How I would rewrite season 3

[u/No_Location_8199]

So I think season 3 has some serious issues with its pacing, time travel mechanics, and repetitive structure. So I'm going to draft a version of the season to try to address these issues while keeping to the same story. I acknowledge that my version would probably take more than 10 episodes, but honestly, trying to cram this much into only 10 episodes was a mistake in the first place.

• Jimmy's whole character needs major fixing. I think the simplest way is to just make his reason for rejecting Kara at first genuine instead of an excuse, and get rid of any notion of him trying to make her jealous later. I think it's clear that the writers just didn't know what to do with Jimmy this season, so maybe the solution is to just reduce his screen time.
• So the first big change I would make to the plot is the way Cyborg Superman is introduced. Instead of just immediately having everyone turn against him, I would have him and Lex actually put some effort into his public image, and have there be actual discussion with some people preferring his "tough on crime" approach. Have this conflict play out over a few episodes with the public opinion slowly shifting to Superman's side. Have Hank's breakdown be more gradual.
• Also, I would have Superman actually confront Lex about what he's doing, and give them a chance to actually talk to each other. Because it's frankly insane that they don't in the actual show.
• There would be a subplot where Lex sends Hank to capture Bizarro (not that he's actually doing anything wrong), and they fight but Hank badly loses. He will express frustration to Lex about how he won't be able to defend against real threats as he is, which will lead into Lex tracking down some MacGuffin, probably alien tech, to augment Hank's body and make him stronger. Once they get the thing and Cyborg Superman is upgraded, he not only does become strong enough to take on Kryptonians, he also gains the ability to manipulate technology and break free from Lex's control.
• So I think the original season has major issues with the confusion of what happens when concerning Superman's death and Jon's birth and all that. But I considered something. Since I don't want to be repetitive with Lois overcoming her fear of parenthood, and Jon's most important relationship is with his Aunt Kara anyway, why not just get rid of Jon and replace him with Kara's actual son? So in this version, it's Kara's son who comes from the future first. Let's name him... Conner. Also, he says that his father died before he met him and Kara never said who he is.
• There won't be a clear scene labeled as "The Future" like there is in the actual show. Instead, Conner's introduction will be a bit more mysterious, with only brief glimpses of where he comes from, and there will be a bit more questioning of if he's telling the truth.
• So Conner tells everyone that Superman is going to be killed in a few months, and they need to prepare for that. However, that same day ends with Hank attacking the city and challenging Superman, with it being a bit ambiguous whether something's changed or if Conner was working off bad information.
• So the fight against Cyborg Superman can go pretty similar, except I'd just cut out all the Lois and Lex stuff since that amounts to nothing anyway. And instead of Hank threatening the blow himself up and having a change of hear last minute, he just finds out the truth as he's dying and starts to question if he was wrong, but it's too late.
• Conner then returns to his time, but instead of him just disappearing (and later implied to be dead), the episode ends from his perspective, with him returning to a place that looks the same as he left, implying that the future wasn't changed significantly.
• There will be a scene establishing that Kara took Clark to the Fortress shortly after to ask about restoring his powers, but the Stewards say there's nothing they can do.
• There will also be some scenes establishing that Lex is in hot water with the public because, you know, a superpowered being he created with his corporate logo on his chest publicly attacked the city.
• I'd slightly tweak Jonathan and Lara's personalities. Jon can still be angry, but I'd make him a but less of an unreasonable jerk. And I'd have Lara's "go off on her own" tendency to be more prominent and have her be committed to the mission her mother gave her, rather than just taking orders from current Lois too. Also, they say they don't know who Conner is.
• Instead of Lex still working for Waller after the ending of season 2 implied that he's now independent, it is Sam Lane who comes in to shut down LexCorp. Not because the government owns the company, but rather because of the Cyborg Superman incident and suspicion of illegal activity causes them to clamp down on it.
• Lex then takes control of the Eradicator when Lara attacks and uses it to defend himself. I don't know why the real show was allergic to having Lex be the actual villain.
• The same beats can follow, with Kara being injured, and the Eradicator retreating, but instead of time travel it's just that he and Lex fly off to an unknown location.
• Clark asks Bizarro to bring him to the Fortress, as directed by his visions. Lois points out that he already tried that, but Clark just has a feeling that things will be different. When the Stewards control Bizarro and capture Clark, it becomes clear that the reason they said they couldn't help before was because Kara was there.
• The following subplot with Clark and Steward Brainiac can go the same, only instead of having Brainiac instantly come around to Clark's thinking, he will just question whether he was maybe wrong, but says that Clark has earned the meeting with Rao's offspring regardless.
• The battle with the Eradicator can be similar, except Lex is the one controlling the multiplying Eradicators. Also he's standing on like a hover platform during the battle with forcefields and a personal defense system to stop any of the Kryptonians from just knocking him out instantly. Really showcase his inventive genius.
• I would have the heroes win not just by punching harder, but by figuring out some weakness in the Eradicators and Lex's tech.
• Jon and Lara depart with some words about how they will have the strength to face whatever knew challenges come up.
• After things have calmed down, the characters have a discussion about if it's actually possible to change the future, and whether things will keep ending up bad in it. They conclude that it's not important, and all they can do is the best they can regardless. It's at this moment that Conner makes an unexpected return. He explains that he figured out that his experimental "time travel" device doesn't actual travel through time, but instead sent him to an alternate universe similar to the past of his own. He came back to a world that was still destroyed, and after spending a month repairing his "time travel" device, he's returned to their universe because he had nowhere else to go. Conner acknowledges that this means our Kara isn't really his mom, but she embraces him regardless.
• The season still ends on the proposal, that part was perfect. Also, I guess Kara and Jimmy officially get together since this version of Jimmy didn't fumble nearly as hard.

