This will kind of serve as another two-part review for the previous two episodes. Life yet again has done what it's done best and has prevented me from reviewing on time!
In a way, I like that I can meld the two most recent episodes into one review, because I honestly thought "Loyal Subjekts" was a bit of an uneventful episode while "O Mother Where Art Thou?" proved to be much more engaging to me. It's not that the episode was bad, just that it didn't quite keep up the momentum the previous episodes had established. The bulk of the episode surrounded Clark helping Jordan deal with his emerging frost powers, and Sarah preparing for her talent show. While those storylines provided some heartfelt moments, they felt a little too much like filler plots. The Lois/Edge rivalry felt like it had stalled a bit too, making it seem like the episode would end up being a simple bridge to the season's back half.
Fortunately, the ending of the episode remedied that in a major way. There were some pretty big, shocking reveals at the episode's climax, primarily surrounding Kyle Cushing and Morgan Edge. Kyle being an X-Kryptonite meta was a fantastic twist, paving the way for an awesome storyline in the following episode. Arguably the more surprising twist though involved Morgan Edge. In what was perhaps the most jaw-dropping moment on the show so far, Edge reveals himself to Superman as his brother from Krypton. This of course was expounded upon more in the next installment, but the tease here was the perfect way to signal that the show is about to shake things up. While to me the episode as a whole still felt like filler, the ending events helped give it a much-needed purpose.
Moving on to this week's episode, "O Mother Where Art Thou?". This episode picked right off where the previous one ended. Edge quickly reveals his backstory to Clark, and we find out that his real name is Tal-Rho. His father Zeta-Rho married Lara Lor-Van, Clark's birth mother, and they had him years before Clark was born. After predicting what would eventually happen to Krypton, Zeta sent Tal to Earth, where he was hunted and caged by humans. I couldn't find any comic book character/reference to Tal or Zeta, so they appear to be original characters made for the show. I normally am skeptical on Marvel/DC shows creating original villains, if only because of the plethora of ones available from the comics, but it looks like this will be an exception. The concept of Superman having a step-brother he's never known about is great, and I hope the show capitalizes on that potential.
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I said in a previous review that this season is giving me big Smallville Season 9 vibes, with an impending apocalyptic future and an army of Kryptonians at play. After that opening scene between Superman and Tal, I feel like that even more now. Tal is very much like Zod from that season, who tried to join forces with Clark by approaching him as a brother-like friend who can bring back Krypton. With Tal raising a Kryptonian army (in this case implating actual Kryptonian souls into humans) and offering an alliance with Clark, there's no way the writers didn't consciously do this (especially with the use of red skies). As a massive Smallville fan, of course, I'm totally here for it.
(Side Note: I do acknowledge that elements of this story are also found in the "New Krypton" comic arc)
The episode didn't let up after that either. Clark sets out to find a way to stop the Kryptonian Army without having to attempt finding those who have been affected one by one. After consulting Jor-El, he finds out that his Kryptonian mother invented the Eradicator (the device Edge uses to alter people), and is the only one who would know how to properly reverse the changing process. I'm sure many of us then knew that Clark would eventually use the machine to bring back Clark's mom. And lo and behold, he did just that. The person who served as the surrogate body was the real surprise, as none other than Lana Lang volunteered for the job. This was a cool way to have Clark interact with his birth mother for the first time, and it allowed for some pretty heartwarming scenes between the two of them. More importantly, though, she told Clark how to simultaneously reverse the mind-altering process for all those affected.
Using the full power of the sun as the way to solve a problem isn't exactly the newest Superman solution around, but it certainly made sense given the energy source needed to pull off what was required. Following a scene involving a hundred evil Kryptonians and some cool-looking laser blasts, Superman managed to revert everyone back to humans, but at a cost. Due to having to use so much power, Clark becomes seriously fatigued and passes out as he attempts to retreat to the Fortress. I'm sure he'll be back to heroics soon enough, but it should be interesting to see just how badly this feat has affected him.
Outside of the main Superman/Tal-Rho conflict, this episode also was a big one for the kids. With Kyle being apprehended by the DOD, Jordan and Jonathan are forced to tell Sarah what is really going on with him. They then take her to where Kyle is being held so she can see for herself, but Sarah quickly realizes the terrible truth of the matter. This all works to build the three's relationship in an impactful way, while also bringing us one step further to Jordan letting Sarah know his own secret. It also serves as a way for Sarah and her father to reconcile, hopefully paving the way for a much more stable father-daughter relationship.
The episode closed out by teasing us the Tal-Rho is not done quite yet and seems to have some sort of backup plan that will likely be unleashed in the remaining few episodes. What do you guys think he's planning?
