Superman & Lois star unpacks that massive reveal: 'He finally just said screw it'
Warning: This article contains spoilers about Tuesday's episode of Superman & Lois.
Ever since Jordan (Alex Garfin) and Sarah's (Inde Navarrette) relationship ended on Superman & Lois, he's been dying to finally let her in on the big Kent family secret in hopes it'll bring them back together. But not only have his parents kept him from telling Sarah the truth, her mother Lana recently joined the "don't tell Sarah" train once she was let in on the Super-secret (rude!). So Jordan finally took matters into his own hands on this week's episode, "Worlds War Bizarre."
When Bizarro Lana (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and Bizarro Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) attacked Smallville, Clark's (Tyler Hoechlin) powers were still gone so Jordan was forced to step up in his place. And in order to convince Sarah to run to safety and leave him alone with the evil doppelgängers, Jordan revealed his powers to her, finally cluing her in to what she's been missing out on all this time. While Jordan has no idea how she's handling the revelation, it led to a very emotional moment between Sarah and Lana, as she quickly put together the fact that her mother has known the truth and kept it from her.
The reason why Jordan couldn't stick around to see the fallout from his decision? His fight with the Bizarros turned brutal fast, and he was almost killed until Natalie (Tayler Buck) finally showed up and helped save the day. It was a short-lived victory, however, as Natalie's father John Henry (Wolé Parks) is lost in the void between worlds and Bizarro Earth started merging with the normal Earth, causing everything to start glitching out.
Below, EW got Garfin to unpack Jordan's decision to reveal his powers to Sarah, that massive fight with Bizarro Lana and Bizarro Jonathan, and what fans can expect from next week's season 2 finale.
Shane Harvey/The CW
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This week's episode was a big one for Jordan! Did you know all of this was coming or did you find out about it when you got the script for this episode?
ALEX GARFIN: It was a lot of fun to do, and it was a culmination of a lot of work. Honestly, I found out reading the script. I knew that some stuff was going to happen, I knew that there would be some sort of saving the day, but I could not have imagined this. One of the things I'm really proud of in this episode is that two-on-one fight, because it actually wasn't my double; it was all me.
Oh wow, that's awesome.
Yeah, it was the culmination of a year-and-a-half of training. I was tipped off in early season 1 that I'd be doing a lot more super stuff this season, so I went up to Rob Hayter who runs the stunt department, and I go, "I'm a theater kid, I don't know how to work the gym equipment, I don't know how to fight." And he's like, "Come to me, son. I will teach you." [Laughs] He taught me how to use all the gym equipment and he set me up with his friend, and now one of my mentors, Kirk Jaques, who is this incredible fight trainer that actually trained Tom Welling.
No way!
It's interesting because if you think about it, that would mean that our fighting styles are actually quite similar, and you can see that in the show. It's a little bit of an Easter egg. So in that regard, by the time we got to episode 8, there's a fight — it was that one with a drug dealer — and they were going to do with [stunt] doubles. And I said, "Put me in. I can do this." I try to be someone who doesn't say they can do things when they can't, so they believed me. We took three takes and we got all three, so since then, they've been putting me in, and this was a real chance to flex those muscles. That crew, which has seen everything and they're quite jaded, they all started clapping after it was done. It was just a moment of a lot of pride and a lot of hard work paying off. It was, in the words of someone wise, good soup.
[Laughs] Good soup, indeed. That also feels very much in line with what Jordan is going through — after doubting his abilities earlier in this same episode, he eventually steps up to fight when his father can't.
Yeah, there were certainly a lot of parallels this season between my personal life and Jordan's life. Although I had to heighten it, obviously, for television. But through that journey, and also trying to become physically bigger towards the second half of this season, which is something I talked to Todd Helbing, our showrunner, about last season, putting in that work to make sure that there is a subconscious drive that he's becoming more of this warrior, it's been really invigorating. It's been some good soup.
Really good soup! Do you think Jordan would have eventually gotten to that point on his own or did he need to be forced into action when Lana Rho and Jon El attacked?
