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's episode Of Sound Mind was written by George Kitson and directed by Diana Valentine.
Bruno Mannheim :
John Distefano/Deadline our villain from last episode was being affected by whatever Mamnheim did to him to give him powers and Clark states that he has tumors all over his body. Whatever Mannheim is doing to these people is clearly harming them, Sam agrees for Clark to take John to Mannheims House. Bruno tells him to take John to a hospital which is pretty cruel, Deadline ends up dying as a result. Lois revealed that Deadline was diagnosed with stage 4 Lymphoma before Mannheim had him released. Henry Miller was also terminally ill. Bruno Mannheim is clearly giving powers to terminally ill people not to save them but to meet his own ends. Manheim now has Bizarro's body which is bringing him closer to whatever his nefarious goals are.
Clark and Lois :
Opening the episode with a support group for spouses was a great first step for Clark but it ended up being short lived. Clark hearing about the support group leader's husband clearly freaked him out. Lois's treatment is also slowly continuing to affect her but she seems to have begun to adjust to her new reality. Lois is able to make a new friend Peia at the hospital, who she goes out with for dinner. Lois is able to bond with Peia by discussing Clark’s behavior and his inability to accept the gravity of her situation. Peia having gone through it with her husband is able to relate to what Clark and Lois are currently going through as a couple. When Peia referenced her unseen husband in her scene with Lois my thoughts immediately went to the idea that she is Bruno Mannheim's wife. Bruno is clearly doing his experiments to save somebody's life; it couldn't have been a coincidence that Lois verbally indicated that Bruno Mannheim's superhuman experiments were most likely attempts to save his subjects' lives. It's the most logical plot point.
The final scene of the episode pretty much confirms that Peia is indeed both Bruno’s wife and the supervillainess Onomatopoeia and he is doing the experiments to save her life. It even explains why Onomatopoeia was able to confront him earlier in the episode about his “mistakes” with Superman and Bruno let it slide which he hasn't done with Superman and John Henry. Peia Mannheim is clearly befriending Lois inorder to keep an eye on Lois for her husband and we know she is just as dangerous as Bruno since she murdered this earth’s version of John Henry Irons
After avoiding the talk for most of the episode Clark and Lois finally had a big talk about Clark’s failure to see that cancer is Lois's villain and Clark can't keep acting like everything will be okay as afraid as he is. Lois gets mad that Clark laser beamed Jordan using the fortress to I guess scare Jordan into thinking he isn’t ready , Clark is very afraid of losing his family. He is not open to even considering the possibility of Lois dying, that's the reason why he said the support group wasn't for him at the beginning of the episode and he didn't want to entertain Lois wanting to talk about her last will and testament, end of life decisions list , power of attorney e.t.c… . John Distefano dying convinced Lois that she needed to be prepared because he had three daughters and beyond Clark she also has to think about her boys and that potential dark future for them.
Clark finally admits to Lois at the end of the episode that he feels powerless and Lois tells him she has every intention to fight for their family and Clark promises to support her and also listen to her more. This exemplifies why the Kent’s are such a great couple, it feels good to watch a healthy couple without romantic melodrama for once on television.
Lana , Chrissy and Kyle :
Chrissy interviewed Lana at the beginning of the episode and she was clearly not comfortable with it because she is dating Lana's ex husband. Kyle and Chrissy have continued to see each other in secret and Kyle isn't comfortable with telling Lana about his new relationship because he feels it's way too soon after the divorce which may be fair but it's also fair for Chrissy not to want to feel like she is his side piece “dirty little secret”. Realistically Kyle and Lana are divorced , it's believable that they will start dating other people. Kyle does say he is afraid of his girls getting hurt but part of him might still have hope he will get back together with Lana , it was only a few episodes ago when he was jealous at the thought of Lana getting close to John Henry.
