You can't go home again.
It's often said that going home isn't something you can really do. While your idea of home is something that stays the same, the actual home never stays the same. It changes just like you do, evolving sometimes into something you might never recognize if you try. Anyone who's ever gone to a reunion, whether it's high school or any other will help you recognize that.
Trying to go home never works out the way you want it to. But that doesn't mean you can't try. The trick is to recognize how it's changed and adapt yourself to it. At it's core, that's what Superman and Lois is about. Learning to adapt to the way the world has changed and coming to terms with it. Does the show succeed though?
I was a big fan of Smallville when it was on. The show was very formative for me. Watching a young Clark Kent try to deal with being different and what that means for the world was really a brilliant way to tackle the character. They had me captivated for 10 years and never made me regret it, even if sometimes it had its weird, repetitive moments. Smallville was about the process of growing up and finding a way to finally leave home. Superman and Lois is the opposite of that.
In a lot of ways, the show is about what happens to your home when you leave it behind. Unfortunately, not all of the things that happen are good things. The Smallville in Superman and Lois has suffered. Slowly but surely, the town is dying. People are moving away, they're losing their homes, and that sense of community has all but collapsed. Martha Kent is the one who was holding it together despite everything she herself was going through.
What the town of Smallville needs more than anything, is hope.
If there's anyone who can bring it to people, it's Superman. Which is one of main reasons why he decides to move back. The other being his kids. And that to me is perhaps one of the best parts of the new show. So much of Superman's story has focused on his origin story. How he came to Earth, the way he grew up, and many times the love story between Clark and Lois has been told. Rarely if ever has the story of his life and the struggle of doing that ever really been explored.
More recently in the comics, this has been something they've explored through the characters of Superman's son Jonathan Kent and his relationship with Batman's son Damien. This seems to be where a lot of the inspiration for Superman and Lois comes from. Lois and Clark dealing with having children and what it means to try and balance raising kids with being a superhero.
Lots of people have this idea that Superman doesn't struggle because of who he is. The powers he has and the things he can do with him makes everything he does easy. Although some of that can be true regarding him in the suit when he's battling bad guys, that's never been the heart of what Superman means. What's great about him is the struggle he goes through as a person. How he struggles to maintain hope in a world that often doesn't give him reason to.
I think that's going to be what makes Superman and Lois interesting. Seeing him and Lois struggle to manage their teenage kids as at least one of them seems to be developing powers. So much of what is central to Superman and Lois is about a lack of hope that many people have, including the title characters themselves. What they do have is their kids. The next generation who is growing up in the world they have been trying to build. That gives them a reason to keep fighting. A reason to go on and try to make the world better for them. But how much will that actually work?
The problems that Clark and Lois are dealing with in Smallville are massive. Maybe too big for even a hero like Superman to deal with. So how do they make a difference? What steps can they take to make it even a little bit better for ordinary citizens?
They've certainly started off strong with the pilot. A lot was set up from the problems the citizens of Smallville are going through to the looming threat of a corrupt business man, and most interestingly the reveal at the end about the big bad that Superman will be dealing with. I'm looking forward to seeing where the show goes, even as it centres around staying put and the challenges of being home.
Can you go home again? I’m not sure but I’m looking forward to finding out more.
I highly recommend it.
If you’d like to know more about my views on Superman, check things out here and here.