The saga of the Bizarro world and Ally Alston has been a long, twisting, and complicated one. Visiting other worlds, unexpected dopplegangers, and immense personal complications are among the issues being visited on the Kent family. Things reach a whole new level, and there’s a big change in the status quo, in “Truth and Consequences.” Once again, David Ramsey, best known to Arrowverse fans as John Diggle of Arrow, shows he’s a very talented director. I wonder how much directorial influence he’ll have in his upcoming new show Gotham Knights.

Last time, things left off with the potentially disastrous meeting of Bizarro Jonathan and the Earth Prime Kent family. He’s here to try and follow Ally Alston’s instruction to him, which bodes ill for everyone but him. Jordan does his best to step up, but Evil Jonathan seems to be both more powerful and more experienced. Things are looking grim, but we get a nick-of-time arrival from Superman to save the day, at least for now. Bizarro Jonathan makes some Villain 101 statements and flies off. A worried Lois stops Superman from following. In the kitchen, Clark brings everyone up to speed on what happened over on Bizarro Earth, and the boys are understandably worried. Lois goes to try and get them some help, while Clark takes a few moments to reassure Jonathan that, no matter how bad things have been with them, Clark won’t let anything happen to his son.

Out on the porch, which seems to be this series’ version of Supergirl’s spot for Balcony Conversations, Jordan tries to explain what he can to Sarah, who isn’t responding. Lois comes out and they have a tense conversation, as will happen when a parent tells a teenager they might be approaching their love life wrong. Lois makes a suggestion and Jordan looks surprised, but goes along with it, largely because he doesn’t have a choice. John Henry Irons takes on a new project, and Jonathan begins the same horrifying process of visions that Superman did when Bizarro first showed up. Jonathan manages to give Clark the information he needs to find the strange visitor from another planet, but for some odd reason Clark shows up in civilian clothes. He and Jonathan have a stare down, but then Lana shows up and Clark gets derailed. He manages to both let the bad teen get away and hurt Lana’s feelings. In his defense, Clark is rattled when he finds out he was missing for a month.

At a loss and confused, Clark goes back to the farm. Since they have a few moments, he talks with Lois and gets some more details on things he’s missed in his absence. True to his nature, Clark is thrilled to hear Lana won her election, and less than happy about the developments with Jonathan and the drug issue. This leads to another rough conversation between Clark and Jonathan, and both sides actually have some good points. Jonathan, however, slips into sullen teen mode and stalks off. John Henry and Natalie throw themselves into the new project, and Nat reveals she has a version of PTSD, or at least some notable anxiety, over things that happened to her before that makes perfect sense.

Elsewhere, Lana prepares to move into her new office, and she and Sarah talk about Sarah’s breakup with Jordan. Lana is sympathetic, and brings up her odd encounter with Clark earlier. Sarah, ever the dutiful daughter, offers to help Lana with the move-in process, and Lana gives Sarah a huge surprise. I think they’re a bit off on something here, but it’s a nice scene and Sarah is thrilled, even as Lana gives her some restrictions. Out on the porch, Jordan works on the project Lois suggested, and Jonathan joins him. There’s some brotherly banter, and then Jonathan takes a serious look at it and appears to be impressed.

Sarah has her own encounter with Bizarro Jonathan, but of course has no way of knowing who he is. She’s not happy with how he’s acting and leaves. Evil Jonathan then goes inside, startles Lana, and takes some very direct and worrisome action. Lois goes to see Lana, trying to patch up the issues from her meeting with Clark earlier, but finds Sarah there instead. The two have a good talk, and Lois doesn’t do the cringe-inducing “parent trying to help” talk you might expect on a lot of shows. Sarah off-handedly mentions something that sends Lois out the door to find Clark. Lois races home to tell Clark what she’s learned, there’s another argument with the kids, and Clark lays down the law about the priorities at the moment. Given how important Lois’ news is, I’d argue a phone call or even a text might have been more appropriate, but I guess less dramatic. Jonathan gets sent to his room, Clark takes off on a new mission, and Jordan turns his teenaged ire on his mother about talking with Sarah.

