The Inverse Method
Episode 4 of Superman and Lois Season 2 begins with Ally and Lois talking in the diner. Lois sees straight through Ally’s façade, knowing that she’s part of a cult and concerned about Lucy. According to Lucy, she was “ascending.” Lois is determined to take Ally down no matter what, leading to a pretty tense stand-off between the two. Meanwhile, Clark continues to have a connection with his evil doppelganger. The origins of this guy are still unknown but one thing’s for sure – he’s bad news. John and Clark discuss the quiet they’re currently experiencing, but of course that’s the calm before the storm. It doesn’t take long for glowy doppelganger to show up and begin fighting with Clark. Thankfully John manages to knock him down with his hammer, which is enough for the evil doppelganger to run away. This little skirmish does have an unintended positive side effect. John figures out they can track Supe’s doppelganger. The strange necklace he wears seems to have an energy signature which he’s managed to hone in on. Unfortunately, to get a proper lock they need to go through the DOD. John’s suit is also busted, meaning Clark is going to need extra help. The Justice League? The Arrowverse guys? Nope, it’s Anderson and his goons. Regrettably, Clark shows up to see Anderson. He hands over the USB stick but he’s arrogant, decidedly foolish in thinking his team can take out the doppelganger instead. While this is going on, Jordan and Sarah hang out. Jordan’s powers continue to develop, leading him to overhear a couple of robbers in the store. He blasts the floor with his ice breath and manages to stop them. Only, Jordan stupidly doesn’t realize that there are cameras going. So a quick call to Sam does help to scramble the feeds and save the day. Elsewhere, Jonathan starts to take his drugs. After being warned that it has different effects on various people, Jonathan’s vision sharpens and his game improves. The Ally situation soon takes a turn for the worst. Chrissy shows up in disguise and listens in to the meeting but Ally is clever and knows that she’s there under false pretenses. While Chrissy is called out and put on the spot, Lois manages to meet Lucy. Lucy is convinced that Lois has driven their mother away, despite her walking out herself. As they talk, Lucy mentions how she was “seeing her other self” but Lois stopped her. Lucy even calls her out for distorting the truth. Unfortunately, this argument is broadcast for Chrissy to see, with everything she says done to cause a rift between the pair. And when the cameras are shut off, it seems to do the trick. Chrissy has doubts over Lois’s credibility and decides to meet with Ally to find out what her coworker may be hiding. Clark tracks down the doppelganger and heads out on the ice to fight him. John joins them too and unfortunately his hammer is smashed and his suit ruined in the process. Thankfully this distraction is enough for Clark to thwart the threat of the doppelganger but his friend is left in a rough way. Unconscious and knocked out, Clark flies John over to the hospital but things don’t look good. Thankfully he’s being looked after by the best doctors so hopefully John will pull through.
The Episode Review
Superman and Lois returns this week with a little more action involving the evil doppelganger. For the most part though, this week is all about the drama involving various Smallville residents. The Jonathan and Jordan subplots are pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, with the latter’s issue involving the corner shop resolved almost as quickly as it started. For Jonathan, there’s certainly more room to expand on his drug taking but it just feels like busywork at this point. The main crux of the episode revolves around Ally though, and specifically her cult. It seems she’s managed to convince Chrissy too, and that means Lois’ pool of allies are growing ever-thinner. The biggest deterrent here though is the Mayor subplot which, to be honest, just feels a bit naff. There’s not a lot of substance to it beyond some old secrets but unless that feeds into the larger story with the doppelganger, it feels like busywork. Hopefully we’ll see more of the doppelganger next week though, which looks to be the bright spot of this drama right now.
