Superman & Lois – Season 2 Episode 12
“Lies That Bind”
Superman & Lois deals with the aftermath of Clark admitting the truth to Lana as work is done to stop Ally’s plan.
Secrecy has always been a major theme on this show. The first episode dealt with Jordan and Jonathan being made aware of their father’s secret identity which forced the responsibility of keeping that secret from others. This has caused a lot of complications in their lives and prompted a lot of discussion around whether it’s fair to expect others to keep the secret.

Brainstorming
This theme is continued and developed following Lana being made aware of the secret. Her reaction is a subdued one which is to be expected given her measured approach to everything else she has encountered since the show began. Emmanuelle Chriqui plays the shock experienced by Lana wonderfully along with the clarity she gains on some long-running mysteries in her life. Suddenly some bizarre happenings start to make sense with the knowledge that Clark has superpowers. She is open about the fact that this is a lot to process and Clark is understanding throughout. He apologises for the lies but acknowledges that it was the right decision at the time which adds to the complexity of the weight associated with such a secret.
Lana has difficulty accepting what she has learned and has no idea how to proceed with it. This supports the notion of knowing the secret being a burden by itself as it carries widespread implications with it. Something that Smallville played with was how knowing the truth changed life on a fundamental level as respecting Clark’s right to privacy means being very careful that a slip of the tongue doesn’t clue others in on what is being hidden. Lana is at first fixated on the fact that one of her closest friends -and someone she was in love with at one point- has been lying to her for most of her life. By extension one of her recent closest friends has been lying to her since the day they met. She’s torn between understanding the reasons behind that and feeling betrayed by those she thought she could trust.
This comes up during her conversation with Lois where she highlights that she understands why the secret was kept while being open about feeling betrayed by her. Her argument is that Lois didn’t have to reach out to her and offer friendship in the way she did. They could have simply been neighbours who made polite small talk and lived separate lives but Lois pursued a friendship with her and Lana came to value that friendship. She sees the friendship as being disingenuous because the secret was always hanging over it.

Surprise!
Lois acknowledges this and comes to re-examine her own approach to keeping Clark’s secret. She gives Lana some context to her life in Metropolis and how her focus was on work so she never had real friends at the time. This made it easier to keep people at a distance and play her part in keeping Clark’s secret. She admits that she convinced herself that it wasn’t her secret to tell and that thinking has become a default position. Things have changed since moving to Smallville as the twins now know the truth and have strong opinions about being forced to lie to others. Lois opts to tell Lana everything and allow her to make her own decision on what to do with that information.
This commentary on the weight of being adjacent to a secret identity is really interesting and uncommon in the Arrowverse. Arrow went in its own directions when it came to exploring the impact of Oliver’s double life and other shows have paid lip service to the idea but largely bypassed it entirely. This show’s approach of having Clark’s double identity be one of its pillars but not taking the need for that to be the case for granted is a unique approach that the show is exploring in compelling ways.
Lana gets a taste of the internal conflicts that come from having this information. At first, she feels that Sarah has a right to know particularly considering her recently ended relationship with Jordan so resolves to make Sarah aware of exactly what she’s dealing with. Her decision alters when Sophie enters the room and Lana realises that Sarah would have to wrestle with the same difficult considerations. She would be burdening Sarah with knowledge that she would have to keep from Sophie and everyone else around her and with some idea of what that feels like she doesn’t feel that it’s fair to inflict that on Sarah when she isn’t prepared for it.

