WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 1, Episode 13, "Fail Safe," which aired Tuesday on The CW.
In Superman & Lois, Lois has risen above adversity to fight Morgan Edge, a.k.a. Tal-Rho. He fired her from the Daily Planet, but that hasn't stopped her from exposing his sinister project -- raising an evil Kryptonian army -- in Smallville. However, as much as her investigative work for the Smallville Gazette has helped Superman, Lois' recent betrayal may have doomed the Kansas farm town.
Smallville's reeling from Tal implanting Kryptonian minds into human bodies, to the point it's tottering on civil war. Kyle Cushing, Lana's husband, is vilified, and his home's defaced because people, like him, who supported Edge initially are painted as evil.
The thing is, no one knows for sure what happened, as the victims Superman freed can't remember a thing. All they know is experiments happened, and it has something to do with the military, who are leaving town. This places pressure on Lois to get a statement from her dad, Sam, and the Department of Defense, but he's mum on the topic.
He knows how sensitive this is and the state of panic that'd ensue, so he avoids the media frenzy. It's breaking protocol, but he rather say nothing than get people riled up. Sadly, Lois' editor, Chrissy, is upset because this encroaches on press freedom. Plus, it feels like Lois is censoring what she reports, and Chrissy calls her biased in an attempt to guilt her.
Lois can understand what Sam is trying to do, as Lana's family could be hated even more, with the mayor using them as a scapegoat and tensions high overall. Lois, though, produces a statement she says is from Sam to Chrissy, but everything he said was off-the-record. Because of this, it's unclear what's real and not.
Along with her dad not liking this breach of trust, this also won't help their relationship or repair the town. Sam already has to wrestle with Lois hating him for giving kryptonite weapons to John Henry Irons, and the last thing he needs is a town on his back about cover-ups and an abuse of power.
Citizens feel used, and to make it worse, broaching the subject of aliens could bring eyes to Superman's activity as a teen and the kryptonite-infected mines. Thus, Lois may have inadvertently endangered the Kents' secrets and her kids while inviting villains to the scene, but only time will tell, with Superman & Lois airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.