Superman & Lois Season 2 (BBC) TV Show Review

X-Kryptonite, Inverse Universes, and the Supermen of America make for a heady, pleasantly unfamiliar second season.

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

28

Superman & Lois Season 2 (BBC) TV Show Review

Arrowverse-adjacent Superman & Lois had no real right to succeed, given its very birth in Supergirl was pretty inauspicious, and the DC verse it had come from, but somehow it continues to defy the odds.

The first season of Superman & Lois was tremendous viewing, from the excellent score to the heroic montages to the heartfelt emotional beats, taking some of the best elements of Snyder's Man of Steel and investing them in a long format show - utilising a selection of well-crafted characters to give it some heft and underpin the super-powered action beats. It returns for a second year which, as with the first, has required a bit of a wait in the UK, but was it worth it?

... builds slowly but purposefully across its second 15-episode run

Superman has a new series of battles to overcome, whether dealing with the politics of new US military oversight, complete with a zealous new General and his engineered super-powered team, or the weakening mind-tremors caused by the appearance of a bizarre new individual who may or may not be from another universe. And with his kids dealing with their own powers - or lack thereof - and their own lives, multiple worlds are about to get very complicated.

Superman & Lois Season 2

Superman & Lois enjoys exploring some of the less familiar Superman tales, mostly eschewing the over-used 'Jokers' of the Superman universe - Lex Luthor and General Zod - and finding antagonists deeper within comic book lore, from Morgan Edge to The Eradicator, to Intergang and even John Henry Irons' Steel. Indeed, its dual-arc first season (a format which has been utilised in single-story shows ever since their birth in the likes of 24) made for compelling viewing, and it's a style understandably replicated second time around.

This year though there's less interest in rushing to provide immediate thrills, with the show making the most of the fact that, by now, it likely has a relatively loyal following and it has the time to paint a long-form picture which builds slowly but purposefully across its second 15-episode run.

... enjoys exploring some of the less familiar Superman tales

Although initially it feels like the show is lacking an endgame, that's just a slow-burned play. And, indeed, some of the more bizarre antagonist choices are handled surprisingly well, particularly for a character that has traditionally often been prone to ridicule when improperly rendered, affording an unpredictable first half of the season, before the real Big Bad becomes clear, bringing forth another deep-lore-rooted villain from the comics, and allowing the show to unravel not one but two worlds of chaos (exploring the 'verse in a much more confident and considered fashion to anything the Arrowverse proper has delivered).

Tyler Hoechlin's Clark/Superman continues to be excellent in the role(s), supported by an equally perfectly chosen Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois, and it's nice to have Adam Rayner back for more than just a glorified cameo in this second year, whilst Wole Parks' John Henry Irons finds himself in a complicated spot when his inter-dimensionally long-lost daughter appears, and the kids continue to be, well, occasionally annoying teens. It's handled very well though, splicing X-Kryptonite steroids into the mix, enjoying the many twists of an inverted universe, and increasingly complex family dynamics in more than one family. And, ultimately, a hell of a threat that leaves you wondering just who is going to make it out of this alive.

Movies & TV Shows Review

45

Superman & Lois Season 1 (BBC) TV Show Review

Superman & Lois Season 1 (BBC) TV Show Review

by Cas Harlow ·
Did Arrowverse secretly spawn a big budget, character-driven TV show about Superman that nobody would have believed could have been possible, and did BBC then drop the entire first season this weekend?  
9

Superman & Lois - Season 2 arrives on BBC in the UK just as it finishes airing in the US, with the first two episodes airing Sunday 17th July but actually the entire 15 episodes available online on the BBC iPlayer.

Scores

Verdict

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8

8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
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