As the family adjust to life in Smallville and Lana Lang Cushing invites them to a cook-out to welcome them to the small town, Lois continues to wage war upon Morgan Edge. Meanwhile, the Stranger seeks out an unlikely ally, even as General Lane and Clark continue their search.
Influences
Injustice: Gods Among Us (idea of evil Superman taking over the world), The Death of Superman (black Superman costume), Superman: New Krypton (reference to Project 7734) and Superman: The Movie (general appearance of Jor-El hologram)
Goofs
The Fortress of Solitude seen here doesn't resemble the one pictured in earlier episodes of Supergirl. (It's appearance may have been changed after Crisis.)
Performances
Any worries that Elizabeth Tulloch wouldn't be given anything to do as Lois Lane are blown away by this episode. Here we see Lois Lane, defender of the innocent, unwilling to take Hell from anyone but ready to give it back in spades to anyone who dares cross her.
It's au understated moment, but Jordan Elsass gets a great delivery on the line where Jonathan tells Lois that they both left their lives in Metropolis as Lois is trying to lift her son's spirits regarding everything he lost in moving to Smallville for the sake of his brother. Jonathan is immediately established as wise beyond his years, clearly recognizing his mother is also trying to convince herself they've done the right thing given her own career setbacks in coming to Smallville.
Artistry
Again, the special effects work is of cinematic quality, with the fight between The Stranger and Superman being of particular note.
Super Trivia
Clark's description of how he made the Fortress of Solitude is taken directly from Superman: The Movie.
The hologram of Jor-El refers to Kryptonopolis being the second largest city on Krypton and the center of the House of El. This is taken directly from the Superman comics. (Kandor was the largest city on Krypton, until it was shrunk and stolen by Brainiac.)
Lois' research into Morgan Edge's dirty business dealings leads her to investigate the city of New Carthage. In the comics, this is a college town in upstate New York, where Dick Grayson went to college at Hudson University.
Chrissy Beppo's name is a nod to Beppo the Super Monkey - one of the many Super Pets that Superman had in the Silver Age of Comics. Beppo was a Kryptonian monkey who was used in a test rocket Jor-El made before sending his son to Earth. He later made his way to Earth and gained the same enhanced abilities as Krypto the Super Dog and Kal-El.
Smallville Mayor George Dean is played by actor Eric Keenleyside. Keenleyside had a role in the pilot episode of Smallville, playing Chloe Sullivan's father. Sadly, his scene was cut.
One of General Lane's underlings is named Rosetti. This may be a nod to Colonel Reno Rosetti - a member of the Human Defense Corps, which was a group established by then President Lex Luthor to end America's dependence on non-human superheroes.
One of the small towns Lois says Morgan Edge ruined was named Granville. This was the name of a small Kansas town in the television series Smalllville which housed a secret lab used to study Kara Zor-El's ship.
Captain Luthor gives General Lane a dog-tag with the number 7734 on it, as he claimed to be a friend of General Lane on his Earth, where they both fought Kal-El of Krypton together. This is a nod to Project 7734 - a group led by General Sam Lane in the post-Crisis DC Comics Universe, which was a secret US Military imitative devoted to defending the Earth from alien invaders.
Technobabble
The device Lois and General Lane use to summon Superman is called an ELT.
General Lane was able to use a residence identifier to track Captain Luthor's ship.
The explosion of Captain Luthor's ship is strong enough to knock Superman out of orbit.
Jor-El speaks of the photo-nucleic effect that Jordan caused (i.e. his heat vision) being insignificant.
Captain Luthor has a robot duplicate that is as well armored as he is.
Captain Luthor's drone deploys a sonic projectile weapon capable of knocking back an entire squadron of soldiers.
Dialogue Triumphs
Lois: (voice-over) What can you say about leaving a place you loved? All the memories? All the experiences? It can be heartbreaking... until the excitement takes over. Because you soon realize you get to make new memories. Have new experiences... And best of all... Fall in love all over again.
(Clark is wearing a heavy winter coat. He hands Jordan a similar coat.)
