Recap / Superman And Lois S 2 E 12 Lies That Bind

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Recap of Superman & Lois
Season 2, Episode 12

Lies that Bind

As Lana deals with the revelation that Clark is Superman, Clark has to deal with the growing threat that is Ally. Superman, John Henry Irons, Tal-Rho, and Sam Lane clash over how best to neutralize Ally's threat to their Earth. Lois deals with unexpected social consequences after the revelation of the Kent family secret.

Tropes Involved in this Episode:

• All-Loving Hero: Sam and John Henry are adamant to destroy the portal to stop Ally from endangering their world. Clark, however, points out that they cannot just leave Bizarro World at her mercy now that she possesses god-like power, not to mention Jon-El would be stuck on their side.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Clark brings Tal-Rho over to apologize to Lois, she asks if he's here to apologize for trying to kill her family, trying to destroy the world, or rewriting her article.
  Tal-Rho: I told you she'd bring that up.
• As You Know: When Jordan and Jonathan question the wisdom of attending school while Ally and her mooks are on the loose, Lois replies that Jonathan should feel fortunate that the principal relaxed the suspension that had been imposed on him for his involvement with X-Kryptonite.
• The Atoner: Tal-Rho is genuinely apologetic about his deeds.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Superman is getting his energy drained by Ally, John Henry returns to knock her aside, forcing her to retreat temporarily and allowing Supes and Tal-Rho to destroy the pendant before she can fight her way past him.
• Big "NO!": Ally's reaction when she sees that Superman and Tal-Rho are moments from destroying the pendant.
• Body Horror: Ally completely draining Bizarro Tal-Rho leaves him a desiccated corpse.
• Canon Character All Along: With Ally's return and ability to siphon Superman's power, we now know that she's this universe's version of the Alexandra Allston Parasite, and the third adaptation of Parasite in the Arrowverse.
• Chainmail Bikini: Natalie's unfinished armor has the "boobplate" variant, though neither Jonathan or Jordan make note of it when she offers the armor to the former.
• Enemy Mine: Knowing he needs more help, Superman once again turns to Tal-Rho, this time to destroy the pendant they got from Jon-El.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Both Kyle and Sarah wrongly suspect that Lana might be dating somebody.
• Everyone Has Standards: Tal-Rho doesn't think very highly about Sam and John Henry proposing to leave a whole world at the mercy of Ally just to save their own.
• Exact Words: When John Henry asks what Natalie, Jon and Jordan were up to all day, they tell him "family bonding". Which is true, but greatly lacking in pertinent details.
• Flashback: A few to Clark and Lana's youth.
• Hannibal Lecture: Jon-El does this to Clark when the latter attempts to convince him to help stop Ally.
• Idiot Ball: Despite Natalie explicitly stating that X-K contains "an insane amount of energy", Jordan, who is half-heartedly trying to chisel some out of a rock column, decides the make things easier by using heat vision to just carve off a chunk of the stuff. This energizes the veins of X-K and triggers a cave-in, which they all narrowly escape only thanks to the fact that he also has Super-Speed. They also lose the bag of X-K they had already collected in the process.
• Immediate Sequel: This episode begins right after Clark tells Lana he's Superman in the previous episode.
• Internal Reveal: Lana learns about the doppelgangers and that Lana-Rho might show up and try to merge with her.
• Jerk Jock: Timmy, Sean and Corey harass Jonathan over the football season being cancelled due to using X-K.
• Lampshade Hanging: Lana saying that she cannot believe she never put 2 and 2 together and figured out Clark's secret on her own.
• Name Drop:
  • When Sarah plays one of her own songs, Kyle mistakes it for a Olivia Rodrigo song.
  • And when he takes her to play at Tonya's old bar, he compares her to Billie Eilish.
  • Jordan and Nat mention climate-activist Greta Thunberg to explain Jon's Straw Nihilist attitude.
• Never My Fault: The above-mentioned Jerk Jocks are unapologetic about the fact that at least one of them, Timmy, was using X-K even before Jonathan was. In their minds, the difference is that Jonathan got caught.
• Powered Armor: Nat built one, originally for herself, but she decides to give it to Jon because he seems like he needs a boost more right now and make another for herself later. It's powered by X-Kryptonite.
• Power Parasite: Ally is able to absorb the powers of others, partially draining both Superman and Tal-Rho, and fatally draining Bizarro Tal-Rho of all his power.
• Required Secondary Powers: Like his father, Jordan appears to be able to extend his protective energy field to the people he is carrying when he moves at Super-Speed. Thus Natalie and Jonathan are unharmed by him suddenly grabbing them from behind and speeding them all out of the collapsing cavern.
• Sibling Team: Natalie, Jon and Jordan (who are kind of half-siblings since Natalie's mother and the twins' mother were/are both versions of Lois Lane) form one in this episode in their adventure in the mines. Afterwards, they refer to the experience as "family bonding", which is the first time they've acknowledged their relation directly in dialogue.
• So You Were Saying...?: Lana is about to tell Sarah the truth when Sophie walks in and asks Sarah to look at something on a video game with her. After Sarah tells Sophie she'll be there soon and asks her mother what she was going to say, Lana has changed her mind. She later tells Lois and Clark that she realized she doesn't want Sarah to have to lie to her sister.
• Stalker without a Crush: Tal-Rho becomes interested in finding out more about the woman his double married.
• Straw Nihilist: Jon tells Timmy, Sean and Corey that everything is meaningless anyways, since the end is coming soon. While he is referring to Ally Allston's plan, Jordan and Nat make an excuse for him that he has been watching Greta Thunberg recently and is very concerned about climate change.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Superman needs the help of a comparably powered individual to have any hope of destroying the pendant. The best plan he can think of is to spring a troublemaker from military jail and hope he plays ball. It's not like he has a friendly cousin who's a superheroine, or an aunt and uncle who live in orbit. And even after the pendant is destroyed, there's still a Physical God who can steal Superman's powers on the loose. Too bad there aren't two other powered individuals who are unquestionably also heroes and could super-speed their way to Smallville at a moment's notice...
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
  • Ally flees with the remains of the pendant after it's been destroyed.
  • Tal-Rho vanishes at the same time, though Lois believes his apology was sincere and he won't be a problem.
• Was It All a Lie?: Lana asks both Clark and Lois this in regards to their respective relationships with her.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Lana blows up at Lois for not telling her the truth, as it puts their entire friendship in question.
• Wicked Cultured: Tal-Rho has been reading about human history while imprisoned.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Subverted. Clark makes a genuine, if somewhat pompous, attempt to reason with Jonathan-El. It does not change Jonathan-El's loyalty to Ally or his eagerness to see the people of the two Earths forcibly merged. Clark also tries this with his brother, who does actually help him destroy the pendant. But he escapes while Clark and John Henry are distracted by Ally, leaving the future with him ambiguous.

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