John Henry and Nat make a few tests that are initially encouraging, but show they have a lot of work to do. John decides they need more power, and goes to get what he needs. Lana is given something she doesn’t want, and a trap is laid for our titular hero. Sarah drops by the office, discovers her mother hasn’t shown up yet, and starts to worry. Lois and Jordan have something between an argument and a discussion about the situation with Sarah, and Lois agrees Jordan may have a point with some of his concerns. Then things get even more awkward as Sarah herself turns up and shares her concerns about her mother. Jordan tries to take this opportunity to talk to her, but she’s not interested, which leads to some more hurt feelings between Jordan and Lois.

While John Henry and Natalie gather some of what they need, Lana wakes up and probably wishes she hadn’t. She’s confronted by a lot of things she doesn’t understand, and doesn’t have the information needed to puzzle them out. By the end of this scene, Lana is arguably even more confused than she was before. Clark returns to the farm, worried and at a loss for what to do next. He and Lois have a discussion about what his secret is costing them, and how uncomfortable it’s making both of them. Clark is shaken by what he saw on Bizarro’s Earth, but Lois raises some good counterpoints. Jonathan gets another vision, and, whatever else is going on with the family, shares enough information for Superman to try and go save the day. Bizarro Jonathan, we learn, is a very smart kid, and his trap is as nasty as it is simple. Lana is shaken when the Man of Steel ends up on the floor, gasping and bleeding, as the evil Jonathan takes off.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, John and Natalie’s resource gathering gets interrupted by a surprise visitor. It’s not a friendly meeting, and there’s a really ugly fight. John is, as always, undeniably brave, but he doesn’t have his armor or weapons, and is utterly out of his league. While Lana tries to help Superman, Jordan gets a rematch with Evil Jonathan. Both John Henry and Jordan take terrible beatings. John is saved by his equally brave and brilliant daughter, while Jordan surprises everyone as he begins to fight back in earnest. His powers are clearly still developing, and he pulls off some impressive moves.

Lana gets Superman out of immediate danger, and he frees her before taking off to get back to the farm. Jordan has done an admirable job in his absence, and Superman doesn’t have as much to do as he thought he would. Evil Jonathan continues to smirk and be insufferable, and Jordan manages to shut him up. Afterward, Superman flies Lana home, explains what he can of what’s happened, and things get a bit awkward once again with his secret identity. John Henry, in remarkably good shape considering what happened to him earlier in both the season and this episode, goes to work on an idea, and Natalie gets busy with her own project.

Lois and the boys have another talk at the kitchen table, and Jordan shows Lois what he was working on earlier. She’s not pleased, and I get where she’s coming from. Their argument gets interrupted by Clark’s return, and he knows he’s walked in on something, but isn’t sure what. They have a discussion, an actual one, about a decision he’s been contemplating, and they all not only support him, but urge him to do it. The episode ends with Clark doing something that is going to change the status quo of the series, or at least one major relationship on it. I’m very curious to see how this ends up spinning out.

What I liked: David Ramsey is clearly a good director, and this was another high-quality episode he’s helmed. While Bizarro Jonathan is a villain, he’s a smart one, and his trap was well done. It only failed because he underestimated someone. Jordan did a few things wrong, but when you remember he’s a teenage boy, they’re completely understandable and in character. His fight with Evil Jonathan was really impressive, as was John Henry’s with his foe. Lois is doing her best to keep things together, and she’s doing a great job, especially considering what she has to work with. The final scene impressed and surprised me, and I’m really curious to see how the aftermath plays out. Unfortunately, we’ll be waiting a few weeks, as the show is on another mini-hiatus.

What I didn’t: When Lois figured out Lana was in trouble, her driving out to the farm to tell Clark made no sense at all. John Henry made an amazing recovery considering what he’s been through, and I’m not sure that really plays. The mines that keep playing such an important part in things keep changing control, from private companies to the DOD. Now, given how important they are, no one’s watching them? That doesn’t make sense, and even though Superman and Lois seem to be in their own sliver of the Arrowverse, we know ARGUS still exists. Someone should be standing guard or at least monitoring that place.

I really enjoyed this episode, as is usual for this series. I’ll give this a 4 out of 5. I believe this is the best superhero show currently, or recently, airing.