I thought I would enjoy this show and it did not dissapoint. The twist in the end as well as
the reveal of which son actually had powers were things I sadly was spoiled by, which is a shame because they were both well done and I might have gone with the “seems to obvious” on the first twist the ending would have definitely got me.
I liked the interaction between the family, although I hope Jordan Kent will be written better going on. His behavior is realistic given he has anxiety, but could see it getting grating to watch as a viewer.
Johnathan was also an interesing character. The dislikable jock has become such a trope especially recently so glad he was not of that mold. And am interested to see where he and Jordan’s relationship goes moving forward.
I am curious about the kids age. I am usually not a continuity nerd, but given this is set in the Arrowverse I am not clear on why his kids are now teenagers. I got that Crisis changed it to Clark and Lois having twins instead of one kid, but did it not only age them up but re-write it so everyone remembers them always being there (always as in the last 15 years or however old they are). Am fine with either an will even forgive the fact that if it’s the latter Clark should remember they have not been around all that time, but for dramatic effect I am cool with ignoring that plot hole.
As for the rest… Lana’s family showed potential. I like she is in this, and while the lack of red hair initially made me say that doens’t look like Lana, I somehow forgot she didn’t have red hair in Smallville (the TV series) either obviously, which is what the majority probably know her from. Guess having watched Superboy back in the day I still think of Stacy Haudik when I think of Lana.
Something about her personality seemed off compared to the comics, but aside from that being a thing that sometimes happens when adapting to TV, it also is presumably a decade from the Lana we see portrayed in the comics, or really any media so that would also explain any of it. Kind of weird she didn’t know about his powers since more or less since the mid 80’s she always has, but storyline wise it makes sense to change that.
Lana’s daughter is interesting although kind of hope nothing comes of the hinted romance between her and Jordan, only because while I get the characters are the same age I know about the age difference with the actors and don’t want to have to pretend I don’t know for multiple seasons.
Lana’s husband seems interesting too. He definitely was supposed to be unlikable. But he did seem to have signs of being a decent guy underneath, and Lana’s daughter (sorry still don’t know her name) telling the story about her dad’s job did humanize him some. I am hoping they will go the less predictable way and instead of him being a heavy who is just biding time until Lana inevitably leaves him that they add some nuance, and maybe a redemption arc of sorts. His character seemed very real to the types of families that exist in small town rural America. So hope he sticks around and is shown to be more of a flawed character than jut a bad person. Those are the type of characters I like watching in shows.
Not sure what the point of giving Lana a younder daughter was, she didn’t even have a line in the show and her age would seem to keep her marginalized from the rest of the cast. But if they are apparently going to have to pay someone to play her the writers much have something planned.
I also liked seeing Sam Lane in the show. Not that he has not been adapted before, he has in most contemporary live action Superman where Lois is a character. But while I am not as up to date on Rebirth and New-52 Superman, having him be in on Superman’s secret and working so clos to him seemed off. But given it is the Arrowverse where no hero seems to truly operate without some kind of behind the scenes support I guess they couldn’t completely go against it.
I was harkened back to Supergirl when Jimmy said once Superman refuses to work alongside the government. But won’t hold them to a throwaway line they made long before this show was likely even remotely considered. Besides, you could just blame that change on Crisis re-writing it.
All in all a good show. I do think some might complain about it going too slow, since it seems to follow the Lois and Clark (the TV series from the 90’s) mold of focusing more on the character’s lives and interactions over action and Superman in the suit. But if it continues to be as well done as this episode, I think most will come around.
While the comics have covered Superman as a parent even before recent comics, Lois and Clark as parents it obviously still cannon now. But it is a side of them most are not familiar with, and this show is different enough from even the comics it feels like a true fresh take.
I predict yet another Successful Superman/Superman related show to cover the near perfect success rate of Superman related live action series… we’ll call Krypton a fluke.