TV REVIEWS: FTN Reviews Superman & Lois Season 3 Episode 8: Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

I’ll admit that I’ve been curious to see how things would go on the Bruno Manheim front, given the last couple of episodes and cliffhangers. And with “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?” I’m now a little worried that Manheim might have just been a red herring for someone else. Someone that we KNOW is about to show up in Smallville.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Tonight’s episode did have some very fun and interesting moments. Yet once again, it did come at a cost, almost frustratingly so at points.

On the good side, I liked the opening of the episode once again, where we saw the slow decline of Lois’ health. I know that’s odd to say. But we NEED to feel the pain of Lois through this process, or else the cancer will feel like a Macguffin and nothing else. Furthermore, Clark and Chrissy picking things up where Lois left off when she didn’t want to proceed with the Manheim story was good too. I even loved how excited Chrissy was to fly. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make an episode.

And while the “fun” didn’t last, I did like how everything was handled with the “Manheim Dinner” for the most part. Including Peia being the doting mom, and the Manheim’s embarrassing Mateo in front of Natalie, which she was fine with adding to in her own way. John Henry even got some good scenes with him wanting Nat to have a great night, and then following up on the “other John’s” sister to ensure she was alright after everything. I’m not sure those two will keep connecting, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing if so.

Furthermore, Lois breaking out of her funk to learn that Manheim used his wife’s powers to frame Luthor was actually really clever. As her gift could mimic voices (as we had seen her do with the trap via Lois’ voice), and it would be near impossible to prove that a methhuman did it.

Finally, I appreciated the storyline beat with Sam and Lana. Him giving her advice on why she shouldn’t be alone and trying to get someone new in her life. We all know who she might have in mind…but we’ll save that for when it happens.

So, where did the episode go wrong? Well, once again, the Super Sons failed to live up to who they were and could be. In this case, Jonathan (somehow…) was already getting to ride with Kyle and the crew toward some fires…and when Jordan saved someone and nearly cost Jonathan his job, the two had at it. If they had framed this right, it would’ve been fine. But Jonathan proclaiming that “they didn’t need his help” was arrogant and self-serving. How would he know? He was on the outside and precious seconds matter in a fire…which he should know about. And yes, Jordan saying what he did was wrong, but that was the lesser of the two evils. And it doesn’t help that the “Jonathan’s a firefighter” arc still feels so random.

Another issue here was with Lana. Her storyline about “The Cure” tickets was fine, but then it tied into her lonliness…which we addressed last episode. Like, literally, last episode. Lana said that she felt stuck while others were “moving on” and that’s what led to the fireworks scene with Sarah. But then, with this episode, Sarah “couldn’t be bothered” to go to a concert with her mom, only to be told by Jordan the very lesson that she learned last episode about “doing what you love with who you love.” So…yeah, kind of confusing.

As for Lois, while her “breakthrough” was great, it felt off that she would give up on the Manheim story simply because of her relationship with Peia. Yes, they described it as “the cancer talking,” but they could’ve handled it better given how far Lois has gone for a story in the past (including almost ruining her family) and who Lois Lane is. And it shouldn’t have been as simple as “here’s some top secret Macguffins!” to snap her out of it.

Finally, while the Manheim scenes at the end were nice in their own way…there was just something off about Bruno going full-on ape just because John Henry showed up. And then Peia went from “we can’t do this” to “I’ll kill them both myself” without skipping a beat…and it basically killed her. That’s why I’m worried about where this Manheim story will go, because I don’t want him to be a “stepping stone to Luthor.” We’ve seen Luthor in MANY shows recently both in the Arrowverse and beyond, this could’ve been their chance to showcase Manheim as a true threat…and they’re hesitating to do it in some ways.

In the end, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?” did make some big paradigm shifts, but you have to wonder at what cost they were made.

3.5/5