Superman & Lois introduced Bizarro, with Tyler Hoechlin portraying the character alongside his Man of Steel. While Bizarro himself has turned out to be a much less villainous presence than his comics history would suggest, Superman & Lois season 2 has also given brief but crucial glimpses into the Bizarro world.
In Superman & Lois season 2, episode 9, Clark makes the leap through a portal to the Bizarro world in order to bring back the escaped cult leader Ally Alston (Rya Kihlstedt). The episode, titled "30 Days and 30 Nights" then shows a time jump, with Superman having not returned home for a month. Along with other developments in the episode, "30 Days and 30 Nights" concludes on a major cliffhanger teasing that the Bizarro world, and even Bizarro's own history with his family, will be fully explored in the next episode.
Viewers will have to wait until April 26 for that cliffhanger to be paid off, with Superman & Lois taking a month-long break until then. While the ending of "30 Days and 30 Nights" and the time span to the next episode undoubtedly elevates the anticipation for it, Superman & Lois has also had a significant problem with such breaks in season 2. With the reasoning for this is certainly easy to understand, Superman & Lois season 3 will need to tell its story with fewer breaks than season 2 has had.
Superman & Lois Is Picking The Perfect Spot To Take A Break
At the end of "30 Days and 30 Nights," Superman & Lois had completed an entire episode in which the Man of Steel himself is almost totally absent. John Henry Irons is becoming a more public hero in Superman's vacancy, the show adjusting The Death of Superman. It's also ended with a new status quo for Smallville with Lana Lang-Cushing (Emmanuelle Chriqui) winning the town's mayoral race. On top of those developments, Jordan's powers continue to grow, with the half-Kryptonian adolescent having super-speed and the ability to make huge leaps.
The episode concludes with the Bizarro version of Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) arriving on the Kent farm. Informing Jordan and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) that Clark had arrived in the Bizarro world "too late" to prevent something, the episode wraps up. The promo for the return of Superman & Lois also features a look into the Bizarro world, showing the major character's alternate selves while keeping the specifics of the next episode cryptic. No other episode of Superman & Lois season 2 has concluded on as strong a cliffhanger, and the sizeable gap until the show comes back gives viewers plenty to amp up their anticipation. The apparently dead Bizarro also being seen again via flashbacks also adds to that anticipation. The only downside is that the latest break taken by Superman & Lois season 2 comes after a series of gaps.
Season 2's Breaks Have Affected The Flow Of Superman & Lois
Breaks in the fall and spring seasons of a cable television series are far from unusual, as well as a break for the winter holidays. As both a means to afford a show enough production and post-production time and to give cast and crew time off, weekly shows taking planned breaks is both expected and necessary. Unfortunately, the latest such break for Superman & Lois season 2 has been the third break the show has taken since it began in January of this year.
Superman & Lois has its biggest issue to address in season 3 highlighted by its most recent episode halt.
Season 3 Needs To Avoid Having So Many Breaks
As long as complications relating to the pandemic continue, film and television productions will have to continue adapting to the circumstances. More than ever, fans of any big- or small-screen franchise are more accommodating and understanding of production and release delays. With that being said, while Superman & Lois' structure has weathered the pandemic better than most, the frequent gaps from one collection of episodes to the next have become a problem for the series.
Breaks in and of themselves aren't a bad thing. As seen in the latest one of Superman & Lois', strategically placing one at just the right time in the show's story, such as when Jordan just begins learning to fly, can even greatly boost anticipation for its finale. Nonetheless, Superman & Lois' has had a hard time making it to setting up its best tease. To the greatest extent possible given real-world conditions, Superman & Lois needs to minimize its season gaps. Doing so won't be an exact science, and depending on how conditions improve, it may be an incremental process as the show continues. If Superman & Lois is to set up anything similar in season 3, having fewer stops in the season needs to be something it implements as much as as it can.
Superman & Lois season 2 hasn't been undone by the unusually high number of breaks it's had to take. The show has kept its story full of twists and unexpected developments on numerous fronts. The two Kent brothers especially have been huge highlights in season 2, with Jordan's powers increasing and the infancy of Jonathan Kent's powers beginning to emerge. At the same time, the frequency with which Superman & Lois has had to hit the pause button in season 2, while a necessity of modern times, has begun impacting the show's progression. The pandemic as a reality of life in general and of filmmaking is a factor that unfortunately must be managed. Superman & Lois season 3, like every other movie and television series, will likely have to continue dealing with it into the immediate future, but it should also do its best to minimize the breaks that have afflicted season 2.
Superman & Lois season 2 returns on April 26.