TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Superman & Lois Season 3 Episode 3: In Cold Blood

First off, it took me a while to realize why the episode was called “In Cold Blood,” and once I realized it…I laughed. Nice job, team.

Getting to the episode itself, it didn’t another great job of keeping things solid and respecting certain things while advancing plots on numerous fronts. I will say that they are walking a tightrope, and in one of the key scenes, I felt they pushed things slightly into the realm of the unbelievable.

Let’s start with the big one, Lois. After last week’s stunning cancer reveal, it was up to the show to make things feel real and depict what Lois and everyone around her were going through on multiple levels. With the exception of one thing, I feel they did that swimmingly. The opening and closing scenes were, once again, arguably the best parts of the episode. Lois didn’t hide her diagnosis from anyone. She told everyone. Friends, family, co-workers, etc. It was very nice, as was the show of support by everyone at the end, to highlight that while Lois will struggle, she won’t be alone.

The “skipping treatments” touch was another nice addition to the storyline. Missing the first one was understandable given who Lois is, as she’s often times hyperfocused on a story no matter what it is (as shown with Morgan Edge and her sister Lucy last year.) But when she missed the second one to chase down the lead…I feel they tiptoed out of line there. The first reason was that she “somehow” found Chrissy and wasn’t afraid to rush in despite having no intel ahead of time. Then, she put both of their lives on the line in the HOPE that there was something there to link to Bruno Manheim. She even pulled a Moby Dick and said he was the “white whale” to her, and yet…she does remember that Ahab died trying to get that whale, right?

And while her talk about being “fragile” was very heartfelt and believable in the right context, Clark had made it clear earlier in the episode that she could still do the story so long as she got her treatments. I know it sounds like I’m harping on this, but it really was a “tiptoe” out of line because of how it was handled overall. And they did show that Chrissy was heavily affected by what Lois did, and I was happy with that.

The kids’ storyline was honestly a bit…hit-and-miss. Natalie wanting to give her mother’s watch to Lois with the three kids’ names engraved was very touching, and John Henry Irons’ reaction to it was understandable as well…even if I feel he came off as a bit too…standoffish at points. But he recovered well, and I loved how he saved Superman from the Kryptonite gauntlets. Sadly, the bit with Jonathan and Candice was…not the best.

First off, we’re just NOW meeting Candice’s father, and he immediately becomes a bad guy despite us knowing next to nothing about him. Second, Jonathan not talking about what happened at the party (and the episode dragging out the reveal) was very CW in a bad way. As I noted last week, he handled everything perfectly, including walking out on his ex despite her stating she wouldn’t tell anyone about their potential “fling.” But here, he dragged his feet telling his girlfriend about it (when she’s technically done much worse than he did) and then had to wait until the end of the episode for him to talk about it only AFTER he was called “perfect.” Yeah, very CW.

And then…there’s Lana. Who had not one but two OMG moments in this episode. The first was when Kyle came in being a dick (he’s such a one-note character), and Lana rightfully called him out on his bull before sending him packing. I cheered so hard for her in that moment. Then, when she got home to talk to Sara…her daughter crossed a serious line, and she slapped the taste out of her mouth. I literally shouted, “OH SNAP!” because I didn’t see that coming.

…which is where another crossing of a line came in. Not on Lana’s part but on Sara’s. Did Lana come in too hot about asking what Sara told her father? A little. But Sara escalated it WAY quickly in a way that kind of betrays the character. She said that Lana only went after the mayor’s job “to feel important” and that she’s trying to “boss everyone around” and is being selfish and then said that all of this was why Kyle cheated on Lana. It was way too much, and the reasoning behind it was that she was mad that she got punished for lying about the party. That’s it? Even by CW standards, that’s thin.

Add to that, we just NOW hear that Lana’s mother was apparently abusive (which you think Clark or Lana would’ve brought up given how close they were as kids/teens), and then Sara runs to Kyle and now I can only imagine him pulling a “holier than thou” talk with Lana next week. This is wrong because while slapping Sara wasn’t the right thing to do, it was hardly unprovoked. I won’t deduct too much, though, as I’ll see where this leads.

In the end, “In Cold Blood” focused on the characters while also building more things to come in the season. We’ll see where this all goes soon enough.

4/5