‘Superman and Lois’ O’ Mother Where Art Thou? Review: Emmanuelle Chriqui Shine in an Otherwise Average Episode

The body-swap storyline that’s been in the background receives some time in the spotlight in O’ Mother Where Art Thou. Unfortunately, the result is a jarring episode that struggles to balance the strong performances with sci-fi hijinks.

The cinematography in O’ Mother Where Art Thou? uses the sun in striking fashion. In addition to the gorgeous imagery, Emmanuelle Chriqui shines in playing two different characters. Chiriqui does a great job differentiating between the brave, yet kept in the dark Lana from the proud, all-knowing Lara. The rest of the cast gives strong supporting performances as well.

The scenes between Clark and his Kryptonian mother, Lara, pack the right emotional weight. Although since time was of the essence, the family reunions probably could have waited. This example represents the crux of the problem in this episode of Superman and Lois.

In the series, Superman and Lois has focused more on family drama and character development than superhero theatrics. O’ Mother Where Art Thou tries to do both and that’s simply too much story for the show to handle in one episode. The explanation as to how body-swapping works don’t really add up. O’ Mother Where Art Thou‘s ending surely would have resulted in everyone dying within the vicinity of the blast. I’ll go over this more in the spoiler section.

Unfortunately, the Kryptonian swap is the main focus of the episode. If it was a minor story beat, O’ Mother Where Art Thou might have worked better.

With the non-spoiler details out of the way, let’s dive into superhero theatrics, family drama and more in O’ Mother Where Art Thou. Please note there will be minor spoilers Superman and Lois is airing on The CW and streaming on the CWTV app.

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Tale of Two Brothers in O’ Mother Where Art Thou?

The beginning of the episode takes place immediately following the end of Royal Subjekts. Yes, Morgan Edge is really Tal-Rho, Clark’s half-brother. Before Clark was born, Clark’s Kryptonian mother Lara was matched to and married another man.

Tal-Rho was sent to Earth before Kal-El. He landed in England and didn’t exactly receive the same treatment as Clark. Tal-Rho’s desire is to restore Krypton on Earth. Essentially, this is the same plot as Man of Steel with Edge aka Tal-Rho being swapped with Zod. Clark tries to reason with Tal-Rho to no avail.

With the help of Lois, Superman is able to locate the machine Tal-Rho is using to switch human hosts with Kryptonian consciousness called the Eradicator. I understand how this machine could transfer the conscious mind of a Kryptonian to a human. However, the aspect of the human host gaining Kryptonian powers doesn’t make sense no matter how many times the episode tries to rationalize the process.

The ending of the episode features Tal-Rho summoning all of the Kryptonian warriors to attack Superman. The shot of the Kryptonians flying over the horizon with the sun in the background is maybe the most gorgeous shot in a superhero series. Superman is able to defeat the Kryptonians by using a device retrofitted by Lara.

He uses his heat vision to detonate the device in the air. With the exception of Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr, all of the other Kryptonians are instantly turned human again. The result of detonating the device in the air should have killed all of the humans in the sky, but they just wake up as if they were on the ground. The sequence should have been reworked. Either the device needed to be set off closer to the ground or on the ground. In a series that’s tried to keep things as realistic as possible for a Superman show, this was an illogical way to end this story.

Near the end of the episode, a chase ensues with the Kryptonians attempting to take out Superman. He’s able to use Lara’s device to incapacitate and remove the Kryptonians from the human hosts in midair. In an illogical sequence, somehow all of the humans safely fall from the sky and wake up like they’re in a bad dream. This whole sequence in the worst thing in the series thus far.

Tal-Rho’s reaction to his plan being ruined doesn’t help matters. After working for years towards this goal, he seems completely at ease with the loss of his Army. While I don’t doubt he has a backup plan, it just makes the Kryptonian body swap plot come off as insignificant.

Lana-Lara Body Swap

There are plenty of story elements to pick apart in this episode. Chriqui’s performance as both Lana and Lara isn’t one of them. Thanks to Lana, Lois and Clark are able to find the Eradicator and learn how the machine works.

Earlier in the episode, Tal-Rho revealed The Eradicator was Lara’s invention. A confused Clark chats with Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude. Jor-El makes it clear Lara’s intention was to use the device to preserve Krypton’s knowledge and not as a means of war or supplanting another race. I’m not sure how Lara and Jor-el didn’t foresee a Kryptonian using the technology for nefarious purposes. Both of them knew of Tal-Rho’s presence on Earth.

In order to figure out how to use The Eradicator, Clark will need to speak with Lara. Lana volunteer to serve as the host body for Lara’s consciousness. After some hesitation, Superman, Lois and General Sam Lane agree.

The transfer process works and serves as a sweet mother-son moment for Lara and Kal-El. Chriqui instills a different type of motherly pride as Kal-El tells her his life story. There’s a weird disconnect as they take quite a bit of time catching up in spite of being on the brink of possible war.

Lara explains that the human hosts are in a sort of hibernation. They can be brought back by going through The Eradicator again. Lois points out the process is too slow. Superman decides to release all of his energy at once, which will remove the Kryptonians from the human hosts.

The Importance of Truth

Sarah Cushing begins the episode angry at her Mom. She believes her father has been out drinking and thinks Lana is being naive. Of course, Sarah doesn’t know the full story at the outset, but that’s about to change thanks to Jonathan and to a lesser degree Jordan.

Jonathan tells Sarah the truth. Not about Jordan’s powers or their relationship to Superman, but about what happened to Sarah’s dad. He went through Morgan Edge’s program, was in bad shape because of it and their grandfather is trying to figure out what happened.

She’s freaked out by the reveal but trusts the information provided by Jonathan. Her trusting Jonathan and Jordan made sense due to General Same Lane being their grandfather. Sarah, Jordan and Jonathan decide to go see Sarah’s father who is being held in a Kryptonite-lined cell on the base. Jonathan is able to convince his grandfather to grant them access in another terrific scene between the two.

Erik Valdez has done the best he can with the role of Kyle Cushing. However, I haven’t been and still am not a fan of the one-dimensional Kyle Cushing character. Like Chriqui as Lana, Valdez gets the opportunity to take on dual personas as one of the Kryptonian hosts.

Valdez is terrifying as the Kryptonian. He straight-up tells Sarah that he’s going to kill her. The shock of seeing her father that way forces Sarah to leave the base. Valdez as this random Kryptonian is far more imposing than Tal-Rho has been throughout the entire season of Superman & Lois.

She apologizes to Jordan for think he flaked on their performance in the last episode. Sarah sites their knowledge of what was happening around town and to her father as the reason they had to keep their secret. Jordan apologizes for not making it, but is glad Sarah had that moment with her father.

While not the primary focus of the episode, this was tonally consistent and best element of O’ Mother Where Art Thou.

O’ Mother Where Art Thou Final Thoughts

A bumpy episode, but Chriqui’s strong performance and teenager subplot keeps Superman & Lois afloat.

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