Recap / Superman And Lois S 1 E 1 Pilot

Next: Superman And Lois S 1 E 2 Heritage

Recap of Superman & Lois
Season 1, Episode 1

Pilot

In the wake of a family tragedy, Clark Kent, wife Lois, and teenaged sons Jonathan and Jordan return to Clark's hometown, Smallville. When a freak farming accident leads the twins to question their seemingly inexplicable survival, Clark realizes he also faces the challenge of finally revealing to his sons the truth: Their father is the world's greatest superhero.

Tropes

• Always Someone Better: Jordan has an inferiority complex towards his brother, who excels at everything he does. Later turned on its head when Jordan is actually the one of the two to develop powers.
• Amicable Exes: Lana and Clark seem to be on very good terms.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Jordan doesn't take the revelation of Clark being Superman well, becoming so upset that he deflects every attempt by his parents to comfort him and angrily tells Clark that he may be a great hero but he's a terrible father. The next scene shows that this genuinely hurt Clark.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Familial version. As much as Jonathan and Jordan bicker and pick at each other, neither will allow anyone else to pick on their brother.
• Bait-and-Switch: Clark and Lois suspect Jonathan has inherited powers because of his skills as a football player. It turns out Jonathan is seemingly normal and it's Jordan who manifests powers.
• Big Brother Instinct: Jonathan doesn't hesitate to jump in and start fighting when he sees much larger football players menacing Jordan.
• Brutal Honesty: Sophie, Lana's and Kyle's younger daughter, talks about Kyle being angry with Lana for going on Clark's Facebook page.
• Bumbling Dad: During Jonathan's introduction, Clark is seen embarrassing him in front of his girlfriend Eliza (via Stream).
• Bungled Suicide: Sarah previously attempted suicide, taking a bunch of her mother's prescription pills.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Morgan Edge, who is slowly gutting the Daily Planet. Lois mentions that he has a pattern of exploitative business practices, and Smallville appears to be his next target. He secretly acquired the bank offering loans to the residents in a scheme to buy up the land, for as yet unrevealed reasons.
• Death by Origin Story: Jonathan Kent Sr. already died years back when Clark was still a boy and Martha's death is what kicks off the premise of the story.
• Determinator: As he plummets to Earth, Superman summons the willpower to rip a shard of Kryptonite out of his chest while it's poisoning him, fling it away, and regain his powers just in the nick of time.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: In a flashback, Clark is playing with a toy rocketship and throws it to make it fly. In doing so, he pitches it straight through the corner walls of the Kent home.
• Dying Town: Camera pans across farms show that many of them are in foreclosure. The main street business are rundown and graffitied. Kyle mentions that kids who go away for college have stopped coming back to live in Smallville, preferring to strike out elsewhere, leaving the population aging and dwindling.
• Easter Egg: During Clark's call with his mother, he stands in front of a small chalkboard that says "Dr. Donnor" and "Call Siegel and Shuster". Richard Donnor was the director of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are the creators of Superman. Later, a second To Do chalkboard has a reminder to "reschedule w Dr Reeve" a reference to Christopher Reeve who portrayed Superman in the most famous movies about the character and who is considered by many to be the definitive portrayal.
• Elder Abuse: The Smallville bank issued reverse mortgages to the elderly farmers of the community, leading to foreclosures on the properties when the loan holders passed and their surviving family could not pay the exponentially ballooned balance on the loans.
• Experienced Protagonist: This version of Superman has already been active as a superhero for over 20 years and has a working relationship with the DOD that allows them to contact him for national emergencies.
• Failed a Spot Check: Nobody at the party notices Jordan shooting laser beams out of his eyes during the brawl, even though he is surrounded by dozens of people and many have pulled out their phones and started filming it. This may be justified if the effect is for the viewer's convenience, so while we can see it, they might not be able to see anything (especially since lasers, obviously, travel at the speed of light, too fast to be picked up by the naked eye or even an average phone camera).
• First-Episode Twist: In the comics, Jonathan Kent Jr has powers. Lois and Clark talk about how Jonathan is unusually strong and fast, even starting at quarterback in a super competitive football program, despite only being a freshman. Then, there is a freak accident that makes it appear that Jonathan's powers are finally manifesting, leading audience to believe that the show is following the comic book lore and Jonathan will have powers while Jordan feels left out and resentful. Later, however, the twist is revealed that the display of super strength actually came from Jordan. Jonathan shows no signs of being super powered.
