Holding the Wrench
Episode 8 of Superman and Lois begins right off the back of the dramatic ending to the previous episode. John Henry Irons has been captured while Lois speaks to a therapist after hitting breaking point. While Clark prepares to interview Irons, Lois and Jonathan stay behind and start searching through the RV. Somehow, Lois is an authorized user and it stems from her past with Irons, which we see glimmers of. Lois looks at the photos of John Irons’ life on his computer, including telling pictures of her with their daughter, Natalie. Clark finally confronts John. John is in no mood for a chat though, and he explains that Clark is already on his way to the dark side. Of course, over in his universe Superman is already bad and this explains why he’s hell bent on taking him down. As Clark realizes this too, he begins to doubt his own conviction against John. He rings Lois and believes he can get through to him. After all, Irons could well be the key to saving their world. Well, the General is in no mood to wait for answers, informing Clark they’re taking a different stance now. They’re going to give John over to Trask, who will in turn torture him into submission. Back at the RV, Jonathan finds himself in a spot of bother as he’s stuck inside with the murderous security system activating and trapping him inside. Thankfully, Clarke rushes to the scene and saves his son’s life. Jonathan believes he’s the odd one out in this family and admits that he’s completely unarmed. Lois eventually loses her temper and tells him to leave. As we soon find out, all of this stems from her miscarriage in the past, and seeing John’s alt-world and their daughter Natalie is enough to bring all of that to the surface. At school, Jordan finds Sarah contemplating joining a musical revue with Jess. He encourages her to just that, and promises to come and cheer her on if she does take it up. Although things are on the up for Jordan, things are anything but for Kyle. When he learns Edge doesn’t see him as leadership material, he finds himself overcome with bitter resentment. In fact, he even misses Sarah’s recital at school. Sarah does eventually get up and sing though, with Jordan lending his hands to the piano. After, Sarah confronts her Father and tells him to stop promising things. In fact, she rejects him completely and tells him not to get her hopes up anymore. Meanwhile, John Irons is escorted back to his cell, but there’s a problem. Rosetti has powers and steps in to take out Trask. With alarms wailing, Clark heads down to investigate. Rosetti is waiting for him and immediately goes after Clark, using an array of kryptonite weapons to take him down. Clark is too strong for this though and manages to thwart the threat, thanks in part to John showing up and stabbing him. Clark is next but Lois and the others jump in to stop John before he plunges a knife into Clark’s chest. Lois manages to get through to him, convincing him to drop the kryptonian spear and reminding him that if he does this then it doesn’t make him any better than the villains he’s trying to stop. John eventually drops his spear as this threat passes. These stockpiled weapons, as we soon find out, is General Lee’s doing. He’s been preparing for the worst and apologizes to Clark that he had to find out this way. However, Clark does bring up the troubling reality of what Morgan Edge is doing. It seems like he’s figured out a way to transfer alien sentience into human hosts. This would essentially mean he’s building an army. That evening, Lois finally sits down with Jonathan and admits the truth. She reveals everything about Natalie and her miscarriage, explaining this is what’s been haunting her for so long. After finally making peace with the truth, John decides to ditch the name Captain Luthor and just stick with John Henry Irons instead. He drives away from the farm house as the episode comes to a close.
The Episode Review
Superman and Lois has been one of the bigger superhero surprises this year on the small screen. The changed emphasis to more of a family dynamic for Supe and juggling that alongside world-ending threats helps to ground the hero well and raise the stakes in a dramatic but realistic fashion. There’s obviously no twirling around the earth and reversing time here! This episode drip-feeds more information about the alt-worlds we know exist and the coming war with the Kryptonians. It seems Morgan Edge is building an army, and interestingly John Irons is not actually Luthor. Looking at it, this is a red herring and it could actually be that Morgan Edge is more suited to becoming Luthor in the near future. Speaking of the future, it seems John Henry Irons is to become Steel in the future, which I’d imagine will come about late on in the show with a big reveal when Superman is at his most dire moment in battle. There’s some pretty heavy themes discussed this time around though, filled with poignancy as we focus on Lois’ miscarriage and the difficulty she’d had confronting this. It works well in the context of the story too, adding some much needed depth to her character with an emotional and touching understanding between her and Jonathan. As we cross the halfway point of this series, Superman and Lois is just now starting to tighten the screw, with a promising sign of things to come for the episodes ahead.
