Warning: Spoilers for Superman & Lois season 2, episode 8
Superman & Lois just repeated the mistake that Smallville made with Clark’s super speed. Superman & Lois season 2, episode 8, titled “Into Oblivion”, confirmed that Jordan (Alex Garfin) has super speed now. The ability became the latest addition in an already impressive arsenal of Kryptonian powers at Jordan’s disposal.
Throughout the series, Jordan’s Arrowverse story has drawn some strong parallels to Clark’s high school years in Smallville’s first four seasons. Not unlike Tom Welling’s character, Jordan has been grabbling with his burgeoning Kryptonian abilities and struggling to maintain a mostly normal existence. Similar to Smallville’s Clark, keeping his powers a secret from the people he cares about and learning how to control them have been incredibly challenging. But despite the difficulties he’s had along the way, Jordan has successfully gotten a grasp on most of his powers, including strength, super hearing, heat-ray vision, ice breath, and now, super speed.
Saving Jonathan and Candice in “Into Oblivion” was Jordan’s first time using his speed on on-screen, but it clearly wasn’t his first experience with the power. The episode made it clear that Jordan was already aware that he had this capability. The problem, though, is that Superman & Lois chose not to show it. Seeing Superman’s teenage son slowly adapting to new abilities has been one of the show’s most interesting elements, just as it was with Smallville when Clark was going through the same process. Both shows devoted entire stories to individual Kryptonian powers, and oddly enough, both skipped super speed.
Smallville’s decision not to focus on it can be more easily explained than Superman & Lois’ situation. In Smallville, Tom Welling’s Clark had access to his speed and strength when the show started. Viewers did get to see him marvel at a bullet whizzing by in a season 1 episode, but he was already using his speed to easily beat the bus to his school before he even found out he was an alien. Since Superman & Lois kicked off when Jordan had no powers at all, it had a chance to easily avoid Smallville’s missed opportunity. If it had, the series could have delivered an episode where Jordan discovered exactly what it’s like to move faster than a speeding bullet.
Not unlike the situation with his super hearing and ice breath, there was certainly potential for a story to be told about Jordan acquiring super speed. It could have led to a fun, visual experience and possibly some humorous moments. All things considered, it’s disappointing that Superman & Lois passed on a chance to explore such an important event in Jordan’s life. Fortunately though, there’s plenty of other steps in his journey to becoming a superhero – such as learning to fly – that the series can show instead in the seasons to come.
Superman & Lois releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.