• Flashback: At the beginning, there are a few, from Clark arriving to Earth, him growing up, the death of his father and him getting together with Lois.
• Flashback Echo: Being at his mother's funeral is interspersed with memories of attending his father's funeral.
• Foreshadowing: Clark outright points out that tests he ran at the Fortress of Solitude determined that the likelihood of Jonathan developing powers was unlikely.
• From New York to Nowhere: The Kents move from the bustling city of Metropolis to the rural farming community of Smallville.
• Good Samaritan: Martha Kent was known as this around Smallville, looking out for everyone, even taking a loan to help out her neighbors.
• Heel–Face Return: General Sam Lane, from what has been seen so far, is a far cry from his Pre-Crisis General Ripper self, being a Secret-Keeper for Clark and Lois and acting nothing short of supportive towards the pair, if a bit stern.
• Idiot Ball: Decades have passed and Clark has his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic now, but in all that time it's never occurred to him to move his advanced alien starship out of the basement of a barn hidden by nothing more than a locked door that is defeated by a crowbar.
• I Know Your True Name: Captain Luthor's taunting messages to Superman are addressed to "Kal-El", and Luthor addresses him as such while they fight.
• Incurable Cough of Death: During Clark's last call with his mother, she coughs hoarsely. She says she just needs to lie down, but it's the last time the two speak prior to the stroke that kills her.
• Internal Reveal: Jordan and Jonathan learn about their dad being Superman.
• It Always Rains at Funerals: Played straight with Jonathan Kent's funeral in flashback. Averted with Martha's: the weather is sunny and clear throughout the day.
• Jerkass: Sarah's boyfriend, Sean, doesn't bother to listen to either Sarah or Jordan's explanations after seeing him kiss her, insisting on getting aggressive.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kyle, Lana's husband. He disparages Clark and Lois' jobs as reporters (and so do their co-workers), and openly supports Morgan Edge (the man who got Clark fired). However, he is also a firefighter who doesn't hesitate to put his life on the line to save a bunch of kids, and according to his daughter Sarah, his behaviour might be connected to a form of PTSD.
• Just in Time: Clark recovers from being stabbed with Krypton mere inches before colliding with a car, an impact which would have been a catastrophic collision after falling all the way from orbit.
• Love at First Sight: As a flashback shows, Clark was head over heels with Lois the moment he met her.
• Mean Boss: Morgan Edge has been laying off a lot of reporters since taking over The Daily Planet. Clark becomes the latest victim of this at the start of the episode.
• More Insulting than Intended: When Clark sees that Jordan is playing a fight game between Superman and another character, he congratulates Jordan on being a good superman. Jordan scoffs and says that Superman is boring and that he's playing as the other character. So, Jordan is only scoffing at his dad liking a goody two shoes character, but Clark is watching his son essentially beat him to a pulp in effigy.
• Mundane Utility: Clark uses his Super-Strength to shake a vending machine to knock loose the snack Lois purchased.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the flashbacks has Clark, in a Fleischer-inspired suit, redo his famous Action Comics #1 cover pose. When the kid he saves compliments his costume, Clark proudly replies that his mom made it.
  • The to-do list mentions calling Siegel and Shuster, aka the guys who created Superman.
  • Clark picking up the giant iceberg is a callback to him picking up the giant mass of Kryptonite in Superman Returns.
  • During a discussion with Clark and Lois, Lana compliments Martha as Smallville's "Superwoman". Both Lana and Lois had the alias of "Superwoman" near the end of the New 52 era.
  • Jordan was the name that Superman adopted for his new civilian identity at the end of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?.
  • The idea of Superman having two children, one with powers and one without (and the Sibling Rivalry this could potentially trigger), has previously been explored in Superman & Batman: Generations.
  • The fight scene and general visual style is heavily influenced by Man of Steel.
• No-Sell: Captain Luthor's suit completely withstands anything Clark tries to throw at it.
• No Social Skills: Jordan has severe social anxiety. In the end, he even apologizes to Sarah for kissing her, in front of his brother.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Clark plays up his Bumbling Dad attitude to help conceal his identity from his sons. Jordan even names this as the reason their Dad couldn't be Superman, remarking that he can't put up a Christmas tree without falling off the ladder.
