Superman & Lois start to answer some big questions in “Man of Steel.” Jordan’s super hearing is here, and he’s struggling. Lois continues to be suspicious of “Marcus Bridgewater,” and we finally learn more about the mystery man they dubbed “the Stranger.”
Not that it was a big surprise, but we were right that Jordan was developing super hearing. At the fortress, Clark realizes that if Jordan can’t focus his hearing then all of the sounds will continue to cause him pain. Now, Jordan’s wearing noise canceling headphones until he can learn to focus the hearing. Of course, this means that Jordan is once again sick from school.
With Jordan out of school, Jonathan has to cover for his brother. Sarah is one of the only people who seems to be suspicious of his absence. Jonathan is able to cover for Jordan, saying that he’s still experiencing headaches from his run-in with Tag. After Sarah accepts this explanation, they have a really nice conversation. It seems that Jonathan is finding a friend in Sarah as well.
Naturally, this is when Jordan is trying to focus his hearing. He uses a photo of Sarah to pinpoint her voice. He overhears his brother’s conversation and is worried that Jonathan is moving in on the girl he likes. It wasn’t lost on me that this is essentially what Lois was talking about when Clark spied on her with his super hearing. Jonathan and Jordan are going to have to set some boundaries with these new powers.
Meanwhile, Lois figured out that the real Marcus Bridgewater is a very different person from the one she met. My favorite part of this episode were the flashback scenes of “Luthor” and Lois on his earth. It turns out they had a daughter as well. After Superman and the other Kryptonians start to attack, he begins making a super suit with his daughter in the attempt to save their world. The hardest part was watching Lois reporting to the world that the Kryptonians are weak to meteor rocks. Moments later, Superman uses his heat vision to murder Lois Lane on live television. Now, we truly understand “Luthor’s” pain.
While Lois was confronting the fake Marcus Bridgewater, Clark was snooping in his RV, where the AI in the RV called him Captain Luthor. Lois and Clark worry that “Marcus” has some relation to Lex Luthor. They are also piecing together that he may not be from their earth. I really appreciate that they are smart and pay attention to details, like any good reporter would. Since Luthor knows that Lois has connections to Superman, he asks for a meeting.
Superman agrees to meet him, while General Lane figures out who this guy really is. It turns out he has no familial connection to Lex Luthor. The Stranger was only building the suit for Lex, which is why the AI is calling him Captain Luthor. Meet John Henry Irons, aka Steel. Now, I understand the title of the episode! There are two men of steel in Smallville. Superman meets Irons, who tells him that the world is going to be destroyed if he doesn’t save it by eliminating the threat. Steel has a hammer that absorbs kinetic energy. He set up kryptonite shields to dull Superman’s powers, and he could have probably taken out the supposed threat if Superman didn’t get some unexpected help.
Thank goodness Jordan started to get a handle on his super hearing because he hears his dad in distress. The boys make it to Superman in time to save him from Steel’s hammer. This was also the first time that Jordan felt the effects of meteor rock. Jonathan wasn’t affected by it since he doesn’t have powers, but I’m still not ruling out the possibility of Jonathan getting powers down the line. Lois and Clark are both grateful, even though they were worried for their boys. They decide that it’s time that there are no secrets in their family.
One of the reasons that this show is so good, in my opinion, is that it’s smart, and the writers know that the audience is smart enough to follow along without making certain things too obvious. Lois and Clark were introduced to audiences because of the crossovers in the Arrowverse, meaning they know about the multiverse. This isn’t a huge conversation; they just speculate that maybe he’s from another earth. Lana is starting to come around to Lois’ side and is much more skeptical of Morgan Edge. She’s now in charge of developing a leadership program, more likely looking for candidates for X Kryptonite. So far, Leslie Larr is the only one who hasn’t rejected the X Kryptonite, but will any of these new candidates survive? And what about Tag?
