My Review of Superman And Lois 4x05: "Break The Cycle"

 

Written by Adam Mallinger

Directed by Elizabeth Henstridge

Elizabeth (to Lex): "If you truly want to break the cycle, you'll leave this all behind. Please, it's the only way, Dad."

With one episode, all I'll say is can we see more of Elizabeth Henstridge please? Because the scenes between her and Michael Culditz were incredible in this episode.

All season has seen Lex in pure vengeance mode because Lois's action cost him seventeen years. Its also been greatly emphasised that Lex's anger has been over losing those years with his daughter, Elizabeth. With this episode, he got the reunion he wanted, thanks to the woman he hates. 

However, any chance of Lex actually breaking his own cycle of anger and hatred just couldn't be broken. Clark/Superman tried to get through to him as a father and Lex rejected his efforts. Then there was meeting Elizabeth as an adult and expectant mother.

Yup, the reveals with Elizabeth came pretty heavy here. She had been living in France, adopted a British accent, had completed medical school and was six months pregnant with a boy. Yet none of that was enough to get Lex to relent in his determination to take out the Kents. Elizabeth did make the sensible decision to walk away from her father and his fanatical tirade.

Of course, while appealing to Lex's humanity, I love that Lois also had a plan B too. I thought she was mad summoning Doomsday but appealing to his humanity and getting him to flee actually worked. Is that it for the character? I'm not entirely convinced we won't see him again before the finale but it was satisfying to see Lois get a win over Lex.

Last but not least and proof that it really has been a long time between seasons, I completely forgot about both Candace and Denise as characters. Both returned this week for the Jonathan and Jordan subplot. The former figured out their big secret and the latter had to be told by Jordan. At this point, just get Clark to do a social media post revealing he's Superman before Lex outs him out of spite.

- Elizabeth went to lengths to not tell Lex about the identity of her baby daddy. The younger version of Elizabeth was the focus of the flashbacks.

- As well as appearing in the episode, Elizabeth Henstridge also Directed it and did and did an excellent job.

- A lot of absences in this one too. It's really now you notice those reduced supporting roles.

- Chronology: Clark was dead three weeks ago. Lex guessed that alien technology revived him.

I thought Break The Cycle might have been the best episode yet this season. The arrival of Elizabeth and her scenes with Lex, Lois's risky back up plan actually paying off and even the subplot with the boys. I liked all the plots this week.

Rating: 8 out of 10