Superman & Lois Team Talks Powerful Surprise And Tragic Loss In Episode 3: 'We Felt Like People Wouldn't Expect It'

Warning: This article spoils the events of Superman & Lois Season 4, Episode 3.

The third episode in Superman & Lois' final season will go down as one of the series' most memorable, serving a pair of jaw-dropping twists — one we never thought we'd get to see, and another we never wanted to see.

Let's start with the good news: Jonathan finally has powers! An emotional outburst triggered his latent abilities, putting him on par with Jordan seemingly overnight.

"We've kicked around Jonathan having powers a few times, but it never felt right," co-showrunner Todd Helbing tells TVLine, adding that he "always thought we would get at least seven seasons" in which this could be explored. "Knowing that this season was the end gave us a lot of creative freedom to just go for it, to tell stories that we'd held out on. The way everything has been unfolding with Superman, we felt like it was the perfect time and people wouldn't expect it."

Speaking of the unexpected, Monday's episode also gave us the death of General Sam Lane, who was brutally crushed by Bizarro-Doomsday and callously dropped at his daughter's feet. (For those of you keeping score at home, that's the second time Lois has been gifted with the corpse of a loved one this season — and we're only two weeks in.)

"When we shot that exterior scene at the DOD, I almost threw up in my mouth," Bitsie Tulloch recalls of the guttural scream Lois releases at the sight of her father's death. "The reality is that when you're in it as an actor — and you pray for those moments where all of Bitsie is gone and it's all Lois — you have no idea what you're going to do. It's kind of hard to rein it in once you get going."

Fortunately, Sam had injected himself with Bruno Mannheim's super serum prior to his death, making his heart strong enough to replace Superman's, hence the Man of Steel opening his eyes in the episode's final moments.

So, how did Dylan Walsh feel about his character's untimely demise? "He was awesome about it," Fletcher says. "We told him the story and he loved it. He got really emotional and thanked us for such a wonderful send off. I mean, it's the most heroic thing in the world — he brings Superman back! Dylan totally got it."

Sam was honored with a small, private funeral on the Kent farm, attended by his nearest and dearest — including John Henry and Natalie (or should we say Starlight?!), both of whom were thrilling to watch in action this week. In fact, the only missing funeral attendee we would've like to see was Sam's estranged daughter Lucy (played by Jenna Dewan), last seen way back in Season 2.

"We thought about [Lucy]," Helbing says, "but it gets into the logistics of making the show. It adds a story point that we don't have enough space to fill, quite honestly. We just felt like we should keep it intimate with our regulars. You'll see that all season — we try to keep it intimate with these characters, because we don't have much time left with them. We were very judicious about it, and we just didn't think it would be worth bringing her back for this."

(Speaking of funeral attendees, given what the producers told us about Lois and Lucy's mother, that's one person we knew wouldn't show her face.)

What did you think of this wildly eventful hour of Superman & Lois? How loudly did you gasp when Jonathan's powers showed up (out of absolutely nowhere)? Were you also horrified by the sound of Sam's body being crushed in Bizarro-Doomsday's hand? And how excited are you to see the Man of Steel back in the land of the living, presumably next week? Drop a comment with your full review of Episode 3 below.