Recap / Superman And Lois S 2 E 13 All Is Lost

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Recap of Superman & Lois
Season 2, Episode 13

All is Lost

Ally plots an alternate means of achieving her goals. Jordan is distressed by Lana's decision that the Kents and Cushings should no longer be friends or have any social contact. Sam and Lois attempt to extricate Lucy from Ally's cult compound, only for Lucy to commit an unthinkable act of betrayal that gravely endangers Clark's life.

Tropes:

• Bond Villain Stupidity: Ally has Superman drained and helpless before leaving the scene. Later on, she orders Bizarro Lana to kill Superman at the end of the episode. Somehow it didn't occur to Ally to simply kill Superman when he was helpless and already at her mercy.
• Brought Down to Normal: Ally drains Superman to such an extent that he completely loses his powers, and there's a possibility he may never recover them.
• Brutal Honesty: When Jordan asks Lana for permission to tell Sarah the truth, she blows up at him, making it very clear that she doesn't want that. She later seems to feel a bit sorry about it.
• Catch and Return: Ally stops John's hammer in its tracks and throws it right back at him.
• Continuity Nod: After Jordan's contentious meeting with Lana, he dejectedly goes outside and sits on the bench that was dedicated as a memorial to Martha Kent in Season One.
  • When blowing up at Jordan, Lana mentions how Tag Harris kidnapped Sarah to get to him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ally inflicts this on Superman and Steel, completely draining Superman with the latter not even getting a single hit in and knocking Steel away with little effort.
• Damned by Faint Praise: According to Natalie, "Victoria May's tofu scramble is surprisingly not terrible."
• De-power: Ally drains Clark of his solar energy and damages the cells that convert solar energy into his superpowers, leaving Clark powerless and indefinitely unable to power back up.
• Die or Fly: Clark teaches Jordan to fly by having him jump into a chasm in the Arctic, telling him that he just needs to overcome his fear. With some encouraging words shouted after him, Jordan manages to figure it out just before hitting the bottom. Downplayed, however, since not only does Jordan have at least some Super-Toughness, there's no way Clark would've actually let his son hit the bottom to begin with, even though he deliberately acts evasive when Jordan asks if he'll do so.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite everything she did, Sam assures Lucy that they are still family.
• Exact Words: Ally tells Lucy that she would never force anyone to join her cult. Manipulation, seduction, and Slipping a Mickey, however, are not using force per se.
• Facial Horror: Both Clark and Sam have purple veins running over their faces after Ally is done with them.
• Flashback: Several to 5 years back, with Lucy getting to know Ally and being manipulated by her.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Lucy is initially unapologetic about her actions, including drugging her own father.
• Internal Reveal:
  • John Henry learns about Nat's suit. While he is initially not happy about it, wanting to decommission it, he eventually agrees on her accompanying him when he realizes it's too tough to destroy and superior to his own suit.
  • After Ally nearly kills Sam, Lucy finally appears to see her for the narcissistic, psychopathic monster she really is. The rest of Ally's Earth-Prime followers run away when she starts sucking the life out of Sam.
• It Only Works Once: John tries his flying hammer on Ally, but this time she blocks it with her powers before sending it back at him.
• It's All My Fault: Sam says this about the problems between his daughters. Lois and even Lucy tell him that it's not his fault as it stems from their mom walking out on them, which he never did even if he wasn't always around.
• It's Personal: Chrissy insists on accompanying Sam and Lois, because she got hurt by Ally.
• Lampshade Hanging: Ally and Lucy discuss how Sam has a thing for naming his daughters "L.L."
• Life Drain: Ally does this to Sam, nearly killing him, to force Lucy to call Superman. She also nearly kills Superman in the same manner she did to Bizarro Tal-Rho, draining him until he's Brought Down to Normal.
• Made of Indestructium: Natalie's Powered Armor is even tougher than John's, using the same material treated with X-K to reinforce it.
• Magical Defibrillator: Natalie uses her suit to restart Superman's stopped heart.
• Merged Reality: Ally intends to do this to Earth-Prime and Bizarro World, once she gathers enough power. The final scene shows her in the void, drawing the two portals closer together.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Lucy finally has an epiphany after Ally puts her father and Superman in the hospital.
• New Era Speech: Ally holds one on Bizarro Earth, announcing the merging of the two worlds.
• Not Helping Your Case: When Lucy hears that (technically) Ally didn't kill Anderson, Lucy once more thinks that her sister has been lying to her.
• Parent-Child Team: John eventually allows Nat to fly with him to save Superman.
• Parental Substitute: This episode shows how Ally set herself up as Lucy's maternal figure in order to prey on her. This was after Lois herself acted as Lucy's parental substitute during their childhoods, which created a rift between them.
• Popcultural Osmosis Failure:
  • For Jordan's second flight attempt, Clark wants him to try a flight path he calls "the Kessel Run". Jordan doesn't know what that is, to Clark's exasperation. Even though it was also a plot point in Solo, which came out relatively recently.
  • Also occurs earlier in the episode when Lana brings up Alanis Morissette after Sarah mentions her break-up with Jordan. But in this case, Lana is not surprised that Sarah doesn't know who that is, possibly as a result of Sarah not being born during the height of Morisette's popularity, and even offers a brief explanation.
• The Scapegoat: Ally tries to make Jon-El into this, claiming that him killing Anderson was all of his own accord without her involvement. It almost works to convince Lucy to side with her and against Lois and Sam once again, until Ally then shows her true colours by nearly murdering Sam and then Superman.
• Too Fast to Stop: Jordan figures out how to fly, but slowing down is still a bit of an issue. He nearly crashes into a cliff the first time, requiring Clark to catch him, and hits the ground a bit too hard upon returning to the farm.
• The Un-Favourite: Jonathan openly feels this way when he finds out that Clark and Jordan were up at the Fortress doing flying lessons while he was back at the farm doing chores. The entire list of chores, which were originally supposed to be a family activity. Clark tries to go inside to talk to him, but Sam's ELT gets activated by Lucy and when he responds he is incapacitated by Ally, preventing him from having that talk with Jonathan.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Clark encourages Jon that he still has a future ahead of him, despite everything that happened. He also thinks this about Jon-El, though the latter isn't present for the speech.
  • Kyle gives Lana one after she blames herself for not handling all the stuff around her properly.

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