tag (Wern Lee) confronting Jordan (Alex Garfin). Ever since the night of the bonfire, Tag gained powers from Jordan’s unexpected blast of energy, and he’s been struggling to make sense of it ever since.

Jordan isn’t exactly in top fighting shape just yet and relies heavily on his father, aka Superman/Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) to get him out of sticky situations. One alert to his father, and he comes swooping in to protect his baby boy. However, this protection over Jordan’s new powers is the crux of Jordan’s growing frustrations with his new life. Having powers isn’t as easy or as fun as it may look! Especially when you didn’t ask for any of it.

Tag, you’re it!

The confrontation with Tag essentially rattles Jordan up and raises cause for concern for both Clark and Lois (Bitsie Tulloch). Jordan is not in control of his powers nor does he understand them, and as his parents, it’s important to both Lois and Clark that they help Jordan however they can.

That responsibility falls on Clark’s shoulders as he is the only one that can truly help Jordan understand his powers, and how to control their immense power. However, being a superhero is difficult enough, but being a father to a young teenage boy who is manifesting his own powers? That’s dang near impossible or one of the most difficult things one might have to do anyway.

The interaction with Tag was avoided for the time being, although the fact that he has super speed and nearly derailed a train doesn’t bode well for the future. And then there’s the fact that Tag is onto Jordan’s powers. If he starts talking, it could spell trouble for the Kent family, but especially Jordan, who is incredibly vulnerable as it is.

Lois is on the job!

Superman & Lois does its series title justice by giving Lois just as much time on the screen as anyone else. I love seeing Tulloch’s take on the fearless reporter, and I love that she goes all-in with every story she covers.

While Clark is busy keeping an eye on Jordan and Jonathan (Jordan Elsass), Lois is off investigating Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner), who seems to be a dangerous enigma for Smallville. He’s been busy keeping all that X-Kryptonite in the mines a secret. Of all the places in the world it can be found, the largest quantity of it is in Smallville (of course). If given the right stimulus to work, X-Kryptonite can give humans superpowers. In the hands of Morgan Edge, that could be very problematic.

Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and Kyle (Erik Valdez) have been instrumental in helping Edge score brownie points with the Smallville community. And with that support, he’s been able to reopen the mine project under the guise of giving the desperate townspeople jobs in return. It’s a win-win for Edge, and in the process, he gives Lana a promotion as head of the mine project.

Of course, when Lois shows up asking for Kyle and Lana’s help in building a case against Edge, they don’t take to it kindly. Or rather, Kyle doesn’t appreciate it very much and proceeds to threaten Lois. Lana has a kinder way of rejecting Lois about it, which is why I find Chriqui is perfect for this role. She’s kindhearted and has this innocent way about her that makes her perfect for the role of Lana Lang.

Lois finds aid in a different way through the help of Captain Luthor (Wolé Parks). Of course, she doesn’t know he’s Captain Luthor, which is going to open a can of worms in the coming episodes for sure. But for the time being, he’s treating Lois with all the respect in the world (considering they were lovers on a different Earth) and asks her to join him at the mines.

Once inside, Captain Luthor leads the way and happens to have all the tools necessary to cut into the walls. Since she doesn’t know who he is, Lois is awfully suspicious of the man, but her thoughts are interrupted by them discovering X-Kryptonite in the walls. Tulloch’s worried sick expression is spot-on given her concern for both Clark and Jordan.

There isn’t much time to process this discovery as Leslie Larr (Stacey Farber) shows up and blasts them with heat vision. Luckily, Captain Luthor has just the weapon to knock Leslie out long enough for them to make their escape, which only raises more questions in Lois’s mind about who this guy really is.

For someone that is trying to pull off a secret plan, Captain Luthor isn’t doing the best job, is he?

Lois confronts Captain Luthor once they’re in safe quarters because clearly something is up, and he’s not sharing his whole story. The conversation is cut when she gets a call from Clark to come home, which brings us to the next part of this week’s Superman & Lois episode.

Jordan struggles to maintain control

Throughout this Superman & Lois episode, we begin to see Jordan unravel more than ever before. He was already struggling with social isolation and social anxiety, but with his newfound powers, things have seemingly gotten worse in other aspects.

