Superman & Lois Season 1 Episode 9 Review: Edge of Smallville

What started as a slow burn at the beginning of the season is slowly heating up. We’re now honing in on different story points that will carry us to the finale. One that gets a big focus on is the town of Smallville and Morgan Edge. With fantastic character beats from the writing and acting, it’s another standout episode of the show.

Superman & Lois airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW, then streams free on the CW app.

Story: Investigative Journalism

The subplot of Morgan Edge and his involvement with Smallville has been slowly creeping up throughout the episodes. Now with the conflict against John Henry Irons on the backburner. The Edge story is on full display. With that comes some investigating work from Clark, Lois, and Chrissy. I love this dynamic because it reminded me of when our title characters worked at the Daily Planet. We’ve seen a little of this investigating sprinkle throughout the season, but now there’s a giant spotlight on it. What’s more interesting is that Clark Kent gets involved in the action.

We’re now seeing that the Kryptonite that General Lane made in last week’s episode is now taking effect. It’s slowly making Superman weak for a short time period. That’s why it’s fascinating to see Clark as the hero, not the Man of Steel. He has to use his journalism skills to help out Lois instead of just fighting his way to get answers. It also ties into one of the main themes of this show: Smallville’s usage. Lois explains it best because he’s Martha Kent’s son; he would better poll with the town. Along with Clark, Lana gets in on the action as she works for Morgan’s company. There haven’t been many Lana scenes in this season, but there’s a good showcase in this hour. She’s shown to have some bite that even Lois tells her that she may need to slow down. But, that won’t stop her as she wants to protect Smallville and its citizens.

As explained in the last episode, it felt like General Lane and the Kryptonite weapons felt like a repeated story. There’s finally some advancement to the plot as the show explores the cons and even some pros to these creations. On the one hand, we know it’s bad because of the potentially deadly risk it has to Superman. Surprisingly, the episode shows why maybe it isn’t a terrible idea to have these kinds of weapons. It’s fascinating how they can explore that in a way other Superman properties can’t. 

Characters & Performance: Edge of Glory

We get to see Adam Rayner’s performance of Morgan Edge on full display. There were some doubts on how he would compete against Adrian Pasdar, who previously played him in Supergirl. It’s safe to say that Rayner surpasses him as the most cunning portrayal as his plan feels like something out of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We know he’s evil, but there’s something so calm about him. It’s probably the accent that has the perfect mix of charm and coldness when he talks. While on paper, he doesn’t seem like the character that would be a good villain for Superman to face against, Adam Rayner is proving us wrong again and again.

Lois stares down Morgan Edge.

The Superman and Jordan dynamic gets some screentime in this episode, and it’s been the best we’ve seen so far. At one point, Clark feels guilty about how he thinks Jordan can’t live a normal life because of him. Instead of doing the usual thing that we know Jordan would do, like telling his dad he hates him or something of that nature, we get the opposite. There’s a quiet understanding between the two of them now, which is magnificent. It shows how far we’ve come from the beginning as Jordan is showing more love to this father and vice versa.

Pacing & Editing: The Endgame is Coming

There have been many spinning plates that the showrunner, Todd Helbing, has to balance. It feels like there’s now a clear path to the finale, starting with John Henry Irons warning about Kryptonians ruling the world. The pacing is building up to that moment as we’re wondering if the same will happen on this Earth. With the investigation surrounding Morgan Edge, the current momentum isn’t stopping anytime soon. Although, you can’t help but wonder if they would visit other narrative moments like the boy’s football activities. It seemed that sports would be an active thing throughout the season, but suddenly it just vanished.

Even with that, you’ll forget about that with the ending. These two significant twists at the end just make waiting another week even that much harder. Without going too far into spoilers, there’s a lot of subtle hints leading to that moment. As soon as it was revealed, you think back to all those character interactions and start to put the puzzle together—you kind of feel how Clark and Lois are when they’re working on a piece together.

Cinematography & Sound: Little Light Inside

As mentioned before, Smallville is best in its glory, with the sun shining on its vast landscape. Without spoiling the ending, the lighting was absolutely stunning, with the sunset working perfectly in the background.  We still got many glorious blue skies in this episode, but we now get an extended look at the opposite with Edge’s company. His offices are draped in this bland charcoal that seems depressing to work in. Yet, they match the personality that he represents as the morally grey undertones which his workspace perfectly. Also, there’s a subtle sinister score whenever Morgan appears. Combine with the amazing performance, and you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

In the last episode, we got to see a little of Sarah’s musical abilities as she tried out for the singing competition. We see this story point again as she’s ready to perform in front of people again. The scenes between her and Jordan are nice as their chemistry really pops off the screen. We’re treated to another number from Sarah, and the actress who plays her, Inde Navarrette, is absolutely wonderful. Her singing voice is amazing, and hopefully, we can see more in the future.