Finding something to do
Her eventual decision is to keep what she knows to herself but also not have Lois and Clark in her life. They represent dishonesty to her and she asks that they not be in her or her children’s lives. Any interaction will have the secret hanging over it and Lana doesn’t feel like she can maintain friendships when always being concerned about saying the wrong thing. The showcase of tangible consequences of Clark keeping his identity a secret and revealing it adds heft to this development and sets up the potential for Sarah to take exception to Lana lying to her when she inevitably finds out.
Sarah’s point of view is briefly featured in the form of text messages to Jordan where she makes it clear that there’s no chance of them reconciling until he’s honest with her. This shows the impact keeping the secret has on his personal life and continues the doubts being raised around whether it’s fair to expect others to keep it on Clark’s behalf. Attached to Sarah’s role in the episode is both her and Kyle noticing that Lana appears to be distracted by something which naturally leads them to conclude that she may have met someone else and is keeping a new relationship a secret. All of this supports the claim that Clark’s secret has a widespread impact and isn’t easy on anyone who knows the truth. It adds scope to the concept and attaches so much emotional weight to Lana’s reaction.
Outside of this, there is strong content around Sarah and Kyle’s relationship. It’s largely innocuous for the most part with them spending time together as father and daughter but there are signs of increased trust developing through small details like Sarah telling him things she learned in therapy which marks a significant step forward from her flatly refusing to discuss her therapy sessions with him last season. Kyle has been working very hard to be a better person and a more supportive father to her; something that informs his actions in this episode even if sending Sarah down the road of putting together an album just because she writes songs to channel her own rage is a bit forced. Their scenes together are endearing and it allows Sarah’s emotional development to be varied.

Unlimited power
The other young characters have a plot of their own where they work to find some X-Kryptonite to power a War Suit built by Natalie. Jordan, Jonathan and Natalie have a fun dynamic that elevates what is otherwise underwhelming material. It seems to exist to occupy the characters rather than having any wider relevance beyond the tease of the second War Suit. Mentioning the three young characters feeling marginalised by the adults despite knowing they can be of use. Natalie and Jordan in particular can be useful with her technical prowess and his superpowers but their parents try to protect them which creates frustrations as they are involved and in danger regardless. This could be weaved in more organically and the jeopardy created when they cave in a section of the mine feels forced.
Ally makes her first post-merge appearance and is a formidable antagonist. Her powers seem to be similar to Clark’s and she remains as driven as she ever was. For now, there is no coverage of her characterisation so it isn’t clear how the merging has changed her. Prior to the merging, there wasn’t a strong sense of who she was beyond her beliefs so there isn’t a clear indication of any differences. For now, she’s little more than a powerful obstacle which is very limiting.
This is mitigated by the strong character work created through the obstacle she presents. The main objective for the episode is to destroy the pendant but it takes more power than Clark can generate on his own. This means that he has to enlist the help of Tal to double up the available power. Simply hurling the pendant into the sun is never suggested despite it being a practical and realistic option but the point is to force an interaction between Clark and Tal while considering what their choices mean for Bizarro World.

Our powers combined
Clark’s values are central to both considerations. John and Sam argue that Clark should prioritise his own world because they see protecting the other one as well as too big a task. Their suggestion is to close the portal and never look back but Clark feels that he has a responsibility to help those on the other side of it because their world has been damaged by Ally’s influence. It’s a standard morality vs. practicality debate with John and Sam suggesting they should concentrate on what they deem as possible while Clark focuses on what he thinks is right. He isn’t willing to write off the other world and is vehement that they can find a way to save both worlds. His argument is that there is always another way and those who don’t believe it give up too easily. In lesser hands, this could be seen as naive but Tyler Hoechlin delivers the sentiment with confidence and sincerity fully in keeping with experience and well-cultivated values. He doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions but he inspires others to think along those lines and not accept compromise that leaves others doomed to harm.
A problem he may be able to solve is his inability to trust Tal. He got a glimpse of what could be in Bizarro World with a version of Tal that is a supportive ally and would like to get to the point where he has a relationship with his only blood relative. In some ways, it does seem like he’s forgetting all the horrible things Tal did to him though there is mention of him having an awareness of it. There is an attempt to reframe Tal as the product of abuse which did come up in the previous season but didn’t receive the attention it needed to. This is mentioned here and is used as an attempt to justify his prior behaviour. Tal does admit that he would rather have a loving and supportive familial relationship and his desire to make amends for the hurt he has caused does seem genuine. Apologising to Lois and taking ownership of his actions could be seen as the first step on a long journey towards redemption and Clark is cautiously willing to give him the chance to prove his sincerity.
It feeds into his assertion that there is always another way with his willingness to give Tal a chance to prove himself potentially proving that point. Tal’s disappearance after the destruction of the pendant adds uncertainty but having Clark stay true to his values even when the situation makes that a more difficult prospect. This show always has a strong grasp on the fundamentals of what Superman stands for and it’s truly inspiring to see them displayed in a way that is entirely bereft of embarrassment.

