After a winter hiatus, Superman and Lois returns with a lot of plot threads hanging. Bizarro has appeared and is complicating everyone’s life, there’s a rift between Lois and Chrissy, Superman is having problems with Sam Lane’s successor at the DOD, and Kyle Cushing continues to show spectacularly bad judgement. Now things progress through some conflicts, discoveries, and a big social event in “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.”

Opening with a flashback, we see a young Ally Alston in Metropolis back in 1979. She is meeting with a lawyer, despite her clearly being just a girl, and there’s evidently a lot we don’t know about her family background and inheritance. She does seem to have been essentially the same person from her early childhood to the present. Speaking of, in the present, she talks about preparing tea for a special guest with one of her thugs. Back at the Kent farm, Lois has been baking, but it’s a basket of muffins for Natalie, who is still at the hospital with her father (and that’s the most we see or hear of them this episode). The Kents have offered their barn to host Sarah’s quinceanera, but since both the adults have things to do, the boys will have to stay and help the volunteers get set up. Sarah and her family are getting ready for the party with some practice dancing and we learn a bit more about their history.

At the hospital, Superman visits Tag, the sole survivor of his special team. I really feel bad for the kid. He got powers he never asked for, was essentially drafted into the army, and now has to disappoint a man he clearly looks up to. Superman and Tag visit for a few moments, Superman finds out the kid can’t help him, and leaves. Sam arrives at the farm, not to help with the party, but to train Jordan. Jonathan gets suspicious about Jordan spending time with his grandfather, and Jordan shows he is clearly not cut out for espionage work, or poker. Sam takes Jonathan into his confidence about the training they’re doing, and his reason for keeping this a secret from the kids’ parents makes a certain amount of sense, although I disagree with it.

Lois is downtown going over her previous notes on Ally the cult leader, seeing if she made a mistake or not. Points to Lois, she is smart and open-minded enough to wonder if she might be wrong, which puts her ahead of a great many people in public life these days. Chrissy comes in, they argue about secrets and their work relationship, and Chrissy leaves again. Lois is not having a great day so far. Unhappy with the exchange, Lois goes back to work and finds something intriguing in one of the pictures of Ally’s cult meetings. Apparently, someone else is interested in the same person that caught Lois’ eye. Following up on what he learned from Tag, Superman goes to see General Anderson, and that goes about as well as their last several meetings. Anderson really needs an attitude adjustment if he wants to maintain a working relationship with the most powerful hero on Earth. Or possibly the only hero on Earth, since it seems more and more like Lois and Clark have somehow left the rest of the Arrowverse, the one visit form Diggle notwithstanding.

Sam is putting the kids through their paces out in the barn (aren’t people supposed to be setting up for the party out here?), and Jonathan is feeling overshadowed, which I understand. When he gets sent inside for water, Jonathan shows that his judgement is really poor and I continue to be disappointed in him. Lana and Sarah have a bonding moment over Sarah’s new dress and heels, which is nicely written and acted. Lois and Clark touch base, and she goes to follow up on a lead while sending Clark to run some errands. Chrissy’s big meeting turns out to be with Ally, which I saw coming a while ago. What I didn’t see coming is the turn the interview takes. I will say it shows, as far as I am concerned, everything you need to know about Ally and her methods and beliefs.

Lois Lane, intrepid reporter, tries to confront someone about what she’s learned. Instead, she has a run-in with a powerful foe who decides to leave her alone, and we see that the writers are not above choosing names from DC Comics and throwing out that character’s history completely. Early Arrow used to do this a lot. Realizing things are serious, and not being an idiot, Lois calls Superman and briefs him on what she’s learned. Chrissy has a rude awakening and Ally tries to spin things as if she’d been in the right all along. Having fortified himself inside, Jonathan comes back to the barn, challenges Jordan to a sparring match, and pretty much proves to be a dick throughout the scene. Chrissy’s talk with Ally gets interrupted by a series of unexpected arrivals. Lois gets there first, and is shocked to see Chrissy with Ally. Superman arrives next, and endures some of Ally’s snarky comments, and then saves her life as Bizarro makes a big, Kool-Aid Man style entrance and exit. While the two powerful foes duke it out, Lois shoots the two women with her some suspicious looks, but tries to help them anyway. I may be reading a lot into a brief shot, but I think Ally is finally starting to realize she’s in over her head.

