Superman and Lois – Too Close to Home review S3 E4

Season 3 can’t keep walking this tightrope the entire run, can it? Too Close to Home triples down on the idea that Superman and Lois would be an infinitely superior show if the third tier supporting cast didn’t get so much screen time especially with solid subplots for the title characters.

Superman and Jordan deal with a fire before Superman hears Lois in some distress. He leaves his inexperienced son to put out the blaze while discovering Lois just dropped a glass. That didn’t check with Superman who would have saved the forest and any possible victims in an emergency situation over Lois.

Clark is definitely in helicopter husband mode and sends the boys off so they don’t bother Lois.

John Henry analyzed the tech from the blood bank and thinks his counterpart of this Earth made it. He’s stunned to learn Clark and Lois are investigating Manheim and that Lois talked to his “sister,” Dr. Darlene Irons.

The writers are starting to make this John and Nat from another Earth deal way too complicated. Darlene is just a woman that looks exactly like his sister. Same deal with Lois on this Earth. It’s not the person he remembers, and these connections seem forced. Clark ditches Lois to apologize to John Henry, which also doesn’t pass the smell test. There’s no way Clark would lie to Lois to apologize to anyone else.

John goes and talks to Darlene, making for an awkward moment. Not surprisingly, she’s weirded out by this whole deal as well and asks him not to come back. Manheim’s goons pull up on John and Manheim shows John a picture of Superman and Steel. Of all the characters, John definitely doesn’t need a secret identity so it’s not like this should be blackmail worthy fodder for Manheim at all.

Manheim threatening John’s “sister?” That’s something else entirely. John busts out of Manheim’s place a la Tony Stark in the original Avengers. If you’re gonna borrow from anything… He saves Darlene from Manheim’s bomb and goes after Manheim.

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Gen. Lane shows Jordan surveillance photos with the back of his head and all but demands Jordan get a haircut. I mean, he’s not wrong. Jordan does need a disguise or something. Unlike some parents on this show, Clark and Lois make Jordan apologize to the general for his crummy attitude. Sam offers Jordan his own costume.

The DOD got Clark’s blood after Ally hospitalized him last season. Having a Superman blood bank doesn’t sound like the worst idea just in case Doomsday comes to Smallville. Clark doesn’t agree and heat blasts the blood reserve. So much for that idea.

Jon has to deal with Candice’s father, Mr. Pergande, who punches Jon for implying he stole Jon’s truck. Oh no, does this mean he’s going to start calling Jon to apologize too? Lois spots the black eye, but Jon doesn’t want to bother her. Good luck with that one.

Lois heads over and tells Mr. P not to threaten them again and doesn’t back down when he shows his gun. Lois going gangster is something I’ll happily sign up for every week especially if Chrissy is nowhere in sight.

All that excitement did wear Lois out and Clark is not thrilled to get the recap. She tells him this is not a job for Superman and he says “Oh, he’s not going.” I doubt I’ve seen a show where the main characters are this enjoyable and the writers keep anchoring the series down by spending so much time on the supporting characters.

Sarah’s being a jerk to Kyle too. Lana begs and pleads with her bratty daughter for being a parent and disciplining the little jerk. Of course, Lana is immediately dismissive of Kyle when he picks up the phone, so I forgot why I have any sympathy for this waste of time family at all. The writers did these characters such a massive disservice deciding to have Kyle and Lana get divorced.

Clark spots Candice’s dad at the same diner Kyle and crew are having their family pow wow minus the youngest daughter who the writers seemingly forget every other episode. Her babysitter is PAID! I really needed Clark to send Mr. Pegrande into the randomly placed pinball machine and tell Kyle he’s been “Working out.”

Lois deciding to get her cancer treatments at Manheim’s hospital sounds like a terrible idea, but it should keep things interesting for sure.

With the goofy subplots limited in smaller doses this week, Superman and Lois’ true stars got to shine in another solid episode.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Photo Credit: The CW