Finally got around to seeing this, and I have to say it’s the highest quality CW pilot I’ve ever seen. Not that it will necessarily be my favorite of their shows, but the acting felt strong (including the younger actors which is rare), the writing hit the marks and treated weighty issues with some decency, the characters had some buy-in, the effects weren’t overly horrible (so pretty good as CW goes), and I come away feeling like it was a well-spent hour. I hope this holds up.
I thought the Superman stuff was great, but wow, the dialog for the teenagers was just horrific. I own a teenager, and I can tell you he’d define it as “cringey.” They came across as whiney little jerks. I can offer an 18-year-old as a consultant. Hopefully they’ll make the kids more appealing post-pilot. Or at least hire a writer who has raised a teenager in the past 15 years.
The rest was really excellent, although for much of the show I was wondering why Master Chief was attacking Superman.
This was surprisingly good. I thought the kids would ruin it – as kids do most things – but they turned out OK.
I’m a big DC fan but I’ve found the vast majority of CWs stuff to be insufferable. Here’s hoping they can pull this one off. Looking forward to the next ep.
But, oh, holy shit the commercials. They were insufferable. The On Demand runtime was 1:20 and change and it had to have been 50% commercials.
The CW app is pretty bad for commercials. If I don’t record the show via antenna - allowing me to skip them - then I usually wait until the full season shows up on a streaming service rather than messing around with their app. Used to be you could sidestep those ads by going through Plex, but that’s not worked for a while now.
That’s a very strong pilot for a show. They’re cheating a bit since two of the main actors have played their characters for a while, but still a great job. I though the kids were pretty good and the concept is an interesting one to explore for superman.
I thought his costume was pretty bad, though. Too over-stuffed.
I agree that they need to dial down the muscle suit a few notches, but I like the overall costume design better than the Roman tabbed cape version he had on Supergirl.
I still have Hulu with LiveTV, so I watched this on that. They did NOT make it easy. They have some special properties for this show, it says right in the beginning: no fast forward allowed for this program. So I watched the first 10 minutes, and then life happened you know. So I come back to the show a couple of days later, and it makes me start from the beginning, and I can’t fast forward. Arrrrgh.
Anyway, I got lucky today, and was actually able to watch it all, uninterrupted.
I really enjoyed it. I don’t know that I care for this particular Superman or this particular Lois. I don’t think I like the actors in those roles. But the whole family dynamic, with an emotionally troubled kid, its all well done and kept me glued to the story.
I definitely want to see more.
Also: Really brave choice keeping the Mom’s name as “Martha”, even though they know anyone who has seen Batman vs Superman will burst out laughing at hearing that name. (Or is that just me?)
I’m pretty sure Superman’s mom has been Martha Kent since the character’s inception. I wouldn’t expect them to change it now, regardless of BvS.
Yeah, I think that’s pretty much cannon.
Not only is it cannon it’s also canon. :)
If they relocated Smallville to Arizona, it would also be canyon.
I enjoyed the second episode. The Superman vs Master Chief story developed a lot more than I was expecting, I figured they would string along that kind of reveal over a season, not a single episode.
I still don’t like the Lois in this Superman & Lois, I wish they’d picked a different actress.
Erica Durance is a tough act to follow, but Tulloch is growing on me. Still not my first choice, but I don’t hate her.
Since they’re virtually the same age (Durance and Tulloch), and there’s a multiverse full of doubles in this universe, they could literally have just brought back Erica Durance for this universe’s version of the role. I would have been fine with that, assuming she has good chemistry with this new Superman.
Durance would be distracting since she has already played a couple different characters on Supergirl and the S&L showrunners probably do not want such a confusing direct link back to Smallville. Tulloch is fine IMHO and as @Murph said she is growing on me as they give her more material to work with.
The second episode was again very solid and the effects really look great to my casual eye, especially for a TV show. I’m glad they are moving the Superman - Master Chief plot along with some solid reveals instead of just teasing for several episodes. I hope they can maintain this level of quality for the whole season and beyond. Also, any time we can get an alternate costume appearance is fan service I believe in!
I like Tulloch way better than Amy Adams , as Lois.
Agreed. I love Amy Adams but she didn’t work for me as Lois.
What, Teri Hatcher wasn’t available? Well, I’m not watching it then.
First 2 episodes of this were really good. :)