REVIEW: Superman & Lois Season 4, Episode 10 (It Went by So Fast)

“It went by so fast.” While the statement is included in the Superman & Lois series finale as a wistful reminiscing of what a beautiful life Clark (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) lived after finally taking down Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz), it hits harder when thinking about how the series was cut short due to the Nexstar takeover of The CW—and surely the upcoming Superman film led by David Corenswet—and had so much more story to explore. It was too soon to say goodbye to the incredible, grounded world the writers created to explore the deep and nuanced romance between the titular characters and their loved ones.

Since the series finale aired, I have only seen praise for this final outing. Although a touching conclusion, I feel there were many missed opportunities for closure here, leaving much to be desired. It feels like the series ultimately ran out of time before bringing these stories to an end, leaving out so much that we needed to see, including some things to justify other aspects of the episode that, logically, require quite a stretch to believe.

A Disappointing Conclusion to the Lex and Doomsday Plot(s)

Despite my enjoying the episode, Superman & Lois Season 4, Episode 10 wasn’t very well-executed, starting with the ultimate defeats of Doomsday and Lex. After being killed by Lex yet again, Doomsday reached peak monster and became rather bloodthirsty, no longer remembering his Lois when our own tried to appeal to his humanity once again. After getting his ass handed to him yet again, Clark manages to stop Doomsday with some help from Jon (Michael Bishop) and Jordan (Alex Garfin), strong enough together to lead Doomsday away from their father, and a well-placed blow from the Steel hammer delivered by John Henry (Wolé Parks). Doomsday dies, again, but this time long enough for Clark to carry him to the sun to throw him in to finish him off once and for all (given the yellow sun is Bizarro’s weakness). Yet, when Doomsday resurrects once again near the sun, he suddenly remembers his life and family on his Earth, willingly meeting his end to stop his reign of terror. It feels a little cheap and unearned, particularly as it had just been established that was no longer the case. But, whatever.

Then, we have Lex, who has consistently become less interesting and more like the megalomaniac from the comics with each episode. Now equipped with his very own Lexosuit, he watches as Doomsday fights Clark. Then, when Clark wins, he temporarily kills Jon and threatens to kill Lois, but is stopped when Clark returns from recharging himself at the sun. (Their fight is good enough for the series finale, but that’s not really what the show will be remembered for.) Once Lex is stopped, we flash forward to seeing him once again enter prison after Lois and Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) expose his crimes to the world through a live feed, where he expects things to return to the status quo he knew for nearly two decades. However, in a twist of fate, Bruno (Chad L. Coleman) has become the King of Stryker’s, promising to make Lex’s life hell as his new “chair” — just what Otis (Ryan Booth) was to Lex.

As mentioned before, Bruno becoming the King of Stryker’s is something that requires quite a stretch of imagination to believe. There’s nothing to justify why this suddenly happened, as there were no real changes in circumstances. Just as the first time he went to prison, Lex was rich and powerful, and people knew him to be guilty of the crime he was sentenced for. When did Bruno go from being so afraid of Lex that he framed him for murder and pleaded with Lois not to tell the world the truth to having even more power than him? It just doesn’t make sense, feeling like a last-ditch, out-of-time effort to show that Lex would never be a threat to Clark and Lois again.

What the Future Holds

For some of the characters, there was some good (enough) closure. Lana and John Henry are married, preparing for a new life together. Chrissy (Sofia Hasmik) and Kyle (Erik Valdez) are expecting another child. Clark uses his energy and status to try to fix the world, rather than keep trying to save it. But, I find myself wishing for more. For instance, only two episodes before, Lex almost completely destroyed Lois’ credibility as a journalist, using Clark coming out as Superman to plant doubt about every story she’d written over the last two decades. How did she fix that? Considering what a major part of Lois’ entire character is being a reporter, there should have been time devoted to exploring that in this final episode, to do right by this character in more than just her romance. We can imagine that she regained everyone’s trust, starting by showing the truth about Lex during his attack on Smallville, but we shouldn’t have to imagine it. The Superman & Lois writers knew this would be the final season before filming began, so there’s no excuse for feeling like we just ran out of time to properly close the stories introduced.

Plus, as annoying as Sarah (Inde Navarrette) could be over the years, she was a major player from the very start. To close her journey with a quick scene of her outside of the wedding that she definitely wasn’t present for and say she’s leaving Smallville for good after graduation is a bit lame. What does her future hold? Likewise, knowing that Jon and Jordan become heroes, grow up, get married, and have children is nice, but what are they actually doing in the future? What are their lives like? What do they do for a living? To not even get proper closure with the sons is baffling. (No, I do not believe learning they got married and had children is good enough.) Not to mention, there is absolutely zero closure for Natalie (Tayler Buck).

Perhaps I’m alone here, but this episode was lacking. The precious time of this final season in general should and could have been managed better, honestly.

Death

Why, oh why, do so many TV shows feel the need to end with the main character(s) dying? What’s wrong with just living happily ever after or preparing for another adventure? Showing the very end of Lois and Clark’s lives is just disappointing, personally, even if they do reunite in “heaven” or whatever. Leaving off on showing Clark and Lois making the world better, alongside their family, friends, and Bruno Mannheim, would have been the perfect end to this story.

That said, at the very least, this closer didn’t leave me never wanting to watch the show all over again in the future, as so many others have. And, for what it’s worth, this was indeed both a heartbreaking and heartwarming goodbye, perfectly capturing Clark and Lois’ epic love. Maybe I just expected too much because it wasn’t a last-minute cancellation?

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