Superman & Lois Season 1
I thought I was done with CW superhero shows. I really did. I had Smallville in middle school and high school. The Arrowverse in college and early adulthood. And then I kicked the habit. Too many shows, not enough time to catch up on everything. Even if I had wanted to watch any of those shows, I didn’t have the time. Between work, being a dad, writing, and reading, I pretty much gave up watching TV and movies for the last few years.
I also got off of social media in 2019, which meant I was completely removed from the Discourse. I didn’t even know Superman & Lois existed until it was in its second season. When I heard about it, I greeted the news with a shrug and continued with my life.
Flash forward to the trailer dropping from James Gunn’s new Superman movie. Who knows how the movie will hold up, but that trailer got me hyped and in a full on Supes mood. I needed some Superman in my life. So I decided to give Superman & Lois a go.
I went into this show so completely blind that I didn’t even know the premise of the show is that Superman has twin boys. If I had known this was about Superman being a dad, I would have started it a long time ago. It all worked out though because this hit me at the right time. It only took me like ten minutes for the show to hook me.
I powered through season one in about a week. That’s pretty impressive for me considering most shows I start get abandoned by episode three. So let’s talk about some of the things I enjoyed, without getting into spoilers.
First of all, it’s the super family dynamics. I like starting a superhero show in a place where the character isn’t hiding his identity from everyone. Having people Superman can confide in, and bounce ideas off of, changes the dynamic right off the bat. Plus, it avoids so many of the cliche little dramas that we’ve seen a million times. With the family at the heart of the show, the central question shifts from “Can Superman be great?” to “Can Superman be great and be a good dad?”. That’s a conflict I am interested in.
Another thing I like, is that this is a CW show about adults. Like real, in their forties adults. Not early twenties models who still basically act like teenagers. That’s a refreshing twist. Not that the show is without it’s teenagers. Because of the twins, we still get plenty of high school drama but it’s not the main focus of the show.
The casting is on point. I wouldn’t have believed that from the posters and promotional materials. Part of what kept me from watching the show was seeing ads for it and thinking “eh, they don’t look like Superman & Lois to me”. But five minutes in, watching them act as an ensemble, I immediately bought in. The chemistry between Clark and Lois is spot on.
A big point in the show’s favor is the fact it’s only a fifteen episode season rather than the bloated twenty plus episodes of CW shows past. This allows for much tighter pacing while still allowing us to get to know the characters. I let characters encounter conflicts and develop without getting stuck circling a solution because they need to kill time for a few episodes. I tried rewatching Smallville earlier this year and I was kind of shocked by how many absolute stinker episodes I ran into. I remembered the big story beats and just mentally cut out all the garbage filler. This show doesn’t require that.
If I had to nitpick anything about the show, I would say that some of it may have felt a little too familiar in terms of the big villain plot. I know with a powerful superhero like Superman, there are only so many kinds of stories you can tell that can extend a full season, but a few times I caught myself thinking “Yeah this feels like XYZ moment from Smallville”. But that is primarily a nitpick. The characters are strong enough and the premise of Superman & Lois as parents is different enough that I didn’t mind.
All in all, the good far outweighs the bad. The show feels fun and fresh in a way I truly didn’t think a CW show could in a post Arrowverse world. Most importantly, it feels hopeful and that’s what I want from my Superman.
