Ricky Church reviews the season 3 finale of Superman & Lois…
It’s been an exciting time for Superman fans as yesterday brought news DC Studios head and Superman: Legacy director James Gunn has found his Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane and the animated series My Adventures with Superman premieres next weekend, but neither can quite match the excitement of the phenomenal finale to Superman & Lois‘ third season as Lex Luthor made his play at revenge in a huge way. The cast was firing on all cylinders in ‘What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger’ with Michael Cudlitz standing out in his second appearance as Lex in a string of great, emotional scenes before concluding on an intensely epic cliffhanger.
Following the news of the CW cutting a majority of the series’ regular cast members, much of the finale was fairly quiet as it focused on the characters relationships and where they will go next. For many of the supporting cast, it provided some amount of closure to their stories as they are either cut or will appear less in the shortened fourth season, such as John Henry Irons moving to Metropolis to begin his own company designing tech for the DOD on an official basis and Natalie moving with him.
Some elements happened a little too quickly, like Kyle and Chrissy learning she is pregnant and his proposal in front of Smallville’s residents. For most, though, it worked well and the cast gave good performances. Wolé Parks and Emmanuelle Chriqui shared nice chemistry together as John and Lana finally got together, even if briefly, after a whole season of teasing their romantic tension. Inde Navarrette also gave a good performance in her brief scenes as Sarah and Jordan finally buried the hatchet on their tumultuous friendship.
Of course not all things were wrapped up entirely neatly. After Jordan’s reveal to the public about his existence there wasn’t any mention from Smallville’s townsfolk or the press about how this new hero simply vanished after his debut. Adding on top of that was Junior’s theory to Sarah that the new superhero is from Smallville, further raising the stakes for Jordan’s identity to be discovered. It is a weird spot to end on, but at least Jordan is seemingly over his grief for Sarah and his desire for glory after talking with Clark, but he still hasn’t learned his careless and selfish actions will have massive consequences. Hopefully this will be a thread season 4 will continue exploring.
As far as emotion, nothing beats Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch. This season has given them their best work as the characters and that is very much exemplified throughout the episode. The scene where Lois is ready to be intimate again after her mastectomy, both in the lead up to it as they discussed and the act itself, was great and moving with how Hoechlin and Tulloch relied more on their physical performances. From the way they stared adoringly at each other to Lois’ nerves, the two really captured the significance of the moment for Clark and Lois.
Following that was the whole Kent family together with Hoechlin, Tulloch, Alex Garfin and Micah Bishop giving nice performances. While he is still finding his groove Bishop has come a long way since taking over the role of Jonathan Kent and his dynamic with each of the core family has grown, particularly with Garfin. Hoechlin and Garfin’s scene as Clark related to Jordan more about the importance of knowing why he uses his powers as well as the dangers of letting his anger drag him and his friends down was also a great one, providing a nice father/son moment the series has been somewhat lacking since both boys began acting out against their parents.
Even with all the great emotional performances from the cast, the big draw of the finale came with Lex Luthor making his move against Superman. In just two episodes, Michael Cudlitz has shined as Lex, giving us a very threatening, intimidating take that is living up to every awful thing the characters have said about him. This Lex is far different from anything we’ve seen onscreen before with how much more ruthless, angry and bitter he is against Superman and Lois for having him locked up for a crime he ironically did not commit. Cudlitz exuded that anger and coldness of Lex very well, even displaying a sadistic glee as he killed Bizarro over and over again in order to make him stronger. The fact Mannheim’s experiments somehow mutated Bizarro enough to become Doomsday with enough pain and punishment was a nice twist and showed just how far Lex is willing to go in his pursuit of vengeance.
There has been some chatter about how this season didn’t have as much action, particularly with how little screentime Hoechlin spent as Superman in some episodes. Not that the action this season has been bad by any means and the more personal, lower stakes threat of the Mannheim’s provided a great story, but it is now clear why that has been the case as Superman & Lois must have dedicated so much of its VFX budget (which is already huge, a fact why so much of the cast has been cut and episode count reduced next season) to the fight between Superman and Doomsday.
For something produced on a television scale, and not even something close to the level of Game of Thrones, Doomsday looked incredible. The detail in his markings, protrusions and expressions were very well done and, even if not a comic accurate look, felt true to the monstrous character. The fight choreography was brutal and well executed with clear imagery, even in some of the darkened locations, and the show was not afraid to show the level of Doomsday’s strength or go to raise the stakes even more. Ending the season with a cliffhanger as epic as Superman and Doomsday fighting each other on the moon displays quite a level of confidence and a great hook for audiences for the fourth season.
Hoechlin, Tulloch and Cudlitz were just excellent with the supporting cast delivered great moments too. With its balance of character drama and brutal action, ‘What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger’ was Superman & Lois‘ best finale in its best season yet and leaves a high bar for next season to reach.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
