Beware of spoilers for the episode in the article. Please do not continue reading if you haven’t watched the episode yet and you are not okay with being spoiled.
Introduction :
This week we had a Valentine's dance and I realized that this episode is the first time that we have gotten a school dance episode on the show. The closest thing to a school dance episode on Superman and Lois I can recall was Sarah’s Quinceanera episode (which doesn't count) in season 2 and that's about it. The Smallville tv series had a few dance episodes in the early 2000’s during that shows highschool years.
Clark and Lois :
Clark and Lois went to Bruno Manheim’s hospital for her cancer treatment but in true Lois fashion she ended up being more preoccupied with being Lois the journalist and not the patient. Manheim caught her snooping in one of his hospital's doctor’s offices. Whilst I do believe that part of Bruno might really want to help people ,I also think Manheim never does anything that doesn't benefit him. He gave Lois a story about his hospital , which would be a great story but at what cost. Manheim is helping people through that facility but also using it for his nefarious purposes. That creates a interesting dilemma for Lois.
Clark at the Hospital :
Whilst Lois was away snooping at the hospital Clark talked to some chemo patients , losing Lois is really his greatest fear. Tyler’s facial expressions did all the talking throughout that interaction , one of Clark’s greatest qualities as a character is his compassion. His reaction to hearing about one of the ladies' daughters passing away because of cancer at the tender age of 37 really echoed his fears about his wife. Tyler Hoechlin has been doing a great job this season as always. The ladies immediately knew Clark was probably going through it emotionally as Lois’s partner when he said he was there to support Lois.
Clark also needs support too but he has to be strong for Lois. I’m wondering if this is building to something , Clark has been struggling with Lois’s diagnosis since he found out about it. I really hope Clark gets to talk more with John Henry. John could be a great friend for him to lean on during this time , so he doesnt stress Lois out which is clearly something he is worried about. Cancer can also be hard for a patient’s loved ones. Back to the “Love is scary” dialogue line by Grandpa Sam later in the episode, if you love somebody you might have to confront the idea of losing them too, that's one of the reasons it is scary particularly for Clark. Superman feels completely powerless to save Lois in this case.
Lois struggling to go to the dance towards the end of the episode was really sad. I’m glad Clark was able to bring the dance to Lois and dance a bit with her in their living room at the farm. Jordan dancing with Lois and telling her he loves her was another great moment in the episode. The show has been delivering some really great memorable scenes this season.
The Teens:
Natalie and Matteo:
Matteo is doing everything right but I did agree with Sam being suspicious of Matteo at the beginning of the episode , it seems like too much of a good thing. I still believe Matteo is not just an ordinary rich kid from Metropolis , he is probably Manheim's son. I liked Granddad Sam being very protective of Natalie this episode. In a way Sam has the chance to kind of have a blank slate with Natalie unlike he had with Lois and Lucy. At the Valentine’s dance Natalie ran away when Matteo tried to kiss her. Natalie being afraid of her feelings is the most relatable thing ever , she has never dated or kissed anyone before so it made sense that she ran when things got too intimate. I liked that Sam ran after Natalie and he also shared his own feelings with her about his wife and told her “love is scary”. Natalie calling Sam Grandpa and hugging him was probably my favorite moment of the episode. I like that they have been spending a lot of time together.
Sarah:
It was nice of Sarah to reach out to George Dean's son. The man was horrible but it was nice of her to at least be there for him especially since they used to be friends. Mayor Dean's kid getting Sarah to drink a sip of his alcohol however almost got her in trouble with Lana. If Sarah does keep hanging out with him I do worry about her developing a drinking problem just like her father though, so I hope Sarah is able to have better judgment going forward. I’m glad Sarah explained herself to her mother in a mature way. Sarah might have basically only had one sip but drinking can be a slippery slope, Sarah is a minor and she also seems to be a lot like Kyle which is worrying. Sarah overall acted much better in this weeks episode ,that is some real character growth for her after her behavior in the last few episodes. Sarah also managed to convince her mother to let the Mayor Dean stuff go so his son can be left with good memories of his father. I feel Mayor Dean will probably be exposed anyway by the end of the season due to his ties to Manheim who clearly ordered Onomatopoeia to kill him.
Jonathan and Candice :
Young love is difficult, Jonathan might have to choose between getting the firefighter gig and dating Candice but they are teens. I don’t see him and Candice lasting too long if she moves to Topeca which is four hours away. If Jonathan had powers like Jordan it would be easier since he could fly there and back home but unfortunately he doesn’t. Long distance relationships are hard enough for adults to sustain and they are teens. Jonathan has been burned before and he is afraid of losing Candice but that might be out of his hands.
Other plots :
Chrissy and Kyle
Chrissy and Kyle clearly have feelings for each other, the question for me is whether the feelings are on the same page. Kyle dancing at the dance was funny. I liked that he did ask Chrissy to dance with him publicly , since it shows he isn't trying to hide being seen in public with her. Chrissy however still seems uneasy about Lana finding out that she has been sleeping with her ex husband , she looked scared when she went to meet up with Lana to talk about Mayor Dean. Lana and Kyle are going to start seeing other people soon , they are divorced so this is something they really can’t hide forever. I hope Chrissy doesn’t get hurt though especially since they haven’t placed a label on their “relationship”.
Manheim's experiments:
It seems Bruno Manheim's experiments are capable of giving people different power sets from the typical Superman powers we’ve become accustomed to on the show. Jason Distefano/Deadline is able to phase through walls and Onomatopoeia has sound sonic powers. I'm not sure if both characters are actually metas in the universe or if they are using Intergang technology to simulate having powers. I do however like this new power development either way since it allows the writers to create more interesting fights for Superman besides all out brawls whenever he has a fight. Manheim is very slimy and smart and I think it will take the entire Superman family to defeat him. He used Jason Distefano to create a distraction and keep Superman busy enough for Jason to transfer whatever information he wanted from the DOD.
Cliffhanger :
In the episode's last scene we discovered that Manheim wants to bring back Bizarro. Bringing back Bizarro feels like something Bruno is doing so that he has his own Superman on call to do his own bidding. If he is able to have his own Superman no wonder why he doesn't feel intimidated at all by Superman , his experiments with Atom Man didn't seem to bear any permanent fruit so using a version of Superman might be the next best thing.
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