Superman and Lois – Of Sound Mind review S3 E6
I haven’t seen a comic book show handle a subject matter like cancer as delicately sophisticated and mature as we’re seeing in Superman and Lois. Too many mediocre comic shows conditioned me to knowing how this would typically play out and I thought this was going to be a disaster on every level. Of Sound Mind was another reminder this show is operating on a much higher level.
The showrunners and cast show that a comic book show can handle this topic with grace and highly competent quality. As usual with the series, it’s the subplots that try their best to drag the episode down and it’s reached the point where fast forwarding through some of them is the most effective means of dealing with them.
Clark attends spouse group therapy. It’s good having Superman in a situation where he can’t use his powers to help Lois. He tells Lois group isn’t for him as he’s struggling to get past his own perhaps overly optimistic mindset that Lois will be fine with the reality that cancer could kill her. I liked that even in this setting, Clark is still putting on a brave face.
Maybe scheduling logistics would have been a nightmare, but Tyler Hoechlin continues to show why he would have been the kind of Superman a CW Justice League would have followed with ease even if it was previously build up around Green Arrow and The Flash.
It’s been a month since Deadline fought Superman. He’s dying now and needs Superman’s help to get him to Bruno Manheim, who refuses to acknowledge he did anything. By the time Superman gets Deadline to a doctor, he dies (off camera).
That decision was a smart one as Clark attributing Deadline’s death more to the chemicals Manheim pumped into him and less about the cancer was key. He’s in denial, but Lois isn’t as she’s assembling her final estate planning. That’s good basic life advice and the show worked it in with a manner that made it helpful without being overly preachy.
Clark’s hopefulness is proving to be a liability now, a statement echoed by Lois’ fellow cancer patient Peia. She can relate to what Lois is going through as her husband is just now finally coming to terms with the fact she could die from cancer. It’s nice that Lois has a friend now who can relate to everything she’s enduring and can provide her a guideline of what’s in store.
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Ever the reporter, Lois mentions her story and her concerns about Manheim. Peia gets choked up discussing all the good the hospital has done and how the doctors at Hobs Bay caught things her previous team missed.
Lois is a character that could easily be written as the infallible woman who never makes mistakes and is always right. Superman and Lois is so much better for making Lois a dogged reporter who’s excellent in her field, is an amazing sounding board to Clark and fantastic mother but is able to misjudge situations and not do the right thing all the time.
As great as everything else was in this episode, all of the Lana/Kyle scenes were grating and worthless. I wonder if giving Lana cancer instead of Lois would have made her storylines more tolerable? Lois could keep investigating Manheim and all the melodrama from Lana and Kyle’s toxic interaction could be replaced with him caring for her and ultimately winning her back.
The high school drama with Kyle/Chrissy/Lana and Sarah/Sophie doesn’t help anything besides putting all the crappy character arcs into the same scenes.
Sophie gets more of a spotlight as the writers remembered her again. She’s feeling left out and neglected and doesn’t so much runs away as she takes some time for herself. Hey, mental health is important even for kids, right?
Of course, no one knowing where Sophie is just gives Lana another excuse to trash Kyle. Man, the writers have really made Lana a terrible character and she’s even more insufferable now that she knows about Chrissy and Kyle.
No, Sophie it’s the writers who don’t care about you, not your family. Poor Jon got stuck in that gravitational pull this week having to help find Sophie and generally get put into a far crappier family situation. Jon deserved much better.
Lois finally gets through to Clark with a terrific line “Cancer is my villain, Clark and you keep acting like it doesn’t exist.” That sums everything up beautifully.
Jordan wants to go out on saves and Clark is on him tough. While he might be a little overeager, Jordan has proven to be capable at playing junior hero, but Clark is being overly protective to make sure he’s prepared for any scenario. That seems somewhat unrealistic, Clark.
Manheim’s masked villain mimics Lois and draws Superman out to a trap where Bruno’s goons hit him with Kryptonite lasers. Not strong enough to kill him, but enough to hold Superman at bay while the masked assassin hammers him with her sonic blasts.
Jordan isn’t sure what to do since he doesn’t want to upset Clark again, but Lois encourages him to go help Superman. Still, Jordan is a rookie when it comes to fighting and he gets blasted by the K-lasers and knocked out. This freaks Superman out and he quickly takes out the masked assassin and the goons.
Kryptonite doesn’t affect Jordan the same way it does Clark. Jordan needs some vulnerabilities even if it’s not Kryptonite. While Jordan rests up, Clark explains to Lois that watching their son get shot was the worst moment of his life and he’s been hard on Jordan because he can help him.
With Lois, he can’t do anything, and he feels really powerless. This was another exceptionally well-performed scene between Hoechlin and Tulloch, which has become the norm for them with this story arc.
Clark returns to the therapy group with a much better perspective and attitude. This felt like a big moment as it showed that even Superman is capable of growth and able to fight through his fears.
Manheim’s sonic lady returns to Manheim’s lair and unmasks after the beating from Superman. It’s Peia! No, I’m not gonna pretend I saw that coming at all. That’s a really great twist that further complicates an already very compelling Superman/Clark, Lois, Bruno and Peia Manheim dynamic.
Rating this show has become hard. The Clark/Lois/Manheim arc along with the Jordan/Gen. Lane storylines have been terrific, but the terrible Lana and Kyle storyline finds new levels to be awful every week. It’s at a point now where skipping their scenes entirely is the way to watch Superman and Lois, which otherwise has been as great a comic book TV show as there’s been in years.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: The CW