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TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Superman & Lois Season 3 Episode 11

June 7th, 2023 by Todd Black Comments

I find myself in a weird position looking at “Complications” tonight. Because on the one hand, it’s a perfectly serviceable episode that does cap off some key storylines and progresses certain characters and their beats. BUT…I feel that in spite of the series’ greatest storyline, the team isn’t paying enough attention to other characters and are making them act like stereotypes instead of fleshed-out human beings.

Let’s start with the big storyline. After Peia’s breakout from the DOD, she and her family weren’t just reunited; they were willing to straight-up ghost Metropolis so that they could have their reunion last forever. That wasn’t a bad move, as it would’ve been odd for them to stick around. Furthermore, the cure seemed to have boosted Peia’s powers. Not sure how I feel about that, but it would pay off in the end because the cure…didn’t work, and that power boost made her more unstable and was able to kill someone (see: splatter them) with a single sound wave if she wanted.

That begged the question, what were they going to do? Well, Superman did what he did best, be there for someone in their darkest moment, and I liked how he was there for Peia and was able to help her let go without hurting anyone else and then deliver her final message to the family.

Overall, this was handled well for the most part. There were a few things that stuck out as tacky, but it was a solid conclusion to the Manheim storyline, including Manheim and John Henry coming to an agreement as both fathers and men to help keep Mateo free and safe.

My biggest problem with this was…it felt that Manheim was just a stepping stone to a bigger threat in Luthor. A character we WILL see next episode, and with only two episodes left, I’d be shocked if he was dealt with during that time. Not to mention, at the end of the episode, we had Bizarro wake up and be free from his confines…so…what’s going to happen with him. I had my issues with Morgan Edge and Ally Alston in the first two seasons, but at least they were threats until the end.

The other plots of the episode ranged from well-handled to…very CW-esque. For example, Lois having that “final meal” with her family and friends was a wonderful touch. As she needed them to have the courage to go through the surgery that would change her life. And Lois then keeping that courage even as Peia’s powers were wrecking Metropolis was a very Lois move. I’m curious how they’re going to handle her in the last two episodes now that “major hurdles” of her condition have been overcome. I’ll find out soon, I guess.

Then…there are the teenagers. If you recall, last week’s episode got a scathing review from me because of how all the teens acted more or less, and this episode was only slightly better…but still pretty bad.

I’ll start with Natalie. I didn’t mind her still having conflicting feelings about Mateo after he broke his mom out of the DOD. But the way she was acting made it seem like he really didn’t do anything wrong…when he EMPHATICALLY did something wrong. He got a lot of people hurt, and that was bad. But she made it sound like “just a mistake,” and that’s a little too much.

As for Jordan, he had a wild swing of an episode that I’m not sure how to feel about. First, he straight-up broke things off with Sarah AT HIS MOTHER’S SPECIAL DINNER…and then later on his X-Ray vision kicked in, which caused him to have a panic attack, and then…he was able to use it perfectly within minutes. Yeah, that was odd.

As for Jordan, he went from “best big bro” in terms of helping Jordan with his panic attack to literally just telling Jordan to “chill out” about what was going on in a rather arrogant way. I don’t know what’s going on with his character but I’m not amused.

Finally, with Sarah, her arc was just as confusing because I didn’t mind her feeling the weight of her bad decision last episode, and using her past self-harm storyline to indicate how bad things could go was a great way of bringing Lana and Kyle into the fold to help her. But to morph that from “taking baby steps to find your purpose” to…getting a job at a diner…? Yeah, that was odd too.

Oh, and don’t get me STARTED on Kyle. My gosh, that man is an idiot and his arrogance is through the rough. That speech at the end with Chrissy was just…bad. He didn’t even say he was sorry! Just that he “overreacted,” and then when Chrissy said, “You’re not an idiot,” I was like, “Yes, he is!!! He proves it often!”

In the end, “Complications” was a decent end to the main storyline that has consumed the season. But I must wonder what is going to happen next with so many volatile elements still in play…and potentially only two episodes to end things for good.

3.5/5

Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!