He didn’t ask for the powers and so having them thrust on him isn’t the easiest thing to deal with. So much work goes into controlling and understanding them, and it’s what Clark attempts to help Jordan with in this week’s episode.

After his encounter with Tag, Jordan has been struggling with his super hearing, and every time a loud noise goes off around him, he seethes in pain, and his powers are activated. He tries to hide this fact from both Jonathan and Clark but nearly has an episode at school which gives him away to Jonathan.

With their big football game against Metropolis coming up, Jordan asks Jonathan to keep his struggles a secret from Clark. As soon as their father finds out, he’ll make Jordan sit out the game, and he wants the opportunity to show the Metropolis kids how much he has changed.

The day of the football game arrives, and as expected, Jordan inevitably loses control when he gets into a fight with one of the players. This time around, he cannot control his heat vision, and Clark has to rush in to absorb all the energy before anyone can see.

Clark is beyond livid with Jordan about keeping his struggles from him and attempts to lie some more by saying he hasn’t had any issues. In the six episodes we’ve had thus far from Superman & Lois, we’ve seen Clark try very hard with both of his kids. Being teenage boys, they haven’t made it easy on him, however, he has always taken it in stride. I appreciate seeing this battle between a typical family and a superhero family, and how they’re trying to adjust. We haven’t seen it done in this way before, and I must say, it’s been a pleasant surprise!

After getting a call from Lana (more on that in a bit), Clark rushes to handle that situation while the boys stay back in the hotel. Their teammates show up and convince them to go drinking with them, but the night ends on a very bad note.

The Metropolis team shows up and begins heckling them, and despite Jonathan’s efforts to get Jordan to calm down, he fails. So much so, that when Jordan loses control and Jonathan tries to intercept one of his punches, it ends up breaking Jonathan’s arm in the process.

Well, then.

A game of Tag comes to an end

Tag takes matters into his own hands when she shows up at the Lang household and kidnaps Sarah (Inde Navarrette), who was supposed to be at the football game but ended up with babysitting duty instead. When Lana and Kyle return home from their celebratory dinner, they learn that Sarah is missing, and that is when Lana calls Clark to see if Sarah had shown up at the game.

Their nanny cam footage shows Tag was at their house, so Clark attempts to locate them above the town of Metropolis with his super hearing. He locates them in some abandoned hideout somewhere where Tag is revealing to Sarah that he has superpowers and that Jordan might have something to do with it.

Superman shows up and tries to convince Tag not to run, but the DEO shows up and tries to take Tag out with bullets. To keep them from hitting Tag, Superman stands in front of them and is hit with pieces of Kryptonite in the process. Even Superman loses his self-control from time to time and firmly asks the soldiers to stop shooting. Unfortunately, Tag is still taken away, and Superman is pissed that actual bullets were used during the confrontation.

But of course, he’s pulled away once again after hearing Jonathan has been hurt.

Jordan struggles with his reality in Superman & Lois

The next day Sarah shares her interaction with Tag and attempts to see if Jordan will mention anything about these possible powers. He has to lie to her, even though it’s tearing him apart from inside.

Meanwhile, Lana confesses to Lois that she is scared after what happened with Sarah and wants to help her take down Edge. Or at the very least find out what illegal activities he’s involved in. Finally! A Lana and Lois match-up–it’s what we’ve needed!

After Lana and Sarah leave, Jordan breaks down in front of Lois over the guilt he’s been feeling over lying to Sarah and unintentionally hurting Jonathan. He feels like the powers are pushing him away from everyone, and it’s getting too much to bear.

And it is possibly too much to take on as moments later he gets another severe headache and falls to the ground. Lois calls out for Clark who scans Jordan’s head and immediately jets off to the Fortress.

Are Jordan’s headaches just his powers settling in? Or did Tag really mess something up inside of Jordan? And how will Clark continue to bridge the gap between Jordan and his powers, and how it’s impacting the rest of the family?

It’s a surefire guarantee we’ll get the answers to all our questions in the coming episodes, but after a two-month hiatus, I want to know everything as soon as possible! Here’s to hoping we do when Superman & Lois returns next week with an all-new episode!

Grade: B+

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