Superman and Lois season 1, episode 8 review: Holding the Wrench

“All you need to know is that I’m the one who’s going to end you.” Spoilers for Superman and Lois season 1, episode 8 follow.

The Stranger has finally been captured, but that doesn’t mean that his time with Superman is over. In fact, it’s far from it as Superman and Lois delves into the character’s motivations.

But as Superman goes to directly to the source for his answers, Lois begins to dig for her own – and both of them are shocked by what they find out in “Holding The Wrench”.

Questions and answers for Superman and Lois

After a half a season of mystery in regards to who The Stranger was, we finally got an answer in the last episode. He’s not Luthor from another Earth, but rather John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Steel. The previous episode did all the legwork needed to make this normally heroic character an understandable antagonist, at least right now, and yet, this episode continues to build him up even more. Because of how much investment this show has put into his backstory, it is absolutely 100% believable that he views Superman as the enemy right now.

So, when he and Superman have their first not-fight interaction of the show, it’s just as intense as if they were throwing fists. Seeing the argument that John makes, everyone begins to doubt Superman and who he is. This includes Clark himself as well.

Superman having some self-doubt is always an interesting concept, one that has been used well earlier in the season, but it’s different here. His doubt doesn’t stem from not knowing what to do as a father, but rather in knowing who he is as a person. It’s not explored as much in this episode as it hopefully will be in future episodes, but it’s nice that the threads are here.

We really get to see why Irons is hellbent on killing Superman before he takes the side of the Kryptonians. The Kryptonians that have existed on the show so far (outside of Clark and Jordan, that is) were the few that Morgan Edge made, but this episode highlights that there may be many more out there as one was even part of Sam Lane’s inner circle. The fear that Irons had felt unfounded in this universe (though understandable given where he came from), but now, after seeing how deep they’ve infiltrated, it makes a fall of Superman feel all the more inevitable.

Stage fright

Probably the safest part of “Holding The Wrench” comes from Sarah Cushing and Jordan Kent’s arc. There’s not a whole lot going on (though it does once again highlight why Sarah and Jordan relate to each other so well), it doesn’t take up a bunch of screen time, and there are some awkward edits to it, but it’s a decent enough B-plot.

It’s a nice, sweet palette cleanser from all the darkness that we see in rest of the episode. Nothing big happens, but we get to see some nice interactions between Jordan and Sarah, as well as Jordan and Jonathan. It also shows how far Jordan has come since the beginning of the first episode with his anxiety – which is very much still present, but he’s able to handle it better and is now able to do things that he hadn’t been able to do previously. All in all, it’s just nice.

Another world

While Clark is off at the DOD trying to talk with John Henry Irons, Lois and Jonathan are in his RV, trying to discover more about him – which they do. They learn about his family and about his loss, which leads to Jonathan nearly being killed in the RV as he mourns the sister he never had. It’s such an authentic reaction for this character to have, which leads to an equally authentic and angered reaction from Lois where she says some incredibly hurtful, terrible things to him.

Both that scene where she blows up at Jonathan and the scene following it – in which Lois discusses her actions in her therapist’s office – contain some of the best acting in any Arrowverse show. Elizabeth Tulloch is genuinely amazing in this series, but the scenes throughout this episode are genuinely Emmy-worthy. Odds are that she won’t be nominated given the genre of the show, but she is absolutely worthy of a nomination because of how absolutely incredible she is.

And the final moment that Lois and Jonathan share, it’s a genuine tear-jerker in a way that no other scene in the show has been up until now. This writer would be lying if he said that he didn’t start crying while watching this scene.

Superman & Lois knocks it out of the park once again this week, mainly because of Elizabeth Tulloch’s beyond-excellent performance.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Superman and Lois? Let us know in the comments below!