A frequent complaint about Superman is "he's just too powerful, you can't confront him with a credible threat." I think the first four episodes of Superman and Lois put that argument to rest.
How? Well, not by putting him in physical danger...and that shouldn't be the point, anyway. A good superhero story (any superhero, not just Superman) isn't about how he uses his extraordinary abilities to defeat the bad guy (we all know he's going to do that), it's about how he does that and maintains his humanity and his real life. So far, in S&L, the super-powered battles have been a clothesline upon which to hand the far more interesting human conflicts faced by the Man of Steel and his family.\
Spoilers ahead.
Two scenes in the latest episode, "Haywire," demonstrate that. First, there's the confrontation between Clark and Lois over his failure to appear at the town council meeting (because he was summoned to fight Killgrave). Lois knows Clark is right...and Clark knows that doesn't matter, because he broke a promise on something very important to his wife--and maybe to their whole community.
Second is the confrontation between Clark and Sam Lane over the conflict between parenting and being a hero. Watch as Clark stands his ground and makes Sam back down--not by a physical threat but by the force of his moral argument. Sam put duty before family and was, frankly, a lousy husband and father, whose daughter resents what that choice meant to her growing up. Clark knows he can do better--and will.
And all this comes while still telling a satisfying action-adventure story.
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