- Title: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – Barbarians at the Planet
- wiki: link
Our look back at the Superman‘s more memorable moments on both the big and small screen continues. The two-part finale of the First Season finale of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman may begin with a marriage proposal for Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher) by the season’s dominant villain Lex Luthor (John Shea), but it ends with the show closing the door on the Lex-centric storylines that dominated the show’s opening season and begin branching out when Lois & Clark returned for Season Two.
“Barbarians at the Planet” and “The House of Luthor” may offer the final evil machinations of Superman’s arch-nemesis (other than an episode here and there over the show’s remaining three seasons) but Luthor is in top form with his most devious plan of the series. Well before his proposal, Luthor has begun manipulating Lois’ life from the shadows by slowly chipping away at her support system which will leave Luthor her sole comfort.
After attacking the Daily Planet by forcing its advertisers to remove their funds, Luthor buys the Daily Planet for a song and quickly makes changes that force Perry White (Lane Smith) to resign while killing any real investigative piece Clark (Dean Cain) writes. The plan works so well because every move Lex makes shows him to be generous in the eyes of Lois while everyone else comes off as selfish, petty, or following their own agenda. Luthor even goes so far as to frame Jack (Chris Demetral) for the bombing that leaves the paper destroyed (while pocketing a healthy insurance check).
The only thing stopping Lois from accepting Lex’s offer of marriage are her feelings for Superman, but after Lois rebuffs Clark’s advances earlier in the episode the Man of Steel can’t find it in himself to be with a woman who doesn’t love the man behind the cape. As the two-parter breaks, Lois agrees to become Mrs. Luthor leaving Superman crushed and the future of The Daily Planet in serious doubt.
- Title: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman – The House of Luthor
- wiki: link
The second-half of the finale finds Lois working as a writer for Lex’s cable news channel and Clark enlisting the help of Perry, Jack, and a homeless Jimmy (Michael Landes) who has been living on the streets after being evicted and losing his job, to find the proof to show the world, and mostly Lois, just who Lex Luthor truly is.
Aside from marrying Lois, Lex’s plans also involving targeting Clark Kent for death and laying a trap for Superman that leaves the Man of Steel defeated in Luthor’s wine cellar in a cage made of Kryptonite bars as Lois walks down the aisle. With Clark/Superman out of action it falls on Perry and Jimmy to crash the wedding with the police in-tow, directly following Lois’ decision not to marry Lex Luthor (a nice move by the writers for Lois to realize the marriage is wrong before the truth about Lex is exposed).
With a cameo appearance by James Earl Jones The Daily Planet finds a new owner allowing the show to reset for Season Two, even offering Clark the opportunity to walk back some of his romantic advances not realizing Lois’ heart has already begun to change regarding her partner. The finale begins something of a running gag on the show involving Lois walking down the aisle and not getting married (her clone takes Lois’ place in her first marriage ceremony to Clark).
Luthor’s death will open ongoing stories next season with recurring guest-star Denise Crosby about his possible resurrection (and eventual return). The show will miss Shea’s devilish charm, but in the end the move away from Luthor-specific stories opens up several new possibilities involving both characters from the comics (such as Intergang, Mister Mxyzptlk, and Tempus) and original creations making their first appearances in Metropolis.
