Superman & Lois Season 3 Episode 2 delivered such an intense blow, revealing that the main villain this season would be less supernatural in nature and something that affects quite a lot of people—cancer.
Coming off of Lois’ pregnancy scare, the cancer diagnosis wasn’t entirely surprising, but it was heartbreaking to watch her try to come to terms with it first, then share it in such a bold way with Judge Regan (and Clark) before finally clueing in her family that everything would be changing.
Lois informed Clark of the inflammatory breast cancer, which is rare and aggressive, and I can’t help but think that everything that happened in the mines is somehow to blame.
But that’s still my attempt at trying to deflect from the very real situation at hand, which will play a huge role this season. The “why” doesn’t matter, it’s the “how we fight it” that does.
As Clark mentioned, Lois is the strongest person he’s ever met—there’s no situation she isn’t equipped to handle—so there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s going to beat this. However, the road to the end likely won’t be pretty and will take a toll on her and her loved ones. She’s always been the source of support, but she’s going to need to rely on them more than ever.
Personal matters are made even worse when there’s a menacing threat looming large, with Mannheim’s zombie-like experimental trials that involve Onomatopoeia, who just took out the former mayor, George Dean, in a rather gruesome way. It was evident that Dean got into bed with some bad people and they came for him almost immediately following the change of hands.
Lana heard the whole thing go down, so it’s understandable that she was rattled. The jist of their deal or partnership was never made known to Lana, who took the reins as Mayor of Smallville, though Dean did give her a call right before his death to lead her to a mysterious USB hidden behind the seal in his office.
Take this as a reminder never to plug in random and unknown USB drives because they can wreak havoc—and apparently summon the former mayor’s murderer, who created an office nightmare with papers flying everyone and laptops shattered into pieces. She also stole the drive, so we’ll never know what was on there, but thankfully, Lana and John Henry Irons got away unscathed.
While not much is known about Mannheim and Onomatopoeia’s goals, the latter was pretty thrown off by the fact that John, who she recalls killing, was very much alive. I can understand how this would be confusing, but trust us, there’s a logical explanation!
In the Superman & Lois season premiere, things between Kyle and Chrissy heated up—and that spark is still there when they briefly meet up while working Dean’s crime scene—and now, Lana and John are giving me “soon-to-be” couple vibes.
And honestly, what’s stopping them? Lana signed the papers, so she’s officially divorced from Kyle, there’s an evident connection between her and John, and she’s in the know about all the super secrets so he can be totally open and transparent with her. I’ll be honest, this transparency is refreshing. Nothing is standing in the way of John and Lana, especially as they are both single and lonely people who could, frankly, use the company. Plus, Sarah and Natalie are already like sisters anyway.
Superman & Lois — “Uncontrollable Forces” — Image Number: SML302a_0236r — Pictured (L-R): Michael Bishop as Jonathan Kent and Alex Garfin as Jordan Kent — Photo: Shane Harvey/The CW — © 2023 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Before Jonathan and Jordan’s worlds came tumbling down with Lois’ cancer news, they experienced one carefree high school day, traveling to Metropolis for a party. Turns out, those Metropolis kids kind of suck—and are super stuck up. Not to mention, they don’t stand a chance against Sarah and Jordan in beer pong. The fact that they were dominating everyone didn’t sit well with the birthday boy, who tried to exert some kind of power move over Jordan before Sarah, his ex-turned-best-friend, stepped up to the plate and doused him with beer.
The guy is lucky because Jordan is capable of so much more. People think it’s so fun to bully him because he’s different and quiet, which makes him an easy target, but Jordan could wipe the floor with that guy, and part of me wishes he did. Though, props to Jordan for having such a good grip on his powers and not losing his temper when it would have been totally valid. Plus, his payback idea was even more brilliant—icing the guy’s car seems like a pretty good use of superpowers.
As for Clark and Lois’ time in Metropolis, they were teaming up like in the good old days for a story that involved questioning Judge Regan about her decision to reverse her decision and free Henry from prison. She chalked it up to his tumor, but when Lois pressed for more information, she hit a nerve with a team of “fixers” coming to shut down the interview and relay a message to Regan, who then proceeded to attempt jumping off the building.
Lois was able to talk her down by simply finding a way to connect and empathize with her. She didn’t have to dig hard because she was all too aware of what it felt like to deal with a situation that felt impossible and as though it had no resolution in sight. The one thing that matters most is that they stay strong and face the danger headfirst.
Regan may be scared, and she has every right to be considering how things turned out for Dean, but she also has Superman on her side, who will do anything to protect her. She can tell her new superfriend everything she knows, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll be able to stop Mannheim and whatever plan he has in motion that involves reviving dead people.
He says he’s just helping his community, but that’s far from the truth if he’s actively killing people.
What did you think of the episode? Do you think Lois will beat cancer? Will Sarah and Jordan find a way to stay just friends? Will Kyle and Chrissy go back to the formalities? Will Lana and John spark a romance? And how will everyone who knows Clark’s secret rally together to stop the new enemies?