Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Superman and Lois Ep 7

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!
Those of you who have not seen the latest episode might want to skip this thread.

Has anyone noticed that there is NO chemistry between the two leads in this show? Maybe it's because that kind of thing is not foremost on the CW but there was more chemistry between Lois and her husband in the alternate universe than we have ever seen between Lois and Clark. Also, does anyone have any theories as to why the suit looks so dirty and flat in most scenes? Superman and the suit are supposed to be bright and eyecatching. This guy could walk down the main street of Smallville and nobody would notice if not for the cape! It also looks to me as if some of the graphics come from a video game when showing Superman. It looks like they are trying to make him look more muscular but it fails miserably in my opinion. I've been watching since the beginning and I feel that the show has high and low episodes, but overall it's been downhill since the pilot. I read that viewership is down as well. That may be due to the break the show had but I think it's more due to the mediocre writing and plots.
Ray

Spoilers galore in my post, as well.


First, to address your comments, Ray: I agree that the two leads do not have the typical hormonal chemistry which Hollywood usually craves. Instead, I see something far more precious, something seen too rarely on-screen: The chemistry of a long-married couple who love, respect and cherish each other. Their chemistry feels more "lived in" -- which is precisely what it should be for this particular L&C.

I'm sorry you aren't enjoying the show so much. As far as I am concerned, there have been far more hits than misses with it. (There was only one episode so far that really was not up to snuff, as far as I am concerned.)

I have lots of spoilery thoughts on this episode.

What are everyone else's thoughts?

Joy,
Lynn

Hi Lynn,
I hear you regarding the chemistry issue to a point. If our L&C had continued I would think that no matter how many years they'd been married their physical expressions of love would still be evident. There are many next-gen stories that show this kind of relationship.

There are a number of issues that, logically, do not work. With regard to superhearing, does it make any sense that Jordan would be able to block the sensory overload from his superhearing with a pair of audio headphones! It makes NO sense. I know that I can hear things while wearing headphones and I'm an older man with hearing loss so the use of them for Jordan doesn't work for me.

Next is the X-Kryptonite. By definition, Kryptonite is a meteorite that came from the planet Krypton and supposedly was brought to Earth in the wake of Kal-El's ship. In this show, they have the stuff buried in the walls of a mine and it doesn't even glow! Watching a show based around a man who can fly requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief but these writers have gone way past that to insulting my intelligence.

With regard to Clark almost killing JHI, this Superman is not like any other incarnation, at least to me. I wouldn't be surprised if he did things that our Clark would never do.

I also noticed the reference to Trask. Most likely another L&C Easter Egg. I don't think we'll ever see him on this show, in my opinion..

Ray

@Ray:

Don't forget that this is on the CW network. They're presenting this hero in a fashion that should appeal to their core demographic, because the more viewers they have the more they can charge for advertising (yes, it's pretty much all about the Benjamins). They're essentially renting the personas of Clark/Superman and Lois from whoever owns the franchise now, and there is no fixed course for them to follow. They have creative license to treat the characters as they wish - within the limits of what the viewers will accept, of course. Remember that L&C presented Clark as the real person, when for decades Clark was just Superman's disguise when he wanted to hide from the superhero pressure. Just as those of us on this site send our characters in different directions, so do different media companies. The biggest difference is that with the media companies, significant amounts of money are at stake.

Jordan wasn't using audio headphones. He was using noise-cancelling headphones. And X-Kryptonite? Every author on this site has Clark react to green K in a different fashion. His reaction on the show was tailored to the story line that week. Personally, I think what Toomi8 is doing with the green-K reaction in her story "Aftershocks" is fresh and realistic (within the Superman universe, anyway). It's not what I've done, but who cares? It's a good story. X-Kryptonite is this show's way to put more roadblocks in front of Superman and Lois, and it's no less believable than a whole lot of the comic stories I've read.

Chemistry. Couples who have been married for many years do exhibit romantic affection toward each other, but it's tempered and far less public. Clark and Lois have, in this show, been married for more than fifteen years. And they have high-school age sons. Of course they're less openly affectionate than they once were. The fanfics you mention show C&L at their sexiest times and not the times when the toilet's clogged up and the washer stopped halfway through the wash cycle and the brakes on the car are mushy and getting worse and school's starting soon which means they must purchase new clothing for the kids and they're short of spending money and stuff like that just sucks the life out of the romance. Been there and done that and got the T-shirt.

