If there is anything close to the emotionally agonizing ordeal of being a patient of a terminal illness like cancer, it has to be having someone close to you suffer from the said disease. In its third season, Superman & Lois doesn’t let the viewers catch a break as the Kent family continues to struggle with Lois’ situation of being diagnosed with cancer, which tests the Man of Steel’s mental resolve as well. In the previous episode, we saw Bruno Mannheim let the villain Deadline lose in the DOD, who, although captured after a brief scuffle with Superman, allowed the breach of confidential information that let Bruno access the corpse of Bizarro. Lois also started her treatment procedure at Hob’s Bay Medical Facility, funded by Bruno, to keep a close watch on the kingpin’s schemes relating to cancer-afflicted metahumans.
Spoilers Ahead
What Did Clark Learn In The Group Therapy Session?
While Lois undergoes her fourth chemotherapy session at Hob’s Bay, she sends Clark to a group therapy session where participants share their experience of spending life with close ones who are cancer sufferers or survivors. After listening to their account of how excruciating the pain of seeing their family members in agony is, of the constant reminder that a good medication session might not guarantee a definite win over this illness, and how it drains away even the best of us, Clark understandably grows restless. On the other hand, Lois befriends the unnamed cancer patient who shared her experience as a cancer survivor in the previous episode of Superman & Lois Season 3. As Clark takes Lois back home, the unnamed patient invites Lois for a lunch date.
After returning home, Clark receives a signal from Sam at the DOD, who informs him that the captured James DiStefano, aka the villain Deadline, has called for him. As Clark flies off to DOD in his Superman attire, he and Sam see a visibly distressed DiStefano, who has multiple tumors inside his body and is in a near-death condition, and ask to take him to Bruno Manheim. Clark does so, but Bruno refuses to help in any form despite DiStefano stating that he didn’t share any information, which prompts Clark to take him to the nearest medical facilities. Unfortunately, DiStefano’s condition deteriorates rapidly, and he passes away. At home, Clark learns from Lois that the DOD found traces of X-Kryptonite and Clark’s blood in DiStefano’s body, who was already dying of stage four lymphoma, and he wonders why Bruno is trying to make former convicts who are afflicted with the last stage of terminal illness into metahumans.
Why Is Clark Acting Overprotective Toward Jordan?
As Lois and Clark are having this conversation, Jordan returns home after rescuing people from a flash flood. Clark is shocked and concerned at the same time that Jordan went on his own on a risky mission that could have revealed his identity, jeopardized other lives, or worse. Lois interferes, saying it was she who asked Jordan to do that, as Clark was already pretty busy. Clark asks Jordan to be at the Fortress of Solitude the next day to amp up his training session.
Later that night, Lois mournfully states to Clark that DiStefano left three daughters in his absence, and imagining how their lives must have been upturned is just a small reminder of the viciousness of this disease. Clark sees Lois planning out her last will and end-of-life care plans just in case, and he gets bewildered that Lois is even considering the possibility of not making it. Lois tries to confront Clark with the reality of the situation that, despite Clark’s positive outlook, things can’t be predicted like that, especially when it’s related to human mortality, but Clark straight up ignores even acknowledging that thought.
The next day, Clark assigns Jordan a tough, interactive training session, which he manages to overcome as well. However, Clark tries to become overprotective of Jordan by unnecessarily burdening him with a more hostile training environment, and Jordan flies off after throwing a fit.
What Are Jonathan And The Cushing Family Up To?
Meanwhile, the powerless twin brother Jonathan finds himself engaged in Kyle Cushing fireman drills, believing in the old-school method of toiling without any recognition to attain the goal. Meanwhile, Kyle and Chrissy are seeing each other, and the latter wonders whether it’d be wise to inform Kyle’s ex-wife, Lana, about this.
