“Haywire” starts to turn a corner for Superman & Lois. Morgan Edge’s real reasons behind his supposed generosity are starting to come to light. At school, Jordan and Jonathan aren’t the only students with a secret to hide. Plus, we meet a new villain for Superman, Thaddeus Killgrave.
Morgan Edge has his hooks in Smallville, and he isn’t going anywhere. The vote for Edge to bring jobs to Smallville won with resounding success. Lois Lane was one of the only unhappy residents there. Six years ago, Edge found something in Saskatchewan that would begin a resurrection, whatever that is supposed to mean. It looks like some sort of meteor rock, but what is Edge doing with it?
Morgan Edge actually seems to be more of a villain for Lois so far than for Superman, so let’s talk about Thaddeus Killgrave. Now that Superman isn’t in Metropolis as much, Killgrave is being moved to a new facility. I don’t think these guys have seen any superhero shows! This is obviously where the bad guy escapes. Alas, Killgrave will have a life outside of prison, at least for now. While it was clear Killgrave would escape, his showdown with Superman was spectacular.
Killgrave is a scientist and a genius, who now develops weapons against Superman. He draws Superman into a trap and has a weapon that sends some sort of sound waves that debilitate Superman. It may not be as strong as kryptonite, but the weapon is clearly hurting Clark. I liked the added detail of what looked like his ear drums glowing. It was a small addition to show how powerful the weapon was. While Superman was off dealing with Killgrave, Jordan and Jonathan were also dealing with a unique situation.
At school, Tag, the football player who was injured by Jordan’s heat vision, is struggling with being sidelined. He even tries to remove his cast, but his arm starts to shake uncontrollably. Eventually he is able to get it to stop, until Jonathan tries to help at a party. In the woods, Jonathan and Jordan try to calm down Tag, but he’s shaking so violently that they don’t know what to do. They resist calling their superhero father, and instead, Jordan tries to grab onto Tag to calm him down. When Jordan is thrown and knocked unconscious, Jonathan immediately grabs the panic button to call for Superman.
This time, the call wasn’t immediate. Superman was dealing with Killgrave and his weapon when his sons needed him. He gathered the strength to Superman clap the bad guys. Is that what you call it? In any case, he knocked out the bad guys and was able to get to his sons in time. Jordan was worried that Tag got powers because of his heat vision, but that’s not exactly how this works. Clark explains that Tag is now going to go to a school for kids with abilities. How many kids are there? Are we going to be seeing this school at some point?
Clark was upset with the boys for not calling him immediately. He didn’t understand why they wouldn’t ask for help right away. They revealed that General Lane told them not to call Superman right away. The general always feels that Clark has a responsibility first to the world, second to his family, which is not how either Clark or Lois see it. He sacrifices enough to be Superman; he has to also be there for his children. Every day that the Kent family is in Smallville, the more the general believes Luthor’s claims, that Clark will eventually become Earth’s destroyer.
I love that so much happened in this episode 4 “Haywire”. We can start to see where different storylines can go. With Edge’s hooks in Smallville, what is his goal? He’s mining this X-Kryptonite, which could give humans Superman’s powers. But does it come with Superman’s weakness? And if it doesn’t, how can you trust just anyone with that sort of power? I also appreciated the small moments between Lois and Clark. Lois worries that they have lost their magic after all of these years. She also is frustrated when he can’t show up at the vote because he’s saving the world. She understands that it isn’t rational, but it still upsets her. Clark puts together a romantic dinner to reassure her that she’s the reason that he can deal with all of the burdens of being Superman. It was a nice moment to remind us that even the most perfect looking families struggle.