Superman and Bizarro have their big fight, and we see some of the big differences in their powers. Finally, Superman puts a few things together and uses what he’s learned to win the fight. In the process, he finds something that isn’t exactly going to help his relationship with General Anderson. Out in the barn, people are beginning to enjoy the party, and Kyle and Lana indulge in some husband-and-wife banter about the perils of being polite. The boys show up, having cleaned up from earlier, cover for their parents’ absence, and there’s a great scene with Jordan and Sarah. A minor recurring character’s absence is explained while Superman returns, changes, and he and Lois talk for a moment before joining the festivities. Jonathan continues in his new role as jerk while Jordan takes Sarah out for some air. Maybe making someone who has had anxiety and depression issues the center of attention when it’s not something they really wanted in the first place wasn’t a great idea. Kyle ducks outside after getting a text, and Jordan and Sarah have a nice moment on the porch. In between moments of raging teen hormones, Sarah once again shows some remarkable insight and caring, especially for someone her age. Kyle has a very tense meeting where some of his earlier sins come back to bite him. Things get even worse as he learns he might have done a lot of damage to Lana’s run for mayor, and worse yet as Sarah overhears some things Kyle would really rather she not know. I’ll give Kyle credit that he’s been trying a lot harder lately, but the man’s bound and determined to screw up his own life, and possibly take his family down with him.

Back inside, Kyle has a brief and uncomfortable conversation with Clark. Kyle knows his number is up, it’s just a matter of when, and Lana unknowingly makes things worse for him after talking to Mayor Dean. Lois finds Chrissy at the buffet, seriously chowing down (I guess Chrissy and the Cushings are friends or something?), and the two talk. Lois offers an apology, which is all it takes to get the floodgates opening wide and Chrissy to tell Lois about what she experienced with Ally. We also get a bit more background on Chrissy, and there’s more to her than it seems from what we know of her so far. Clark and Lana share a friendship moment as Kyle and Sarah share the father/daughter dance. Sarah, however, isn’t in the mood after what she heard, and she storms out partway through. Both parents go after her, and Sarah fills Lana in about what’s going on. Kyle is left by himself outside as both women turn their backs on him and go back inside after a good speech from Lana. Inside, she gives an even better one celebrating Sarah.

Blissfully unaware, for now, of the Cushing family drama, Clark gets called away when his mother reports some results from Tal-Rho’s Fortress. Personally, I still miss the original Fortress and hope they find a way to restore it. Superman and Lara-El interview Bizarro and get some surprising answers to their questions. Jordan and Jonathan talk about the party, and Jordan once again tries to find out what’s going on with Jonathan. Jonathan is, by turns, insulting, evasive, and deceitful, and talks Jordan into keeping a secret, which is just a bad idea all the way around. The show ends with Superman and Lara finding out something even more surprising from their captive.

What I liked: The scenes with Lana and Sarah were really well done. It makes sense that Superman has taken over the Rho Fortress, and it’s a nice switch that he’s now getting advice and help from his mother instead of his father. While Superman did go to Tag with some ulterior motives, he also clearly cares about the kid and is worried about him. I understand why Sam is keeping his training with Jordan a secret, but I still think it’s going to come back to bite both of them, especially with Jonathan now in on the secret and acting the way he is.

What I didn’t: I get, but don’t like, the storyline with Jonathan and the XK. They’ve shown him smarter than that, and I wonder how far down this rabbit hole he’s going to fall. I have no sympathy at all for Kyle’s predicament, he not only created it himself but could have at least made it better and chose not to. I don’t like what they did out at the mines with a character that had a lot of potential. They seemed like they were going somewhere with Kyle’s mother/Sarah’s grandmother, and then all she did was get pictures and be, well, a normal doting grandmother.

I continue to love the series, even if I’m not loving some of the choices they’re making. I’ll give this one a 3.5 out of 5, and see what they do next with all these balls in the air.