Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 17

Lois and Jimmy make a deal to save Clark.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, Clark went to space against his will. His cousin Kara kidnapped him at to bring him to her father to ‘fix’ the brain that she claims life on Earth broke. Kara uses a memory scanning device to show Clark life on Krypton before the planets destruction to get him on board with reclaiming it. Clark then shows her a memory of him playing catch with his parents. Neither of them convinces each other of anything. After finding some of Kara’s treasures and ribbing her for clearly having a crush on Jimmy, Clark convinces Kara to show him one of the worlds of the “new” Kryptonian Empire, Thanagar. The cousins bond over a space snowball fight on their way to Thangar, only to discover the planet is in ruins and for Kara’s father to send guards to pick them up. Clark finally meets Kara’s father, Primus Brainiac. The robotic emperor claims that he knew Jor-El and that he once served on the Kryptonian Council, as well as served as the AI for the entire race. He separates the cousins to test Clark’s skills. Once in the hologram chamber Brainiac is immediately mask off evil, telling Clark how the warriors he’ll fight are mind scanned clones that he has used to train warriors before. Considering one is a Green Lantern that cries as he fights Clark, the ethics of this is awful. Clark beats the three robots, the other two being a Parademon and Thanagarian, and unleashes his super mode to do it. Brainiac claims he’s going to reclaim the Kryptonian Empire with Clark as his weapon. Clark refuses, but Brainiac uses a Red Sun Omega Field Generator to strip him of his powers. Kara comes in and Brainiac uses some kind of mind control on her to make her forget the last few days beyond a vague understanding she brough Clark home. She’s able to snap out of it, though, and visits all the worlds she told Clark were part of the Empire to find them destroyed and remembers she’s the one that did it. As she sobs and asks Clark what to do, Jimmy, Lois, the Brain and Monsieur Mallah arrive in a spaceship. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens with on Earth. After watching Superman get his ass kicked and kidnapped, Amanda Waller has issued a state of emergency and instituted a lockdown on Metropolis. She uses very clearly edited footage to claim that Superman was working with another Alien invader to conquer Earth. She claims that the alien problem has a human solution, the Human Defense Corps. Armed soldiers are marching in the streets along with the heavy robots from last season. Waller claims that Superman will return to Earth and when he does, they will be ready for him.

 

We cut to Jimmy and Lois watching an interview General Waller is giving on a local talk show. While the host points out that eyewitness accounts say that Superman was fighting Kara to protect civilians, Waller pivots to saying that civilians wouldn’t need protecting if Superman weren’t here. Waller says that everyone has ‘seen the footage.’ The host points out that Waller seized all the footage shortly after it was released, tries to show unedited footage their station obtained, but Waller claims that as classified and ends the interview. The Host is arrested. In the apartment, Jimmy is pacing, saying that he can’t believe Clark has been kidnapped, that Waller is trying to destroy him, and Lois quietly adds that she broke up with him. She rallies, though and says they find Clark and bring him home with the Amazo Tech Jump Drive Ship. She plans on them stealing the ship and then using it to go to Space. Jimmy points out that the two of them really don’t have the skills for that, but Lois says they just need to hire someone who does and shows a pic of Livewire. Jimmy is shocked at the suggestion, but as Lois rightly points out, Livewire is a professional thief after all.  With lightning powers. Jimmy still isn’t happy about this, but Lois says she doesn’t have any other ideas and she needs to make things right. So Jimmy agrees.

 

Lois had already used up all of her favors with her various contacts and got Livewire’s last known address. She’s living in a very nice apartment building in the downtown area, so it looks like it’s not hard to dodge Taskforce X if you’ve got the cash. Lois calls Livewire on the building’s intercom, and she’s not happy to see them. But doesn’t hang up right away for some reason. Interestingly, Livewire is living with Heat Wave, who asks if those two are who she thinks they are. Livewire confirms and then asks what they want. Jimmy explains the plan and the two women start laughing hysterically. Jimmy offers to pay them, and when Heat Wave still says no, Jimmy folks over his last two million dollars for the cause. They let them up.

 

Jimmy and Lois are impressed by the set up of the apartment and tactfully ignore the stolen items inside. Livewire and Heat Wave start fighting, Heat Wave saying that this is a bad idea but Livewire insisting that they can retire after this. Yep, these two are an item. Heat Wave says that Livewire doesn’t know when to walk away, but she does and storms off. Livewire calls a meeting, and gives the two of them the rules, basically that they need to do what she says when she says it, and everything will turn out fine. Their first major hurdle is that they need people that know their way around a spaceship, a tall order considering that Waller is locking down every scientist in the city… but Jimmy knows some people. Enter Monsieur Malla and the Brain. They explain to Lois that they spent about six months traveling through alternate realities but came back after realizing most realities have their own Mallah and the Brain and they don’t like to share. There’s a funny minimalist cartoon bit where it shows our Mallah and the Brain beating up another Malla and the Brain to steal Malla’s signature hat and bandelier. They have brunch with Jimmy on weekends and are working on another portal that doesn’t create a blackhole, which they finally get is a design flaw. And Livewire reacts with the shock appropriate to seeing a talking gorilla and floating brain in a robot entering her house. They get back to the task at hand.

 

Livewire explains that due to the curfew they need to work during daylight hours, and luckily for them that means dealing with STAR Labs state of the art security system. When Lois asks why that’s lucky, Livewire says that systems are only as good as the people behind it. The plan breaks down like this, they steal a fingerprint from a guard that likes to visit his grandma at her nursing home when off duty. They then slip in during the guard change and use the fingerprint scan to get access to the elevator. Once inside, the Brain will loop the cameras and Mallah will download the blueprints and manifests needed to use the ship. The Brain also suggest they could do some modifications to the ship while there, but everyone says no to that. Livewire says that if anything goes wrong, they can switch to plan B, which is basically go in guns blazing. There’s a funny shot of Lois, Livewire, and the Brain brandishing guns while Mallah cheers them on and Heatwave lies at Livewire’s feet like a Bond Girl that Jimmy shuts down immediately. He says they do this peacefully or not at all. Livewire says that without superman they may have to get their hands dirty, but Jimmy is firm on no killing. Livewire says fine and goes to outfit everyone with some tech. While Mallah and Brain distract her by being delightful nuisances, Jimmy points out that while Mallah and Brain say they can find Clark, they must deal with Kara too. Which Lois has thought ahead for and brought their Kryptonite shard. Jimmy grabs Lois and pulls her into a closet to fight about this. Lois is pretty firmly on the ‘stop Kara’ side but Jimmy insists it’s more complicated than that. Jimmy wants to talk to her. Livewire finds them and says they need to move out. So long as no surprises happen this should go smoothly.

