“Superman and Lois” 1×02 Recap: Clark’s fatherhood struggles continue as Luthor’s backstory is revealed

Superman and Lois continued on Tuesday night as Clark struggled to keep both his sons happy while Luthor’s backstory was finally revealed as was the source of his hatred for Superman. 

In case you missed it, let’s dive straight into this recap.

Clark finally gets through to Jordan… sort of 

While episode two was not as action-packed as the series premiere, it is important to show that Clark, despite being Superman, still struggles like the rest of us. Case in point, Jordan is starting to get close to his father now that Clark has decided to tell him more about having powers. However, Jonathan is clearly jealous that Clark is spending so much time with Jordan. 

Clark takes Jordan to the Fortress of Solitude for a history lesson and later an evaluation of his powers by the holographic form of Jor-El (or “HaloGramps” as Jordan later calls him). Clark and Jordan are both disappointed to learn that Jordan doesn’t have the powers like Clark. They come out in spurts and he may never actually be able to gain control of them. 

While he’s disappointed, Clark and Jordan do grow closer in the episode. That is progress from last week’s premiere and something tells me Clark may not be disappointed long. You’ve got to think either Jonathan or Jordan — or maybe both — will have his powers. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and how Clark will handle that. 

Luthor’s backstory deepens 

This was a very heavy Luthor episode as the episode kicks off with him searching for more kryptonite. However, in a surprising twist, he may not be the villain he was presented to be in last week’s premiere. Confused? Let me explain. 

This week, we see him get into a fight with Superman in which the Man of Steel has him pinned. However, Luthor rigs his ship to explode over Metropolis, forcing Superman to choose between stopping him or saving the city. I think we all know what he chose. 

It appears this was all a distraction because as we find out at the end of the episode, Luthor came to this Earth to stop Superman from turning evil. A flashback is shown of Luthor as a soldier on his Earth but that Earth’s Superman is evil, dressed in the black suit and killing every soldier, including that Earth’s General Sam Lane. 

Back on Earth Prime, Luthor tells Sam he needs to work with him to stop Superman and by Lane’s face at the end of the episode, he’s possibly considering it. 

Episode Notes 

• This week, Lois is doing some investigative journalism on Morgan Edge and his shady dealings. She is very suspicious of him and what his exact plans for Smallville are. The Kents go to the barbecue the Cushings are throwing. You know Kyle Cushing doesn’t like the Kents and you can sense there is a big blowout between the two families brewing. 
• Lois quits her job at The Daily Planet after Edge rewrote her entire article to fit his narrative. So she joins Smallville’s newspaper and something tells me she’s going to do major damage there. 
• Finally, Luthor gave General Lane a tag with the Superman ‘S’ on it. The back read “HELL” which turned over reads “7734”. Well, I won’t go too much into it because of future spoilers but that’s code for a project Lane was working on in the comics, a project that has to do with stopping aliens. *Hint*

What did you think of the episode? Let me know in the comments below!

Superman and Lois airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.