Written by Todd Helbing And Brent Fletcher
Directed by Tom Cavanagh
Mannheim (to the doctor): "Just as I told you, we're getting closer."
With the CW's DC universe drawing closer to it's final days, it's hard to know how to approach this season. Will it be the show's last one in spite of comments from James Gunn alluding to it's future or will it make the jump to Nexstar? The latter of which are going to keep at least four shows for next season, while moving away from scripted content altogether.
As for opening episode, we're back in the new Fortress with a brand new Jonathan Kent with Michael Bishop taking over from Jordan Elsass and the main focus of this premiere episode was of course the 16th birthday party for both Jonathan and Jordan. The former who managed to pass his driving test while the latter was told not to jump into saving people by Superman while also struggling to stay in the friends zone with Sarah.
The birthday stuff was nicely done with both Clark and Lois at their most proud as parents and then there was the possibility of a family expansion. Lois went undercover to talk to the dead John Henry Irons sister, only to think she was pregnant, only to then find that she wasn't. So what is going on with Lois and will it link up with the main threat of the season? Undoubtedly yes to that second bit.
The main threat of the season being Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman), whose presence was felt in the episode but himself didn't appear until the very end. Bruno's working with a doctor who can bring back the dead and poor Atom-Man/Henry Miller seems to be working for Mannheim against his will, while at the same time bringing Metropolis (and it's suicide slums) back into the show's radar for good measure. Coleman gave a quietly intimidating performance as Mannheim in his very brief scene so the potential is there for him to be an effective Big Bad this season.
With Mannheim posing a looming threat, it's interesting to see Lois in pursuit of answers surrounding John's doppelganger death, the reintroduction of the latter's sister and even Sam's clunky attempt of getting Natalie into a D.O.D. special school. The attempt failed, Sam got rightly called out and then made amends with Natalie. Saying that, she probably will end up in that school though.
As for the rest of the episode, there's mold in the school and Lana took money out of the budget which angered the former mayor. He also warned her of the consequences of that, which she ignored, so I'm sure those consequences will materalise fairly soon too. Not to mention she finally signed the divorce papers with Kyle and the latter also had sex with Chrissy. Let's be honest, Kyle and Chrissy are probably the two most expendable characters on the show, so I have no problem with those two hooking up.
- Lex Luthor was mentioned here and Michael Cudlitz will be playing the character much later in the season.
- Jonathan's former coach was his driving instructor and Chrissy's alarm clock presents for the boys was one of those lighter scenes that didn't really land. Jordan also tried to save the day in Malaysia during one scene.
- Nice home videos with the boys during the birthday party. Sarah and Chrissy also have different hairstyles this season.
- Chronology: It's been 27 days since the events of the previous season finale.
Closer felt a little light on action but when we did get the latter, it really delivered. Again, this show's budget is impressive because the action scenes always look so good and they excelled themselves again here. The family dynamics again continue to anchor the series and the Mannheim threat has gotten off to a great start as well.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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