Ricky Church reviews the ninth episode of Superman & Lois season 3…
In the fallout of Bruno Mannheim’s attempt to kill John Henry Irons last week, Superman & Lois‘ ‘The Dress’ was a great character driven story for Lois and Clark as Lois prepared for life-changing surgery while the battle against Mannheim escalated even more. The performances from the cast were great and the character moments with Superman, Mannheim, Clark and Lois were full of interesting insight into who they are and what may come next.
One of the biggest takeaways to ‘The Dress’ is the connection between Clark Kent and Lois Lane as a great deal of the episode flashed back to a time before their wedding in a story that tied into Lois’ current struggles with her cancer treatment and upcoming surgery for a double mastectomy. This season of Superman & Lois has been doing really well in its approach to Lois’ cancer storyline in how seriously they’ve been tackling the subject matter and focusing on issues that would concern either cancer patients or their family members instead of making drama for drama’s sake.
Lois’ fears of how she might look and feel post-surgery, coupled with a bittersweet reminder of how great she looked in a dress Clark once bought her, felt very real and relatable. The fact that a significant moment of this story came down to a discussion between Lois and Lana Lang, expanding further on a viewpoint some might not fully comprehend, was icing on the cake. It also showed how much of a team Lois and Clark are with Clark’s assertion he’ll still be madly in love with Lois no matter what and will follow her lead however she wants to after surgery. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch continue to make a case for best onscreen Clark and Lois while Emmanuelle Chriqui also displayed great chemistry with Tulloch.
The main thrust of the episode, though, dealt with the fallout of Bruno and Peia’s attempt on John Henry. Wolé Parks and Chad Coleman gave great performances, Coleman in particular as he continued to show more depth to Mannheim than a simple crime boss trying to develop super powers. Even when Mannheim lied to his son about the depths of his crimes, he still showed a vulnerability one wouldn’t have expected from him earlier in the season. Despite his crimes, he is a loving husband and father, something Superman recognizes and wanted to use to end any future conflicts. It’s a hallmark of Superman that he prefers to handle things as peacefully as possible and feels compassion and empathy even for his enemies and that was on full display when Superman visited Mannheim. Hoechlin and Coleman did very well together as they contrasted each other’s personal struggles and how they handled them, showing even in the depth of Bruno’s anger, grief and denial he can still be reasoned with, though John might have screwed up any chance for peace.
Parks conveyed John’s own anger quite well with how far he was willing to go to protect his family and inflict as much pain onto the Mannheims as possible. Between preventing Bruno and Matteo from seeing Peia to his drastic decision in the climax, John was steadily going down a darker and slightly irrational path that still felt believable as to why he would do so. After all, Mannheim did try to have his thugs take out John and potentially Natalie on their home turf – in broad daylight no less – which only enraged John further. However, the episode’s writing as well as the cast’s performances made it clear not all is well with John as he only escalated the conflict by not listening to Superman and all but arresting Mannheim.
The fight between John, Superman and a newly resurrected Henry Miller was tense and well choreographed, ending on a big note as John killed Miller. Self-defence or not, John felt he was in the right given the stakes but it only further illustrates the dark place his mindset is in as he seems prepared to go as far as he thinks is right in order to stop Mannheim.
‘The Dress’ was a very well made episode with the performances, writing and direction firing on all cylinders. Hoechlin, Tulloch and Coleman are delivering terrific performances that are emotional, vulnerable and feel real. In a season that has been very character and drama driven, this was one of the best installments in Superman & Lois that showcases why this show is among the best of the best Superman material fans and audiences have gotten.
Rating: 9/10
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