• Oh, Crap!: When Clark gets the call from his mother's doctor, he rushes over to Smallville as fast as possible, not even letting her finish explaining what happened.
• Once More, with Clarity: It's revealed that it was actually Jordan who protected Jon from the metal pipes instead of the reverse after he is shown to be the one that inherited Clark's powers.
• Opening Monologue: The episode begins with Clark summarizing his life, beginning with his arrival on earth, his father's death that caused him to leaves Smallville for Metropolis, meeting and falling in love with Lois, the birth of his twins, and ending with their present day status, all visualized through montage.
• Out of Job, into the Plot: Clark is laid off from the Daily Planet, making it easier for the family to maintain their cover as they move to Smallville since Clark can be home for the boys while Lois commutes back and forth.
• Papa Wolf: Superman is falling from the sky, after having been stabbed by a shard of Kryptonite, but when Lois sends a distress signal because their sons are in trouble, he yanks it out of his chest and flies back to Smallville to help.
• Parents as People: Both Lois and Clark are seen struggling with their responsibilities. They have trouble coping with Jordan's social anxiety, and Clark is deeply reluctant to reveal his secret identity to his sons, which causes a decent amount of grief when they discover their alien heritage on their own.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Martha's death is what brings the Kent family back to Smallville, leading to the discovery of Jordan's powers and the discovery of Edge's influence on the town, triggering Clark and Lois decision to move back to Smallville.
• Polar Opposite Twins: Jordan and Jonathan are not only fraternal, but also are diametrically opposed in personality and interests.
• Powered Armor: Captain Luthor fights in one, which is powered by Kryptonite and designed to withstand all of Superman's powers while giving Luthor equal strength and speed.
• Powerful and Helpless: It seems to be a theme for the series; Clark, for all his incredible powers, can't prevent his parents from succumbing to natural human health problems. And, in the case of his mother, he's not fast enough to even be by her side as she dies. He's also powerless to alleviate his son's mental illness or do anything about losing his job that provides for his family.
• Race Lift: Captain Luthor is a black man.
• Recursive Canon: Clark sees Jordan fighting against Superman in Injustice 2.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the end, when Jordan bluntly apologizes to Sarah for kissing her, Jonathan flatly states "That is embarrassing." and escapes the awkward conversation as quickly as he can.
• Secret-Keeper: Despite being angry with their parents, both Jonathan and Jordan don't tell the fellow kids at the bonfire who their dad really is.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Jonathan is happy, cheerful and a successful student and athlete with a girlfriend to boot. Jordan on the other hand is reclusive, angry and has severe social anxiety.
• Shout-Out:
  • Jonathan snarks to Jordan to watch some HowToBasic videos on style.
  • Jordan is playing Injustice 2
• Social Media Before Reason: When Jonathan and Jordan are attacked by a crowd of much bigger boys, the other party goers immediately all whip out their phones and start recording, obviously intending to upload it to social media. Not even the fact that the boys are spitting up blood and visibly on the verge of passing out prompts them to intervene or call for help. It takes Jordan's heat vision setting off a massive explosion to literally and metaphorically knock them out of their tunnel vision.
• Theme Twin Naming: Jonathan and Jordan both have names that begin with J and are both named for Clark's fathers (Jonathan, eponymously for Clark's adoptive father and Jordan for Jor-El, Clark's biological father)
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Jordan's Heat Vision awakens when he and Jonathan are beaten up by Sean and his friends.
• The Unfavorite: Jordan believes that his parents already favor Jonathan because he is athletic, outgoing, and doesn't struggle with mental health illness. Jordan is even more distraught when it appears that Jonathan may have inherited superpowers from their father which Jordan believes will make Clark favor Jonathan even more.
• Unrequited Love: Unfortunately for Jordan, Sarah already has a boyfriend, Sean. That being said, there is definite Ship Tease between them...
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Martha Kent dies not even halfway through the Pilot.
• Wham Line: The Stranger telling his ship's computer he needs more Kryptonite.
  Computer: I'll start the upgrades to your armor right away, Captain Luthor.
• The Worf Effect: Superman summarily gets his ass handed to him by Captain Luthor, losing to him in their first battle. It's implied, as Luthor smugly observes that Superman's "not as fast as [he] thought", that the universe this Luthor hails from is home to a much more powerful Superman.