Superman and Lois season 3, episode 12 review: Injustice

“Are you telling me to retire?” Spoilers for Superman and Lois season 3, episode 12 follow.

Lex Luthor has been released from prison with only one thing on his mind: revenge against Superman and Lois Lane.

Back in Smallville though, Clark and Lois deal with the fallout of Jordan’s ego beginning to spin out of control.

Here’s everything that went down in Superman and Lois season 3, episode 12 “Injustice”.

Superman and Lois season 3 episode 12 review

Luthor appears

For the first time, Lex Luthor has appeared on Superman & Lois. And he’s great. After some, spotty, for the lack of a better word, incarnations of Lex Luthor in the past decade, it’s fantastic to be terrified of Luthor once again. He’s like a live-action version of DC Animated Universe Lex which is the best compliment to give to someone portraying Lex, as that’s the best non-comic version.

Seeing his flashbacks in the prison immediately make him incredibly intimidating, even while he’s being punched in the face. He even gets beat up just to get to the warden and threaten his family, who then proceeds to have the guards severely beat another prisoner, just so he can get the hair clippers. From the get-go, this episode really does not let up in showing how threatening Lex should be.

And then when he arrives on the Kents’ doorstep, you are actually afraid that he is going to do something to hurt Lois. He obviously threatens her, not even being closed to being fazed by the anger in Clark’s eyes. With good reason too, as the episode ends with him finding Bizarro in the remains of Mannheim’s operation.

Picking her brain

On the familial side of the episode, an old reporter friend named Janet contacts Lois after she did an interview with Junior, trying to get insight on this mysterious “Superboy” in Smallville. This creates a pretty funny scene where Lois and Clark don’t know what to tell her, to which Lois panics and says she’ll help. This is a gag that has been used in countless shows and movies, and yet, it never gets old. It’s always funny.

But the episode gets very serious in this aspect once Lois and Clark realize the ego that has been building in Jordan’s head, thanks to Lana telling them that Sarah observed him bragging at school. They realize that they need to rein him in and basically ground him from being Superboy because of his recklessness.

But as soon as they try to actually ground him, a tornado appears out of nowhere. This forces Clark into action, apparently Jordan too, as he helps take the tornado down, but doesn’t listen to Clark when he tells his son to go home (side note: this scene felt almost like a meta commentary on the tornado scene in Man of Steel). Once the tornado is dealt with though, Jordan drops down and begins taking pictures with everyone underneath an overpass, much to the anger of Lois and Clark. This leads to an incredibly tense scene between the three that ends with maybe the most terrifying look that Superman has given in live-action, and there were no powers involved.

Keeping secrets

On the irrelevant side of the episode though, Sarah is mad that Jordan said that “whoever saved Sarah and Junior is a hero” which Lana backs her up on. But it’s stupid. Is Jordan being petty? Yeah. But Sarah’s just mad he’s being petty toward her and not what that actually means for his secret. This is the most “CW-esque” the show has been in a bit. However, once this plot point gets to the adults, a.k.a. Clark, Lois, and Lana, discussing what his braggadocio means in the larger picture, it’s much better. But whenever it cuts back to Sarah thinking the world revolves around her, it really makes you realize how annoying a character she has become.

Whereas Jon is now getting more of a free pass from Kyle now that his boss knows Clark’s secret, much to Jon’s chagrin. So Jon tells Clark, who goes to Kyle to stop giving him a free pass, and Kyle agrees and it’s just a nothing-burger of a plot. It adds nothing to the episode at all.

Despite a couple meaningless side bits in this episode, Superman & Lois’ introduction of Lex Luthor and its family drama in this episode is fantastic.

The Superman and Lois season 3 finale airs on The CW next Tuesday, June 27, at 8/7c. If you’re a fan of the show, listen to The CW Spiral Podcast for news and updates about its future. Subscribe to their YouTube channel here.