Written by Katie Aldrin
Directed by Elizabeth Henstridge
Lois (to Judge Reagan): "I know what that feels like. Facing something uncontrollable. Not knowing there's anything you can do that will ultimately even made a difference. I understand that fear."
Holy shit, I genuinely didn't expect this one. I know the CW doesn't have the best reputation for mature storytelling at times but this show has definitely tried to be a bit more grown up in that regard while also reminding everyone that it's still a show about Superman and Lois, especially the second part there.
Elizabeth Tulloch has really cemented herself as one of the best iterations of Lois Lane since Margot Kidder and Erica Durance and this plotline will definitely give her some of her best work to come on the show. Lois having breast cancer wasn't on my bingo card of things that I thought would happen after the pregnancy that wasn't. To say she knocked it out of the park throughout would be underselling it.
Lois found out earlier in the episode about her diagnosis but it wasn't until the third act of the episode that she revealed it to Judge Reagan (Karen Holness) in a poignant scene where she was trying to convince the latter not to kill herself while Superman had to hear it himself at the same time. That scene also had some wonderfully understated acting from Tyler Hoechlin to boot.
The final scene with Lois and Clark telling both Jonathan and Jordan about the former's cancer gave the episode a downbeat ending but amidst, Lois's storyline, there was also more stuff with Bruno Mannheim to boot. He was clearly behind Judge Reagan nearly killing herself in order not to blab about Henry Miller and then there was Mannheim's scenes with Superman to boot.
Mannheim isn't a character I greatly care about as a villain in general and I'd be surprised if he were on any Superman fan's Top 10 list of villains but Chad L. Coleman in this episode alone has given a fair whack of dimension to the character. His scene with Superman and general stance towards how the latter solves problems along with his own resentment of the likes of Lex Luthor and Morgan Edge certainly informed on him to boot.
However I'm beginning to think that maybe he's not the main villain here. It seems that Onomatopoeia is the one driving the story line along with Mannheim deferring to her. We saw Onomatopoeia killing the former Mayor Dean, nearly killing both Lana and John and even pointing out to Mannheim that his experiments on Miller aren't working that well either. Yup, maybe Mannheim isn't totally the baddie here but he's definitely lying about his links to Intergang.
As for the side plot of the week, we had Jonathan, Jordan, Sarah and Natalie head to Metropolis for a party where Jonathan's ex-girlfriend wanted to get back with him, Natalie connected with Matteo (Spence Moore II) and Sarah and Jordan beat an annoying rich kid at beer pong. As a side plot went, this one was surprisingly decent and helped to break up the heavier scenes in the episode.
- Going by their one interaction in this episode, there's a bit of an age gap between Kyle and Chrissy. There's also a noticeable spark between Lana and John too.
- I honestly thought Mannheim was going to use Kryptonite on Superman during their scene together though it was Bruno who called Superman to him, not the other way round.
- Onomatopoeia is the second main antagonist the show has gender swapped
- Chronology: Not long from where the previous episode left off.
Uncontrollable Forces truly delivered as an episode. The Lois storyline does highlight the nature storytelling the show's capable of pulling off while both Mannheim and Onomatopoeia are shaping up to be very interesting villains. I liked this more than the premiere episode.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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