‘Superman & Lois’ Final Season Review – It’s The End Of An Era, But Is It Good Riddance?
The last of the Arrowverse came to a close with the Superman & Lois finale, ending DC TV as a The CW institution for good after 12 years. It was a longer period than that when you count Smallville and The WB, but the run was a lengthy experiment most are ready to move on from, and gladly.
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Production quality and storytelling strength took a nosedive over the years and those problems combined with chaos behind the scenes to give us the likes of Batwoman and Gotham Knights. However, Superman & Lois stood apart through those disasters from its Supergirl and “Crisis On Infinite Earths” roots.
A soft reboot of sorts, it was able to separate itself from the baggage of the Arrowverse’s bad before by existing in its own timeline. The show was all the better for this and harkened back to the good old days when Arrow and The Flash were new and displayed promise in those first few seasons.
Tyler Hoechlin proved to be a decent Man of Steel and the dynamic between him and Elizabeth Tulloch’s Lois Lane usually hit the right notes. They also managed to juggle the additions of Supersons and an Earth-2 John Henry Irons (Wole Parks). Soon, they’d add a Lex Luthor in Michael Cudlitz and a Doomsday, which would become integral to the last season.
Both they and Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman) along with Milton Fine/Brainiac (Nikolai Witschl) and a brief appearance by secret New God G. Gordon Godfrey (Tom Cavanagh) all play a part in what amounts to a retelling of “The Death and Return of Superman.” Clark loses his battle with Doomsday, which costs him his heart and puts him out of action for a few episodes.
This is all part of a relentless Luthor’s bloodthirsty plot of revenge against Supes and Lois for sending him to prison on phony charges. Lex not only seeks to strike back against them and their powered-up sons (Alex Garfin and Michael Bishop), but their hometown too – putting the Kent clan, their secrets, and Smallville’s unsteady peace in jeopardy.
Lex Luthor is the best and most obvious choice for the series‘ final boss despite the surprising casting of Cudlitz and his slightly divergent portrayal. Elements of the cutthroat businessman and the mad scientist are present, but the ex-con Luthor is written as here resembles a mobster or gang leader you might see on Yellowstone or Sons of Anarchy.
Secondly, yet another actor playing yet another variant of a bad guy is the same old multiverse shenanigans, but Cudlitz goes places I don’t think Jon Cryer could have. With everything said and done, he should be considered one of the best Lex Luthors ever (I’m serious) and it shouldn’t take a long passage of time or much reflection to reach that conclusion.
Doomsday is a different story. Some of you were probably psyched to hear about his return to television if you haven’t seen it already, but there’s a caveat you should know about. While the CGI monstrosity you are left with behaves like Doomsday should and does everything the killing machine is known for, they suckered you. You see, this one is not a genuine article.
Superman & Lois falls into the same trap as the DCEU, even if the show does it better. Doomsday is actually a hulked-up mutant Bizarro whom Mannheim experimented on, and Luthor later tortured to death over and over. After a few months, Luthor got himself a homegrown Frankenstein monster version of Superman’s evil twin that looks the part although he doesn’t use the name. He’s either referred to as “that thing” or “that creature.”
Doomsday’s ‘booking’, shall we say, is all over the place. He has always been one-dimensional with one job description – punching Superman to death. Fulfilling that obligation, he disappears to save money and stays on the sidelines most of the time. They find novel ways to keep him there, such as Lois appealing to what’s left of his conscience, but they only work temporarily.
Substitute Doomsday returns every time to be a rampaging weapon of mass destruction, Clark gets beaten up some more, and stuff gets destroyed – rinse and repeat. When he is ultimately defeated by teamwork, it’s interesting but anticlimactic. To kill him for good, Superman drags him to the sun which doesn’t heal him due to his Bizarro body chemistry.
If that’s all it took, then why didn’t he do it sooner – you know, before getting killed? A whole lot of pain could have been avoided. It gets stranger when Doomsday, having a moment of clarity because the plot needs him to, resigns himself to his fate.
Fortunately, this is only one sporadic aspect of the final season. Overall, it’s acted and handled well. The budget might be reduced and the supporting players may have been issued smaller schedules, but you won’t notice. Superman & Lois is as good as a CW DC program can be, and it went out on a high note before the creeping “Message” could drag it down.
Can we say good riddance to the Arrowverse? Sure, it overstayed its welcome, but should the same be said of S&L? No, it deserves the benefit of the doubt.
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Superman & Lois
PROS
- The final season works well within its reported limitations, which are unnoticeable.
- Michael Cudlitz is a memorable and unrelenting Lex.
- Experience is more worthwhile than 'Penguin'.
CONS
- Superman needing a heart transplant is a hard sell no matter how it's written.
- Doomsday is overused and this series did nothing to break that trend.
- The "Truth, justice, better tomorrow" line is used albeit once.
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