Hey guys! How's it going? I've had a busy day but I just finished watching this week's episode of Superman & Lois and I want to talk about it. It's not really a review, so there won't be any images on this post. It's just some thoughts on the series so far and where I think it might be going, as well as comic book based TV shows are now compared to where they were when Smallville started almost twenty years ago. Also there will be spoilers for this week's episode so that I can highlight a certain moment that I found absolutely fascinating. So let's get into it.
I am really enjoying Superman & Lois. In fact I'd say it's the best superhero show on right now, though I'm sure most people would say the same thing about WandaVision, which may also be true. But twenty years ago, there were no comic book based TV shows on the air. At least not in live-action and not on primetime, network, Television. The WB had had a slew of hits in animation with Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and Batman Beyond with Justice League starting a month after Smallville premiered. Marvel also had a few shows like X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers: United They Stand, and of course HBO had Todd McFarlane's Spawn. However, there hadn't been anything in the world of comic books on the air in live action since Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman went off the air in 1997.
Even after Smallville proved to be a success, there still wasn't anything on the air that matched it's success. But back in 2012, the movie landscape had changed with the success of Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which culminated in the big box office success of The Avengers. And while the movie isn't actually responsible for The CW and Warner Bros. to greenlight Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, and Andrew Kreisberg's dark, inspired by Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, take on Green Arrow known as Arrow, I honestly feel like that the movie's success got people to realize how good superhero and comic book based movies could be, which led to the success of Arrow. Especially since at the time Green Arrow wasn't a well known DC character outside of people who watched Smallville as he was a regular on the show in the final five seasons of it's run. And because he was such an unknown character to the general audience at large, there was every chance people would care. The Flash also carried a risk when it debuted in 2014 because the character had had a show in 1990 that only lasted one, 22 episode, season before CBS took it off the air.
Now, if you look at the TV landscape of 2021, it's very different than it was in 2001. Not only does DC Comics have an entire universe of shows airing on The CW but other comic book companies have licensed their IPs to networks and streaming services and all of them have been fairly successful, even if some of the material is more niche than others. Superman & Lois fits into this landscape very well.
When Tyler Hoechlin first appeared as Superman in the season 2 premiere of Supergirl in 2016 after moving from CBS to The CW, for the same reason CBS cancelled The Flash in early 1991, everybody was blown away. Superman fans had been disappointed with the way Zack Snyder had handled the character in both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that they'd lost faith that Warner Bros. could accurately portray Superman in a movie the way Richard Donner had in Superman: The Movie back in 1978. But then this guy, who was mostly known for playing Derek Hale on the MTV teen drama, Teen Wolf, came along and suddenly people wanted him to spin off of Supergirl and get his own series. It took five years, but it finally happened this year.
I've always felt that Superman can be a difficult character to write for. At least in movies and on TV. Writers either understand him or they don't. And I feel that these writers understand Superman more than any other screen writer has since possibly Bruce Timm when he produced Superman: The Animated Series in the late 90s. Debra Joy LeVine understood Clark Kent and Lois Lane, but she didn't understand Superman all that well. She even admitted that herself in the bonus features on the Lois & Clark season 1 DVD set, which is why she focused more on Clark Kent than on Superman. Which is a totally fine take on the character, especially since the show was inspired by John Byrne's run on the comics, where Byrne had also focused more on the Clark Kent side of the character, rather than the Superman side. But on the TV show, the Superman side suffered because of that decision.
Which brings me to Superman & Lois. There were two scenes in this week's episode that made me realize that this show was very much going to be a typical Superman show. The first scene was at the end where General Lane makes a call after his confrontation with Lois and Clark at the farm in Smallville, stating they need to enact a new protocol, which most likely has something to do with Superman. The second scene comes right after that where we find out what Morgan Edge wants in Smallville, which also has to do with Superman. Or at the very least Kryptonians in general. He wants Kryptonite. And it dawned on me that this show wants to be nothing else but a Superman show, with all the tropes that come with it. I also realized that I'm not angry about this in the slightest even though it shows that Berlanti and Helbing are Superman fanboys who are basically writing their own brand of fan fiction. Why?
Superman has never been a favourite character of mine. I watched both Lois & Clark and Smallville growing up and had read a few of the comics, but I always found that I could relate to Batman just a little bit more when I was a kid. But honestly that's because I didn't understand Superman either. I have The Adventures of Superman #525, which came out in 1995. In the issue, Clark has decided to abandon his Clark Kent identity and just be Superman because of a recent incident where Clark's parents, Lois and Jimmy were all targetted by one of Superman's enemies because he had a grudge against Clark Kent and started going after everyone associated with him. That's the entire issue, Clark struggling with the balance between being Superman and having a normal life even though having that life could put loved ones in danger. Lois is the one who convinces him to reconsider his decision to abandon being Clark Kent. That's the whole issue, and yet I completely missed that one aspect of the character. His struggle to balance being Clark Kent and Superman. Even on Smallville he dealt with that struggle though he wasn't Superman yet. And yet it's only as an adult that I began to pick up on that aspect of the character, which makes me appreciate Superman as a character even more than I did before.
Which is why I am perfectly okay with Superman & Lois being a typical Superman show. Plus we also haven't really had one since Superman: The Animated Series ended in 2000. And yes, this week's episode of Superman & Lois very much felt like an episode of Smallville from like season 1 or 2, complete with it's very own Kryptofreak with Jonathan and Jordan's teammate. I love this show and that, above all else, is why I'm fine with it being the typical Superman show with all the tropes and traditions that come with it.
Alright guys I'm going to bed. I just wanted to come on here and talk about this quickly. I'll be back tomorrow with my review of Superman: Earth One Volume 1. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all tomorrow. Take care.
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