Superman and Lois Season 3 SPOILER Review
The final episode of season 3 of Superman and Lois has dropped, which means we now have the completed third season of the show. How was the season? Was it another solid season? Thanks for reading!
NOTE: Like the title says this blog post will contain SPOILERS for the entire season. And there’s some big stuff in here to talk about, so please don’t read this if you haven’t seen the entire season.
GENERAL THOUGHTS: I’ll just cut right to the chase, I really dug the season and I thought it was a big step-up over season 2. Season 2 I thought had a lot of good ideas executed poorly and just as a whole didn’t really work for me. So I was hesitant going into season 3, and I really dug it. I thought the plot lines and ideas in here were much more interesting and handled much better. We get Lois’ cancer, Bruno Manheim was a solid villain, and there’s a lot in here that I thought really worked. It’s not a perfect season, season 1 is still the best season. But I thought season 3 took things more in the right direction.
The Good:
Lois’ Cancer Treatment: This was one of the big plot lines running through-out the season and I
thought it was handled very well. They went a lot deeper with it then I originally thought they were
going to, it provides an emotional journey for The Kent Family that I thought worked. It really evoke
d some big emotions from you and I liked how they tied it into the season long big bad, Bruno Mannheim.
And I feel like this plot line shows why Superman and Lois are so much better than the recent
Arrowverse seasons. It’s a much more complex and emotional plot line than anything on The Flash,
Gotham Knights, or whatever show. The Arrowverse likes to tackle very real subject matter and
sometimes they can get preach with very lazing writing with the way it’s done. Superman and Lois
do that, this being a prime example of that but it’s handled in such a different way. I wish this is
how more Arrowverse shows did it, I wish this show came out earlier so that way they could learn
from this show.
Bruno Manheim: The main villain of the season and I thought he was really good, I really liked
what he brought to the season. And fun fact the actor, Chad L Coleman was a villain on Arrow back
in season 6. So it’s always fun to see old Arrowverse actors come back as different characters. And I
really liked how he was used in the season and how they tied him into the different plot lines of the
season. He’s the one that owns the medical facility that Lois goes to for cancer treatment. They tie in
Lex Luthor’s entrance on the show to what Bruno has been up to. And then Bruno’s son is dating
Natalie, John Henry Irons’ daughter. So he’s a villain because of his connections to our heroes in the
show through-out the season. I thought that was handled very well. And I thought the actor, Coleman
did a great job. You bought him as the business man, the family man, and the villain. He could play all of
the different angles of the character really well. Now one thing that I do think holds him back, is that
every villain so far is doing research and experiments for their bigger plan. Now all three seasons have
done this in different ways so it’s not like they are copying one another, but they have a similar motivation
and goal. And we do know that in season 4 Lex Luthor is going to be the villain of the season, I hope he
moves away from this. I hope they don’t have Lex Luthor do experiments on people for a way to defeat
Superman. But in general, I think Bruno is basically tied with Morgan Edge from season 1 as the best villain
on the show.
Lex Luthor’s Introduction: So finally we have Lex Luthor as a foe against Superman, we saw Jon Cryer’s
version of the character on Supergirl. But since Superman and Lois aren't a part of the Arrowverse, they
decided to re-cast the character with Michael Cudlitz who was on The Walking Dead for multiple
seasons. And again, I really liked what they did with him on the show. And how they built up to his
introduction on the show, they set-up this moment with Bruno Manheim where they realized that
Lex Luthor was innocent for the reasons why he was sent to jail. Bruno is the real villain, but Lex Luther
is innocent and that is what sets up Lex Luthor’s introduction and I’m guessing where they’re going
in season 4. Now I think I need to see more of him to decide whether this version is better than Jon Cryer’s version.
I think both are really good. But I need to spend season 4 with him to decide which one is better. Now one thing that
I did notice while watching episode 12, his introduction episode. Is that they present him as being this super intense guy
that manipulates the cell block, the warden of the prison to get what he wants. But he’s still in jail for 15 years, he’s so manipulative
but he’s still in jail for almost 2 decades. It’s not something that I think holds back the season, the character, or even the episodes but it is something I noticed and didn’t quite line up.
Production Value: One of the things that has always amazed me about this show is how great the show looks, it doesn’t look like it’s on the same network as The Flash or Arrow or Supergirl, it looks so much better. And one of the big things that’s been talked about with this show over the last several weeks is how these DC shoes are too expensive to be made on the CW. And after hearing that and then watching the show, I can see how that makes sense. Some shots, some action scenes look better then shots in The Flash movie from a couple weeks back. A superhero show on a typical tv show budget looks better than a $200 million blockbuster. That’s crazy, but it’s the truth…which you can’t handle.
