Superman & Lois Season 2 Episode 3 Review: The Creature Unleashed

In this week's episode of Superman & Lois, Clark experiences painful outbursts as the creature down in the mines tries to escape. Meanwhile, Lois tries to figure out how to take out the cult leader as she confronts her dad over past issues in the family. A lot is set up in this thrilling episode that balances family drama and thrilling action.

Superman & Lois Season 2 Episode 3 Review: The Creature Unleashed

It looks at this point in the season that Superman & Lois is heading into a strong direction. This particular episode does a lot of heavy lifting into setting up what’s coming up for the show. Not only with its comic roots, but the emotional beating heart of the themes of family. If this hour is any indication then we’ll be treated well for the rest of the year.

Superman & Lois airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW, then streams free on the CW app.

If you missed it last week, you can read about the review for the previous Superman & Lois episode here.

Story: Angry Outbursts

Along with visions and power distribution, Clark is experiencing rage issues. It’s not just anger problems, but these pop up at random times and it looks like he can’t control them. His voice becomes distorted and heat vision makes his eyes glow red. These pop-ups are connected to what’s down in the mimes. Tyler Hoechlin plays it so effectively as just like everyone around him, you also become terrified. The facial expressions he makes seem like a monster that’s trying to break out.

In fact, that’s what is happening as the creature down in the mimes is trying to break out. Everyone theorized what was the monster trying to get out and it seemed like a clear conclusion. Without going too much into it, the show throws a fantastic misdirection at the audience. You can’t help but to just say bravo to the show as it’s hard to get tricked in the modern age of television.

Superman meets someone on his power level.

Superman meets someone on his power level.

Characters & Performances: The Lane Family

While Superman has his own villains he’s dealing with, it seems that Lois is getting her own antagonist. Not only that, but it’s deeply rooted in the Lane family trauma. It was revealed last episode that Lois is facing backlash over a past article about a cult and how the anonymous source was actually her sister Lucy. This just sets up so much as we’re going to explore the relationships between the Lane family members. Lois already mentioned that her mom left the family when she was young and with Lucy attempted suicide because of the cult, it’s a lot to unpack.

It brings back the issues Lois has with her father of not being there for her. Even though he’s made some personal growth since the pilot, there’s still a long way to go. Now that he’s starting to understand where Lois is coming from with her concern instead of blushing away the issue, he’ll be after the cult leader as well. Rya Kihlstedt, who plays Ally Allston, is downright terrifying. There’s something so sinister of how this one person controls someone’s life that just sends chills across your skin.

On the flip side of the family, Jordan and Jonathan are going through their own troubles. Jordan is still figuring out how he should handle his relationship with Sarah. It’s refreshing to see a teen drama that actually stops and uses some common sense. In the beginning with Natalie, Jordan, and Jonathan, they all bring up good points on how Jordan should handle the truth. Including the fact that he’s hiding his own secret of having powers.

Cinematography & Sound: Mine Action

The fight scene that we’ve been all waiting for is finally here. Superman vs the thing in the mines at least. There’s been a lot of hype over how he’ll fare against this creature and it lives up to the excitement. We actually haven’t seen Superman fight that many villains in this show with his full might. Especially with that brief bit of the two fighting in the sky. And this is just on a tv budget, could you imagine how it would be with the backing of the big screen. Well with a new season, you got to up the ante somehow.

We also see the return of the Steel suit and having it back again is incredible. Some fans criticized it for being too much like the Iron Man suit. I understand those frustrations as the inner helmet is shot very similar to how we see Tony Stark in the suit. But, the way that we see John Henry Irons suit up is jaw dropping. He jumps up in slow motion as every bit of the steel uniform breaks up and reassembles on his body. It’s only a short moment, but it’s so effective. They hinted that the Steel machine will be having upgrades and it’ll be fascinating what they do with it.

Time to suit up.

Time to suit up.

Editing & Pacing: Paving the Way

As mentioned in the story section, this episode did a lot of heavy lifting in regards to this season. We’re starting to see where our characters are heading down which path. On paper, it looks like this episode would be jam packed, but that wasn’t the case at all. The story took a lot of time to breathe in regards to Clark and Lois’s story. They really broke down what they were feeling and the emotions behind it. Especially with Lois which has a greater impact on what will come for her and the Lane family. If we can’t care about what they’re feeling then what’s the point of investment. Although, there were a couple of editing tricks that this show did that helped the big reveal, but in hindsight will make you roll your eyes. Some throwaway lines that seem obvious that it points to one thing is revealed as another. 

Summary
Comic fans will be pleasantly surprised on the outcome of this episode. That led to some of the best action we've seen so far. We also got a ton of intriguing family drama that's interesting on all levels.
Good
  • Perfect fakeout
  • The reveal of the creature
  • The Lane Family
Bad
  • Too Many Winks and Nods
9
Amazing

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