Superman & Lois: chronicle of a family almost like any other

We have known Superman in the cinema under the features, in particular, of Christopher Reeves or Henry Cavill (man of steel and Batman versus Superman). On the small screen have succeeded Dean Cain (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, 1993-1997) and Tom Welling (Smallville , from 2001 to 2011). Tyler Hoechlin (Teen Wolf) took over in 2017, first in Supergirl . Before having his own show, Superman & Lois, launched in February 2021 on the American channel The CW with record audiences. The fiction already has two seasons of 15 episodes and a third was announced in March.

A well-deserved success for Greg Berlanti, prolific screenwriter and creator of series, accustomed to the world of superheroes (Arrow, Flash, Legends of TomorrowSupergirl, but also Dawson, Brothers and sisters, You…). Smallville recounted the youth of Superman-Clark Kent. Superman & Lois devotes himself to his family life. The couple thus faces the greatest of challenges: raising two teenagers! Who have, incidentally, perhaps inherited the powers of their father. And in a world whose societal challenges have changed.

Successful social anchoring

the Daily Planet, where the two journalists met, was bought out by a tycoon who is betting on digital and restructuring with layoffs – which Clark Kent is paying the price for. Lois, haloed as she is with her Pulitzer Prize, is not in the odor of sanctity since she has the audacity to attack her new boss in her articles. The beauty ends up resigning, horrified by such a lack of ethics. “I don’t want a putaclic media“, she plague! When the couple chooses to take over Clark’s deceased mother’s farm in Smallville, they discover a region plagued by unemployment, in the hands of hedge funds…

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This successful social anchoring adds to the family dimension, which is both funny and touching. It presents a little teen movie side, with the two teenage brothers – Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin) – who seem to be opposites, confronted with school friends who do not necessarily reserve a good welcome for these new city dwellers, and a lover with suicidal inclinations… Confronted with parental authority too, particularly in their relationship to the absent father, who asks him existential questions about his responsibility: is it more important to save the world or his family? ? The revelation of his superhero identity will shatter the beginning of balance found in the campaign, before, who knows how to strengthen their ties.

A wonderful love story

But finally and above all, Superman & Lois (Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch – Grimm) is a wonderful love story. The complicity of these two makes you dream. This does not prevent tensions. “Do your Superman stuff, I do my Lois lane stuff“, she strikes him with humor. Their couple is reminiscent of that of The Americans , Russian spies in 80’s America. By their charm and their alchemy, and by their permanent fight to exist by preserving the secret of their history, even if it means starting from scratch. What is it to be a family? How to create and preserve it in such a context?

We almost forget that it is a series of superheroes. Superman, in collaboration with his stepfather (Dylan Walsh – Nip/Tuck), a general in the army, goes about his daily business, and fights across the world, from Moldova to Mongolia, against an enemy in search of kryptonite. The job is done and well done, with the rigorous special effects and a cinematic image. But it must be recognized that this is not its major asset.

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