 

We cut to STAR Labs where Waller and Wilson arrive for a surprise inspection of Lex’s ne facility. They want an update on something called Project M. Lex pulls them aside to give them the tour. We see the team waiting for the shift change and they run into the next major hurdle, the security guard is pulling a double shift and isn’t leaving. Damn it. He hears them muttering and goes to check it out, but Jimmy jumps out and says that he’s a new hire from Henshaw and his shift starts today. Jimmy chats with the guard and uses some of the info they have on the guard to ingratiate himself with the guard. Jimmy says he’ll take over his shift so that the guard can go visit his grandma. They get the cameras looped outside the control room they access, but Lex has increased security in other areas of STAR Labs so Mallah and Brain have to work harder to get the other cameras looped. They would have been spotted already if Lex wasn’t distracted by showing Waller and Wilson Project M. Wilson asks if ‘operational soon” means ‘not operational at all.’ Lex defends himself, saying that he’s backwards engineering an alien substance into a power source and that is obviously hard. The cores are at 10% power, so that’s something. Mallah is able to loop the cameras just before Waller can see them… but she notices the original looped camera, the guard quickly shifts from holding a donut to coffee in two frames, and shouts they have a security breach. Waller sends Wilson to handle it.

 

The team heads to hanger 3 where they’re holding the ship. Mallah also notices that STAR Labs has Europium, the last component they need for their new portal machine. The mad scientists want to make a detour, but Lois insists they focus on stealing one thing at a time. Livewire watches the halls and is ready when several guards run in. She throws up an electromagnetic barrier protect them, but the humans get separated from Mallah and the Brain. They run into Wilson and his team, Livewire again using a barrier to protect her clients. Wilson orders a lockdown. Back in the control room, Luthor uses this as an excuse to power up Project M and show Waller. The humans run toward a closing door, and Livewire shifts to a lightning form to get out in time. Lois tells her to keep the door open, but Livewire says Heat Wave was wrong, she does know when to walk away as it shuts. They almost get cornered by Wilson but escape into the vents.

 

As Jimmy and Lois crawl through the ducts, Lois blames Kara for everything and that when she gets her hands on Kara she’ll make her wish she stayed in space. Jimmy goes to bat for Kara again, saying it’s not that simple, and when Lois says Kara is the enemy and you destroy enemies, he points out she’s talking like Sam Lane. She says nothing like her dad, to which Jimmy agrees because she gave Clark a chance. He goes on to say that the only difference between the Kryptonians is that Clark had them and Kara had no one. He says Kara isn’t a lost cause and they keep going.

 

They reach the hanger, only to find the Jump Ship is still under construction and is not flight ready. Lois is heartbroken, saying that this was her only chance to make things right and she doesn’t know why she broke up with Clark anyway. She admits she was scared that he’d leave too and that if that was inevitable why not just cut to the chase. She says she loves him, but is scared that he doesn’t love her back to the same degree. Mallah says that’s beautiful and sad. He and the Brain got their rare element and are working on getting the ship running. They just need a few minutes to get a work around for a missing thruster and then they’re good to go. It’s at this moment that Project M runs in, Metallo drones powered by Kryptonite. Mallah delays them by dropping a security door but they start shooting through. The team get onto the ship and the Brain and Mallah make frantic adjustments to the ship. They get the engines up and running, though, and start lift off. But the Metallos grab them and start pulling them back down. They seem pretty screwed… until Livewire and Heat Wave show up to keep the robots back. Over the radio Livewire explains that she didn’t actually leave before, and this was part of her real plan. She and Heat Wave faked a breakup so Heat Wave could get her old crew together. Then, while Waller was distracted with stopping them from stealing the hip, Heat Wave and her crew robbed the armory, got her Heat Wave suit back as well as everything else that wasn’t nailed down, and were planning on letting Jimmy and Lois take the fall for everything. But then Livewire heard Lois talk about how she messed up with Superman and she’s too much of a romantic to ignore that. Livewire advises that love is not for cowards, and you have to be brave to do things for it. Like rob the woman that kidnapped you. Lois takes that to heart as they take off and the villains make a getaway. I’ll just say… keep the Parasite Armor you stole away from everyone, ladies.

 

Back at STAR Labs, Wilson mocks Lex for his failure in stopping the robbery. Waller counters that and says that this was a success. At only 10% power, they were able to stand up to alien weapons and powers, so she authorizes Lex getting whatever resources he needs to get the Metallos running. Wilson is ordered to clean up. As Lex walks away, he throws back Wilson’s mocking words to Sam from earlier “Mommy doesn’t need you anymore.”

 

In space, Lois thanks Jimmy for his help, and she agrees to talk to Kara before punching her in the face with Kryptonite. Jimmy says that he knows there’s more to Kara than they think, he saw it when they got ice cream and all the other stuff. Lois is rightly shocked to hear that Jimmy went on a date with the evil Kryptonian warrior, but then the Brain announces the portal is ready. They jump through space, the ship starts falling apart due to the shoddy repairs, only for them to stop right in front of Kara.

 

I saw a reddit post that says that this episode really should played the last two episodes in opposite order, and I have to agree. Stopping in front of Kara would be a lot more dramatic if I didn’t know she’s already aware of the evil she’s done via mind control and has had the crisis of faith in the new Kryptonian Empire necessary to put her on the path to becoming Supergirl. This was a solid heist episode, the initial plan was so perfect that there was no way that it’d go down well, and the fact the whole thing was a cover for Livewire’s crew to do another heist is kind of brilliant. I’ve read a lot of people complain that the villains other than Waller and Taskforce X have been pretty flat and one dimensional so far, but I think this episode does a lot to flush out Livewire. For starters, she’s gay. Like, I wouldn’t have necessarily guessed she was, but at the same time I’m not like… shocked, ya know? The episode also highlights her tactical thinking and treachery but does point out she’s not so heartless to screw Lois and Jimmy over completely. I’m sure this robbery will also be used to explain why all the ex-Taskforce X villains have their gear back next season. They only specifically showed Parasite’s armor, but I have to imagine Intergang will pay to get their stuff back as well. Jimmy and Lois’s debate on how to handle Kara was good too. Risking talking in order to try to turn an enemy into an ally or at the very least give them a chance to do better is a core theme of Superman and I’m glad to see Jimmy has absorbed that. And seeing Lex work on mass producing Metallo robots makes me feel ill. On the one hand, maybe most of them will be destroyed repelling whatever invasion Brainiac mounts for the season finale. On the other, Clark might just have to forever deal with armies of Kryptonite powered robots running around. That sounds like a not fun time for him. So Jimmy and Lois are in space and they’ve met Kara, so they’re like two steps into save Clark. Two steps of like 75, and one of those steps involves beating the supercomputer acting as Emperor of New Krypton, but that’s still two down. Have a good night everyone.

