TV review: 'Superman & Lois' boldly goes where no Man of Steel has gone before

'Nice job the effects team did on the muscle suit. Now if they could only fix the five o'clock shadow...'

Bet you that Superman never imagined getting the daylights pounded out of him by Doomsday might actually have been preferable to raising twin teenagers – like he has to do week in and week out on new Arrowverse series Superman & Lois.

That's right. After having a baby with Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) on a pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths episode of Supergirl, Tyler Hoechlin's Clark Kent/Superman suddenly found himself father to two teenage sons at the end of that epic TV crossover.

This new show spinning out of that event, however, makes no mention of the Crisis. And four episodes in, it has not made any mention of showrunner Greg Berlanti's larger Arrowverse, either.

Which is good, because moving forward (or rather, breaking free) from its origins on Supergirl, Superman & Lois (S&L) needs to establish an identity of its own and craft its own continuity.

To be blunt, the Arrowverse has become a pretty messy place of late and the last thing a new series needs to do is get mired in some other show's (make that plural) tangled continuity.

Besides, S&L has more than enough on its own plate without having to reach across the Berlanti dinner table, if you get my drift.

For one thing, although Super-parenthood has been touched on in other shows (like Superman Returns) and comics, this whole teen twin thing is new.

'I guess we could always push for our own spin-off, The Adventures of Superboys.'

It gets more complicated when it appears that only one son inherited his father's abilities – and they're kind of damped down. Way, way down.

At the start of the series, Jonathan (Jordan Elsass), named for his Earth grampaw, is a high school football jock who appears to have some extraordinary moves on the field.

His socially anxious twin Jordan (Alex Garfin), possibly named for Kryptonian granddaddy Jor-El, is a loner/misfit who thinks Superman is boring.

Oh yes: in the pilot, the boys do not know that their dad is Superman. Outside of their mother, only Lois' dad General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) is in on it, since Superman is on speed dial whenever a national/global emergency arises.

A family tragedy and other assorted troubles force the Kents to pull up stakes and move from Metropolis back to Smallville, the little Kansas town where Clark grew up.

Old friends, enemies and frenemies appear, while the Kent boys waste little time getting on the bad side of some local youths.

It's a pretty trying situation, made worse when an armoured Stranger appears claiming to know all about Superman and his "destructive nature".

Whoa! Looks like we have some misdirected multiversal anger here, an enmity that takes up a chunk of the first two episodes and then all but drops out of sight in the net two.

'Well, Dad, now that Morgan Edge has fired you from the Daily Planet, you could always make a fortune in valet parking.'

So far, S&L benefits from a few things: first and most important, it's fun; there's the freshness of this stage of parenthood in the whole Superman/Lois Lane relationship; easy, comfortable chemistry between Hoechlin and Tulloch (no less a tough newshound than any earlier screen Lois); and most importantly, minimal teen angst from the lads.

Sure, there is the expected anger, resentment, frustration and sibling rivalry that gets ramped up when one of them begins exhibiting powers and abilities a little beyond those of mortal men.

But mostly, S&L has taken care to dish out only enough of the adolescent disquiet that is necessary to push the boys' part of the story forward - and not drag us down into the mire like numerous other shows have done.

Besides, I like that the Kent boys get over whatever is bothering them fairly quickly in each episode so far; it also speaks to some good parenting on the part of Lois and Clark.

In addition to the mystery of one super-son's powers, S&L has also nicely set up the antagonists for its first season.

While Superman is forced to confront the armoured Stranger, Clark and Lois have to deal with the machinations of billionaire Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner).

Both of these arcs have led to some intriguing developments: in the Stranger's case, glimpses of Superman as a black-clad destroyer; and in Edge's, not just small-town money politics but a more wide-ranging and definitely world-threatening plan.

A small gripe: one of my major peeves with the Arrowverse shows has always been how stupidly the writers make the heroes behave at times simply to push their plots forward.

So far, there have been a couple of instances where Superman - who ought to have the benefit of years of battling powered threats by this point in his life - makes rookie mistakes (like flying right into a villain's obvious trap) that just grate on one's tolerance.

If S&L can avoid getting all wound up in the Arrowverse's complications, it ought to try harder still to avoid this other, more damaging practice of its TV brethren.

That aside, the skies are looking all clear for this latest iteration of the Metropolis Marvel - oops, Smallville Sensation – and his lady-love to take flight.

Due to production delays, Superman & Lois is now on hiatus. Its first five episodes are available on Astro Go.