Already extremely busy with mayoral duties, Lana asks her daughters, Sarah and Sophie, to stay with their father, Kyle, for the time being. Sophie gets frustrated after being on the receiving end of constant neglect from her parents and leaves on her own. After an hour or so, Lana arrives at Kyle’s apartment and inquires about Sophie, and Sarah finally notices her sister is missing. Lana goes on to search for Kyle and discovers his relationship with Chrissy. Kyle and Sarah search all over Smallville to locate Sophie; Jon accompanies them too, and they find Sophie in Fairfield. Jon manages to convince Sophie to soften up to her family, and Kyle shows his appreciation by giving Jon a personalized fireman’s tee. Later, Kyle goes to Chrissy, who feels ashamed about Lana knowing about their affair like that. Kyle calms her down and says that he will make their relationship official. At the Lang household, Lana and Sarah cheer Sophie up.
Did Clark Manage To Let Go Of His Fear?
Fearing an imminent attack as Bruno thinks that the DiStefano incident has already rattled the authorities, Superman, and the DOD, he doubles down on Dr. Hook’s effort to resurrect Bizarro using X-Kryptonite and Superman’s blood. It’ll still take time, something Bruno can’t afford, so he strategizes with Onomatopoeia about taking the battle to Superman directly.
Jordan returns home and lets Lois know about Clark’s overbearing behavior. This time Lois confronts Clark about his overprotectiveness being related to denial, as he seems unwilling to even admit that Lois’ battle with cancer might end in defeat too. Clark shares that in the support group, he heard about even the strongest of people giving up and previously about the chemo side effects related to the ‘pull’ that drains the will to go through the ordeal from the sufferers. Combining this with Lois’ recent preoccupation with the last will and everything related, Clark can’t wrap his head around the reality of the absence of Lois, something he fears too much. Lois retorts, saying people aren’t invulnerable like him, and the thought of mortality isn’t something that cropped up after her cancer diagnosis—it’s a reality we unknowingly choose to overlook every day. Lois mildly chides Clark and asks him to apologize to Jordan.
Lois leaves for the lunch date with the patient she befriended. Gradually, their conversation shifts to Hob’s Bay and Bruno Manheim, and Lois notices the patient has a rather liberal perspective about Bruno and his charities. Lois can’t help but remark about the unscrupulous sources of the funding, which hits an off-tone in the conversation.
Later at night, Clark reconciles with Jordan and assures him of his faith in his abilities. Right at that moment, Onomatopoeia mimics Lois’ voice to call out Clark at Hob’s Bay and attacks him using her sonic waves. Clark is pinned down by both the sonic waves and kryptonite-laced weapons used by Bruno’s henchmen and starts to take significant damage. Lois returns, and hearing about Clark being misguided from Jordan, she sends him at once to his rescue. Jordan manages to fend off the attackers but gets hit by a kryptonite shot. Clark, horrified at this sight, decapitates all the attackers and rushes to his son. Jordan wakes after a brief while, and it seems Kryptonite doesn’t affect him as much as it does Clark. Onomatopoeia retires to Bruno’s hideout, and as she removes her mask, she is revealed to be the aforementioned cancer patient who befriended Lois—she is Bruno’s spouse, Peia. She states to Bruno that she can feel herself waning as cancer is taking its toll, to which Bruno remarks that Dr. Hook is very close to coming up with a cure and that he will save her.
At the Kent household, Clark returns to Lois and tearfully acknowledges his fears. Possibly for the first time, Superman truly feels powerless, and the series highlights his vulnerability unabashedly. The next day, Clark returns to the support group and shares his experience. The man of steel vows to become his best self to help his better half win against the terminal disease.
In the seventh episode of Superman & Lois Season 3, we will possibly see more about Bruno’s plans, as his personal stake has been revealed in this episode. Hopefully, we will get a look at this universe’s Lex Luthor as well, and Clark will surely have his hands full tackling two crime lords at the same time, being a mentor to Jordan, all the while assisting Lois in her journey to beat cancer.