 

Also, happy 800^Th post for me!

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 16

 The Scions of the House of El bond. 

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, there’s trouble in paradise. Lois and Clark are assigned to the Metropolis Most Eligible contest, a bonified publicity stunt, because the contest listed Superman as a contestant. Clark agrees to do it with Lois’ support because it’s a fundraiser for a children’s hospital. Cat Grant forces Lois to take her along as 1. Gossip is her life, but 2. Because she knows Superman’s “secret.” Turns out, she knows that Superman isn’t single but assumes that he’s dating one of the other contestants. Lois tries to put on a brave face but one of the other contestants Silver St. Cloud flirts with Superman hard and it clearly troubles her. It’s not helped by Cat, who is truly trying to be helpful, tells her that Superman and the other contestants are beyond them. From Clark’s perspective, the day goes great, except for Hank Henshaw screaming the Earth is for Earthlings at him. Meanwhile, Jimmy is avoiding Clark. Why? Because he knows he screwed up at the STAR Labs expo and doesn’t know how to fix it. He’s further distracted when he pulls a young woman out of the way of a truck. The young woman is Kara and she’s looking for her cousin. Jimmy is smitten and after realizing that Kara was incredibly sheltered (she doesn’t know what ice cream is) offers to show her around town while they look for her cousin. After a fun day, Jimmy takes her to the top of the Daily Planet, and they have a moment staring at the sunset. Jimmy has an epiphany that he can’t keep avoiding Clark and asks Kara to come with him to apologize. They arrive during the final moments of the contest, and Kara recognizes the Man of Steel as her cousin. Superman being named the Most Eligible. Silver St. Cloud gives Superman a kiss on the cheek and Lois’ heart can’t take it. Superman follows her, blowing off Kara when she approaches him. Lois finally tells Clark about her dad leaving and the Gotham Gazette job odrkffer, and Clark tells her about the beacon. Lois says they aren’t working, and Clark asks if she’s breaking up with him. Before she can answer, Kara reveals herself to be Kara Zor-El and pulls out her Kryptonian battle suit. Her ‘father’ Brainiac Primus orders her to execute the useless Kryptonian. Superman and Kara battle, Kara wailing on him because Superman doesn’t want to fight her. She fires her heat vision at him, and Superman, desperate to protect the civilians, unleashes his freezing breath to stop it. Brainiac sees it and changes Kara’s orders to capture Kal-El. They battle some more, Kara finally knocking Clark out and capturing him. Jimmy and Lois in a helicopter watch in horror as Kara flies into space dragging Superman behind her. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

Clark wakes up finding himself in a hard light casket on Kara’s ship. He is furious to learn that he’s been kidnapped, Kara telling him that she extricated him from a backwater planet. Clark breaks himself free with relative ease and demands to get a helmet so he can fly home. His suit makes a helmet, and he flies out of the ship. Unfortunately, Kara’s ship has already left our Sol Solar system and so it’s just endless expanses of stars in all directions. Clark asks where earth, his home, is and Kara tells him Earth isn’t his home. His home was Krypton, and together they’ll bring it back.

 

Clark tries to fly home, Kara’s ship slowly floating along side him as his cousin points out the futility of trying to get back to Earth on his own. Which is fair, space is big and if you don’t know exactly where you’re going you could spend forever flying in the wrong direction. Kara promises that she’ll take Kal-El back to Earth… when they go to conquer it for the Empire. Clark refuses to even entertain that idea. Kara decides that being on Earth has made Clark’s brain weak and that they’ll need to fix that before bringing him to her father. Clark is shocked to hear that there are more Kryptonians out there and that his uncle might also be alive. Kara says that she’s spent her whole life reestablishing the Empire with her father for the good of the universe and says she wants to show Clark her Krypton.

 

Back inside the ship, Kara gets out a memory band, a device that can record and display memories. The one she takes out has recordings of Krypton before the fall. We see Krypton, a highly advanced alien society with a ton of Kryptonians flying about doing their day-to-day activities. Kara tells Clark that Krypton was the most advanced, scientifically and culturally, planet in the universe. They brought less advanced planets into the fold and made their peoples ‘into model Kryptonian citizens.” The deadpan way Kara says that last part is creepy as hell.  Kara shows him a courtyard where Kryptonians have gathered. She’s named all the people recorded here, silly names like Food Citizen One and such. Kara muses about what Kryptonian food must have tasted like. In one of the saddest little moments, Kara pulls Clark over to a bunch of kids playing space jacks. The kid drops the little ball, it throws the little jacks into the air and you try to catch as many as you can. Kara places her hand within the hologram of the child’s and matches her moments perfectly. Like… how many thousands of times has she watched this video to perfectly mimic one child’s hand motion? She says she did it all the time as a child, when not training of course. Clark, recognizing a red flag when it’s flapped in his face, reminds Kara that these people are all gone and that he knows what it’s like to be lonely. Kara takes off the memory band and angrily snaps that she’s not lonely. Clark tells Kara that he has a life on Earth and asks if he can show her what he’s fighting for on Earth.

