Superman & Lois review: “Last Sons of Krypton”

And just like that, Superman & Lois concludes its freshman season! And what an emotionally riveting journey it has been. From the start, we knew this series was something special, and last night’s finale drove that point home.

The first season of Superman & Lois has focused heavily on family, which gave us a different take on the Man of Steel. We’ve seen him fight criminals, but we hadn’t seen him take on the role of father, at least not like this.

Watching Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Bitsie Tulloch) raise their two teenage boys Jordan (Alex Garfin) and Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) was an incredible part of this DCTV series. Over the course of the first season, we saw this family work through all kinds of problems, including mental health issues, teenage growing pains, and the occasional super-villain.

Everything came to a head in the season finale as the Kent family struggled to save one of their own while trying to keep the town of Smallville alive. It was a very action-packed and emotional end to what has been one of the best first seasons of a show I’ve seen in a long time.

I simply can’t stop ranting and raving about it, so without further ado, let’s get into the details of the Superman & Lois season one finale — SPOILERS ahead!

Jordan Kent possessed

As we saw in last week’s episode, Jordan was kidnapped by Tal-Rho (Adam Rayner) and had the consciousness of Zeta-Rho (A.C. Peterson) implanted in his mind. Now under the full control of Zeto-Rho, Jordan is seemingly lost. The possession isn’t 100% and Jordan falls in and out of it, flushed with memories of who he really is. This is the perfect setup for a bit later in the episode when Lois attempts to bring her son back to them.

Jordan’s disappearance has the entire Kent family in shambles, but John Henry Irons (Wolé Parks) comes in clutch in locating him. His suit’s artificial intelligence is busy looking for Jordan’s location while a captured Leslie Larr (Stacey Farber) taunts them with threats of failure. I didn’t really care for Larr’s arc in this season; I didn’t see the value of her character, and that stayed true until the end.

In all the hoopla over Jordan’s disappearance, the Cushings — Sarah (Inde Navarrette), Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and Kyle (Erik Valdez) — show up to help Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh). Of course, they have no idea what Jordan actually is, and no one is more confused than Sarah. Does anyone else see Jordan revealing that he’s Superman’s son in the very same way Clark told Lois? I sure hope so!

Superman & Lois take on Tal-Rho

Smallville is in utter chaos throughout the season 1 finale. It almost felt like I was watching War of the Worlds! All the residents are furious that the DoD never left their town, and they’re demanding answers from General Lane.

Despite his urgent request for them to evacuate, they all refuse to listen. Before long, Morgan Edge shows up, causing panic amongst the townspeople. Meanwhile, Superman flies around the entire world hoping to find Jordan, but has no such luck. Desperate, he flies above Earth and screams Jordan’s name, hopeful that his son will hear his cries…and he does! Jordan momentarily breaks out of Zeta-Rho’s control and calls out for dad. Superman is able to locate Jordan, but in that time, Zeta-Rho takes over Jordan once again.

Father and son fight one another, with Superman pulling his punches because, well, Jordan is his son. Kudos to Garfin for doing a phenomenal job of balancing two roles at a time.

Back in Smallville, John Henry gears up to take on Edge/Tal-Rho, who manages to “eradicate” more Kryptonians. This is the part of the finale where the bad guys are essentially winning. Zeta-Rho has successfully gotten the council of Kryptonians he was hoping for and backed Superman into a corner.

A mother’s love

Lois comes up with an idea to help get Jordan back by accessing his memories, but that requires a team effort. While Superman goes off to find Jordan once again, everyone else gets to work, John Henry on his suit and hammer and Jonathan with weapons he essentially stole from the DoD. General Lane shows up to help as well with an SUV filled with cases. It’s a community effort to get back one of their own, but Superman returns bearing bad news.

The group come up with a game plan. Even Jonathan gets a weapon to use in case of emergency (we know he won’t wait for that to happen). Meanwhile, Jordan (as Zeta-Rho) declares that the time for war has arrived. The Kryptonian army assembles while Edge gets ready to ignite the X-Kryptonite in Smallville’s mines.

Superman and John Henry fight off the fake Kryptonians at the mines and manage to whisk Jordan away. He’s immediately taken to the Kent bar where Lois is ready to use the device on him. She places herself inside of his mind while Jonathan keeps watch.

It’s a jarring journey for Lois, who has to rummage through Zeta-Rho’s memories while he aggressively mocks her. Meanwhile, Jonathan tries talking to his unconscious brother only to witness him waking up as an angry Zeta-Rho. I didn’t think we’d ever see this happen, but Jonathan blasts his brother with the weapon Lois gave him. It doesn’t do much to stop Zeta-Rho, but it was certainly surprising.

Lois makes it to Jordan inside of Zeta-Rho’s consciousness; her son is scared and defeated. But when a mother has come to protect and save her son, not even a manipulative Kryptonian consciousness can get in the way. Lois eventually gets through to Jordan and saves the day. It all happens rather quickly and I was sort of hoping for more, but hey, it was still pretty darn great.

Smallville perseveres

Edge and his army, however, are still causing havoc in Smallville. Superman is trying to fight Edge off while Kyle is trying to save the people of Smallville by getting them to safety. It’s his redeeming moment, and I was here for every second of it!

Things get dire when John Henry’s suit begins running out of power. In a last-ditch effort, he chucks his hammer while Superman tries to restrain Edge. John Henry’s suit powers down as he flies above Earth, and he begins to fall back down as his entire life flashes before his eyes.

It’s a sad moment because he finally saved the world, but it came at the expense of his life…or so we thought! Superman catches John Henry before impact just as Edge is restored back to himself. His final comments? He just wanted a family.

With the threat of Edge, Zeta-Rho, and the fake Kryptonian arm behind them, Smallville celebrates victory. The Cushings are welcomed back with open arms, Superman does an interview with Chrissy (Sofia Hasmik) and tells the truth about Edge, and the town of Smallville holds a BBQ. Things get even better when Lois pleads with Chrissy not to sell the Smallville Gazette and instead buys half of it. Oh, and Sarah and Jordan say “I love you” to one another — aww!

It’s a new dawn for Smallville on Superman & Lois, but we know that is unlikely to last. But for now things are good, except for John Henry who is eager to leave Smallville behind, despite Clark and Lois’ pleas for him to stay. It’s a bit insensitive that they would urge him to stay given that his dead wife looked just like Lois. It’s not exactly easy to be around that and then pretend like you don’t have feelings for the woman who looks like your wife.

However, he may not be going anywhere anytime soon, because as the finale comes to a close, an object crashes onto the Kent family farm. It’s similar to the alien ships we’ve seen before, and inside of it is someone who throws everyone for a loop…well, mainly just John Henry Irons.

Emerging safe and alive from the ship is none other than John Henry’s daughter, Natalie (Tayler Buck). She found her father…and who she believes to be her mother. (That is going to be an awkward conversation!)

And that’s a wrap on Superman & Lois season 1, folks! What a wild ride it has been since everything started back in February, coming to an epic conclusion nearly six months later. A lot went down throughout the first season, and it gave us a much-needed fresh perspective on the story of Superman and Lois Lane.

I loved seeing them as more as an ordinary couple who struggle like any other parents do. I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here. What will John Henry tell Natalie? And how will that impact John’s decision to leave Smallville? I think we’re heading into some unknown territory and I can’t wait to explore it when Superman & Lois returns for season 2!

Grade: B+

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