It certainly was a catalyst for him to all of a sudden be taking on this responsibility. I don't think Jordan is someone who likes very much responsibility, because he doubts himself. For 14 years, Jordan really didn't have any friends in school, he was having a lot of mental issues, his dad wasn't really there for him, and Jonathan very much was the opposite — he got a lot of reinforcement, he was told that he is worthy and he is good. So I think 14 years of growing up and feeling that internal doubt probably would've made him less likely to step up on his own, but I'm really glad that he did. It's been a lot of fun playing that.
After Jordan stepped up to fight Lana Rho and Jon El, he was almost defeated until Nat saves the day. How is that close call going to be affecting him moving forward?
Oh man, I think he will take a lot away from it. A big part of maturity is knowing what you can and cannot do, and what you do and how it affects yourself and others. He took on more than he could chew. He sacrificed himself for the greater good at that moment — and for his ex-girlfriend and her mom, which is also just kind of a strange concept. The other thing is, if I found out that one of my high school sweethearts was secretly the offspring of an alien race, I would be pretty freaked out by the whole thing.
Jordan revealing his powers to Sarah was such a big moment — do you think he was looking for a way to finally let her in on the truth and just took advantage of that situation, or was that his only play to save her life?
I think it was a mix of both. I'm sure ringing in his head were his parents' voices saying that it would put her in danger, and I know that's the last thing that he'd want to do. But we did see that he tried to give her a letter and tried tell her. So to that end, I just think it wasn't going to stop him. That moment was a Hail Mary. Step up, and just do it. I've certainly had a couple of those moments and they brought me here, so it was very powerful play. He finally just said, "Screw it. I've got to be an adult and take the situation and the responsibility into my own hands." And now he saved both of Sarah's parents, so I mean, they better love him.
[Laughs] I actually ran into my high school ex's parents the other day, and that was actually pretty funny. It was all very strange and I really was cracking up pretty hard. I dated their daughter when I was 15 up until 17, when I was in the middle of doing this show. Even though I'm only a year older, my life, a lot like Jordan's, has become more adult. I now have this responsibility of this show that employs hundreds of people and is loved by millions, so I feel like such a different person, and seeing them reminded me of who I was. That was a really important moment.
What can you tease about how Sarah is going to be taking this revelation moving forward? Is this a good thing or a bad thing for Jordan's relationship with her?
I think that her cynicism towards the situation would allow her to more easily accept it than Lana. I think Lana was more blindsided by the whole thing, and also she had to keep in mind the safety of her family and that betrayal of trust. For Sarah, all of a sudden, and this is going to sound strange, she could find out that he was telling the truth about lying. And I think that made him more trustworthy when he kept saying, "I can't tell you, I can't tell you. I'm lying for a reason." All of a sudden, at least, that was true. And it is a really good reason. So I think there may be some forgiveness, but we'll have to see what happens.
But also you have to remember, he has these superpowers. He could have laser-ed her head off at any point. I'm sure part of her is like, "I'm not going to cheat on this guy ever again." Can you even imagine? [Laughs] I would be so freaked out by that situation. You find out that this person that you've been seeing for so long all of a sudden can laser your head off, I'd be going through all the times I've done anything wrong.
By the end of this episode, the Earth has started glitching into Bizarro Earth, Clark's powers are still gone so Jordan has to step up in his place, Sarah just learned the truth about everything ... there's so much happening. What can you reveal about what's coming in the finale next week?
In the season finale, we will see some big picture stuff. There's big twists, and hopefully people enjoy it. One of the things I'm looking forward to seeing is Dylan Walsh [who plays General Sam Lane], who is one of the people on set I really look up to, he has this speech that he orates, and it's absolutely amazing. It was a privilege to get to see it.
And Jordan, given his long history of self-doubt, will have to come to terms with his superhero responsibility in a way that we haven't seen. We'll have to see him start to make bigger choices, and knowing those choices affect a lot of people, without even knowing the gravity of them. I don't think he's really even lived long enough to understand the gravity and the ramifications of each one of his decisions; they are so much bigger than he could even imagine. I think the responsibility will start to weigh on him. And we're coming back for another season, season 3. It's going to be amazing, I can already tell. I don't know a single thing about it, but I can already tell, it's going to be some good soup. That's the word of the day!
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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