Kyle and Lana are still on shaky ground because of the divorce and things quickly went south with Lana finding out Kyle and Chrissy are dating at a store. From Lana’s perspective this makes it look like they were sneaking around behind her back which particularly looks weird because Chrissy and Lana have a somewhat friendly relationship. Telling Lana the truth would have been way better for both of them since this also unnecessarily affects Chrissy and Lana's “friendly” relationship. Kyle does however use the incident with Lana finding out to finally ask Chrissy to be his girlfriend , so that is something.
The teens/ pre-teens :
Jonathan and Sophie :
Jonathan has started his training at the Firestation and he isn't having a great time. Kyle is being hard on Jonathan which gives Karate kid Mr Miyagi Vibes. Jonathan as a character has struggled to find his place in Smallville and joining the Fire Station seems to be a part of that search for a place to belong. He clearly does still feel like the odd one out in his family with Jordan getting to play superhero with Clark. Jonathan’s story tied into Sophie Cushings storyline this episode really well.
Sophie as a character has felt kind of ignored by both of her parents and sister and her disappearances have become a silent running gag on the show. Sophie runs away in this episode and when Jonathan and Sarah finally find her at a field, Sophie talks about how everyone always forgets about her and they never want her around. Having Jonathan talk to Sophie about feeling that way was perfect , I actually never thought Jonathan and Sophie were meant to parallel each other as characters but it makes so much sense. It also shows that the writers are aware of plot elements in their story which is great.I’m glad they made this specific plot hole an important part of the story. Jonathan’s moment with Sophie also helped him earn Kyle’s respect. I also liked the moment we got of Sarah apologizing for being a bad big sister and Lana apologizing for being too busy leading to Sophie feeling ignored. I'm glad they're all making an effort to be better.
Jordan :
Jordan is on a high right now about being a hero. Clark overprotectiveness of Jordan is at an all time high right now specifically because of how worried he is about Lois. Clark is trying to protect his family ,which is a very normal reaction for a parent. Clark cranking up Jordans training was clearly intended to teach him the lesson that he isn't ready yet but Clark took it a bit too far. Clark being overprotective might have the exact opposite effect of what he wants if Jordan starts acting out. Jordan might be a teen but he can take care of himself just as much as Clark can in most situations and Clark has been doing a good job training him. Even Lois, who was very much against Jordan doing hero work, is okay with Jordan going off on his own sometimes. Clark’s real fear is being unable to protect his family.
Onomatopoeia’s Trap :
Onomatopoeia uses her powers to draw away Superman by mimicking Lois's voice crying out for help and Clark tells Jordan to stay at home. Onomatopoeia acting on Mannheim's instructions weakens Superman with her powers ( sonic waves) as Bruno Mannheim’s men show up to finish him off with their Kryptonite laser weapons. Whilst this is happening Lois shows up at home and tells Jordan to listen for his father and tell her what he hears.
Jordan hears that Clark is in trouble and flies to the rescue when Lois tells him to save his father and prove him wrong about being ready. This moment also allows us to see Jordan's first super suit , which is okay. It's definitely not intended to be a final suit, it's practical but kind of ugly to me. I really hope we do see an upgraded suit by the end of the season, especially since this might be the final season of the show.
Jordan flies across the sky like his Dad does and he arrives at Superman’s location , Jordan manages to take out some of Mannheim's henchmen but Onomatopoeia immobilizes him as one of Mannheims men uses his Kryptonite weapon on Jordan which makes Clark angry enough to use his laser vision to hurt on Mannheim's man and Onomatopoeia to immobilize them. Onomatopoeia escapes but she appears to be injured as she indicates to Bruno when she informs him that she is losing her powers as Bruno vows to save his wife's life. We also made another interesting discovery during the episode , Kryptonite doesn't affect Jordan the same way it affects Clark due to his human heritage.
Conclusion :
Whilst we didn't get John Henry and Natalie for this episode ,this season is very balanced character wise and the writers are using all of the main cast in interesting ways. All the shows characters seem to have individual storylines this season which makes them interesting to watch.
Join me weekly for more reviews of the third season of Superman and Lois on the CW.
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