Jordan: Why do we need these big winter jackets? Are we flying somewhere?
Clark: Kind of have to. Hold on, okay?
(Jordan smiles as his father holds him and looks him in the eyes. Suddenly the two jet into the air and a small sonic boom is heard. Jonathan looks up at his brother, clearly jealous.)
Jonathan: How come he gets to go flying with Dad and I have to go to school?
Lois: At least we have the radio.
(General Lane and Clark are out on the porch of the Kent farm house. Night has fallen.)
General Lane: Sure is quiet out here... simple.
(There's a long pause. Clark says nothing but he seems to be bracing himself.)
General Lane: You still looking for the simple life? 'Cause those days are gone, Clark... long gone.
(Clark says nothing. He's too polite to argue.)
Clark: (starting to turn away) Let me know when you find the ship-
(General Lane and Clark are out on the porch of the Kent farm house. Night has fallen.)
General Lane: Sure is quiet out here... simple.
(There's a long pause. Clark says nothing but he seems to be bracing himself.)
General Lane: You still looking for the simple life? 'Cause those days are gone, Clark... long gone.
(Clark says nothing. He's too polite to argue.)
Clark: (starting to turn away) Let me know when you find the ship-
General Lane: (cutting him off) Why'd you move the family here? You took Lois away from where she needs to be, hurt Jonathan's football chances. Jordan's got no chance of fitting in with kids here. Must have had a hell of a reason.
(Clark says nothing, clearly uncomfortable with the direction this conversation is going.)
General Lane: You told the boys you're Superman!
Clark: Couldn't lie to 'em anymore.
General Lane: You sure as hell could.
Clark: Sam...
General Lane: You have any idea what you just did? You ruined their childhood, Clark! I've seen the toll this life's taken on Lois over the years. She never says anything to you, but I know! Now you're gonna put the boys through that same hell?
Clark: This is gonna keep my family together.
General Lane: No, Clark. It's gonna tear it apart.
Clark: Your dad knows that we told the boys. He figured it out the other night.
Lois: What'd he say?
Clark: Oh, you know, just that we're making the biggest mistake of our lives.
Lois: (smiles) See, now I know we're on the right track.
Clark: (chuckles, as he looks at Lois's laptop) What's that?
Lois: It is about an article I am working on about Morgan Edge.
Clark: Edge?
Lois: (protesting) He was at the Smallville city council meeting last night.
Clark: I thought you weren't getting involved?
Lois: Well... yes, but then he started spouting this BS about helping the town. Morgan Edge is not here to save Smallville, Kansas. He's here for cheap labor because people are desperate, just like he did with New Carthage and Hazel Green and Granville. He is eating these small towns from the inside out.
(Clark motions to the chair. Lois gets out of his way so he can look at what she has.)
Clark: Thank you. (reading outloud)"Morgan Edge is a corporate vampire". You remember that Edge owns the "Planet"?
Clark: Your dad knows that we told the boys. He figured it out the other night.
Lois: What'd he say?
Clark: Oh, you know, just that we're making the biggest mistake of our lives.
Lois: (smiles) See, now I know we're on the right track.
Clark: (chuckles, as he looks at Lois's laptop) What's that?
Lois: It is about an article I am working on about Morgan Edge.
Clark: Edge?
Lois: (protesting) He was at the Smallville city council meeting last night.
Clark: I thought you weren't getting involved?
Lois: Well... yes, but then he started spouting this BS about helping the town. Morgan Edge is not here to save Smallville, Kansas. He's here for cheap labor because people are desperate, just like he did with New Carthage and Hazel Green and Granville. He is eating these small towns from the inside out.
(Clark motions to the chair. Lois gets out of his way so he can look at what she has.)
Clark: Thank you. (reading outloud)"Morgan Edge is a corporate vampire". You remember that Edge owns the "Planet"?
Lois: So?
Clark: So he's not gonna let you publish this!
Lois: You know what, babe? You do your Superman stuff, and I will do my Lois Lane stuff.
(Clark raises his hands in surrender and takes the seat next to Lois, smiling, clearly in love with how she gets when she is angry.)
