Every season of Superman & Lois, categorized

The history of superhero television shows on The CW began and ended with Superman. The first ever, just as the network was born from the ashes of UPN and the World Bank, was “Smallville,” which set the standard for telling superhero origin stories on television without big budgets or big-scale visual effects, and continues to Become a Guinness World Record holder.

After 23 years, The CW has said goodbye to what will likely be the network’s last superhero TV show: “Superman & Lois.” Instead of being another origin story, this series was a bold and exciting new story that began 20 years after Clark Kent first appeared as the Man of Steel, fought enemies like Lex Luthor, married Lois Lane, and became a father. Twin boys. Instead of examining the beginning of Superman’s career, the show explored Clark Kent’s life as a middle-aged superhero until his final years.

The result was an amazing series that stood out from other DC shows on The CW. “Superman & Lois” struck a healthy balance between superhero and family drama, making side characters and the larger community around the Man of Steel feel relevant and important. Even in the visual department, the 2.2:1 widescreen aspect ratio made it look more like a movie than the network’s other offerings.

With James Gunn now rebooting Superman on the big screen as part of Its own new DC universe (a franchise that will prioritize synergy above all else)it’s as good a time as any to take a look back at what may eventually become Superman’s last standalone TV show for a good while and rank the best seasons of “Superman & Lois.”

Season 2 of “Superman & Lois” saw some great things. First, it introduced Bizarro and his upside-down world. On the dramatic side of the characters, the Cushing/Cortez/Lange family story is exciting and poignant, with the story about the breakdown of Lana and Kyle’s relationship being handled with nuance and care for all parties involved. It’s rare for a superhero show to make non-superpowered events as exciting as events with superpowers, but this season showed that it can be done. Likewise, Season 2’s Tal-Rho, Clark’s biological brother, becomes an amiable Hannibal-style villain who’s an absolute joy to watch.

Unfortunately, the balance between drama and superheroes isn’t handled as well this season as it is in the others. The overarching narrative feels somewhat scattered as well, with the season’s various subplots mostly disconnected until the end in contrived ways. The whole story with Ally, the cult leader, doesn’t feel cooked right either, because she’s neither interesting enough as a character nor disturbing enough as a cult leader.

The opening scene of “Superman & Lois” alone should be studied as one of the best superhero shorts ever made. Within minutes, this sequence manages to retell the familiar Superman origin story while making it clear that this is a different take on the character. It’s exciting enough watching Tyler Hoechlin’s Man of Steel recreate the cover of Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 by lifting a car complete with his old wizard costume from 1938. However, the moment that really sells it is when the kid completes his suit Superb and Clark excitedly (and proudly) declares, “My mom made it for me!” With a big silly smile on his face. It’s Hoechlin’s relentless honesty that allows this scene to capture the intimate, endearing, unrelenting optimism of the series’ source material.

Although it takes a while for the series to find its footing (especially with Lois’ story), it’s a testament to the series’ writing, production, and especially the acting that “Superman & Lois” pulls off as well. From the beginning this version of Superman has been selling well. This is no brooding, gritty Man of Steel story, even if it’s painfully clear from the beginning that his role as a symbol of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow has cost Superman dearly as he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. Rather, this is a story about a super-polite Superman, who has learned every language on the planet so he can better understand the people he protects, is staunchly opposed to white supremacists, and protects immigrants.

Most importantly, Season 1 shows that “Superman & Lois” really brings out the essence of Clark Kent as just a really good guy, and the fact that Lois falls in love with him instead of Superman makes it even more refreshing. The first season’s subplot about Lois fighting giant conglomerates that get newspapers just for running on Earth is interesting, too, as is General Zod’s big twist (which is different enough to avoid feeling derivative or tired).

Season 3 of “Superman & Lois” intensifies the personal drama by presenting a bold and powerful story as Lois is diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the season where Bitsie Tulloch truly shines as Lois Lane, stunningly portraying the harrowing emotional journey the character goes through and making this a poignant story about what chemotherapy does not only to someone’s body but also to their soul. Seeing not only her, but also Clarke, an invulnerable superhuman being, having to go through this together is heartbreaking and the highlight of the entire series.

The other side of the season deals with the reemergence of Intergang and Metropolis gangster Bruno Mannheim, and how he and his wife Bea became friends with Clark and Lois. Through Mannheim, the series raises some big, critical questions about the role Superman plays in society. Manheim, a black man, claims to be doing what needs to be done for the less fortunate people of Metropolis, arguing that Superman has been ignoring people’s everyday problems because dealing with that is far less glamorous than fighting interdimensional invasions and alien attacks. As Mannheim says, Superman is always reacting to problems rather than trying to fix the everyday problems that ordinary people on Earth have to deal with.

Add to that Lois’ cancer story, and season three of “Superman & Lois” finds Superman at his most human. Here, the character’s primary conflict has less to do with supervillains and more to do with the things that come with simply being a person, whether that be social injustice, illness, or one’s inability to do enough to change the world.

“Superman & Lois” really came out strong. Despite having fewer episodes and a smaller cast, Season 4 delivered one of the best Superman stories ever. It also featured a lot of firsts for the character in live action. For one, we’ve finally arrived Accurate doomsday caricaturecomplete with a tremendous adaptation of “The Death of Superman” that knew how to focus not on if Superman would return to life, but rather on how and the massive sacrifices that led to his return, and how life would never be the same for him after that. .

Even before that, there was a moment when… Superman revealed his secret identity to the worldanother live-action first and a perfect encapsulation of this character (as well as the larger themes of the superhero genre about secret identities and the cost they take on superheroes). From the beginning of the show, it’s been painfully clear that Clark Kent has lost a lot by having to keep his powers a secret, and that he’s sacrificed countless relationships for it. This includes his friendship with Jimmy Olsen, wonderfully portrayed here by Douglas Smith.

Furthermore, having fewer episodes means that Season 4 of “Superman & Lois” will have to be more focused with the time spent on non-Superman characters, leading to some poignant and emotional moments of closure for everyone from Kyle and Chrissy to John Henry Irons And Natalie. Meanwhile, on the villain front, Season 4 saw Michael Cudlitz deliver a very terrifying take on Lex Luthor, someone who is less of a ruthless, impressive CEO and more of a gruff biker who will beat you to death with his bare fists. Instead of obsessing over Superman, this time Lex’s vendetta is against Lois over her report on him being sent to prison, leading to an exciting game of cat and mouse between Lex and the Kents.

But what truly makes this the best season of the series, and one of the best Superman stories ever (regardless of the medium), is that “Superman & Lois” went ahead and did the unthinkable: had Clark Kent actually lose his powers and become human. . This in turn led to a perfect ending, concluding this particular Superman story while encapsulating everything that made the character great in the first place.