REVIEW: Superman & Lois – Season 3, Episode 3, “In Cold Blood”

Television Reviews

You’d think invoking a classic book and movie would motivate you to put out a special episode, but “In Cold Blood” is just kind of… fine. It isn’t exactly filler, as it ties into the main storylines, but it’s one of those puzzle pieces that only connects to one other piece and then just sort of acts as a border to another. The Intergang/Bruno Manheim story advances slightly, but the main thrust of the episode deals with Lois’ cancer diagnosis, and it annoyingly stalls.

Lois prepares to undergo her first round of chemotherapy treatments, but she’d rather focus on work, to everyone else’s consternation. Lois and Chrissy locate an Intergang warehouse. Jon has some girlfriend trouble, but not the kind last week’s party suggested. Tensions between Lana and Kyle intensify, and Sarah is caught in the middle.

“In Cold Blood” begins with what looks like a fun scene to kick-start an epic episode: Superman hears trouble and flies through a crumbling Metropolis, zooming past debris till he gets to Lois, screaming for help as the Daily Planet building topples onto her, Superman falling just short of catching her. Of course, it’s a dream. I get it; Superman feels helpless because he knows he can’t save Lois from cancer like he could a collapsing building. But we knew this, and it was conveyed just as well last week with looks and expressions as opposed to an elaborate dream sequence (two, actually, as it happens again later; the second one feels like it’s there to kill time).  I also would prefer they didn’t waste their assuredly limited budget on dream sequences instead of a real action scene with stakes.

***SPOILERS***

Much better is the following sequence, a montage of Lois telling her family and friends that she’s sick. This is quite effective, with each person reacting differently. But the showstopper is Sam, who starts strong before burying his face and weeping for his daughter. Dylan Walsh is terrific on this show, and “In Cold Blood” offers him a rare chance to lay a hard man bare, which he relishes. In this moment, not only do we see how human Sam is, how much he loves Lois and fears the horror of losing his child, but his reaction is a mirror to both Lois and Clark. He has Clark’s powerlessness, but he also has Lois’ determination to downplay the seriousness of her condition, if for different reasons. That’s the main storyline of the episode, and unfortunately, Lois’ version of it doesn’t work half as well as Sam’s.

Lois spends “In Cold Blood” being an immature idiot. That’s the only way to describe it. She blows off two chemo appointments during the episode, both times using her investigation of Intergang as an excuse and shrugging off the concerns of the people who want her to live. She has the inevitable blow-up where she tearfully admonishes everyone for “treating her like she’s sick” and says she wants to be in control and is afraid of losing her hair or whatever nonsense. Lately, the Critical Drinker has been talking about the modern entertainment trope of adults acting like children, and this is an example of what he means. Lois is behaving like an overgrown teenager, not wanting to face a problem she needs to deal with for her own good.

And it isn’t just her; she has children, and while she’s making whatever ridiculous girl-power point she’s trying to make, she’s risking Jon and Jordan losing their mother. She puts Clark in a bad position, too, making him choose between rescuing disaster victims and ensuring the ostensible adult he married goes to her chemo appointment. She also makes him look bad in front of Sam, who lambasts him for abandoning Lois; part of this is his fear, of course, but he also knows how obstinate his daughter can be. Clark is in the unenviable position of having to navigate being in a relationship – a marriage, in his case – with a modern, liberated, don’t-need-no-man woman, where caring too much means trampling on her independence, so he has to let her make a fool of herself while she makes a fool of him, too. No wonder he’s Superman.

The Intergang plotline is a little better, and it actually makes some headway in pushing the season’s storyline forward, unlike Lois’ medical truancy. Lois and Chrissy (who, to her credit, also thinks Lois is nuts and needs to go to her appointments) find an Intergang hideout and manage to get captured till Superman can rescue them, with an assist from Steel. It’s kind of boilerplate, especially when the Intergang thug running the place whips out Kryptonite gauntlets with which to fight Superman. But it does establish that Intergang has a whole lot of Superman’s blood in its possession, which means they’re using it to power the supervillains they’re making. I wonder who they’re working towards; I’m sure this isn’t just some generic Superman-powered villains. It looks like Henry Miller will be sticking around, too, and maybe changing sides now that Intergang is done with him. I find this a bit odd; wouldn’t they just kill him if they don’t need him anymore?

Elsewhere, Candice’s dirtbag father, who looks like a trashier version of Giovanni Ribisi, steals Jon’s truck, so he, Jordan, and Natalie get it back from the local chop shop. This is mostly a goofy subplot to give the kids something to do, and Candice’s reaction is unexpectedly indignant, considering what she used to say about her dad. (I love Jordan and Nat’s reaction, though; “Her dad totally stole your truck.”) But it’s worthwhile for the cool scene of them infiltrating the garage to get the truck. Natalie fires a smoke grenade into the garage, and then Jon runs through as Jordan and Nat take out any criminals who try to grab him until he finally reaches the truck and knocks one out himself. It’s fun and well-filmed, it gives all three of the kids something to do, and it doesn’t end with a tired lecture. It’s a nice break from Lois’ drama, and it’s appreciated. Michael Bishop is doing nicely as the new Jonathan; I wouldn’t say I prefer him to Jordan Elsass, but he works as a replacement, and he acquits himself well in the action scene.

Then, there are the Cushing-Langs. Lana and Kyle seemed to have moved on, but they’re now in the “he can’t let go” phase of their divorce. John Henry installs a new, updated, sci-fi tech security system in Lana’s house to prevent Sarah from sneaking out again (and probably also to keep Metallo, Darkseid, et al. from breaking in), and Sarah mentions it to Kyle, which sets off his jealousy switch. This is one of those annoying plotlines where you can tell every step before it happens: he’ll show up and fish for information about her new man, and she’ll say it’s none of his business; then when he moves on too, he’ll be a monster, rinse, repeat. But I do like how “In Cold Blood” uses the security system as a metaphor for Kyle losing Lana. John Henry’s new system replaces the old one Kyle installed – one Lana no longer wants or needs. Lana’s reaction to Sarah is unfair; it’s not like Sarah was trying to cause trouble. But she’s right on when she calls Sarah selfish and spoiled, and frankly, Sarah’s needed a slap in the face for a while. This subplot is kind of like the whole episode: it’s rote, a little annoying, and not a standout, but it has some very satisfying moments.