Lois: I'm serious, Clark. I'm getting this gut feeling that this is one of the reasons I was supposed to come to Smallville. I am not going to let Morgan Edge destroy this town like he did the others.
Lois: Jonathan... you're a really great brother, you know that? I know how much you gave up by saying yes to coming here. Your whole life's in Metropolis. Your girlfriend's there. Your entire identity is there, but you said yes to coming here anyway 'cause you wanted to help your brother.
Jonathan: (shrugs) You and I both had lives we left behind.
Lois: Yeah.
(Morgan Edge is holding a meeting of Daily Planet executives. Lois Lane walks up to him, ignoring the other people in the board room and the fact that Edge is talking.)
Morgan Edge: Let me make this very clear. Either the website gets more clicks, or various people sitting in this room will...
Lois: You rewrote my story.
Morgan Edge: I merely corrected what was wrong.
Lois: So just to confirm, we can't do any actual reporting here anymore, correct?
Morgan Edge: Ms. Lane, I won't have my paper printing this kind of nonsense.
Lois: That's what I thought.
(Lois drops an envelope on the desk before Edge and turns around to walk out.)
Morgan Edge: What's this?
(Lois stops and turns around.)
Lois: That is the best writing I have done since you took over.
(Lois walks past a female reporter on her way out.)
Female Reporter: He's going to crush you.
Lois: Let him try.
Lois: (voice-over) What can you say about leaving a place you loved? You hope it made you who you are... Challenged your beliefs...Pushed you out of your comfort zone...And gave you the strength to demand better... So you're prepared for what's to come.
Continuity
Jonathan never got a copy of the Smallville High School football team playbook, which he was meant to study before his first practice.
The head coach at Smallville High is named Gaines.
Jordan is taking two AP classes (he wanted to take more) and was put in Spanish instead of French.
Clark decides to keep Jordan home from school until they learn more about his powers.
Jonathan is still trying to maintain a distance relationship with his girlfriend, Eliza.
Captain Luthor attacks a black market weapons' dealer in Moldova searching for Kryptonite. He says that he hasn't had any and can't get anymore.
Captain Luthor's armor and suit are apparently powered by Kryptonite.
Clark takes Jordan to the Fortress of Solitude.
Sarah notices Jordan is missing.
Sean, Sarah's boyfriend, taunts Jonathan about not getting the playbook and warns him that Smallville High School already had a quarterback.
One of the other lead football players is named Timmy.
Clark confirms that the crystal Jordan found was a Sunstone and that it is basically a flash drive containing all the information that is known about Krypton, as well as an AI interface based on the personality of Jor-El.
Kryptonopolis was the second largest city of Krypton.
As Lois works in a local diner, she sees a woman watching her from a distance.
Lois runs into Lana and Kyle. Lana invites Lois and her family to a cook-out at her place at 7 pm the next evening.
Lois learns there is a city council meeting that night and that the mayor and Kyle have some big surprise planned. This is later revealed to be Morgan Edge coming to speak in person about his plans to revitalize Smallville.
According to Jor-El, Krypton's destruction was brought about by the natural resources being exhausted and war breaking out as people fought over what was left. It is suggested, but not stated outright, that advanced weapons may have triggered the destruction of the planet.
Clark: So he's not gonna let you publish this!
Lois: You know what, babe? You do your Superman stuff, and I will do my Lois Lane stuff.
(Clark raises his hands in surrender and takes the seat next to Lois, smiling, clearly in love with how she gets when she is angry.)
Lois: I'm serious, Clark. I'm getting this gut feeling that this is one of the reasons I was supposed to come to Smallville. I am not going to let Morgan Edge destroy this town like he did the others.
Lois: Jonathan... you're a really great brother, you know that? I know how much you gave up by saying yes to coming here. Your whole life's in Metropolis. Your girlfriend's there. Your entire identity is there, but you said yes to coming here anyway 'cause you wanted to help your brother.
Jonathan: (shrugs) You and I both had lives we left behind.
Lois: Yeah.
