Superman & Lois left us in quite a precarious place before they went on hiatus. And they didn’t stop pulling at our heartstrings or our nerves when they came back either.
When we last left Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and his family, he was off with Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) because he had to submit or watch his family die.
Lois Lane (Bitsie Tulloch) called John Herny Irons (Wolé Parks) to tell him she thought Superman had been compromised, which played out exactly how I predicted. He was ready to kill him, no questions asked. How did she expect anything else out of him?
“Through the Valley of Death” was a super intense episode because while Clark Kent was trying to fight off his half-brother and not be turned, his family was doing everything they possibly could to save him.
Let’s take a moment to marvel at how Tyler hardly spoke a word during this episode, but you felt everything he was feeling. He was having the internal battle of his life to get back to his family.
Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) was helping Jordan (Alex Garfin) with his hearing abilities, so they could find out where he was. You knew Superman was fighting when he yelled out to Jordan, so you knew he wanted to be found.
I’ve said it before, and I’m repeating it, the acting ability of Bitsie and Jordan Elsass is incredible.
In a last-ditch effort to save her husband, Lois revealed the identity of Superman to John Henry Irons. She just does these emotional scenes so well. She was even crying into her father’s arms, so the fact that Sam (Dylan Walsh) was ready to kill Clark makes me really dislike him. When Lois is crying, you know things are bad.
Jonathan also had his hail mary moment, which worked, when he spoke John Henry Irons. Jordan Elsass may not have had this experience in his other roles to reach these depths, but he’s showing he’s capable of doing it now.
And I just love how much of Lois is in him. But, of course, you all know how much I love Lois, so it should come as no surprise that when Jonathan shows how much of his mother he has in him, I’m in love with it.
We can all agree that this was a family effort, minus Sam. He never tried. They worked together to bring Superman home.
Even our very own John Diggle (David Ramsey) helped! He was called there on false pretenses, but he was all in for saving Superman. It was frustrating that no one wanted to do whatever it took to save an ally, a hero, as Diggle said. But that’s what you do. At least that’s what you are supposed to do.
I wish David could have stuck around longer, but his small part was quite impactful. At least for the audience, I’m not sure his words hit the same cord with Sam.
The Kent family wasn’t the only ones going through turmoil. The Cushings had their own stuff to deal with.
It’s not entirely fair that Kyle (Erik Valdez), especially the entire family, is getting blamed for Morgan Edge. The whole town was rallying around Edge. Not even anything Lois said could change their minds. Kyle indeed was the worst of them. I hated him, but he has gotten some redemption in my eyes.
He made a mistake. Now he’s making it up to his family. His heart was in the right place, especially when he signed up to be Edge’s puppet, but he thought it would help his family.
It upsets me that Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) is going through this because she helped save the town. She first went undercover for Lois, but she also became a host to find out how to save everyone else. She should be worshiped, not ridiculed. Why are women always blamed for their man’s mistakes? A man never faces blame for their wife’s mistakes.
I’m so happy Superman & Lois is back. I’m excited to know where it goes from here after capturing the big bad. But I don’t think this is the last we’ve seen of Edge.
Who gave your favorite performance from “Through the Valley of Death?” Tweet me @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