 

Clark puts on the band, and we see a memory of him playing catch with Pa Kent while Ma watches from the house. Young Clark tosses the ball at Jonathan, but even tossed lightly the ball has enough force behind it to send Jonathan flying backwards and shouting the cutest PG swear “Sweet Martha Kent!” Jonathan encourages his son and says that he’s sure he can throw it softer if he tires. Clark clearly treasures this memory, but all Kara sees is his human parents trying to make him hide, to make him less than he is. She asks if anyone on that planet cared about the real him, triggering Clark’s memory of Lois and his fight at the Most Eligible contest. He takes off the band and goes to put it back. Kara tells him to not look in there, but she’s too slow to stop him. Clark finds the pictures she took with Jimmy and is shocked to find out his cousin knows his friend. He rightly deduces that Kara might have had a little crush on Jimmy, but Kara denies it, saying that she was just gathering intel on Jimmy Flamebird, leader of Earth, and that she doesn’t even know what ‘having a crush” means. Clark looks at the other items in Kara’s cache, she says that they’re all from planets she’s visited.  She lists off Euphorix, H’lven, and Thanagar. An extremely important piece to her is this Thanagarian statue of one of the Hawk-men of that world. Clark asks why she’s hiding them and Kara says that her father says her affinity for anything non-Kryptonian is a weakness. Clark asks her what she wants to do, and Kara says she wants to bring everyone into the light of the Kryptonian Empire and asks why Clark doesn’t want that for Earth. Clark asks to see one of these planets in the new Empire. Kara is extremely excited by that idea and takes the ship towards Thanagar. Brainiac, watching their flightpath from his ship, notices the change in destination and says that there will be no more delays as he summons several robot guards.

 

Clark and Kara are delayed on their flight by a solid hydrogen state asteroid field. The asteroids are too big for the ship to maneuver through or around it. They have to clear the asteroids manually. Clark calls up a helmet and flies outside, and Kara decides to pull a prank on him. Outside she pretends that her helmet is malfunctioning and that she’s going to suffocate, only to reveal that Kryptonians don’t need to breathe and can survive in the vacuum of space. They can also apparently speak in the vacuum… but Kryptonians have been breaking the laws of the universe since their inception, so I’ll give them a pass on this.  They have fun having a hydrogen snowball fight in the asteroid field. Kara gets engulfed by a particularly big asteroid and Clark’s super mode kicks on so he can race over and shatter the asteroid. Kara noticed the change and ask to know why his eyes are glowing. Clark says that whenever he’s needed to protect someone that he gets stronger. This clearly shocks Kara, as she can’t do that. But they’re distracted by reaching Thanagar.

 

They arrive on the planet, Kara telling Clark that he’ll love the Thanagarians, as the Hawk-people can fly too. She’s shocked and heartbroken when they reach the capital city, though, and find it utterly deserted and destroyed. Kara searches around, finding a wall that she can’t quite see. It flickers and flashes like it’s got static over it. Her eyes go out of focus, and she says something about bringing them into the new Kryptonian Empire. Clark is clearly disturbed by this, asking if every planet in the new Kryptonian Empire is a graveyard. Kara is confused, saying that there were cities and people on Thanagar when she was last here, that this is supposed to be a thriving part of the empire. She tries to think back and only sees the city burning and people screaming. Kara says that something is wrong, just as the Kryptonian drones land around them. Clark prepares to fight, but Kara tells him that those are her fathers and she’s delayed them from Kandor too long.

 

The cousins are taken to Kandor, a space station orbiting a red planet. They’re brough to the Throne Room and Kara bows to her ‘father.’ Clark is confused as to why he’d need to kneel before his uncle, Zor-El, but Kara doesn’t even recognize that name. No, the ‘father’ she’s been talking about is their emperor, Primus Brainiac. Brainiac introduces himself to Kal-El. He explains that originally he was the AI that used to run the Kryptonian Empire. His program ran every ship, city, and defense system in the empire, he now controls Kandor and is the father of a wayward daughter. Brainiac chastises Kara for going to Earth alone and taking the detour to Thanagar, saying that they will deal with her lack of compliance later. He does congratulate her for bringing Kal-El to him, though.  Clark says that he isn’t going to conquer Earth, but Brainiac tells the Son of Jor-El to be at ease. He says that he worked with Jor-El on the Kryptonian council before it fell and knew him well, as he did Clark’s mother, Lara. Brainiac says that he knew every member of the House of El, and that the Empire he’s trying to build differs from the one his parents knew. Brainiac dismisses Kara and says they’ll talk later. He offers to show Clark his Krypton.

 

Brainiac takes Clark to a hologram chamber. Inside are three aliens. One is a Parademon, a large insect like creature that normally serves Darkseid of Apokolips. Another appears to be a monk in a toga like robe, he’s credited as a Bolivaxian. And the final member is a Thanagarian, a human-like alien with large bird wings. Brainiac says that they’re here to measure Kal-El’s potential. He explains that warriors were all made from Kryptonian memory scanning technology. The scans copied their victims mind and are now the only things left of the peoples that did not comply with the old Kryptonian empire. He says their hatred and anguish are perfect for training warriors. The Monk attacks Clark, revealing that he has a Green Lantern Ring and the ability to make Hard Light constructs. He strikes Clark in the chest hard twice and throws energy blasts at him. Clark notices the Green Lantern is crying as he prepares to attack Clark again. Clark says this is too Cruel, and Brainiac counters cruel is a word created by the weak. Clark uses his freezing breath on the Green Lantern, freezing him in place and locking out the program. The hologram vanishes and we see a Brainiac drone on ice for a moment before the Parademon charges Clark. The monster bug throws him around a bit. Clark says that Kara promised that they were trying to bring back the science of Krypton, to which Brainiac asks how Clark thought those advancements happened? He claims that war was the engine that fueled the empire, HIS Empire. Clark heat visions the Parademon, destroying it and says that Brainiac was the one to destroy Thanagar. Brainiac says that Clark doesn’t understand anything as the Thanagarian attacks him, bashing Clark’s skull into the ground. Brainiac says that he doesn’t need Clark’s mind, though, just his body. The Thanagarian beats his skull a few more times before Clark’s super mode activates and he shatters it. Brainiac says that he’s been waiting for Clark and that with him he’ll rebuild the empire. Clark refuses to be a weapon and tries to fight Brainiac but he throws more drones at him. Brainiac says that he’ll rebuild the Empire starting with Earth. Clark tries to stop him but Brainiac activates a red sun omega field to strip him of his powers. The drones grab him. Brainiac says that Jor-El was weak and that his dreams were small. Clark says he’ll stop Brainiac and take Kara away from him. Brainiac says that he doesn’t need Clark’s compliance, he just needs him to kneel.