Given that the Kents have experienced a death in the family (Martha), a move halfway across the country, Lois left her dream job, Jon has experienced personal tragedies (to a teenager, anyway) - he lost his girlfriend and his place in the football team's pecking order - Jordan is exhibiting signs of super-powers he may not be able to control, there have been at least three direct attempts to kill Superman, Lois has been in mortal danger more than once, they're chasing a huge story with few resources and fighting the community to learn the truth, other supers are popping up all over the place, Lois' dad is undermining Clark's role as father - all within just a few months - it's no wonder they're not all over each other every episode. I think you should cut them a little slack. There's no way they could be Dean and Teri.

I do agree, though, that Superman coming close to eliminating John Henry was a surprise. But I think the showrunner(s) did that to illustrate just how human Superman really is, and how much stress he's under. After all, John Henry was threatening Jon and Jordan, too. There's no way he could have left live witnesses to his murdering Superman.

Also - Clark responded to Lois telling him to stop. That tells me that she has a pipeline to his heart, whether he's kissing her senseless every few minutes or not. And while no show hits it out of the ballpark every episode, I agree with Lynn that there have been more good episodes that stinkers. I plan to keep watching this one.

That, however, does not mean that you need to watch if you don't find it to your liking. If we all liked the same things, we'd only have one fast food restaurant world-wide, like Taco Bell in the movie "Demolition Man." (Spoiler: they won the restaurant wars.)

Terry,
Thanks for your opinion. I'm not looking for another Teri and Dean. There can't be another couple like them but I'd like this L&C to at least show that they love each other and I don't think they do. Granted the family is under a lot of pressure from various factors, but I just don't see any deep love between them that will conquer all. While Ms. Tulloch is very attractive she's probably the least likable Lois Lane so far. She looks to me as if she's eaten a lemon, her face is always scrunched up, and I think this lends itself to my seeing a lack of chemistry between them. She played on the series Grimm and she was the same there so I don't think it's just the writers.

With respect to the headphones, you must have much better eyes than me because all I saw was a set of wireless headphones. If they wanted us to believe that the device was noise-canceling then they could have said that. It would have just taken a sentence or two to convey that idea but, again, the writers didn't think they needed to. While this is not fanfiction a little telling would go a long way. As I'm sure you know, noise-canceling headphones only work to cancel outside sounds. Since Jordan's hearing is super-sensitive and there are NO close sounds to negate why would they work here? Again, this is a case of insulting the viewer's intelligence and taking the easy way out rather than come up with a real-world solution. As I said in my previous post, in a universe where a man can fly there has to be a certain suspension of disbelief but that shouldn't apply to normal everyday items and circumstances. If Clark really wanted to protect Jordan's hearing he should have taken him to the fortress and left him there until his hearing was under control but that wouldn't work because then Jordan couldn't spy on Jonathan and the conflict that led to nor could he have directed Jonathan to where Clark was to save him from JHI. God forbid that the writers would have to work a bit to come up with a better plot.

You brought up the move from Metropolis to Smallville. That's another "detail' that seems to have been a case of why let facts get in the way of telling the story we want. I think it was on the Smallville series that those writers moved Metropolis to the midwest and now they have done it here as well. Does anyone think it is the least bit plausible that a high school team from Smallville Kansas would EVER be playing against a team from Metropolis? Theoretically, they can't even use a state championship as an excuse because they're not even from the same state! No, they just needed made-up conflict so poor little Jordan could lose his temper and break Jonathan's hand so there would be conflict between the brothers too.

Maybe that's what's bothering me. There's too much going on! Lois is looking into Edge for lying to the town. Edge is trying to create a super army. Captain Luthor/JHI/The Stranger is working with Lois but trying to kill Superman. Gen. Lane is working against Clark and, as I think, only tolerates Clark as long as he can control him. Jordan is developing powers and that creates conflict between the brothers, And I'm sure I've missed something. All this and it's only Episode 7! There's too much going on at once! I think they should have chosen one or two of these and dug deeper into them. I think the Morgan Edge/Smallville storyline would be very interesting if they took the time to explore it more deeply. It seems as if the writers suffer from something and they can't focus on one storyline for more than five minutes. Maybe it's that the CW is the teen angst channel and I'm just too darn old for that. Whatever it is I plan to stick it out for the rest of the season to see what happens. Who knows what will happen after that.
Thanks for your time and comments.
Ray