(Morgan Edge is holding a meeting of Daily Planet executives. Lois Lane walks up to him, ignoring the other people in the board room and the fact that Edge is talking.)
Morgan Edge: Let me make this very clear. Either the website gets more clicks, or various people sitting in this room will...
Lois: You rewrote my story.
Morgan Edge: I merely corrected what was wrong.
Lois: So just to confirm, we can't do any actual reporting here anymore, correct?
Morgan Edge: Ms. Lane, I won't have my paper printing this kind of nonsense.
Lois: That's what I thought.
(Lois drops an envelope on the desk before Edge and turns around to walk out.)
Morgan Edge: What's this?
(Lois stops and turns around.)
Lois: That is the best writing I have done since you took over.
(Lois walks past a female reporter on her way out.)
Female Reporter: He's going to crush you.
Lois: Let him try.
Lois: (voice-over) What can you say about leaving a place you loved? You hope it made you who you are... Challenged your beliefs...Pushed you out of your comfort zone...And gave you the strength to demand better... So you're prepared for what's to come.
Continuity
Jonathan never got a copy of the Smallville High School football team playbook, which he was meant to study before his first practice.
The head coach at Smallville High is named Gaines.
Jordan is taking two AP classes (he wanted to take more) and was put in Spanish instead of French.
Clark decides to keep Jordan home from school until they learn more about his powers.
Jonathan is still trying to maintain a distance relationship with his girlfriend, Eliza.
Captain Luthor attacks a black market weapons' dealer in Moldova searching for Kryptonite. He says that he hasn't had any and can't get anymore.
Captain Luthor's armor and suit are apparently powered by Kryptonite.
Clark takes Jordan to the Fortress of Solitude.
Sarah notices Jordan is missing.
Sean, Sarah's boyfriend, taunts Jonathan about not getting the playbook and warns him that Smallville High School already had a quarterback.
One of the other lead football players is named Timmy.
Clark confirms that the crystal Jordan found was a Sunstone and that it is basically a flash drive containing all the information that is known about Krypton, as well as an AI interface based on the personality of Jor-El.
Kryptonopolis was the second largest city of Krypton.
As Lois works in a local diner, she sees a woman watching her from a distance.
Lois runs into Lana and Kyle. Lana invites Lois and her family to a cook-out at her place at 7 pm the next evening.
Lois learns there is a city council meeting that night and that the mayor and Kyle have some big surprise planned. This is later revealed to be Morgan Edge coming to speak in person about his plans to revitalize Smallville.
According to Jor-El, Krypton's destruction was brought about by the natural resources being exhausted and war breaking out as people fought over what was left. It is suggested, but not stated outright, that advanced weapons may have triggered the destruction of the planet.
Lois takes Jordan and Jonathan with her to the city council meeting.
General Lane comes to talk to Clark in person about The Stranger.
Sarah is also at the city council meeting. Jordan lies and says he was feeling better when Sarah asks why he's there. Sarah also apologizes for not stepping in to help Jonathan with the whole playbook situation.
Lois sees the woman who was watching her at the meeting. She strikes up a conversation and learns that she is Chrissy Beppo - a writer with the Smallville Gazette.
The mayor of Smallville is George Dean.
General Lane comes to talk to Clark in person about The Stranger.
Sarah is also at the city council meeting. Jordan lies and says he was feeling better when Sarah asks why he's there. Sarah also apologizes for not stepping in to help Jonathan with the whole playbook situation.
Lois sees the woman who was watching her at the meeting. She strikes up a conversation and learns that she is Chrissy Beppo - a writer with the Smallville Gazette.
The mayor of Smallville is George Dean.
General Lane disagrees with Clark and Lois' decision to tell their children that Clark is Superman.
General Lane has an aide named Rosetti.
Captain Luthor is sighted in Mongolia, where he is shown to be searching for Kryptonite.
Morgan Edge says his plan with bring 600 jobs to Smallville.
Lois questions Edge on his numbers and notes that his plans for New Carthage missed their target job creation numbers by 50% and paid below a living wage.