 

Kara comes in after Clark has been knocked out. Brainiac immediately berates her for disobeying orders and acting willfully. He calls her a disappointment. Kara asks what’s going on and says she needs to know. Brainiac says she doesn’t, she needs to comply. The three connected circles that is Brainiac’s crest starts to glow and Kara’s eyes go out of focus.  She wakes up sometime later in the throne room. She finds Kal-El in another container, asleep. She says she doesn’t remember bringing him here. Brainiac comes in and says she did so well bringing here cousin home. Kara is confused but agrees with him. Brainiac says she’ll be venerated by all and that all will be model citizens of the empire. Kara goes back to her ship and prepares to take off, but then notices she’s holding the statue from Thanagar and Jimmy’s photo. She snaps out of the mind control she’s under and flies to the planets she mentioned earlier, finding all three in ruins. On Thanagar she returns to the wall and focuses hard until she can see the mural on the wall. It depicts her laying waste to Thanagar, brutally murdering its citizens with her heat vision. She drops to her knees and starts sobbing, saying she couldn’t have done this, she doesn’t remember. She flies into space, crying, asking Kal-El, no Clark, what she can do now. A moment later the Amazo Jump Ship that was mentioned in the second episode comes out of hyperspace. Inside are Jimmy and Lois… but also Monsieur Malla and The Brain. How odd.

 

This episode was another rollercoaster emotionally speaking. One half is a sort of lighthearted story about Kara and Clark bonding as Kara shows him a few things about what it’s like to be a Kryptonian. And the other half reveals the devastation that Kara and Brainiac have wrought across at minimum three planets. I appreciate the first half, as it shows Clark and Kara bonding. The two are fast friends, as they bond over being biological relatives and from the mutual loneliness they’ve felt over the years. The snowball fight in space was just so sweet. Which made the sinister foreshadowing on the destroyed Thanagar all the more disturbing. At this point, I’m sure we all knew that Kara either destroyed the planet herself or that Brainiac had while Kara was still in training. It was still crazy to see the destruction and the mural of it. Really makes me question what happened to the Thanagarians. Like… are they all dead? Does Brainiac have they working as slave labor somewhere? Are Hawkman and Hawkwoman lost in space somewhere? Some many questions. And then there’s the Parademon and Green Lantern we see later. The Parademon is simple enough to explain, in my humble opinion. I’m about 75% certain at this point that the force that destroyed Krypton was Apokolips. Kryptonians picked a fight with Darkseid and lost. As Parademons are his infantry, it’d be relatively easy to get a brain scan of one once you’ve fought a few hundred thousand. The more interesting one to me is the Green Lantern. The GLs are an intergalactic peace keeping organization that uses the Green Light of Will to spread peace and defend the innocent. And at some point, Kryptonians killed one and scanned his brain to make an endlessly re-creatable clone. That’s screwed up. And makes me wonder if an Earth GL arrives anytime soon if they won’t have a kill on sight order for any Kryptonian survivors. Something to think about for season 3. I liked how Brainiac is characterized here. Much like in Superman: The Animated Series (1996-00, they’ve combined Brainiac (a superman villain from a wholly different alien species in the comics and holder of the bottled city of Kandor) and the Eradicator, the AI system that ran Krypton. Combining the two makes sense as Brainiac has a more memorable name and his own origins are largely unimportant so long as he’s conquering worlds and stealing their knowledge. It was interesting to see him with Kara, as even when he was putting on a more caring façade, it seemed clear that he was a very stern ‘parent’ and I’m honestly shocked Kara had enough autonomy to disobey him in the first place. But I suppose whatever sort of implant or hypnotic suggestion he used on her makes her less effective, so he uses it sparingly. I’m going to bet right now that we’ll learn that he views Kara more as like a pet than anything else, and that he’s most disappointed that the only other Kryptonian they could find is her close kin. Since that makes breeding more Kryptonians difficult, which I can guarantee you was part of Brainiac’s plan at some point before realizing only two got off Krypton in time. The tease for the next episode, Jimmy and Lois arriving with Malla and the Brain was nice too. It’ll be curious to see what shenanigans they got up to when they were stealing that space ship. More on that next time, have a good night. 

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 15

 Kara arrives and Clark's other relationships get complicated.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, relationships are tested. Lois discovered her dad attempting to disappear and followed him. The Lanes are attacked at Sam’s safehouse by Damage and then later Atomic Skull of Taskforce X. While they’re dealing with that, Jimmy and Clark go to the STAR Labs Expo, as Jimmy was invited to do the Keynote Speech. They have fun seeing all the new technology at the expo and reaffirm their friendship. Jimmy claims to have saved Clark’s life twelve times, since he counted every time that he covered for him in college and dragging him to parties. Clark updates that list to thirteen, saying the first time Jimmy saved him was when they first met and he said they were going to be friends. Things take a turn though during the keynote when it turns out the topic of it was if Superman is a threat or not and Jimmy is debating Lex Luthor. Unprepared, Jimmy tries to defend Clark but Lex twists his arguments back around at him constantly, boldly saying Earth is for Earthlings. Lois and Sam burst into the expo at this point, Sam’s contact had turned them in and now all three Taskforce X agents were hunting them. Superman super speeds and helps the Lanes hold the agents off until Lois can get some invisibility harnesses on her and Sam and they escape. In the aftermath, Lex uses the damage Superman caused to the cutting-edge weapons test as proof that humanity isn’t safe from Superman. He also thanks Jimmy for giving him the speech that got him here. Superman flies away. After hearing part of Lois conversation with her dad while floating outside her apartment, the part that said he was weird but not the part where she said she loves him, he hits his lowest point. Depressed and lonely, he chooses to use the beacon to signal Kara wherever she is. Sam, meanwhile, waited until Lois was distracted before slipping out in his invisible harness. While he’d promised to stick around, seeing the bruises and cuts she got during the scuffle made him break that promise. Lois tries to find him but resolves to just make it on her own when she can’t. Lex gets the backing of STAR Labs, the Mayors office and the rest of the Military for Taskforce X’s anti-Superman plans. And the Kryptonian Warrior working for Brainiac enters Earths orbit. Oh no. Enough recap, lets get to it.

