Recap / Superman And Lois S 1 E 13 Failsafe

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Recap of Superman & Lois
Season 1, Episode 13

Failsafe

With Edge in jail, everyone assumes the threat has been neutralized and the town attempts to pick up the pieces. The Cushings face increasing hostilities from the locals for their unwitting roles in Edge's nefarious plans. Clark and Lois clash about the wisdom of the DOD keeping anti-Kryptonian weaponry and Clark asks a very important favor of John Henry. Everyone is taken by surprise when Edge overcomes anti-Kryptonian countermeasures and makes his move to enact his final plan.

Tropes:

• Anger Born of Worry: Lois is pissed to find out Jordan is in jail. She apologizes to Clark for leaving their argument still mad because she needs to be angry so she can scare her son.
• Bash Brothers: Clark and John now apparently have this dynamic, judging by their Fist Bump after defeating Leslie Larr.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Edge, contradicting previously established Arrowverse canon regarding Kryptonians' powers. Since he only does so once the Eradicator takes over, this may be one of its extra powers, along with energy pulses and Kryptonite immunity.
• Blatant Lies: Chrissy sees right through Lois hiding the truth from her.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Clark argues that humanity should have a fail-safe in case he is ever possessed, corrupted, or tricked and is truly beyond the point of saving; an evil version of him could destroy the world and take countless innocent lives and he couldn't be there to stop himself. Lois, however, points out that there are plenty of supervillains out there who would love to get their hands on anti-Superman weaponry and use it against him; creating such a weapon could be giving them exactly what they want.
• Didn't Think This Through: Leslie Larr mounts a direct attack on the DOD and is captured within a minute. Clark lampshades to Edge that she clearly didn't think her rescue attempt through.
• Dirty Coward: Mayor Dean promises to help the Cushings regain their reputation, only to sell them out to save his own skin.
• Energy Absorption: In the final scene, Edge is hiding on the opposite side of the sun from Earth, feeding on its energy to fuel his transformation into the Eradicator.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: In a flashback, a young Edge asks to speak to the hologram of his and Superman's mother, and is visibly upset when denied.
• Evil Is Petty: Zeta-Rho planned on having Lara watch how his plans come to fruition, then destroy her consciousness, all because she wouldn't be with him. He even denied his son to ever speak to her.
• Evil Me Scares Me: After a talk with Edge about how not holding back feels good, Clark tells Sam to keep the Kryptonite weapons just in case he ever turns, because he felt that when Zod was controlling him and it scares him.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Tegan Wickhem, who pretends to be interested in Jonathan all of a sudden, but really just wants to have exclusive information from him in regards to what happened with Edge.
• Flashback: There are several to Edge's past, talking to his father's hologram.
• Fusion Dance: Edge has completely fused with the Eradicator.
• I Owe You My Life: Out of gratitude for saving him, Clark lets John stay at his barn indefinitely.
• Moment Killer: Jordan and Sarah get arrested for trespassing and truancy when they are kissing.
• My Skull Runneth Over: Edge has the totality of the minds within the Eradicator stored inside his head, and their voices gradually grow stronger within him. Given his conversations with his father, it's suggested that his own mind is completely overtaken by the end.
• No-Sell: Once the Eradicator has taken him over, Edge is unaffected by the Kryptonite field inside his cell, even when it's dialed up to maximum.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Edge points this out towards Clark, combined with a Hannibal Lecture. Given how Clark struggles over having enjoyed cutting lose, he has a point.
• Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Edge rants at Superman that "You should be a god, but instead you became a slave to [the people of Earth]!" If he thinks this is a contradiction, he really should have spent some more of the time he took learning our culture to study our most prominent religious movement and what its god had to say on the subject!
• Shout-Out: Jonathan's football buddies compare Edge's plan to Get Out.
• Swapped Roles: Sam, out of guilt, wants to get rid of Project 7734 and all the Kryptonian-killing weapons he has, while Clark now argues to keep them in case they are ever needed again.
• Title Drop: Superman and Lois say the word failsafe.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Chrissy chews Lois out for hiding the truth about Edge and siding with her father over reporting the truth. Lois makes up for it later by delivering an unofficial statement that will help put the blame on Edge.
  • Lois in turn chews out her husband for convincing Sam to keep Project 7734; even though Clark does have a point in wanting a fail-safe in case he's ever possessed again and can't be brought back. She eventually comes around due to this point, but under the condition that John is the only person to keep the weapon.

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