Edge admits the mining project in New Carthage underperformed, but that was not his fault.
Again, Captain Luthor claims that Superman destroyed his planet.
Captain Luthor plants a bomb on his ship and sends it toward a city to force Superman to allow him to escape.
Jonathan asks for a chance to show he can run a play at football practice. Unfortunately, he is sabotaged by the other players.
Clark tells Lois about what her father said.
Lois tells Clark that she's working on an article on Morgan Edge and the other small towns he's ruined, including New Carthage, Hazel Green and Granville.
According to Jor-El, Jordan is not 1/100th as strong as Clark and his ability to hold solar radiation is vastly inferior to Clark's. He says there is no way, based on his tests, that Jordan can reliably replicate Clark's powers.
Captain Luthor plants a bomb on his ship and sends it toward a city to force Superman to allow him to escape.
Jonathan asks for a chance to show he can run a play at football practice. Unfortunately, he is sabotaged by the other players.
Clark tells Lois about what her father said.
Lois tells Clark that she's working on an article on Morgan Edge and the other small towns he's ruined, including New Carthage, Hazel Green and Granville.
According to Jor-El, Jordan is not 1/100th as strong as Clark and his ability to hold solar radiation is vastly inferior to Clark's. He says there is no way, based on his tests, that Jordan can reliably replicate Clark's powers.
Kyle Cushing says he looked into the New Carthage situation and blames the failure on people trying to unionize and demanding a wage that prevented Morgan Edge from making a profit right off the bat. He claims that what Edge is offering is short-term sacrifice for a long-term gain.
While at the cookout at the Cushing house, Lois realizes that her article on Morgan Edge was rewritten without her permission into a puff piece praising him.
Captqain Luthor attacks the Department of Defense.
Captain Luthor claims to have been a friend and ally of General Sam Lane on his Earth. He gives General Lane a dog-tag, shaped like the House of El seal, with the number 7734 engraved on the back.
The Captain Luthor that attacks the DOD is revealed to be a drone.
General Lane admits that the DOD has a secret stockpile of Kryptonite that it gathered to stop people from using it against Superman.
Clark tells Lois about the secret Kryptonite stockpile.
Jordan apologizes to Jonathan for not thanking him for agreeing to move for his benefit.
Jonathan promises to help Jordan figure out what's going on with his powers.
Clark gives Jordan a signal device of his own and tells him he can start going to school.
Lois goes to Metropolis and presents a letter to Morgan Edge. It says two words: I QUIT.
Lois takes a job with the Smallville Gazette. She discovers that Chrissy Beppo is the editor; not just a writer. She agrees to run Lois' article about Morgan Edge as it is.
Captain Luthor begins planning the construction of a new battle suit. His AI tells him it will take time to get the proper materials, but it seems this world's version of Kal-El is not entirely like the one from his, so they have time to prepare.
The final scene of the episode shows a memory of Captain Luthor fighting a Superman in a black suit, similar to the one worn by the evil Superman of Elseworlds.
Location
Moldova
Mongolia - Siberian Taiga Region
Washington DC - Department of Defense
The Bottom Line
Another solid episode that does better by Lois Lane than the pilot.
Jonathan promises to help Jordan figure out what's going on with his powers.
Clark gives Jordan a signal device of his own and tells him he can start going to school.
Lois goes to Metropolis and presents a letter to Morgan Edge. It says two words: I QUIT.
Lois takes a job with the Smallville Gazette. She discovers that Chrissy Beppo is the editor; not just a writer. She agrees to run Lois' article about Morgan Edge as it is.
Captain Luthor begins planning the construction of a new battle suit. His AI tells him it will take time to get the proper materials, but it seems this world's version of Kal-El is not entirely like the one from his, so they have time to prepare.
The final scene of the episode shows a memory of Captain Luthor fighting a Superman in a black suit, similar to the one worn by the evil Superman of Elseworlds.
Location
Moldova
Mongolia - Siberian Taiga Region
Washington DC - Department of Defense
The Bottom Line
Another solid episode that does better by Lois Lane than the pilot.
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