 

We open with Clark and Lois running into each other at work. They’re clearly awkward around each other after the last few days, but before they can really talk about it, they’re grabbed by Perry who tells them to be quiet and come into his office. He closes the blinds, checks that it’s clear and then whispers to Clark and Lois that he wants them to cover Metropolis’ most eligible Bachelor/Bachelorette contest. Impressively, Cat Grant was able to hear that whisper and will the blinds up from the other side of the glass to protest Lois and Clark getting her beat. Perry says that the event is going to have Superman there, and since Superman only talks to Lois, Clark and Jimmy, he needs 2/3rds of that trio to cover the event. Cat forces herself into the office and explains that the event is one of the biggest social events of the year. It’s largely just to talk about pretty, young, successful people… but it also raises money for a children’s hospital, so Lois and Clark know Superman is going. Perry orders them to bring him gossip on Superman. Outside the office, Clark and Lois have a good laugh at that whole thing. Perry text them that the events start in 20 minutes, so he’ll find Jimmy, meet Lois there, and then they’ll talk. She agrees and he gives her a goodbye kiss.  When alone, Cat comes out of the office and demands Lois bring her along. Why? Because they both know Superman’s “secret.”  Oh, how ominous.

 

We find Jimmy walking the street, trying to think of a way to apologize to Clark for what happened at the expo. He’s distracted by a pretty blonde almost getting hit by a truck. She looks like she’s getting ready to punch it, but he pulls her aside at the last minute. He introduces himself as Jimmy Olsen, one of the leaders of the Daily Planet, head of the Flamebird division. She understands that means he’s the leader of Earth and wants his help finding someone. She introduces herself as Kara. She doesn’t say it, but I think we all have picked up the hint her last name is Zor-El at this point. Jimmy agrees to help her. He sees Clark across the street, and because he still hasn’t figured out how to fix things, he grabs Kara and says they’ll start their search over this way. Clark sees them and uses his supervision just in time to see Jimmy ignore his call. That’s a bummer.

 

At the contest, Lois tries to nonchalantly get Cat to explain what she meant by Superman’s secret. Cat says that it’s obvious. Superman isn’t single, and he’s dating… one of the other contestants! She says that they are contestants isn’t an ordinary person, so Superman is obviously dating one of them. And Cat says that they’ll be able to figure out Superman’s secret identity from this. Lois tries to throw her off by saying maybe he’s always Superman, but Cat’s not buying it. She says that uncovering Superman’s identity is the story of the century. As she’s talking we see Clark come in and wave at Lois, and then see Lois’ uttered panicked face as Cat keeps talking. She goes to ‘tell Clark.” Lois pulls Clark aside and lets him know that Cat is trying to know who Superman is dating, and if she realizes that superman and Lois are a thing she’ll figure out Superman is Clark Kent. Lois tells him to act super single when he gets on stage. Clark teases her by asking if that means he shouldn’t bring up the brilliant reporter he’s in love with. Lois blushes but quickly adds ‘no, don’t do that.” He promises not to mess this up.

 

Outside, Jimmy is happy to have lost Clark to avoid conflict. Kara is distracted by Ice Cream, a concept that she clearly doesn’t know what that is. Jimmy takes this to mean she has strict no sugar parents, to which Kara says that, yes, she has a strict dad. She says Ice Cream isn’t important, but Jimmy says she’s only like that because she’s never had it. Taking it as a challenge, they get ice cream and Kara is immediately in love. Jimmy asks about who she’s looking for. She says that she’s looking for a man, a warrior, the only man who can understand her. Jimmy is disappointed to hear this until Kara adds it’s her cousin she’s looking for. She thought he’d be easier to find. Shame that this is the one day in Metropolis that Superman isn’t flying around. Jimmy offers to help her find him, but also to show her around the city and get some food.

 

We cut to the most eligible contest. The finalists include Hank Henshaw (who either went through a divorce in the last few in universes months or got on the list despite being married), Chandi Gupta, Dr. Bryna Brilyant (a genderfluid Wonder Woman villain who also goes by Blue Snowman), Silver St. Cloud, and Superman. Who the host admits they don’t know how to get a hold of but are hoping that he’ll just show up. Clark slips out to ‘fill the meter’ and then Superman flies in. They start the contest, the host asking if there are any questions for the human finalists. When no one does, he switches to Superman questions. Superman does his best to lie about who his ideal partner is when asked, saying she’d be a ‘tall surgeon’ to throw Cat off the Lois Lane sent. Cat gets the next question and asks if he’s into any of his fellow finalists, to which Silver St. Cloud starts flirting with Superman hard. She asks if he’d be willing to help out a Metropolis Charity fund, which Superman is 100% down to do. Lois is clearly annoyed in the crowd, but obviously can’t say anything, even if her eyes are screaming “That homewrecking hoe!” Superman tries to say he thinks of himself as a normal man, which sets off Hank Henshaw, who demands to know when Superman will stop endangering Metropolis. Silver defends Superman, pointing out that Superman saved the city from Parasite. Hank says that the masses may love Superman, but the people who matter have their eyes on him. He repeats Earth is for Earthlings and storms off. Cat says that she’s got what she needs and she and Lois both know who Superman is dating.

 

Outside we see Jimmy taking Kara around Metropolis. I don’t think she understands what a date is but that’s clearly what Jimmy is treating this as. They go around town, eating hotdogs and various forms of Ice cream (Kryptonians have a sweet tooth it seems), Kara and Jimmy get a bunch of photos together and he shows her this butterfly park. We also see her kick a ball into the stratosphere by mistake, in case you missed she’s Clark’s cousin. He pulls her aside and says he wants to show her something.

 

Back at that contest, Cat is putting the pieces together to figure out who Superman is dating and deduces it’s Silver St. Cloud. And, considering that Silver is a young, successful philanthropist that does a lot of charity work and quickly stood up for him, can’t fault her logic on this one. Even if the logic hurts Lois. Sidenote, I enjoy that Cat Grant didn’t immediately rule out Hank Henshaw or Bryna Brilyant. What? I enjoy that she considered that Superman might be on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Lois, stressed out and angry at hearing how this other woman is perfect for HER boyfriend, shouts that why can’t she be the one dating Superman. Cat, misreading this situation as Lois having a crush on someone unattainable, tries to give Lois advice. She says that people like Superman and Silver live in a world apart, and that while reporting on Superman might make her feel close to him, she should remember to keep professional distance. She also says that what Lois has with Clark is cute and she should focus on that. In any situation other than the one we’re in, with Lois secretly dating Superman, this would actually be good advice. Cat goes back inside and as the doors open we see Superman talking with the other contestants, including Silver, and then Lois looking distraught.

