Superman & Lois Review: All Is Lost (Season 2 Episode 13)

Ally Allston finally becomes a menacing villain when Superman & Lois Season 2 Episode 13, “All Is Lost,” establishes the detrimental effects of her senseless actions.

It’s a shame for that defining quality to appear with only two episodes remaining. Nevertheless, the show must give Allston’s actions real stakes.

Her motivations are still foggy, and the context around her growing skillset is undefined. However, the lasting impact Allston will make on Smallville and its residents is more sharply in focus now than ever before.

That relatively smaller impact holds more weight than Ally Allston’s word-merging plans because it’s tough to envision Superman & Lois tackling such daunting optics in its second season.

Merging two worlds comes with a myriad of side effects that could take the rest of the series to work out, and that hefty task could undermine any smaller-scale issues Superman & Lois wishes to tackle in its already confirmed third season.

For that reason, it’s far more effective for the show to scale down its focus to Smallville — on Earth-Prime and the Inverse World.

Allston, like Tal-Rho in Season 1, is another villain with far-fetched plans, which are always challenging to believe will have any lasting impact.

So, while it’s more than likely Ally Allston will not permanently merge the planets in the way she envisions, she causes irreparable damage during “All Is Lost.”

Because of the talent in front of and behind the camera, the show adds real, heart-pounding stakes to a sequence — one that involves Superman’s death — that shouldn’t hold as much weight on a show called Superman & Lois.

“All Is Lost” builds up the pressure and tension until the final act when Ally faces the Lanes and Superman. Her arrival isn’t the element that matters the most, though.

That significance belongs to Lucy Lane and her relationship with her father and sister.

It’s too late for Superman & Lois to provide appropriate exposition for Ally Allston’s scheme, but it makes up for lost time with key flashbacks to Lucy’s past.

The flashbacks add clarity to Lucy’s well-being when she met Ally, how Ally master-manipulated Lucy to further isolate her, and the real effects Lucy’s childhood has on her everyday life.

When Ally comes and goes like most villains on superhero shows, there’s hope Lucy Lane will stick around to be at least a supporting character on Superman & Lois.

Jenna Dewan is excellent in the role, and her performance proves that time and time again throughout “All Is Lost.”

Lucy harbors a lot of pain and resentment tied to Lois’ high expectations and their mother abandoning them.

Superman & Lois could easily make Lucy the villain to put Lois on a pedestal, but it never dares to diminish Lucy’s perspective — at least not on this episode. 

Instead, Sam attempts to take responsibility for the role he played in the toxic parts of his daughters’ childhood. Lois apologizes for anything she may have done to encourage Lucy to believe she was a burden.

Furthermore, Superman & Lois doesn’t forget the crucial distinction that Lois was a kid raising a kid — she did her best with what she had.

The Lanes have a lot of trauma to work through, and that can only properly begin once Ally Allston is out of the picture.

Although, “All Is Lost” could be the episode that breaks the cycle that circles back to Ally since Lucy appears to turn over a lasting, new leaf.

Nevertheless, all the work Superman & Lois does to build internal conflict with Lucy pays off when she’s stuck between her family and the woman who threatens to destroy them.

That final act has so many moving parts, and somehow, the show strikes a balance so that none of them feel like too much. Each addition adds a new edge to the scene, even if it’s strange for Chrissy Beppo to be able to speed-dial John Henry.

Elizabeth Tulloch gives a heart-shattering performance as she screams for the well-being of her husband while kneeling over her father’s body. It’s a devastating portrait of how Lois gets caught in this situation — or ones eerily similar to it — often. 

Then, Tayler Buck flies in with Nat’s life-saving suit and pulls on whatever heartstrings are left by reviving the man who has the same face as the one who killed her mother.

Buck’s performance in those close-up shots of Nat in her suit is so well-done. She has limited space to deliver an emotionally compelling performance, and she soars by bringing everything to her eyes.

So, no matter if Ally Allston’s plan falls apart, she imprints lasting change on the lives of everyone she encounters. For example, Allston’s parasitic actions could permanently rewrite Clark’s DNA.

Furthermore, Clark’s medical condition leaves so much unsaid between him and Jonathan, which seems to be a trend this season.

Thankfully, Superman & Lois points out the disproportionate father/son bonding time Clark spends with Jonathan and Jordan.

Jonathan and Clark’s scene is one of Tyler Hoechlin’s best of the season because the emotion in his voice is unmistakable. Still, it’s such a fleeting moment that’s only purpose becomes setting up a flurry of scenes between Clark and Jordan. 

It’s a great source of drama for Clark to have to leave before he can make things up with Jonathan — again. The delayed satisfaction of a longer conversation between them could be one of Superman & Lois‘ finest scenes of the season when it finally arrives.

Plus, it adds more internal conflict for Jonathan, who has to step up alongside Jordan and Nat now that Clark is out of commission.

Not only does Jonathan have to battle the fear that he could become Bizarro Jon, but he also has to grapple with the knowledge that things between him and his father aren’t the best right now.

All of this proves Superman & Lois will always be at its best when it’s a family drama, first and foremost. 

Stray Thoughts

• A part of me died when Sarah didn’t know who Alanis Morissette was. 
• Another part of me died when Jordan didn’t get Clark’s Kessel Run reference.
• How did Kyle expect Lana to react to him taking Sarah to that bar?
• Has anyone told Bizarro Lana about her husband?
• No one seems too concerned about tracking down Tal-Rho, despite him being a big enough threat that he was in an isolation cell.
• Lois out-sassing Ally is top-tier Lois Lane content.  
• “Because the truth is you were my life raft.” Who else cried?

What did you think of this episode of Superman & Lois? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Superman & Lois returns Tuesday, June 21 at 8/7c on The CW.

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