TV Review: ‘Superman & Lois’ Season 4 Episode 7 Excels Without Villains

Because Superman is such a big and strong hero, many often forget that he’s an extremely complicated character. The big and powerful fights with massive villains like Doomsday and Bizarro suck up a lot of oxygen in the room that the more grounded, poignant character moments get drowned out. But Superman & Lois does a great job highlighting the character beats, so much so that it devotes entire episodes to them. This week is no different as Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) didn’t even make an appearance. There weren’t any villains at all! It was just Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) trying to manage life as his secret of being Superman starts to spread, resulting in one of the best episodes of the entire series.

In the past, while working at The Daily Planet, Clark tries to form a relationship with Jimmy Olsen (Douglas Smith), who wants him to play on the company softball team. Unfortunately, his duties as Superman constantly get in the way of him showing up. Jimmy deduces the truth, but Clark must lie to keep his secret intact. Keeping it safe remains an important part of Clark’s life in the present as he works to dispel any rumors that he is, in fact, Superman. This ultimately culminates when Lex sends someone with a personal grudge against Clark to test the gossip. He fires a gun at him in the diner, forcing Clark to make the all-important decision to reveal himself to everyone present.

Afterwards, Clark gives a televised interview, announcing his existence to the world. He ultimately did it to stop Lex from trying to use the secret against him, but the decision was so much more than that. Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) explains to their sons that Clark had been keeping the secret ever since he was a little boy. The fear of it getting out had been drilled inside of him by his parents. Now that they are gone, he has to make this decision all by himself, and he did it while standing up with grace and pride. It illustrates that even though Superman is a god amongst men, he doesn’t want to be viewed as such. He just wants to be a regular guy, and that fact grounds the character even when he’s not punching villains.

Superman & Lois airs Mondays on The CW.