 

We jump over to Jimmy showing Kara the view from the top of the Daily Planet building. He says he loves coming up here with Lois and ‘his best friend.’ Kara notices that he said that weird, and asks if this friend is now his enemy, and vows to make his enemies hers. I love how intense she is. Jimmy says no, and explains that he messed up on a grand scale and that he’s been avoiding Clark ever since because he didn’t know how to fix it. Kara says she knows what avoiding things is like. She admits she came here against her father’s wishes. He wanted to come with, but Kara wanted to do it on her own, to see a new world and experience new things. They bond over wanting to see the unknown. Jimmy realizes that he shouldn’t avoid Clark and he should talk to him. He apologizes for using Kara to avoid doing that and asks if she’s ready for one last trip.

 

Back at the studio they’re preparing to announce the winner as Kara and Jimmy arrive. Jimmy is distracted by not being able to get a signal to find Clark and Lois, and so doesn’t notice that Kara’s getting overwhelmed by the noise, smells and crowd of people. Or that she bent a handrail with a bare hand. Kara finally sees Superman on the stage, and she announces that Jimmy found him. Jimmy looks back at her in shock, sees the bent railing and then just goes “ohhh.” The blind squirrel finally found his nut. Kara hurries to the side of stage as Superman is announced the winner. Kara is distracted by the balloons falling and the noise. Silver gives Superman a kiss on the cheek and Lois realizes she can’t take this and runs off. Superman sees her go and tries to go after her. Kara blocks his way, saying she’d been looking for him. He assumes this is another come on or something and brushes her off to superspeed after Lois. This seems to infuriate Kara.

 

Superman rushes over to Lois and asks her what’s wrong. She spills about everything that’s been going wrong, the contest, her dad disappearing, and her job offer for the Gotham Gazette. The two start arguing, realizing that they haven’t really talked in weeks and how that’s been making their relationship harder. Clark says he’s been trying and that he wanted her there when he set off the beacon. Lois is clearly shocked to hear that. Clark says this isn’t coming out right and Lois says because of this, they aren’t working. In her pity spiral Lois says that she’s not good enough for him, and that everyone always leaves her in the end, so why are they even trying? Clark asks if she’s breaking up with him, but before she can answer, Kara kicks down the door. Apparently being snubbed by her cousin touched a nerve. She announces that he’s Kal-El of Krypton and how dare he ignore her when she followed his beacon. She calls the contest a sickening display. Clark asks if she’s his cousin, and she confirms that and calls him a disappointment. She says she came to find a warrior, but found a joke. A lapdog to a weak world. She says that his world is full of temptations, looking over at Jimmy who’s trying to catch up as she does, but they shouldn’t give into them. A true Kryptonian pushes through. She gives him two choices, join her in conquering Earth or kneel before the new Kryptonian empire. She flicks her wrist and the charm bracelet she’d been wearing morphs into her armor, turning her into the Kryptonian warrior we’ve seen before. Clark tells her that the empire is gone. Through her armor, Brainiac Primus says that the Empire is eternal, and that Kara is ordered to kill the weakling.

 

Kara and Superman clash, the force of them hitting into each other knocking Lois back. She throws Clark back onto the stage. Seeing the crowds milling about, Superman flies through a window, saying he doesn’t want to fight her, but he won’t let her endanger other people. They fly off, Kara beating Superman across the Metropolis skyline. Superman tries to talk her down, but she insists this is what Kryptonians do. He uses his heat vision to destroy the head of her armor, stripping her down to a suit more like Clark’s. Brainiac Primus senses her hesitating and asks if she’ll comply or not. Kara says she will comply and charges her heat vision. Superman, knowing she’ll hit the civilians with her attack sparks with energy and then unleashes his freezing breath to stop Kara’s attack. Brainiac Primus, watching from Kara’s armor I assume, notices Clark’s display of power and tells Kara to take him alive instead. Superman flies off and leads Kara away. Jimmy and Lois try to follow but are too slow to keep up with people that fly. Jimmy tells Lois to follow him and they’ll catch up. Superman leads Kara to the outskirts of town where they have a heat vision beam struggle. Kara’s armor amplifies her attack, blasting Superman back. They slug it out for a bit, Superman telling her that she doesn’t have to do this. Kara says she’ll do anything for the empire, knocking Clark out. She traps Superman in a hard light coffin before flying off as Jimmy and Lois watch horrified from a helicopter.

 

Well, that was certainly a roller coaster of emotions. I liked the set-up of the most Eligible contest. Pulling Clark into what was obviously a publicity stunt for charity was an excellent way to put him into an awkward situation with Lois. Nothing pisses off a superhero significant other like seeing the hero be flirty with someone else, even if they were 100% behind the idea as cover before they saw it. It was good to finally see Clark and Lois talk even under this extremely stressful situation. Anyone who’s ever been in a relationship can tell you that the “it’s fine” and “we’ll talk about it later’ comments always build up and up until they come spilling out. I don’t think Lois would have actually said yes, they should break up if Kara hadn’t interrupted them, I think she’d have said “I don’t know what I want but I hate feeling this way,” or something along those lines. Relationships are messy and jealousy mixed with anxiety is a combo that just rots one’s gut. And it was fun finally getting to know Kara. This is a fun spin on some of the classic character tropes. In most other continuities Kara is chronologically older than Clark, but physiologically younger than him given she spent several years either in ice or at light speed. The result is someone who remembers Krypton but is incredibly naïve as to Earth customs. They obviously shifted this slightly, with Kara being raised by Brainiac, so she has ideas about Krypton, but as she was also an infant when it was destroyed also didn’t get to really experience the planet either. She just knows what is expected of a Kryptonian warrior and that’s conquest. Conquest and now ice cream, I guess. Props to Jimmy, he spent like three or four hours with Kara and ended on as a ‘temptation’ for her. Due has got game even when he’s trying to avoid an awkward conversation. But not much money left, according to the tracker he’s just over 2 million. I appreciate that they included Jimmy in the drama this time. I know what it’s like to screw up and fail to be there for a friend and that can get extremely awkward. I get the impulse to want to avoid dealing with things, that’s like my whole deal, and I like that Jimmy did conclude on his own that that tactic isn’t a good long-term strategy. Shame he didn’t get a chance to talk to Clark before the kidnapping. So, Clark finally met Kara, Kara and Brainiac found him wanting in warrior spirit, but Brainiac is interested in Clark’s power. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes. See you next time.

