Previously – Taking the advice of his associate, Amanda McCoy, Lex Luthor cleans up and appears on Gordon Godfrey’s show to repair his reputation. He challenges Lois Lane to a debate at a later airing of the show. The debate gets heated, but it ends abruptly when Clark has to become quickly Superman and fight an out of control Steel armor. Superman saves John Henry Irons, but his armor falls into the hands of Luthor’s top brain, Milton Fine. Milton also hijacks Natalie Irons’ Starlight armor and sends it after her, but Jonathan and Jordan Kent save her life by melting the armor with their heat vision.
News of Superman losing his powers has hit the internet, and Jonathan and Jordan are concerned. Clark figures that the info John Henry got from scanning Clark is now in Luthor’s hands and that he leaked the news. Lois has been losing businesses that advertiser in the Gazette, because she came off poorly in her debate with Luthor. While Lois and the boys feel defeated, Clark thinks they need to change tactics with Luthor and mess with his mind, just as he is messing with theirs.
Still incredibly famous, Jonathan and Jordan have to fight their
way through a sea of adoring fans to get into the diner. There, they learn that the diner is now selling Superman merchandise and even named menu items after the Kents. Jordan is dismayed that while Jonathan gets a French dip named after him, he only has curly fries on the kids menu. Jonathan says they need to be prepared for whatever Luthor has planned.
Amanda visits the Gazette to inform Lois she is being sued for defamation, and to give her a bill for the window Superman broke. Lois is busy proving Godfrey was a shill for Luthor, and knows that truth is on her side and it’s her job as a reporter to tell it. Amanda doesn’t care about the truth and neither do the people, according to her (oddly enough, this episode was written by a man named Jai Jamison – a possible relative of Spider-Man antagonist J. Jonah Jamison?). Amanda notices the corkboard Lois has set up with everything connected to Luthor. She thinks her picture should be next to Luthor’s, because he considers her his partner. She also tells Lois she’ll never locate Gretchen/Cheryl, who was Lois’ last lead now that Otis Grisham is dead.
Superman goes to LuthorCorp to talk to Luthor, who believes he’s going to receive another speech “father to father”. Superman tries a different tactic and says he knows this was all Amanda’s plan and that she even told Luthor what to wear. Luthor hints at another suit, that being the Steel suit he recently acquired, and threatens to destroy Superman and everything he ever loved. Luthor gets heated, but Superman isn’t phased. He merely tells Luthor to enjoy his freedom while he has it and then compliments his tie. After Superman leaves, Luthor angrily rips his tie off.
Frustrated, Lois tears down everything on her corkboard. She tells Clark that Cheryl is probably dead and everyone else has lawyered up. Clark remains optimistic and quotes a Master Class that, apparently, Lois once taught. He reminds her to go back to the beginning and retrace her steps. Clark leaves to train the boys while Lois reassembles the items on her board. Jonathan and Jordan are enjoying an adoring crowd while Clark hangs back at a distance and whispers that they need to go to the Fortress. The three of them fly off and to the cheers of the crowd.
Amanda finds a pensive Luthor in his office. He hands her some papers that say he’s making her the largest shareholder in LuthorCorp after him and that she earned every penny. When she kisses him in appreciation, he doesn’t reciprocate. Luthor says Bash will handle the transition while he goes to see Milton Fine.
In the Fortress, Clark calls up a simulation of the Steel armor. He
says the armor makes the wearer just as fast as Superman and almost as strong as he was at his peak. Jonathan and Jordan try their hand at fighting the simulation, but when they do poorly, Clark sends them home.
Going back to the beginning makes Lois think of visiting Bruno Mannheim in prison at Stryker’s. Their conversation starts cordially, as they talk about Bruno’s wife Peia, whom Lois befriended. However, Mannheim gets upset that Lois couldn’t keep Luthor behind bars. Mannheim has his own grudge against Luthor for what he did to Mannheim’s neighborhood, Hob’s Bay, and he says Lois didn’t even care about that until Luthor targeted her. Lois says that she knows how Luthor operates and he will go after Mannheim’s territory and even his son, Matteo. Lois once again asks for his help.
Fine has been working on upgrading the Steel armor. He tells Luthor that it’s stronger and laced with kryptonite. It even has kryptonite screws that will allow Luthor to get at Superman’s human heart. Fine also uncovered Department Of Defense files on Doomsday, and Luthor wants to go through them.
Lois expresses her frustration that all of Luthor’s enemies are
dead, and she name drops Cheryl Kimble. Mannheim recognizes the name, and he explains that Cheryl was the one who introduced Luthor to his connections. She fell in love with him, but he eventually cut her out of the picture. Lois has something to go on and thanks Mannheim. He says that he is happy Superman is back because he still has work to do.
In the Fortress, Clark talks to the hologram of Lara and wonders when his sons will be as strong as he was. Lara says they never will be since they are half-Kryptonian. Clark worries about them, and Lara relates this to her and Jor-El worrying about baby Kal-El. Their solution was sending him away in a rocket. Back at home, Jordan is doubtful he can do anything and says he’s a literal cautionary tale warning against trying to be a hero when not ready. Jonathan still wants to find a way to beat the Steel armor.
