Deron Generally
Deron GenerallySuperman & Lois
The CW
Season 1 Episode 4
Haywire
Morgan Edge is preparing to make his big play in Smallville. Lois finds herself in the crosshairs and Clark finds being both a father and a superhero to be harder than he imagined.
Morgan Edge is making his presence known in Smallville and schmoozing both the mayor and Lana’s husband. Something that becomes a bone of contention between the couple when they are invited to dinner and Edge makes Lana uncomfortable right in front of her husband. At the same time, Jordan makes an impression on the football team and General Lane has some harsh truth for his son in law about what’s happening in Metropolis with Superman missing. One of the things that continues to make this show compelling is the fact that there are some really interesting practical arguments being made about the balance between being Superman and being Clark Kent. The show presents these arguments in a way that is nuanced, mature and relevant.
Among the issues Lane tells Clark about is the upcoming prison transfer of Thaddeus Killgrave, a villain from the comics who builds anti-Superman weapons for Intergang. His presence in the episode gives us the requisite Superman related action, but there are so many subplots in the episode that the villain showdown fell a little short of expectations. Among the subplots are Clark and Lois dealing with Clark’s absence when she is in need as well as Lana and Kyle’s marriage issues. At the same time, there is some Smallville related issues involving one of the boy’s teammates developing metahuman abilities and its connection to Edge’s interest in the town.
There is a lot going on in this episode and the amount of plots being juggled can be a little daunting. The show does a good job of trying to balance them as it develops its voice, but the episode jumps from one story point to another so fast that it loses some of its emotional core. The dialogue goes a long way to clean up these transitions and the new threats being introduced from Edge and his assistant are compelling. Edge’s tense interactions with Lois are equally compelling and deserved more development. The best performance in the episode belongs to Dylan Walsh’s Sam Lane. He continues to ride the edge of being a villain for using Superman as a tool for his own agenda, but he also continues to have compelling arguments for what Superman means and how his priorities have consequences.
Ultimately, the latest episode of Haywire does a great job with dialogue, drama and the bigger story issues of the series, but moves through its plot too fast because there is too much to be had in a one hour episode. It also short changes the audience on the Superman of it all. Still a good episode of an increasingly well plotted and engaging show.
Superman & Lois S01XE04