Season 4 Set-Up: And this is one of the more frustrating parts of the season because of what they’ve said about season 4. If you don’t know the show was renewed for a fourth season but with a big budget cut. As of season 3 the show had 11 main cast members, 7 of them are not returning for season 3 due to budget cuts. Basically The Kent Family are the only main cast members returning for season 4. Michael Cudlitz has been promoted to a series regular for season 4. It’s so frustrating when a show does this because season 3 left off with a lot of dangling plot lines. Kyle and Chrissy get married and are having a kid. Jordan starts to fix his relationship with Sarah. A possible relationship between John Henry and Lana. John Henry and Natalie possibly moving to Metropolis to work for the DOD. All of these plot lines that are going to be left unfinished. Maybe they won’t be, they could return for guest star roles and tie up these loose ends. But I wish we got a fourth season to explore them. And I’m going to guess that if these budget cuts weren’t going to happen, season 4 was going to be used to close out John Henry and Natalie’s arc. Even though I’m not crazy about Kyle and Crissy getting married, I’m still curious to see where it goes. But the big thing to talk about here is the cliffhanger where Lex Luthor’s plan is to take out Sam Lane and Superman so Lois Lane is left vulnerable so he can get revenge for putting her in jail. So General Lane gets kidnapped at the end of season 3, we don’t follow-up on that. So Lex creates Doomsday as a way to kill Superman and that’s where it leaves off, in the middle of their fight. And that was very cool, the CGI not so good involving the fight. But the basic idea of it for where they could go in season 4 is interesting. I’m thinking The Death of Superman is going to be a big part of season 4, I’m very excited to see if that actually happens. And as I mentioned earlier, I hope season 4 does something different with Jordan. I think this story is a great way to change that. What I mean by that is you have The Death of Superman storyline take place, the world is left without Superman so Jordan has to step up to stop Lex Luthor and possibly Doomsday. I think there’s something very interesting to have happened here, I’d be totally down if that’s the direction they go for season 4. Maybe they also set some things up for season 5 to be the final season of the show.
The Bad:
The Cushing Family: In season 1 I really liked the Cushing family. I thought they were great characters that add some interesting dynamics into the mix. And then with seasons 2 and 3 I feel like they haven’t known what to do with them. Where in season 2 they had Papa Cushing, Kyle had an affair which led to him and Lana getting a divorce. And then season 3 felt like they were giving him a character arc so I appreciate that. But then with Lana I think her being the mayor is interesting, but it’s just the superficial version of it. It doesn’t go any deeper beyond “she’s the mayor of Smallville''. And then Sarah they have her be a victim of Jordan’s bad behavior after in the season. And since it’s announced that they aren’t coming back for season 4, they cut seven cast members we’re never going to get the follow-up to any of this. I think with Kyle you have him sacrifice himself at the end of season 4. Where seasons 1 and 2 you had him make bad choices which lead to his divorce. And then season 3 and 4 give him this redemption arc, where he sacrifices himself to save Lana, Sarah, or whoever. But you give him this character arc that spans multiple seasons. Nope, they aren’t doing that, I’m not sure if any of the stuff with the Cushing family will be followed up with after season 3.
Jordan’s Training: Part of Jordan’s arc in the season is having him being trained by Clark to possibly go out and fight and to control his powers. On paper, I think that’s interesting. I think there’s a lot in there that could be very cool as part of Jordan’s arc. But they once again wrote Jordan to act like he’s the victim of what’s going on, when he’s not. He’s being irresponsible with how he’s using his powers, Clark and Lois have the right to be frustrated with him. I feel like whenever they have these argument scenes between Jordan and his parents they want you to see where both sides are coming from and rarely do I do. 85%-90% of the time I take Clark and Lois’ side. And I get that if that’s how he is in season 1 and then they give him an arc he changes through-out season 2, 3, and beyond but they don’t. He still feels like the same character at the end of episode 13 of season 3 as he did at the beginning of episode 1 of season 1. So I’m not sure what direction they’re going to be taking Jordan in season 4, but I hope they change it.
The Structure: So after now having seen the entire season, one thing doesn’t make much sense for me and that’s the structure for the season. Where Bruno’s plot line stops with episode 11, Bruno, his wife, or son aren’t in the last two episodes. So the main plot line of the season ends in episode 11. And then episodes 12 and 13 feel like they should have been the first two episodes of season 4. It sort of starts an entirely new story involving Lex Luthor creating Doomsday to kill Superman, so Lois is vulnerable. And I think that’s interesting, but make episodes 12 and 13 of season 3 episodes 1 and 2 of season 4 and I think it works better. I saw some people mention that after the finale aired and now having seen the entire season, I find that to be a very true statement.
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