Superman and Lois season 1, episode 13 review: Fail Safe

“I’m going to change the narrative. Put the blame where it should be.” Spoilers for Superman and Lois season 1, episode 13 follow.

Morgan Edge has been captured, but that doesn’t mean that Superman has won. His lackey is still in the world and the Eradicator is missing.

In Smallville though, the town is still reeling from Edge’s machinations and the D.O.D.’s continued presence.

Here’s what went down in Superman and Lois season 1, episode 13 “Fail Safe”.

Superman & Steel

After most of the season showcasing the animosity that John Henry Irons has had toward Superman, it’s nice to see that the character development that occurred during the previous episode isn’t completely forgotten about. So many Arrowverse shows are prone to committing to a significant amount of character development in one episode and then completely forgetting about it in the next. However, Superman & Lois has always been different from the rest of the Arrowverse shows and that’s no different with this, which is nice.

It’s also a lot of fun seeing Clark and John Henry fight Edge’s last ally, Leslie Larr, together – and ending that fight with a nice little fist bump. It’s fun to see them fight together, even in such a short scene, but it’s mainly enjoyable to see their friendship slowly growing. Obviously, they aren’t best friends yet, but that relationship is very much growing between the two, which makes sense considering how John Henry just saved Clark from being brainwashed. It’s just a really nice change of pace after seeing the two literally be at each other’s throats throughout the season.

But as we see Superman and Steel come together, we also get to see the dichotomy of Superman and Morgan Edge. They are two sides of the same coin. Both thought they were the last survivors of Krypton. Both were meant to carry on the legacy of it. But whereas as Superman was taught how to love protect, all that Edge was taught was how to hate and control. This is obviously a continuation of what has been shown between the two so far, it’s just that we get to see more of it here. And we even get what is essentially a callback to Superman’s “world made of cardboard” speech in Justice League Unlimited.

https://twitter.com/cwsupermanlois/status/1417665632305246211?s=20

Hidden truths

This realization for the Man of Steel gives him a new perspective on things as he begins to understand why the D.O.D. should keep the Kryptonite weapons they’ve created. It is all based around one question for Clark: “What if I lose control again in this world made of cardboard?” It’s a great question for someone like Clark to ask and the fact that he’s the one who made the choice for a deterrent, despite the voice in the back of his mind, proves exactly why that deterrent would more than likely never be needed on him.

As for Lois, once Clark tells her about why he still wants the weapons around, she understandably gets incredibly angry. She’s trying to keep her journalistic integrity, keep military secrets, and be a mom at the same time her husband decides that it’s okay that there should be thousands of weapons readily available just to kill him. Yeah, her frustrations throughout this episode are more than justified.

It’s always incredibly interesting to see the characters that you normally look up to and root for falter a bit as it reminds you how they, like everyone else, aren’t perfect. It matters though that the character continues to feel like the character despite their missteps and Lois absolutely does so here. Whether it’s through the writing or Elizabeth Tulloch’s performance or both, Lois never stops feeling like Lois in this episode despite all of her struggles.

Consequences in Superman and Lois

Probably the most routine part of the episode concerns Jonathan and Jordan. Both of their plots revolve around them playing hooky. Skipping school is something that has basically been done to death in every teen drama at this point but it still does some interesting things here, even if they are a bit cliché.

For Jonathan, he ditches school with the Junior girl that he’s been crushing on, which obviously feels like a recipe for disaster. The entire time that they’re together in this episode, it just feels like, at the end, a terrible prank is going to be pulled on Jonathan in a Carrie-like manner. However, none of that happens and it’s probably crueler because of that. She’s hanging out with him just get information about what has happened so that she can tell everyone. It’s not a prank, Jonathan is just being used as a means to an end which is often worse than any prank ever could be.

As for Jordan, he also ditches school with Sarah which ties back into her family troubles. She wants to just get away from all of the blame that is being placed on their shoulders. Sure, Kyle absolutely deserves some of the blame for bringing Edge to Smallville and the anger toward him, and partially Lana, can be justified. But it’s clear that they’re being scapegoated for every bit of the problems caused by Edge while conveniently forgetting that they voted to start doing business within the town. Kyle deserves consequences for his actions, but these are not the consequences that he, nor his family, deserve.

Superman & Lois has yet another strong episode that takes a slower approach and focuses on some of the more intangible character problems that have been building through the season.

What did you think of Superman and Lois season 1, episode 13? Are you enjoying the show? Let us know in the comments below!