Wednesday, June 02, 2021

My Review of Superman And Lois 1x08: "Holding The Wrench"


Written by Kristi Korzec
Directed by Norma Bailey

Lois (to Jonathan): "Right now I want you to know we are on the same team. We are the extraordinary humans in a family of super people and we have to stick together."

It's been eight episodes and once again, this show has found new ways to differentiate itself from it's fellow CW DC shows and while there has been an understandable annoyance over the lack of continuity with Supergirl, there's no denying that this episode handled a certain subject with great maturity.

We already know that in John Henry Irons world that Lois Lane had a daughter with him called Natalie. What we didn't know but found out here was that after Jonathan and Jordan were born, Lois miscarried a daughter, whom she was also going to name Natalie after her grandmother.

This episode saw Lois attending a therapy session with Sam's friend, Dr Wiles (Wendy Crewson) in which past trauma resurfaced and Lois found herself needing to talk  to someone who wasn't Clark. Wiles got Lois to open about her loss of a child as well as Lois's own fears when Jonathan ended up in danger as well.

I've been seeing a lot of praise for the show's handling of a serious topic such as miscarriage and Elizabeth Tulloch's overall performance and I'm going to join in as well. Tulloch has been incredible as Lois but this was a series highlight and while Lois might have been harsh with Jonathan it came from a believable and it was reassuring to see the two of them make amends towards the end of the episode.

Jonathan has been feeling like an outsider for a while now and it boiled over when his attempts to help his mother almost got him killed. Personally I hope the show can resist the temptation to give him powers  down the line because it would be nice to see him be able to use whatever coping skills Lois will give him.

As for the John Henry Irons part. - he still doesn't trust Superman but realises that this Earth's Lois isn't his dead wife. He also tried  to give Sam a warning about more Kryptonians on the way, nearly got tortured by Trask before Rosetti revealed that he was another one of Edge's Subjekts. Thanks to John, he didn't last long.

Speaking of Subjekts - thanks to Leslie, we had Kyle find out that Lana lied to him about Edge not wanting him for the job and his abandonment of Sarah during an audition set their relationship back too. I think it's a safe assumption that Kyle could wind up becoming a Subjekt if he doesn't start listening to Lana.

- We can add piano skills to Jordan's talents and Sarah does have a nice singing voice. The episode also delved in a bit more about her anxiety.
- Although John wasn't keen on fighting with Superman, you just know he'll change his mind. Nice nods to Batman V. Superman during the fight scenes this week.
-  Getting back to an earlier point, surely we should get some info on Kara. Did she go evil on John's Earth?
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Holding The Wrench  definitely  delivered one hell of an episode. It's not the kind of episode I ever expected a Superman property to ever handle but it's also one of the best episodes from a Superman property and in a par with last week's episode. Elizabeth Tulloch was exceptional here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

No comments: