Clois - Closer (3.01)

Superman & Lois

Their friendship and chemisty is the core of that show. It feels real and it’s rare on TV land.

Via @tvguide : According to #SupermanAndLois Showrunner Todd Helbeing, the Finale will explain where the show fits into the Arrowverse. John Diggle will appear & his appearance will be linked to the show’s next season villain and future storyline.

Imagine promoting Superman and LOIS show with that photo. Jesus Christ.

Yeah it’s really odd and disrespectful. Bitsie Tulloch has been arguably the most consistently strong performer on the show since the premiere and, last year, it really felt like she was appreciated by the show. I don’t know what changed this season but, in general, Lois has felt like such an afterthought to the writers this year and the Lois/Clark relationship has been basically non-existent the whole second half of the season. It’s confusing and baffling given Tyler and Bitsie’s chemistry is the best thing about the show so why you would ice it out like this is just weird AF.

It’s definitely disrespectful to Bitsie Tulloch to promote the finale like this in TV Guide. I truly don’t understand why they are doing this to her but it’s sad.

Let's just flat out state the implication of Lana's outbursts to Lois - at the start of the episode Lana laments the fact that Clark 'clearly didn't love her enough' when they were kids to come back and tell her everything and Clark doesn't disagree with this, he just says sorry. That was the thing she was pissed about more than anything. We then see Lana thinking in the diner before she goes to the Kent farm to attack Lois for DARING to not tell her all her family secrets despite only really knowing each other for less than a year.

Let's be real - Lana is pissed that Clark, who she now knows is Superman, loves Lois far more than he ever did her, trusted her with his secret and married her. THAT'S what she's angry about and it shows that Lana, a woman in her 40s with 2 children, is jealous of what Lois has because SUPERMAN wants Lois and not her.

It's pretty pathetic and is likely urged on by her own husband's infidelity. But I hate that they've decided to write this female friendship like this when I liked it before.

I’m extremely tired of other female characters being unfairly mad at Lois and Lois having to bend over backwards to gain their forgiveness on Superman and Lois. It happened with Chrissy, it happened with Lucy to an extent (at least she was brainwashed) and now it happened with Todd Helbing’s favourite Lana. This reeks of misogyny towards a character who has historically been a go-getter, a career woman, not just the damsel in distress. I have seen how plenty of people in Superman fandoms don’t like Lois because she doesn’t fit their idea of a soft conventional woman, and this show clearly seems to try to punish her for it by bringing her down like this. Her name is in the title card, damn it, and they still can’t give her any respect. This on top of already erasing most of her arc this season and mostly putting her in scenes for exposition or for yelling at the boys.

Ya’ll sure know how to make an entrance.

SUPERMAN AND LOIS - 2x05 “Girl… You’ll Be a Woman, Soon”

Tyler Hoechlin & Bitsie Tulloch for TV Guide Magazine’s Sci-Fi and Fantasy 2021.

Superman and Lois “Through the valley of death”

I can’t believe I married Lois Lane.

Superman & Lois “A brief reminiscence in-between cataclysmic events”

Tell me this isn't true.

I knew as soon as this episode aired that the misogyny from the fandom was going to be wildly out of control because so many of you are literally incapable of ever seeing anything from Lois’s POV, let alone from a mother’s POV. But I hoped that, maybe, since the episode was both written by and directed by a woman and great pains were taken to help explain in very clear terms that Lois was suffering from PTSD from child loss that some of you were going to find some empathy, remove your blinders where you only care about the boys emotions and attempt some care and concern for Lois as both a mother and as a person.

Clearly I gave you all too much credit because you didn’t grasp shit.

You either understand that this episode was about repressed grief after a late term child loss (an extremely serious topic rarely ever touched on TV) which can and does lead to both serious depression and, in some cases, has made women literally suicidal or you don’t. It is outrageously offensive to focus on the things that Lois said to Jonathan in her state of trauma —-which she later sought therapy for and wept over because she felt so horrible—and then ignore the follow-up where she comes to terms with why she lashed out at him the way she did (she was triggered by the memory of their lost baby and triggered by Jonathan’s life and death scare). It’s also outrageously offensive to frame this scene without acknowledging that not only did she beat herself up for the entire episode for losing her temper but then the episode ended with her opening up to Jonathan for the first time about the miscarriage, explaining her pain and telling him how much she loved him and that she would be there to help him. That’s what ::actually:: happened in this episode.

It doesn’t ::surprise:: me that tumblr fandom which is so intensely focused on demonizing parents and not viewing women or mothers as people would frame it this way but it’s disappointing nonetheless. If your takeaway from this episode about grief and repressed trauma over child loss was that Lois doesn’t love Jonathan as much as Jordan, you lack narrative comprehension skills and you need to work on your empathy.

Get yourself somebody who looks at you the way Clark looks at Lois.

I’d love more flashbacks of Clark’s parents, his childhood and the ideals they taught him that made him who he is today.

There was one episode that did that with Martha, but otherwise Clark’s past is often just told (when he’s speaking to his kids about his childhood), rather than shown.

The only thing that makes me feel like we have some Clark centric things happening, apart from his family, is The Stranger (who is still linked to Lois in the long run).

I don’t feel like Lois is short of screentime or a story arc. Often she’s the handy parent that even gives Clark tips on how to parent! She also has her career booming and a work partner for the town paper. Then we have The Stranger who is romantically linked to her in a another world, her childhood problems and beef with her army dad, as well as her taking on Morgan Edge.

If you look keenly, Lois is carrying the show. I’m not against that.

The problem is that the show feels not as focused on Clark as an individual. Sometimes the family thing really swallows up his individual shine.

I’ve basically stopped posting on tumblr completely so I’m breaking my no post rule here by responding to this but that’s how much I disagree with this read on what is happening on this show. I do not think this is correct at all.

First off, let me say that I signed up for a show about Clark and Lois first and foremost so it’s been an adjustment for me to accept that the focus of the show is given in so many instances to the kids. I like Jonathan and Jordan way more than I thought I would so, most of the time, I’ve accepted that now and I understand that my personal preferences don’t mean the focus on the family unit or kids is wrong. But, generally speaking, I would prefer less emphasis on the kids on more on Clark and Lois as a couple. But let’s put that aside for a second bc I want to address the show as it is and not what I wish it was.

Clark Kent and, by proxy, Tyler Hoechlin is NOT the undeserved party on this show. He’s not. He emotionally drives every single big moment. He makes every grand speech. He is the parent who’s feelings and POV are given the most weight. His relationships with both of the boys are given the most attention. His insecurities as a father are prevalent and often drive the emotional conflict of the episodes. He even drives the conflict with Lois’s own father! The cringey focus on Lana as his “first love”—-on a show where he’s 40 years old and has been MARRIED to Lois for 15 years by this point —-is extremely Clark focused in a way that’s not at all balanced. And, as Superman, he has received at least one huge save an episode (the nuclear facility ,busting through the wall to save Lois, fighting Derek, saving the train etc) where we see him scene steal in his capacity as Superman.

We know ::personal:: details about Clark Kent. We know the kind of music he used to like, we know he wanted to play baseball, we know about his high school relationships, we know who he dated as a teen, we know he loved growing up in the town, we know the kind of food he likes, we know a LOT about him as a PERSON. We’ve also SEEN flashbacks of his relationship with his mother. You say a lot of this stuff is TOLD to the audience and it’s true but that’s not a bad thing as it’s still painting a picture of who Clark was and who he is outside of his family. Those little details thrown in are character. There is a reason Tyler Hoechlin wound up on EW’s “performances worthy of an Emmy award” list yesterday and it’s not because he’s inherently more talented than Elizabeth Tulloch—it’s because he’s constantly been given the big emotional blows on the show. He’s the one who gets to have those emotional beats with the boys that gut you in your soul. His performance is reflecting the material he’s been given and the material has weight. I love him and I love knowing these things about him but I do wish Lois was sharing in this and she’s not right now.

The show has been SNEAKY with their misogyny towards the way Lois is marginalized as the co-lead of the show. It’s sneaky because, on paper, I can see why you might look at this show and not see any problem with how Lois is being used. The problem is though Lois has been given virtually zero development outside of her job as a journalist. We know she’s a badass and we know she’s going after Morgan Edge. We know she’s the best of the best and we know, from that ::one:: episode that seemed to give a shit about her POV (Haywire) that her relationship with Sam was filled with neglect but she doesn’t interact with her own father nearly as much as Clark does which is an extremely big letdown for me as a long time fan of Lois Lane and as someone who is interested in her backstory and history. Did she always want to be a reporter? What happened to her mother? Does she have a sister? How does she really feel about moving to this small town? Does she feel helpless as the mother to two boys who have this experience with their father that she can’t relate to? Does she feel scared? Is she actually comfortable with living in Smallville? What kind of food does she like? Was she a rebellious teen? What was it like being what was basically a single parent all those years? We don’t know because the show doesn’t care to flesh her out. Even the scenes with Marcus aren’t about HER—they are about him and casting her as the love interest for captain Luthor in the AU doesn’t give her any real development per se. It makes her an object for two men to war over.

Lois drives plot but we don’t ever know how she FEELS. Even in the big scenes with the boys she’s a cheerleader for Clark off to the side while he takes the heavy lifting as a parent. She doesn’t get the same POV or depth even with her own children. She is underwritten on the show. And, keep in mind....This isn’t an opinion. Nadria Tucker openly disclosed that arguments over the perceived misogyny from the showrunner were a problem in this writers room. Nadria openly shared that Todd had to be reminded all the time that a woman’s name was in the title of the show. And it does worry me that more of the fandom doesn’t seem to realize what’s happening here because back in the Smallville days.....the female fans would have been all over this BS.

Look, maybe all my complaints will be addressed in the coming episodes. I sure as hell hope they are. I like the show in many respects—I want it to succeed. I think the cast is killing it and, as I said, I love the kids more than I thought I would. I accept that my ideal for the show is not what it is and I want to judge it fairly from that POV. But I just can’t get on board with the idea that Clark is the underserved person on this show. Not when his POV and feelings and emotions and struggle dominate literally every interaction with the kids and when Lois’s FEELINGS are so rarely given the same POV. The Morgan Edge plot is just that -plot —it’s not CHARACTER and it’s fooling people Into thinking Lois is being treated much better than she actually is but it’s not fooling me. I have been around the block more than once with this stuff. They are very focused on making Lois “strong” and badass but they aren’t as interested in her interior life. Except interior life is what makes someone a ::character:: in full. Until Lois gets the same ::personal:: detail and POV that Clark has, she won’t be a true equal as a co-lead. It’s not about screen-time it’s about HOW that screentime is used.

Just my opinion. And I came out of tumblr retirement to make it. LOL (I’m glad to find someone else enjoying the show overall even we don’t see eye to eye!)

(Source)

Now that’s good content!

I’m glad they are teaming up but just to be clear Todd Hellbing is lying here and trying to cover his ass.

The original plan for Lana was ::absolutely:: and completely inappropriate and that was reflected not only in the first draft of the script but also in the extremely inappropriate comments that Todd made at Fandome about Lana that got him dragged to hell and called out for his misogyny on Twitter.

Todd Helbing wants credit now for this Lois/Lana partnership but that was NOT his original intention and he absolutely cannot be trusted at all. The women and other BIPOC in the writers’ room along with Nadria Tucker are responsible for anything positive you see with these women.