The following contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 3, Episode 5, "Head On," which debuted Tuesday, April 11 on The CW.
The third season of Superman & Lois faces interesting challenges from a new Jonathan Kent actor to Lois Lane's cancer diagnosis. However, the best Kal-El stories don't involve aliens or giant robots or Doomsday, but the more human side of Superman. The hook for this latest Superman TV series was one never used before in live action: making him a father. The focus on Clark Kent's family was baked into the show from the beginning, but Season 3 shifts focus even more closely on the family, with antagonist Bruno Mannheim still mostly in the narrative shadows.
This is the right call. Chad L. Coleman is a skilled enough actor to imbue one or two scenes with an entire episode's worth of subtext and characterization. It also gives the storytellers the space to focus on the heavy emotional moments in the family. Jonathan, played by Michael Bishop, and Samantha Di Francesco's Candice are in the midst of a classic tale of teen heartbreak. Taylor Buck's Natalie Irons and Dylan Walsh's Sam Lane are developing what could be one of the most powerful family relationships in the show. And, of course, the most powerful man in the world has to sit by helpless while the love of his life fights cancer.
Clark Kent Talking to Cancer Patients Is the Most Powerful Scene
One of the biggest challenges when telling a Superman story is pitting him against a worthy villain. He's so powerful that almost no one is a threat without kryptonite, powers of their own or some Superman-specific technology. This is why the moments fans love are the quiet ones. When Superman shows up to be a friend to someone who needs one. The only power he uses is compassion and maybe super-listening. This is why the scenes in "Head On" where Clark Kent spoke to two chemotherapy patients is so powerful. In a way, the characters played by Allegra Fulton and Daya Vaidya rescue Superman.
Both Lois and Clark are at this particular treatment center so the former can go off and snoop, leaving the latter in the treatment room waiting anxiously. When the women encourage him to sit down and talk with them, they are saving him from an all-too-familiar anxiousness their own loved ones feel. Superman, the mighty last son of Krypton, can do nothing to save or spare these women. All he can do is listen, which is one of the ways Superman helps people. Superman actor Tyler Hoechlin's near-tears performance listening to one of the cancer patient's story about her daughter is perfect.
There are several famous scenes where Superman shows up for a person standing on a ledge ready to end it all. He could just fly them to the ground before they realized it. Yet, he never does. He listens to them, and he can say the right thing. Yet, he's not just there for these women, they are there for him. They give him honest but hopeful expectations for the villain he and Lois have to face. It's a scene that could be in any series, but its impact increases because it's Superman.
Superman & Lois Tells Emotional Family Stories Beyond Lois' Illness
In the back half of the episode, Lois suffers the very side effects the two unnamed patients described to Clark. Since Superman II, Lois Lane is as much a superhero as Superman. Seeing her laid low by side effects familiar to every viewer whose life was impacted by cancer is equally powerful. But it's not just the cancer storyline that makes Season 3 special. The series is more Ted Lasso than any of its kin on The CW, because Superman & Lois is full of people being there for others who need it.
In every Superman adaptation, General Sam Lane is a hard man. However, he's the best dad and grandfather he's ever been in Superman & Lois. On the world where Natalie Irons was born, Lois Lane was her mother. In Superman & Lois' universe, she is surrounded by people who look like her family but aren't them. Sam stepping up to be a grandfather to her is a surprisingly sweet tale. He first does what he does with the boys, try to rope Natalie into his military orbit. Yet, that was his way of showing faith in her genius. In Episode 5, he's a stereotypical over-protective father-figure. Yet, it works because it's Superman and Lois, and there are people out to get her, Clark, Lois and the rest.
Another classic tale made better by Superman's presence is Candice's story. Her father is a horrific guy, who made his daughter sell super-drugs and stole her boyfriend's truck. Clark rough-talked the bad dad out of Smallville, but he and Lois took the girl in. It's always awesome to see Superman doing something impossible. But the best stories are when Kal-El takes the most human approach to being a hero.
Superman and Lois debut new episodes Tuesdays at 8 PM ET on The CW.