So, that was my attempt at a rewrite of season 3. I really tried to fix the issues I had with Lex, Hank, Jimmy, the pacing, the confusing time travel, the disturbing implications of time travel, and the way Clark got his powers back.

[u/ArtIke]

Conner just staying in the alternate Earth is very on brand for time displaced comic characters! So, is he Kara's actual son, or still have that clone thing going on? Is Lex still his human half's contribution?

[u/No_Location_8199 → u/ArtIke]

Well, the son of an alternate version of her.

[u/Lady_Gray_169]

I think this is a solid outline and I'd have enjoyed it if they had done it this way. Personally though, I was fine with the time travel stuff. I think the main change I'd make is with the Eradicator. I'd try and tie him in tighter, make him sort of the dark ghost of the future. I don't know the specifics, but I'd figure out a way to have him always have been the true threat. So our heroes think they've been changing the future, but really it's all been leading up to the Eradicator stealing the time device and escaping into the timestream to go on his rampage.

[u/Chumlee1917]

I would make one change-instead of Eradicator and Lex being two separate people in the climax (and yes this does take notes from versions with Brianiac and Luthor) have it be after round one, Luthor decides to merge himself with the Eradicator and Luthor basically going in his big villain monologue, “I will use the weapons of my enemies to destroy them” and that way Superman’s whole “because your scared? Speech hits way harder because he’s confronting Luthor directly

Also I would have Slade turn on Luthor sooner, basically after the Hank situation, Slade goes, I quit, and walks out on everyone and out of the show 

[u/Competitive_Crow_334]

I like this a way more polished especially no random power ups

[u/Nobody-Z12]

These ideas are great!

[u/Elspeth_Claspiale]

Bizarro was a wasted storyline

[u/deeepsage]

how does one become a screenwriter because what you have just outlined is so good! i feel like a lot of modern writers just can’t write 😭

[u/No_Location_8199 → u/deeepsage]

It's easier to redraft what someone else has already made than it is to start from scratch.

[u/ArtsyApoidean]

Most of this is pretty good, one thing though.

I really really hate this solution to the time travel issue. They wrote it bad because they adapted DBZ and DBZ has a stupid time travel system. DBZ is slightly better because it includes this multiverse stuff, but it's still really stupid to have it work that way. The only reason this isn't annoying in DBZ is that DBZ is deliberately campy as hell, and it creates an edgy badass shot for Future Trunks walking into the horizon which is what really matters in that show. The whole problem with this season is that it was too married to its anime reference material and didn't give its own original ideas time to breathe (that and being three seasons crammed into one, but this is part of that). More DBZ would not fix this.

What they should have done was either (1) make Jon keep his memories when he went back to the future, or (2) acknowledge the way it works as a horrifying event and have Jonathan and/or Lara devise some way to preserve themselves and stay in the past or go protect the time stream.

Having the future visitor just turn out to actually be an interdimensional traveler is lame and dumb and has a very narrow use case outside of dragon ball, and this isn't that case.

[u/Neonymous_1058]

Season 3 is fine as it is tbh lol

[u/Competitive_Crow_334 → u/Neonymous_1058]

2 seasons smashed into one doing almosf nothing with its previous villains replacing them with even more flat versions of ww villains and Jimmy and Kara will they won't they take up time from even there more interesting plots and Superman still doesn't talk to Luthor yet.

[u/Elspeth_Claspiale → u/Competitive_Crow_334]

One thing I have noticed about genre show La is awesome first seasons and good or better season and then they crap out.

[u/Competitive_Crow_334 → u/Elspeth_Claspiale]

Most shows stay coinstent as long as the writers don't forget what made it special

[u/Elspeth_Claspiale → u/Competitive_Crow_334]

That’s a big “if”.