@Ray:
Don't forget that this is on the CW network. They're presenting this hero in a fashion that should appeal to their core demographic, because the more viewers they have the more they can charge for advertising (yes, it's pretty much all about the Benjamins). They're essentially renting the personas of Clark/Superman and Lois from whoever owns the franchise now, and there is no fixed course for them to follow. They have creative license to treat the characters as they wish - within the limits of what the viewers will accept, of course. Remember that L&C presented Clark as the real person, when for decades Clark was just Superman's disguise when he wanted to hide from the superhero pressure. Just as those of us on this site send our characters in different directions, so do different media companies. The biggest difference is that with the media companies, significant amounts of money are at stake.
Jordan wasn't using audio headphones. He was using noise-cancelling headphones. And X-Kryptonite? Every author on this site has Clark react to green K in a different fashion. His reaction on the show was tailored to the story line that week. Personally, I think what Toomi8 is doing with the green-K reaction in her story "Aftershocks" is fresh and realistic (within the Superman universe, anyway). It's not what I've done, but who cares? It's a good story. X-Kryptonite is this show's way to put more roadblocks in front of Superman and Lois, and it's no less believable than a whole lot of the comic stories I've read.
Chemistry. Couples who have been married for many years do exhibit romantic affection toward each other, but it's tempered and far less public. Clark and Lois have, in this show, been married for more than fifteen years. And they have high-school age sons. Of course they're less openly affectionate than they once were. The fanfics you mention show C&L at their sexiest times and not the times when the toilet's clogged up and the washer stopped halfway through the wash cycle and the brakes on the car are mushy and getting worse and school's starting soon which means they must purchase new clothing for the kids and they're short of spending money and stuff like that just sucks the life out of the romance. Been there and done that and got the T-shirt.
Given that the Kents have experienced a death in the family (Martha), a move halfway across the country, Lois left her dream job, Jon has experienced personal tragedies (to a teenager, anyway) - he lost his girlfriend and his place in the football team's pecking order - Jordan is exhibiting signs of super-powers he may not be able to control, there have been at least three direct attempts to kill Superman, Lois has been in mortal danger more than once, they're chasing a huge story with few resources and fighting the community to learn the truth, other supers are popping up all over the place, Lois' dad is undermining Clark's role as father - all within just a few months - it's no wonder they're not all over each other every episode. I think you should cut them a little slack. There's no way they could be Dean and Teri.
I do agree, though, that Superman coming close to eliminating John Henry was a surprise. But I think the showrunner(s) did that to illustrate just how human Superman really is, and how much stress he's under. After all, John Henry was threatening Jon and Jordan, too. There's no way he could have left live witnesses to his murdering Superman.
Also - Clark responded to Lois telling him to stop. That tells me that she has a pipeline to his heart, whether he's kissing her senseless every few minutes or not. And while no show hits it out of the ballpark every episode, I agree with Lynn that there have been more good episodes that stinkers. I plan to keep watching this one.
That, however, does not mean that you need to watch if you don't find it to your liking. If we all liked the same things, we'd only have one fast food restaurant world-wide, like Taco Bell in the movie "Demolition Man." (Spoiler: they won the restaurant wars.)
