Brief Story Line
Clark Kent/Superman (Tyler Hoechlin - Stratton etc) and his wife Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch - Grimm TV series etc) decided to move their family from Metropolis to Smallville. This decision were not really welcomed by their teenage twin boys, the introvert Jordan (Alex Garfin) and the popular & athletic Jonathan (Jordan Elsass). Even Lois' father General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh - Nip/Tuck TV series etc) was worried of this decision since it might make the villains in Metropolis suspicious of Superman's movement.
Meanwhile Jordan and Jonathan met again with Sarah Cushing (Inde Navarrette) whom they knew few years back. She was the daughter of Clark's high school girlfriend Lana Lang (Emmanuelle Chriqui - You Don't Mess with the Zohan etc) and her husband Kyle Cushing (Erik Valdez). Sarah was the only real friend of Jordan and Jonathan as they became quite an outcast in Smallville.
Things got further complicated when a mysterious person in a war suit referred to as The Stranger (Wolé Parks - Devious Maids TV series etc) started wreaking havoc and seemed to have personal vendetta on Superman. Plus the shady billionaire businessman Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner - Tyrant TV series etc) who had sudden interest on Smallville.
So how would Clark and Lois deal with moving back to Smallville and also the resistance from Jonathan and Jordan who had their own problems? And what were the intentions of the Stranger and Morgan Edge? Find them all in the first season of this quite exciting series.
End of Brief Story Line
Well this was apparently better than expected. At first I was wondering if another series about Superman would be exciting. Not to mention I was not really a fan of Tyler Hoechlin being cast as the biggest superhero in DC comics (my wife also expressed her disapproval). It's not that we have anything against him, cause we were OK with him in Teen Wolf series, but we just thought he did not really fit as Superman. When I first saw him during one of the crossover events in 2019 of various DC series on CW (known as Arrowverse) titled Elseworlds and later Crisis on Infinite Earth, he was not that convincing either.
But as I watched this series, I actually thought he was not that bad, although I still think from physicality point of view he was a bit small compared to other version of Superman on TV/movies. However, what he might be lacking in that area, he made up for in his charm as Clark Kent, especially in the episode 11 and in few earlier episodes. And his chemistry with Elizabeth Tulloch (who seemed to fit her role as the intuitive and strong willed journalist and mother) was pretty nice. They did look like real husband and wife and they were equally convincing as parents of teenaged twin boys.
The part that interests me in this series was definitely the way Clark has to juggle between being Superman and having to save the world and also being a father who had been absent for most of the children's life. The villains were quite intriguing as well. In every episode there would be some action, be it in the form of saving people or fighting against those villains. The show also brought the nostalgic feeling of another favorite superhero series of mine, Smallville. The first season only has 15 episodes overall which probably was due to covid-19 pandemic. Not sure if the second season would be around 20-22 like other CW superhero series such as Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl & Batwoman. There was also a special guest appearance from one of those series in one of the episodes.
Aside from the fight against villains and the fun side of looking at Superman juggling his time with family, the series was also filled with scenes involving the twins. Even though Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin did not look alike at all (perhaps they were considered as fraternal twins), but their brotherly love was still nice to see. However, their stories sometimes were a bit too typical teenagers drama like relationship or fitting in. The special effects here were pretty decent for a TV series, few times look a bit cartoonish but generally I was pleased by them. I loved the pilot episode (which had longer duration of a little over 1 hour), episode 6, episode 11 obviously and episode 14. The finale would have been my favorite as well, except the final scene did not exactly scream excitement and was not an ending that made me highly anticipated the second season.
One thing that I did not really get was the timeline. After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earth, there was a brief scene showing Superman & Lois had more than 1 boy (likely because of the impact of the multiverse merged), but it did not seem to explain the time jump. By right the sons should just be toddlers. Btw, I re-watched that crossover event just to find out this specific part. Anyway, I am quite satisfied with the series due to its unique perspective of matured Superman & Lois becoming parents, and the intensity in almost every episode plus re-living the Clark Kent's story back in Smallville. So if you are a fan of Superman and want to see his story from different point of view, this would be enjoyable.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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