SUPERMAN & LOIS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON – A Blu-ray/DVD and Digital HD Review by John Strange
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-raytm I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.
Warner Bros has brought us many excellent characters from the DC Comics Universe to the WB and the “Arrow-verse” over the last several years. The last big multi-show crossover introduced us to a version of Superman/Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch).
They certainly must have clicked with the producers because they now have their own series, complete with teenaged fraternal twin sons! Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alex Garfin) are high school-aged boys who would give the show enough angst without anything else but, as we know, their parents are not exactly your normal run-of-the-mill couple working 9-to-5 jobs and coming home to watch TV, etc.
This season sees the family dynamic thrown several major loops from the death of the boy’s grandmother, Martha Kent (Michele Scarabelli), to their move to Martha’s home (Clark’s boyhood home) on the Kent farm, finding out the family secret, and so many more which hit one after another.
The family has to discover their new dynamic all the while Superman is involved in perhaps the greatest battle of his life. The battle will affect not only the family but everyone in Smallville and eventually Metropolis as well.
Ordinarily, character-driven shows like this have one of two paths to follow as a new series is established. Either they are brought along sedately allowing us to get to know them and their world or we are drop-kicked into a raging inferno of action and emotion and we must set our minds to accepting what we are seeing and going with it on the fly. Superman & Lois most definitely exemplifies the latter option.
Kudos to Todd Helbing and the producing staff for making the show exciting but almost real-world believable simultaneously. We are given a small rural town, Smallville, that is suffering economic hardships like so many towns are today. The actions of a few of the citizens to pull the town back from the brink of economic collapse open the door to people whose mission is not to save the town but whose true intentions slowly emerge as the season progresses and conditions worsen.
This series is one I expected to dislike because it went against what I learned as a child reading DC comics, eagerly awaiting each month’s installment of the various heroes’ sagas. But the show found a spot in my ideal of the DCU (DC Universe) that works.
This isn’t Superman as portrayed by George Reeves in the 50s Adventures of Superman. Certainly not the Superman/Lois Lane duo that Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder or Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher portrayed years later. No, this is a more mature look at the duo and what would have happened had the two stopped pussyfooting around and gotten married.
And Dylan Walsh as Lois’ father General Sam Lane and the flashbacks involving Michele Scarabelli as Martha Kent help to round out a very solid, talented cast that I see doing very well as the seasons progress. At the heart of this show, like all of the Arrowverse series, it is centered upon FAMILY.
I do hope we get some crossovers going again once all of this COVID stuff finally gets cleared up. I found myself missing them as I have reviewed the various series this year. All of the series are excellent, but the crossovers gave us a break at mid-season with an added touch of surprising excitement that I have found I enjoy.
I have only one problem with what happened over the season. And that is… No insurance on the Volvo station wagon? I don’t, I can’t, see Lois letting the insurance lapse, so what happened?
Now to the good stuff, the bonus extras from the Blu-ray!
First, a thought I had as I watched these featurettes. Most of these featurettes were written to introduce Superman & Lois. Because of this, they are pretty all similar in many ways…
“Superman and Lois Legacy of Hope” is a great introduction to a new imagining, not re-imagining, of the Superman mythos. Great messages from the casts of other Arrow-verse shows as they welcomed the new show. I really enjoyed this bonus.
“DC FanDome Panel: Superman & Lois” led by Jim Lee, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC, and Todd Helbing, Executive Producer and writer, the gentlemen introduce the new show and talk to some of the primary cast. This one is okay but it suffers from being a Zoom event which disrupts some of the dynamics of the personalities and waters down the message somewhat.
“Superman: Alien Spirit” is the same message already talked about in the other featurettes though with more info on Lois Lane which made it very interesting. We also learn more about Jordan, the troubled 14-year-old, who now has to reconcile the new life he is experiencing.
“Never Alone: Heroes and Allies” is reviewed in my Batwoman Season One review. It is a great bonus where they talk about sidekicks in the comics and progress into the current shows. Very enlightening and entertaining.
Jim Lee, Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC, thank you for the great work you and your creative teams have done and are doing, in both the comics and TV arenas. You have brought these characters to life for millions of kids, and adults who didn’t have the advantage I did to read of these amazing persons performing astounding feats, month in and month out on the pages of each and every issue.
Created By:
- Greg Berlanti, Todd Helbing
Executive Produced By:
- Greg Berlanti, Todd Helbing, Sarah Schechter, Geoff Johns
Cast:
- Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Jordan Elsass, Alex Garfin, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Adam Rayner, Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui
Episodes:
- Pilot
- Heritage
- The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower
- Haywire
- The Best of Smallville
- Broken Trust
- Man of Steel
- Holding the Wrench
- Loyal Subjekts
- Mother, Where Art Thou?
- A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events
- Through the Valley of Death
- Fail Safe
- The Eradicator
- Last Sons of Krypton
Extras:
Blu-ray/DVD:
- Superman: Alien Spirit
- Superman and Lois Legacy of Hope
- Never Alone: Heroes and Allies
- DC FanDome Panel: Superman & Lois
Specifications:
Runtime:
Feature:
- 705 Minutes
Enhanced Content:
- 85 Minutes
Studio:
- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Release Date:
- 10/19/2021
Region:
- A/1 (U.S. and Canada only)
MPAA Rating:
- TV-14
Selig Rating:
Film Rating:
- 5 Stars
Bonus Features Rating:
- 5 Stars
Picture Quality Rating:
- 5 Stars
Audio Quality Rating:
- 5 Stars
Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars: Should add to your DVD collection at any cost
4 Stars: Worth owning, but try to catch it a sale
3 Stars: Plan to get it, but wait to buy it used
2 Stars: Worth taking a look at, but not owning
1 Star: Pick it up at a garage sale and use it for drinks
0 Stars: Makes a great Trap Shooting target
