(Note: This is actually a review of the two-parter as a whole - both Lord of the Flys and Battleground Earth.)
Normally, Lois & Clark does an impressive job balancing the goofy, cheesy side and the dramatic, emotional side. This two-parter does not necessarily demonstrate that, though. There's too much of going into irrelevant things or not taking things seriously when things that should be a HUGE deal are happening. And while I often find the over-the-top villains in this show to be extremely entertaining and fun, in this case, I wish they could've taken things a little more seriously as far as Lord Nor's portrayal goes. It doesn't help that, while he may have been cartoonish, he wasn't terribly interesting - which is not a good combination at all. I barely even know what his motives are, other than generically wanting power. I don't know why he even bothers conquering the people of earth in such a gradual way, or even why he bothers enslaving them rather than just killing them, considering that he and his men have the power to do virtually anything with an infinitesimally minuscule expenditure time or effort. It definitely had good moments and enjoyable parts, don't get me wrong - the ending in particular was great. The final battle was powerful, and there was really great follow-through on previously introduced elements. But overall it felt like a bit of a drag, and a little padded out, which was disappointing considering how very compelling the setup and preceding episodes were. There were some very interesting ideas in here that weren't necessarily made full use of - I especially liked the Kal-El on trial bit, but I think it could've been even better, especially since, honestly, Clark actually WAS pretty guilty of what they were accusing him of! A fact that they didn't seem to highlight much. All things considered, it's not bad, you should watch it if you're going through the whole series, of course, but if you're just picking out an episode to watch for fun or something, you could do better...especially since this is a two-parter; if you don't like it, you'll have more to sit through.
Normally, Lois & Clark does an impressive job balancing the goofy, cheesy side and the dramatic, emotional side. This two-parter does not necessarily demonstrate that, though. There's too much of going into irrelevant things or not taking things seriously when things that should be a HUGE deal are happening. And while I often find the over-the-top villains in this show to be extremely entertaining and fun, in this case, I wish they could've taken things a little more seriously as far as Lord Nor's portrayal goes. It doesn't help that, while he may have been cartoonish, he wasn't terribly interesting - which is not a good combination at all. I barely even know what his motives are, other than generically wanting power. I don't know why he even bothers conquering the people of earth in such a gradual way, or even why he bothers enslaving them rather than just killing them, considering that he and his men have the power to do virtually anything with an infinitesimally minuscule expenditure time or effort. It definitely had good moments and enjoyable parts, don't get me wrong - the ending in particular was great. The final battle was powerful, and there was really great follow-through on previously introduced elements. But overall it felt like a bit of a drag, and a little padded out, which was disappointing considering how very compelling the setup and preceding episodes were. There were some very interesting ideas in here that weren't necessarily made full use of - I especially liked the Kal-El on trial bit, but I think it could've been even better, especially since, honestly, Clark actually WAS pretty guilty of what they were accusing him of! A fact that they didn't seem to highlight much. All things considered, it's not bad, you should watch it if you're going through the whole series, of course, but if you're just picking out an episode to watch for fun or something, you could do better...especially since this is a two-parter; if you don't like it, you'll have more to sit through.