You saw her here first!
Verdict
A strong episode that delivers a strong exploration of how knowing Clark’s secret is a burden and an excellent showcase of Clark’s fundamental values. Lana’s reaction to learning Clark’s secret is a subdued one with the shock wonderfully performed by Emmanuelle Chriqui. She is open about the fact that this is a lot to process and Clark is understanding. He apologises for the lies but acknowledges that it was the right decision at the time which adds to the complexity of the weight associated with the secret. Lana’s difficulty accepting what she has learned supports the notion of knowing the secret being a burden by itself as it carries widespread implications. Lana is at first fixated on the fact that one of her closest friends has been lying to her for most of her life. She’s torn between understanding the reasons behind that and feeling betrayed by those she thought she could trust. This comes up during a conversation with Lois where she highlights that she understands why the secret was kept while being open about feeling betrayed. She sees their friendship as being disingenuous because the secret was always hanging over it. Lois acknowledges this and comes to re-examine her own approach to keeping Clark’s secret. The commentary on the weight of being adjacent to a secret identity is really interesting. This show’s approach of having Clark’s double identity be one of its pillars but not taking the need for that to be the case for granted is a unique approach that the show is exploring in compelling ways. Lana struggles to decide what to do with this information. She ends up not telling Sarah the truth because that would be burdening her with knowledge she has to keep from others. The showcase of tangible consequences of Clark keeping his identity a secret and revealing it adds heft to this development and sets up the potential for Sarah to take exception to Lana lying to her when she inevitably finds out.
The Kyle/Sarah relationship receives some strong coverage in this episode. It’s largely innocuous but there are signs of increased trust developing through small details like Sarah telling him things she learned in therapy. Kyle sending her down the road of putting together an album is a bit forced but their scenes together are endearing and it allows Sarah’s emotional development to be varied. The other young characters have a plot of their own that feels disconnected from the rest of the episode but their fun dynamic elevates what is otherwise underwhelming material. Ally’s first post-merge appearance presents her as a formidable antagonist but there still isn’t a strong sense of character to her beyond her beliefs. This is mitigated through strong character work created through the obstacle she presents. Clark’s values are central to the two considerations at play. Sam and John argue that Clark should prioritise his own world. Their suggestion is to close the portal and never look back but Clark is adamant that there is another way. It’s a standard morality vs. practicality debate. In lesser hands, Clark’s position could be seen as naive but Tyler Hoechlin delivers the sentiment with confidence and sincerity fully in keeping with experience and well-cultivated values. He doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions but he inspires others to think along those lines and not accept compromise that leaves others doomed to harm. A problem he may be able to solve is his inability to trust Tal. He got a glimpse of what could be in Bizarro World and would like to get to that point with Tal. There is an attempt to reframe Tal as the product of abuse which did come up in the previous season but didn’t receive the attention it needed to. This is mentioned here and is used as an attempt to justify his prior behaviour. Tal does admit that he would rather have a loving and supportive familial relationship and his desire to make amends for the hurt he has caused does seem genuine. Apologising to Lois and taking ownership of his actions could be seen as the first step on a long journey towards redemption and Clark is cautiously willing to give him the chance to prove his sincerity. It feeds into his assertion that there is always another way with his willingness to give Tal a chance to prove himself potentially proving that point. Tal’s disappearance after the destruction of the pendant adds uncertainty but having Clark stay true to his values even when the situation makes that a more difficult prospect. This show always has a strong grasp on the fundamentals of what Superman stands for and it’s truly inspiring to see them displayed in a way that is entirely bereft of embarrassment.
Overall
-
8/10
Summary
Kneel Before…
- Lana’s subdued reaction in keeping with her handling of other things she has faced
- Emmanuelle Chriqui’s excellent performance
- Lois re-examining her approach to keeping the secret
- Lana’s experience highlighting how wide reaching the implications of knowing Clark’s secret are
- her logical decision to not involve Sarah
- the deepening of Kyle and Sarah’s relationship
- Jordan, Jonathan and Natalie’s fun dynamic
- Tyler Hoechlin’s earnest performance as Clark sticking to the fundamentals of his values
- setting up a potential redemption arc for Tal
Rise Against…
- the Kyle/Sarah plot feeling somewhat forced
- Jordan, Jonathan and Natalie’s plot not connecting to the rest of the episode
- Ally still lacking in character
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