Luthor and Fine watch a video recording of Lois telling the DOD about Doomsday. Lois says he recognized her because on his Earth, he was married to a version of Lois Lane. Luthor gets an idea of where Doomsday may have fled and says he is going back to Smallville. Fine will send the modified Steel armor to him when it’s ready.
Amanda and Bash discuss getting Luthor back on track outside the LuthorCorp building when Lois shows up. Lois warns Amanda about being the next Cheryl Kimble because Cheryl loved Luthor and he threw her away when he was done with her. Amanda doesn’t think that’ll happen to her since Luthor rewarded her, but Lois points out Luthor just threw his own daughter away and that Amanda should ask him about Cheryl. Amanda immediately goes to Milton to find out where Luthor is. He tells her Luthor returned to Smallville to find Doomsday. Amanda is upset since that wasn’t part of the plan, but Milton points out that she isn’t the one in charge.
Back at the Gazette, Lois re-arranges pictures on her corkboard and believes Amanda is going to flip on Luthor. Clark is worried the boys may not be able to defend themselves and that Luthor can attack at any minute. Lois reminds him that his parents aren’t always right and even Jor-El said they wouldn’t be able to have children. Lois says Clark needs to find out what Jonathan and Jordan can do.
All Jonathan and Jordan can do at the moment is play video
games, even though Jonathan is sick of them. Clark says they are going to keep training, but this time, they aren’t going to the Fortress. He takes them to what appears to be an empty rodeo arena and tells them that when he became Superman, he had to train, fight, and save people all by himself. They joke about how sad that is, but Clark says their strength is that they have each other and as a team, they can be better than he was. He tasks them with trying to hit him by working together. It’s interesting that throughout the entire episode, Jonathan wears a blue hoodie and Jordan wears a red one. It’s a visual cue that one Jonathan and one Jordan makes one Superman, and it’s also reminiscent of the times in the comics that Superman has been split into two versions of himself, Superman Red and Superman Blue.
Luthor returns to his Smallville hotel, and Lois sees him. Luthor is only there for one thing, and he says what seems to be a final goodbye to Lois.
Amanda has a less cordial meeting with Luthor. She finds him in his hotel room and wonders if giving her LuthorCorp shares was a way to distract her. Amanda wants Luthor to give up his plan because he can’t control Doomsday. Luthor’s need for revenge has extended to Smallville, who rejected his money and job offers. He wants Doomsday to destroy the entire town, not just the Kents. When Amanda objects, Luthor yells at her and says he is the one in charge, not her. Amanda brings up Cheryl, and Luthor realizes Lois got to Amanda. Before their discussion can continue, Milton sends the Steel armor to Luthor, and he suits up. Amanda says she knows how this will end, but Luthor says if that were true, she wouldn’t still be there.
The armored Luthor flies to Shuster Mine, where he finds Doomsday using his heat powers to find a way back to his Earth. Luthor appeals to him as a friend and says he can fix him and get him back on his path.
Jonathan and Jordan manage to work together, but Clark is
nevertheless too fast for them and he evades their every blow. Training is interrupted as all three of them hear Doomsday returning to town. Clark tells the boys to keep everyone safe, and he becomes Superman.
Lois is still at the Gazette. Amanda tells Lois that she was right about Luthor, and Lois realizes Luthor has gone to the mine to get Doomsday.
Superman arrives at the mine just in time to see Luthor fire missiles at Doomsday. Luthor killed him before and wants to finish what he started. Doomsday recovers from the explosives, stronger than before.
Jonathan and Jordan find Lois outside the Gazette and tell her Superman has gone to the mine. Doomsday arrives in Smallville. He has even more armor, spikes, and bone protrusions than before and more closely resembles his comic book counterpart. Lois tries talking to him to calm him down again, but Doomsday uses his fire breath on her and the boys have to speed her to safety. Doomsday no longer recognizes Lois and only wants to destroy the town. Luckily, the boys hear Superman approach. Lois wants them to get people to safety.
Superman flies in and tackles Doomsday while the boys work on
saving the people. Jordan gets a pretty amazing moment here. He clears out the diner except for one waitress, who is panicking too much to move. Jordan freezes a mug for her to hold and says that holding something cold is good for panic attacks. He sits down beside her and instructs her to breathe, which seems to do the trick. Jonathan doesn’t do too bad either. Denise watches from inside Brit & Dunn’s, unsure of what to do. A car comes flying at her, and Jonathan flies in and catches it before it crashes into the store.
Superman takes the fight with Doomsday to the sky. Luthor simply hovers there in his armor, telling Milton that he wants to watch Superman die.
Lois and the boys continue clearing the streets when Superman is knocked to the ground. He looks at his family and tells them he loves them before Doomsday flies in, grabs him by the head, and flies off.
Will a weakened Superman survive an encounter with an even stronger and more savage Doomsday? And if he does, how will Lex Luthor react? The next episode is the series finale of Superman & Lois, and it looks like it’s going to be a big one.
