Superman & Lois Season 4 Episode 9 Review – Behold Your Doomsday

And here we are. One week left. One episode left, and a lot of questions about how things will end. Up until the final 15 minutes or so of “To Live and Die Again,” I loved pretty much everything about this episode, as it hit all the right notes more times than not to help make this penultimate episode feel special. Yet, as my Superman & Lois Season 4 Episode 9 Review will note, how things end for the penultimate episode makes me really nervous for the Superman & Lois series finale next week.

Obviously, I’ll start this episode with the positive, as there honestly was a lot of it. For example, seeing the immediate fallout from last week’s episode of Superman & Lois, and especially the Godfrey interview section, was nice to see. Luthor isn’t stopping the attack; he’s getting even more personal at points. He’s suing Lois; he used the data from John Henry Irons’s suit to spoil the “condition” of Superman (a notion I honestly didn’t consider when he took the Steel suit), and so on. As a whole, these are just “small moves” against Lois & Clark, but they have a big impact, and we see that through much of the episode.

To that end, seeing both Superman & Lois being on the backfoot multiple times in this episode, only for the other to push them in the right direction, was great. I almost called that a negative because they seemed to go down the “rabbit hole of despair” really quickly at times, but it served a greater purpose…so I’ll allow it. Clark taking Lois’s advice to “get in Luthor’s head” was great, as was Lois taking Clark’s advice (to listen to her own advice) and going back to the beginning to try and get answers on how to beat Luthor.

Bringing in Bruno Manheim was another element I didn’t see coming. Seeing him both be happy to hear of Lois’s cancer-free diagnosis, only for him to criticize her for “only needing his help now because her family was in danger” was fair and cool. Both sides had great points in their “debate,” and seeing them work together to try and bring down Luthor for good felt right.

Just as “right” was the “arc” of the Super Son in this episode. They’re still getting used to their fame (which now includes menu items at the local diner!), but they also need to come to terms with that, despite how much they want to help their dad, it’s not going to be as simple as just “using their powers.”

Using “The Stranger” projection to prove how unprepared they were was a nice touch, as was Superman’s reversal (upon Lois giving great advice again) on his training thoughts for them, noting that together, they could be as strong as he was alone. I’m not sure I buy that, but it was a very “Superman is a dad” moment, and I really liked that.

And now we come to the more divisive elements of the episode. Starting with…Doomsday. I had a bad feeling that he would come back after Lois reached out to the “Superman within,” but I really didn’t like the way they handled it in this episode. First, John Henry just so happened to have a recording of Lois confessing what she did to Doomsday? Really? Then, the fact that he was in the mines the whole time trying to “get back to his world,” and NO ONE NOTICED?!?! Not even three superbeings?

Then, there was Luthor somehow “killing him again,” making it look comic accurate, but somehow now being so “dead” that he wouldn’t even connect with Lois anymore? That didn’t make sense one bit. The really big problem here is that the cliffhanger made it clear how Superman can’t beat Doomsday. BUT, the teaser for the series finale made it clear that Superman would finally get his hands on Luthor. So, obviously, something happens to Doomsday, and I have a bad feeling it’ll be another eye-rolling situation when it happens.

Now, to be more positive about it, I did like how Luthor “set Doomsday on the town” because he was in such a “petty” mood in that moment. Plus, through that, we got to see Superman and the Super Sons go to work protecting their home, including big moments for both Jonathan and Jordan on that front. The ending scene with them begging Superman not to die again really hurt to watch, as that’s one heck of a cliffhanger…even if it likely won’t end in the best way.

Speaking of “not ending the right way,” the “break-up” of Lex and Amanda was everything I feared it would be. They JUST GOT TOGETHER officially in the last episode, and it took less than one episode to break them apart. Just as important, Luthor broke it off because of both pettiness and some simple words from Superman. He’s supposed to be smarter than that, even in this rage-filled version of the character.

I’m sure some will say “This is the point, though! Lex is incapable of love and not being No.1!” Except, again, Luthor is meant to be smarter than that. Amanda JUST PROVED how smart she was when she outmaneuvered both Superman & Lois in a way that Lex himself thought wouldn’t work. Yet, it did work. Swimmingly, in fact! So he should’ve trusted her, truly trusted her, more than ever. But he didn’t, and all because of simple words from Superman. Sure, Amanda had her own issues, but Lex was the bigger culprit here.

Even with these episodes, I’ll end this review on a positive note, because the episode was still really good despite some key flaws. I REALLY want the Superman & Lois series finale to be good, and I hope it checks all the boxes to send the Arrowverse out on the highest of notes. Will it? We’ll find out soon enough.