TV Review - Superman and Lois

There have been so many films and TV shows about the character of Superman from DC Comics. Obviously, it's all based on the iconic hero that was first created in 1938. Since the super-hero's creation, the character has always had a love interest in Lois Lane. It wasn't until 2015 that the comics introduced a son for Superman and Lois. This series, created by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing, is adapting that idea into live action form. Superman Returns (2006) introduced the idea of Superman and Lois having a son named Jason, but, from what I can tell, Jason was not based on anything from the comics. This series gives Superman and Lois a son named Jon who is based on a character from the comics.

However, this series has made some changes and as usual, those changes are to lessen the character in terms of powers and abilities. I complained about this issue in regards to the characters in Netflix's Jessica Jones (2015). That Netflix series had no dramatic reason as to why it lessened Jessica Jones' powers. In the comics, Jessica Jones had super-strength, invulnerability and the ability to fly. In the Netflix series, Jessica Jones just had super-strength basically. She possibly had some invulnerability but she couldn't or didn't fly, and there was no explanation as to why. Here, at least Berlanti and Helbing give a dramatic, narrative reason for lessening the powers of Superman and Lois' son, as what was laid out in the comics.

Tyler Hoechlin (Teen Wolf and 7th Heaven) stars as Clark Kent aka Superman, a man born on a planet called Krypton who was sent to Earth alone in a spaceship as a baby. When he landed on Earth, a childless couple adopted and raised him. They lived in a town called Smallville in Kansas. When Clark was young, he realized that he had super powers, including super-strength, invulnerability, X-ray and heat vision, freezing breath, super-hearing, super-speed and flight. His parents though were the only ones who knew about his powers. He kept them secret. He only used his powers openly when he was dressed up as Superman, a costume that he put on with the letter S on his chest, a rubber body suit and a red cape.

He moved to Metropolis, a large city, comparable to New York. He got a job as a journalist at the Daily Planet newspaper. There, he met another reporter with whom he fell in love. He got married to her and she got pregnant with twin boys. They raised the boys who are now teenagers in high school. However, when Clark's mother dies, he decides to move his family back to Kansas in order to take over and revitalize his family's farm where Clark spent his entire childhood. This series then becomes about small town America and the social and mostly economic struggles that small towns in the United States face. It's also about Superman having to raise teenage boys and deal with their angst and moody natures. In addition, this series also has to be an engaging and thrilling action series.

Elizabeth Tulloch (Grimm and Quarterlife) co-stars as Lois Lane, the wife to Clark Kent and mother to his children. She's also one of the best investigative reporters in the country. She's also the daughter to a high-profile army general who has a critical position in the government. She's very much a city girl with a lot of liberal values. In fact, it's obvious that Lois is a very progressive person in terms of her politics. Like a lot of progressives, she's suspicious of big corporations coming in and using its wealth and power to exploit and manipulate working-class people. She learns that a corporation is attempting to do so in Clark's hometown, so she's happy to go to Kansas and try to expose the corporation's corruption.

At the same time, she's concerned about her twin sons and how they're adjusting to life in a small town after having been raised in a city. She's also wanting to balance her husband's role as a father to his sons and his responsibilities as Superman. Clark always wants to use his powers to help people all over the country and world, but those responsibilities take him away from home, which makes it difficult for him to be there for his sons. However, it seems as if that would be more of an issue when his sons were little. As teenagers, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. The series starts out with the sons not knowing their father is Superman. It's not sure why it's a secret when Clark's parents knew about his powers at a young age, so keeping that secret from Clark's sons felt like a weird choice.

Alex Garfin (The Peanuts Movie and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) plays Jordan Kent, one of Clark and Lois' twin boys. He suffers from social anxiety disorder. He's basically shy and awkward. He mostly plays video games. When he moves to the farm, things happen to him that reveals that he has powers that he inherited from his father. Jordan Elsass (Little Fires Everywhere) plays Jonathan Kent, the other twin boy who is the opposite in terms of personality and temperament. Jonathan is more outgoing and popular. He even plays football and is the total jock.

Now, in the comics, Clark and Lois had only one son, not two. Their one son was Jon Kent and he inherited all of the same powers as Superman. Here, Jonathan inherited no powers at all and Jordan only inherited a tiny amount. There's interesting drama to be mined about the brothers being jealous of each other in various ways as a result of this biological inheritance or lack thereof or them feeling inferior to their father in various ways. There's good drama to be had there, but, as the series is playing out, most of that teenage drama is stuff we've seen before, specifically with Tom Welling in Smallville (2001). Yet, the villains and villainy in that series were more interesting or engaging than in this one.

Wolé Parks (All American and The Vampire Diaries) also co-stars as Captain Luthor, a man from another dimension or an alternate reality where Superman is evil. It's not clear how Luthor got to this reality where Superman is a family man, but Luthor believes that the Superman here will also turn evil. It's not revealed why Luthor believes Superman will turn evil. He seems to be taking the same position as Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).

Except, even the Superman in that film and in that series, as played by Henry Cavill, had a darker edge, a harder edge or a more cynical one. That goes for Cavill's version of Clark Kent. Hoechlin's version of Superman and particularly Clark Kent isn't cynical at all. He's fun-loving, light and even dorky. He doesn't have any sign of any negativity or certainly any darkness. It's clear that Captain Luthor's assumptions here are unfounded, so it's difficult to invest or even take seriously any thing he does.

Erik Valdez (Graceland and General Hospital) plays Kyle Cushing, a Smallville firefighter and husband to Lana Lang, the ex-girlfriend to Clark. He's not from another dimension or has super powers, but he does have more potential as a villain than Captain Luthor or any of the other super-powered bad guys in this series. He's simply more right-wing than Lois. He's clearly on the opposite side of the political aisle, so his support of the big corporation coming into town is more engaging than even the action stuff.

Finally, I have to say that Hoechlin is great in the role, but he feels too young for it. Hoechlin doesn't look old enough to be the father to teenagers. Hoechlin is 33-years-old, which means that he would have had to have fathered his sons who are now 16 when he was only 16 himself. The series acknowledges this to some degree when a throwaway line proclaims that Superman doesn't age as fast, but Hoechlin still has boyish looks that don't necessarily help him in that regard. Maybe when Hoechlin has a beard does he look older but here he's mostly clean-shaven making him seem not much older than the actors playing his sons. Someone like Cavill who was only 30 when he was cast as Superman in Man of Steel (2013) looked older or looked like he could have been the father of teenage boys. Christopher Reeve who played the titular character in Superman (1978) was only 26. Yet, he seemed more grown-up than Hoechlin. It also doesn't help that Hoechlin is one of the shortest actors to play the role over the past 60 years. Dean Cain is the only other short Superman but he wasn't playing a father to boys who are eye-to-eye with him.

This series is entertaining. I don't think it's doing anything bold or new. People would probably get more out of Supergirl (2015), which is currently in its final season. However, Stargirl (2020) is still the best live-action, super-hero series I've seen recently. This one is okay. I'm somewhat curious to see where it goes, but I'm probably going to lose interest in this faster than I have the other Greg Berlanti shows.

Rated TV-PG-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Tuesdays at 8 PM on CW.