Superman & Lois' opening season has, unfortunately, has been plagued by constant breaks and delays. It's a problem that many CW shows have had to deal with even before the pandemic, and unfortunately, it usually harms the flow of the respective season when it's airing. Despite all of this, however, Superman & Lois has become one of the most consistently great superhero shows on television. Its incredible combination of action, heart, and drama matched with its respect for the source material have made the show something truly special. All of that is on full display here in the penultimate episode of season one.
The main plot of the episode focused on Tal-Rho fully becoming the Eradicator himself. While I don't think the process was fully explained all that well (especially considering that he was normal during the last episode and all of the sudden was able to switch to full-on Eradicator?), I do think it has upped the stakes of the show significantly. This leads to him freeing Leslie Larr, on top of recruiting even more minions to his cause, as he now seemingly has the ability to turn anyone he wants to into an evil Kryptonian. What ensues is absolute chaos, as Superman and Steel go head-to-head with all of them in order to stop the destruction of Metropolis. Of course, this means we get to see several incredibly well-done action scenes that this show does so well!
The episode didn't forget about the less flashy storylines either though. Outside of the imminent destruction of the world, the Cushing family continued to struggle with rather or not to move away from Smallville. Kyle is offered a fire chief position in a town a few hours away, which further complicates the issue within the family. This causes Sarah to understandably get frustrated. After having a heart-to-heart conversation with one of his fellow coworkers though, Kyle lets it be known to Lana that he is starting to second-guess his decision to leave. It's scenes like these that prove to me how great the show is at developing not just its main characters, but its side characters as well. There might be characters I like more than others, but overall there's not a single character that I don't appreciate to some degree.
On the journalism side of things, Chrissy reveals that she is, unfortunately, going to have to sell the Smallville Gazette to a big media corporation. In hindsight, considering all that happened with Edge and the mistrust plaguing everyone in Smallville, this was inevitable. The mistrust problem is even further exasperated by the DOD's continued presence in the small town. It all then fully erupts when Lois decides to inform a group of concerned citizens that Edge has escaped, and Sam is forced to let everyone know that they currently don't know where he is. I wouldn't want to be the General in that situation!
The episode closes out with one of the most intense scenes of the show so far, as the Eradicator attacks Sam, Jonathan, Jordan, and Sarah. Sam gets badly injured, then Jonathan attempts to use Sam's Kryptonite pistol (and fails). The Eradicator then kidnaps Jordan and subsequently turns him evil. We find out that it's not that simple, however, as it's revealed that Tal-Rho's father has taken over Jordan's body. Man, I sure didn't see that one coming!
Overall, I thought this was an excellent episode that set up what is sure to be an intense finale!
