Superman & Lois EPs Talk Clark's Fate, That 'Brainiac' Reference And More In Devastating Final Season Premiere
Warning: This article spoils several major events from the two-part Season 4 premiere of The CW's Superman & Lois.
After an agonizing, 16-month wait, Superman & Lois on Monday finally unpaused the Man of Steel's fatal face-off against Bizarro-Doomsday. And if you were actually able to see the final season premiere through your tears, you might have noticed the planting of several very significant seeds.
For starters, no, you didn't imagine that "Brainiac" reference. After delivering Lex Luthor a new piece of tech, Amanda McCoy (Kung Fu's Yvonne Chapman) casually referred to the machine's developer, Milton, as a "brainiac" who doesn't need his ego boosted. Brainiac is, of course, an iconic DC Comics character, with Milton Fine being one of the many aliases he's used since his debut in 1958.
Co-showrunner Todd Helbing calls Amanda's comment "intentional," telling TVLine that "there will be more to come" with Brainiac in future episodes. During a previous interview, Helbing told us that a "significant character from the comics" would be referenced early in the final season. "You hear the name drop, then you start hearing that name drop more, and then you see that person eventually," he told us at the time. Well, at least that's one mystery solved.
Another name dropped multiple times was that of Lex's daughter Elizabeth, a character you won't find in any of the comics. "She's our own creation," co-showrunner Brent Fletcher tells us, confirming that we will eventually meet her on screen. (Spoiler alert: When we do, she'll look a lot like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Elizabeth Henstridge.)
Despite lighthearted flashbacks to the titular couple's past, there's no denying that this was a devastating pair of episodes. From Lois and the boys' discovery of Clark's limp, heartless corpse to the scream Jordan released when Lex crushed that heart under his boot, there was no shortage of drama. Don't even get us started on that "press 1 to save Jordan, press 2 to save Jonathan" stunt Lex pulled on Lois. Diabolical!
The premiere concluded with Superman entering a suspended state, only able to communicate with his family via a hologram he apparently created shortly before Lois' cancer diagnosis. But even that felt like a tiny Band-Aid on a much larger wound. As far as the show is concerned, Superman is dead.
"It's not all tears all the time," Fletcher promises, "but we come into the season in a pretty heavy spot and we've got to earn it." Warning that emotions continue to run high next week, he adds, "It's kind of pedal to the metal from there on out. We turn over every card we can this season. That was sort of our philosophy going into it. We won't have more of these opportunities, so let's make the most of them."
On the plus side, we got to spend some time with Lana and Sarah in the season's second hour; Lana vowed to use every ounce of her mayoral powers to fight Lex, while Sarah helped Jonathan (unsuccessfully) retrieve his father's stolen heart. And it isn't the last we'll see of these two, as all of the Kents' Smallville friends will get a proper "closing out to their character arcs" by the end of the season, Fletcher says. "They all get a real story ... and you kind of know where they are into the future."
(Fletcher won't say what the future holds romantically for Jordan and Sarah, but he does confirm that they "get to a good place by the end of the season.")
Because we could all use a good mood lightener right now, let's wrap things up (pun absolutely ended) by discussing the answer to a question we didn't even ask: to whom did Superman lose his virginity? The Clark Kent of Earth-167 (aka Smallville) lost his to Lana amid a sea of candles and Coldplay, but as we learned during a premiere flashback this week, the Clark of Superman & Lois has only ever been with one woman. We'll give you a hint — her name is in the title.
"In the first couple of seasons, because it's Superman and Clark Kent, I was like, I don't know if we should show that stuff with them," Fletcher admits. But as the series progressed, producers realized that the couple's sex life could be addressed "in a respectful, adult way," just as the show did last season with Clark and Lois' first time together after her reconstructive surgery.
Still, it's going to take a lot more endearing flashbacks to fill the Superman-sized hole in our hearts. (Sorry, poor choice of words.)
Your thoughts on Superman & Lois' final season premiere? Grade the episodes below, then drop a comment with your full review.