Superman and Lois season 1, episode 12 review: Through the Valley of Death

“Not even Superman is strong enough to resist the will of Zod.” Spoilers for Superman and Lois season 1, episode 12 follow.

Superman has gone with Morgan Edge and begins to have his mind erased. However, because this is Superman we’re talking about, he’ll fight to the bitter end.

Meanwhile, Lois and John Henry Irons prepare to do what needs be done if Superman turns.

Here’s everything that went down in Superman and Lois‘ returning episode, “Through the Valley of Death”.

Kneel before Zod in Superman and Lois

Eradication has been a plot device used on this show in such an interesting way. It’s something taken from the comics and changed to work within the show (and possibly act as the Eradicator in the future). With that said though, this episode makes it the most interesting that’s it been so far as we see it trying to eradicate Superman and replace him with none other than Zod’s consciousness.

We don’t see as much of this fight as you might think, which is probably for the best as it might feel repetitive at a certain point, but the fact that this is the way that Zod is being introduced in the show is such an interesting idea. Zod has come out of the Phantom Zone so many times in basically every iteration of Superman, so it’s nice to see something even slightly new being used to introduce the character.

And even though Superman fights back against the brainwashing, it doesn’t feel like this is the last time we’ll hear the name Zod on the show.

Preparing to euthanize

As Superman fights against his brainwashing, the rest of the characters have to determine how to fight against Superman. This has been coming for a long time. Basically, ever since it was revealed that John Henry Irons was from an Earth with an evil Superman and, well now we’re there and the build-ups and discussions about the fight are more interesting than the fight itself, which is still great.

The interesting parts of this stem from two things, Lois and Jonathan. Both of them have conversations at various times with John Henry about why he shouldn’t kill Superman. Both use similar ideas about family. But both go about it in different ways. Lois tries to show John Henry how her Superman is different from his, but what really breaks through to him is when Jonathan tells him how he and Superman are incredibly similar. This simple act in two fantastically-executed conversations manages to change John Henry and make him see that he was never wanting justice for his world, he simply wanted revenge. This realization, which is only shown through Wolé Parks’ excellent performance, is a perfect arc for the character and why we’ll more than likely see him officially take up the Steel moniker.

On top of all that, Arrow‘s John Diggle makes a guest appearance here. He doesn’t do much, but it’s always nice to see him show up, no matter how small the role, because David Ramsey is always great. Realistically though, he’s basically just here to tie the show into the wider Arrowverse as it is basically disconnected from the rest of the universe, which is neither a good or a bad thing. It just is.

Powers and belief

There are also some really great scenes between Jordan and Jonathan in this episode. They aren’t the main focus, but they are absolutely imperative to drive the narrative of the episode forward while also building the characters so well. This is something so many shows struggle with, making tertiary characters still feel important to the main story and build on their character at the same time, and this episode does so fantastically.

Seeing Jonathan be the voice that Jordan needs to push himself beyond his comfort zone and fight against the voice inside his head telling him he’s not good enough, it’s such a great realization of the arc for these two. To see them fighting and bickering over dumb stuff, while still loving each other, to having a rock-solid foundation that seemingly nothing will be able to break? It just feels so good to witness.

And when Jonathan tells Jordan that he is good enough to find their dad, it really pulls at your heartstrings. Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin truly aren’t given enough credit for how great they are in this show.

Superman and Lois comes back from its final hiatus as strong as ever, moving into its homestretch with incredible forward momentum.

What did you think of Superman and Lois season 1, episode 12? Let us know in the comments below!