It's the penultimate episode of Superman & Lois ever, and we're going to need a minute to process that. To say it's been a wild ride thus far is nothing short of an understatement, and knowing we're reaching the end, we can only imagine how this will all wrap up, and thus bring an end to the era of the Arrowverse as we know it. So let's dive in.
We saw in last week's episode that Lex has it out for Lois, and is willing to do anything to achieve that. After the debate, it's safe to say that Lex got what he wanted. However, the power duo of Clark and Lois aren't going to just leave things at that. They have a plan to get under his skin, and it starts with Lex's ego. Clark heads to meet with Lex, congratulating him on Amanda's plan, and Lex bought the whole package, unable to resist being goaded by the Man of Steel. He immediately deflected and distanced himself from Amanda, who was still dutifully carrying out his orders, unaware that the blissful honeymoon phase was at an end.
Lois meanwhile was picking up the pieces of her tattered reputation, with advertisers pulling out from their deals with the Gazette. But not even Amanda's veiled threat of a defamation lawsuit is enough to keep her away. She's determined to find Cheryl, knowing she's the missing piece of the puzzle to finally bring Lex down. So she decides to go back to basics, and put on her investigative journalist hat by visiting Bruno Mannheim to get some answers. Their meeting is a touching one, and although he's initially reluctant to help Lois out, he relents, and they begin to work together. As imagined, Cheryl ends up being the key, and gives Lois the ammo she needs to get through to Amanda, and hopefully get her to divulge Lex's plan.
While Amanda has predictably reacted well to the new shares Lex gave her, but she's smart enough to notice something is off, and when Lois confronts her with the reality, she's quick to realize where this is headed. But when she tries to confront him, Amanda sees Lex's true nature. The only thing that matters is his plan. And nothing, not Amanda, nor Smallville will stand in his way, and if it's meant to get destroyed in order for him to win, then so be it. He gets Milton to help him with his new suit, and returns to the mines to call on Doomsday once again. This time, Doomsday's looking a bit different, certainly much more like his comicbook counterpart, and much more dangerous.
In the meantime, we're also checking in with Clark, who has been training the boys to handle things themselves, knowing he might not be around forever. And with the episode being titled as it is, that's definitely the idea we're getting. But for all of his attempts to try to train his sons as a duo, he realizes that they have their own individual abilities and do good work by themselves. This is especially notable when Jordan goes to help Victoria May work through her panic attack in a really great scene. It also helps to show what makes Superman, and by extension his sons, such a great hero. Sure, he can punch and fly and take on bad guys, but sometimes someone just needs a helping hand, and getting to see that showcases the heart of the show.
Of course, the peace is disrupted with Doomsday's arrival, setting up for what is likely going to be an explosive final episode. Superman is clearly not having much better luck fighting his adversary this time around, and with his weakening powers, we can only hope Clark will be able to pull through. The episode of course ends while things aren't going so well for the Man of Steel, leaving us beyond nervous for the finale.
Overall, the episode carried our heroes and villains on an emotional and poignant journey for this episode, and we can see just how self-destructive Lex can really get, where he's been offered opportunities to lay down his vendetta time and time again throughout this season, enticed with a chance at new opportunities, but he turned it down every time, showing that he only cares about himself. On the flip side, we have the Kent family where family and heart is what it's all about, and how that makes everyone in that family stronger. Let's see next week where this all leads, and how this show will end!