Arrowverse, we'll miss you. Born on October 10, 2012, the CW series of connected shows finally left us on December 2, 2024, just over 12 years later. Technically, it's the unofficial end. Things really ended with The Flash in May 2023. But despite the CW's insistence that Superman & Lois is not part of the Arrowverse... whatever. This is really where the Arrowverse ends, and we couldn't have asked for a better way to go out. Spoilers follow for Superman & Lois Season 4, Episode 10, "It Went By So Fast."

"It Went By So Fast"

James Gunn's upcoming Superman film was originally set to be called Superman: Legacy before being renamed to Superman. In hindsight, it makes sense, because this final season of Superman & Lois is so focused on the idea of legacy that it makes more sense to apply it here.

This season has been a blast to watch, with much of it exploring places in Superman's world that we haven't really had the chance to dig into before, at least not in live-action or animation. The show killed Superman and brought him back and made both parts of it matter. It explored the idea of secret identity not as a fun masquerade but as a thing that ultimately damaged the people around him. The show humanized Lex Luthor without making him look weak or damaged. It brought Doomsday to life in a new way that legitimately improved on the character's original backstory.

This finale brings a mostly satisfying close to what is probably my favorite Superman adaptation ever.

Superman & Sons, with some help from John Henry Irons and Lois, take care of both Doomsday and Lex relatively quickly. This story was never all that focused on how hard Superman could punch stuff, so ending the show with a brutal, episode-long fight never really made sense. But that doesn't mean these moments were given the short shrift, either. The fight between Superman and Doomsday ends with Doomsday coming full circle and making a painful decision that feels right for who he was before Lex twisted him. The battle with Lex takes everything the heroes have, with Irons and Lois doing as much as Superman to yank Lex out of the sky. His defeat is utter and complete.

With the fights over, the show jumps forward a year to a more peaceful time, and focuses on celebrating the show and its characters. In being killed and resurrected, Superman may have lost many years of life, but he got gifts that he never could've hoped for. He grew old with Lois, was able to watch his sons mature without also having to watch them die, and was given a peaceful life toward the end. It feels like the happiest possible ending for Superman. So many stories that imagine an ending for him have him outliving his family and even civilization, and it's always kind of sad. Instead, Superman got to live out the last of his years as his real identity--Clark.

We watch Clark die, but in that time, his life flashes before his eyes--kind of. His spirit rises from his body and he gets the chance to say goodbye to everyone as he remembered them. He even took a moment to forgive Lex Luthor for everything he did to harass and destroy his family.

The episode managed to say goodbye to, essentially, the entire cast--the Kents, the Irons, the Cushings, Lex Luthor, Sam Lane, you name it--in a way that felt authentic to the show and mattered for the characters. It's genuinely one of the better show endings I've seen in a while. Despite the fact that the show was cut short (for a bunch of reasons), and despite the much of the cast being reduced from regulars to guest stars, this feels like a show ending on its own terms rather than rushing to a cancelation-fueled "I guess we're done now" finish.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't get misty-eyed a bunch of times during this episode.

I want to be fair, though, and point out a couple of things that didn't work for me. The CGI last week was excellent for the CW. The CGI for the finale, on the other hand, felt rushed. Doomsday didn't feel as much a part of the world as he did last week, even if his design ended up being quite authentic to the comic. He felt like a computer man instead of a real character at times.

And I'd be remiss in not talking about the dress. In the context of the series, it totally makes sense. The last thing Clark sees as he passes is Lois as he wanted to remember her, and probably as she wanted to be remembered. They spent time on this special moment for them back in Season 3 when she was going through cancer--see the episode titled "The Dress." There was this dress that she wore during an important moment in their life together, and she'd mourned the unplanned changes to her body and how they would make it impossible for her to wear that dress again.

But even knowing all that, in this final moment, it felt silly. The door out of the Kent house opens and Lois is standing there in this red dress, and it's sexy as hell. Again, in the context of its first appearance, it made sense. Lois was in the prime of her life, Clark was just getting to his prime, and it was a big day for both of them. Of course she'd want to look her best. But in this moment, it feels like weirdly misplaced fanservice. We've watched Clark walk around his home, hugging his loved ones, saying goodbye to all of these people that were part of his life. It's tearful and painful and joyful. And then the final image is Sexy Lois Lane. It makes sense and yet feels totally inappropriate.

Ultimately though, this amounts to five seconds of an excellent 45-minute finale that shows Clark gracefully aging. He and Lois focus on philanthropy and proactively helping people rather than just rescuing. We get to see the boys suit up for a moment. After Lois passes, he spends his later years with a dog (whose name you can guess). All of it feels so fitting and right for the characters. It helped me truly mourn the end of the Arrowverse, going out on such a stellar last season and a fitting finale.