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 14

 Lanes are on the run while Jimmy and Clark have fun.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, John Henry Irons rolled into town. He worked for a company called AmerTek that was attempting to roll out a fleet of Robotic security drones in Metropolis. Jimmy and Clark as Superman were led to him after getting a cryptic voice mail about killer robots that they got on the Flamebird app, and Lois was drawn to him after breaking into AmerTek and seeing a destroyed lab. Irons explains that his boss had taken a prototype for a robotic suit he’d designed, added a bunch of weapons, a fusion core and then rushed it through production to make his Metallo robocops. The problem that Irons and his fellow scientist Silas Stone discovered was that if multiple units were active at once, their cores fused together and set off an explosion. Three at once destroyed the lab, and their main reactor is 300x bigger. Livewire bursts in, having been hired by AmerTek’s CEO, and destroys all of Irons’ evidence. Superman and Irons rush to the factory, and Irons dons his mech suit to help Superman stop the Metallos and the reactor. It’s a near thing but they save the day. Lois posts an article about this whole adventure, scooping Vicki Vale whom she’d been reporter dueling all day. Vicki, annoyed but impressed, offers Lois the number 2 spot at the Gotham Gazette. Clark writes a story about it as well, giving Irons the credit for helping Superman save the day. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, Irons learns AmerTek has been bought out by a new corporate entity in Metropolis, LexCorp. Lex Luthor himself takes Irons suit from him. The episode ends with Lex and Amanda Waller looking over their new fleet of robotic drones. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

The episode opens with Clark and Jimmy returning to their apartment, Jimmy wondering aloud why Sam Lane called a roommate meeting. Clark opens the door and gets thrown to the ground by Sam, who then scolds Clark for not remembering the code word. Clark and Jimmy see that Sam has covered all their windows, moving the couch to do so, and ask what is happening. Sam says that he thinks he’s been spotted, as a car has been parked outside for 24 hours. Jimmy goes to look and it looks like it’s just a normal car. There’s a knock at the door, Sam tells Clark not to open it as he’s paranoid as hell that Waller has sent an assassin. Clark, ya know, being bullet proof, opens the door anyway. Turns out it’s just a delivery guy dropping off a package for Jimmy. Inside is an invite to be a keynote speaker at the STAR Labs 23^rd Annual Symposium. It’s a big deal, with top minds in science, technology, and defense gather to talk about big topics. This year the topic is on alien life, and since Jimmy is the self-professed best friend of the only confirmed alien on the planet, they want his insight. Sam looks on in annoyance, but then gets a text that someone is onto him.

 

Later, Clark is on the street waiting for Jimmy. He calls Lois and tells her that he’s been trying to reach her but they’ve been missing each other. He still has the beacon to Kara, his cousin, and looks at it as he tells her that he really needs to talk to her about something. He asks her to meet him on the roof of the Daily Planet at 8 and begins to say he loves her, but the voice mail record time ends. Jimmy pulls up in a massive stretch limo. Renting it and his new clothes (I assume) drop his network to 3.2 million dollars, but that’s money well spent. In the limo, Clark looks over the VIP list for the symposium, the list includes a few names that might jump out at you, like STAR Labs CEO Emil Hamilton (Superman ally/enemy) Wade Eiling (Superman Enemy) and Senator Sacket (background character). Clark asks if Jimmy is sure he wants him there. Jimmy says of course, Clark initially assumes he wants him there because he’s an alien, but Jimmy assures him that he needs Clark there, not Superman. He offers Clark a pair of suit jackets and asks which one screams hype man.

 

We cut to Lois heading over to the boy’s apartment to check on her dad, taking a minute to hype herself up and decide she wants to talk to him about the job offer. She goes inside to find the apartment empty. She heads to the window and sees her large father trudging across an empty street to an alleyway. Ya know, for a New York stand in, Metropolis can be really empty sometimes. Lois has a flash back to when she was a kid and doing wilderness training with her dad. She spies a footprint he left on the ground, but snaps a twig, which gets Sam to jump out of the bushes and playfully nabs her. He advises her to run for the woods next time and use her size to her advantage to get away. She says she knows, and to test that, Sam points to the North Star and asks her why it’s important. She gives a kid answer of because it’s the bears tail, and Sam explains that it points North so you can be directed by it. She asks if her Umma, mother’s, name means star. Sam explains that his wife’s Korean name Eun Byeol means Silver Star. Lois asks why her mom didn’t come with, and Sam says that she was tired. Lois complains that her mother is always tired lately and isn’t helping her with homework anymore. Sam tells her that Lane’s are doers not complainers and reminds her that every contact leaves a trace. In the present, Lois sees her dad’s boot print in gum and follows it.

 

At the symposium, Clark and Jimmy arrive and start looking around at all the tech. We see a beam rifle and energy shield that looks suspiciously like it belongs to a Gundam, anti-grave chambers, and invisibility vests like Mist uses. A random NASA scientist recognizes Jimmy as Flamebird and shakes his hand, complimenting him on his videos on Superman. Clark takes a picture of them, saying that Jimmy saved Superman once. Jimmy corrects him and says he’s done it a dozen times. When Clark asks about that after the NASA scientist leaves, Jimmy says he’s counting every time he covered for Clark in college and dragged him to parties. They continue to have a look around.

 

Outside, we see Sam enter one of his safehouses. He presses several bricks to reveal the door and slips inside. Lois, a few steps behind, follows him. Inside Sam starts loading himself up with guns and ammo when he gets a perimeter breach alert, turns with gun drawn only to see his daughter looking pissed at him. Sam explains that with people after him, he decided that he needs to go, Lois groans that he always does this, but before she can elaborate, they get another alert just before Damage breaks into the safe house. Sam freezes him in place and they run. Sam says that Waller is after him so he was going to bail before Lois got pulled in. She points out that he could have told her this before running away. He says he has a plan, but it’s ‘classified.’ They hit a dead end and Sam tells her to run and that he’ll hold damage off. Lois counters by saying they can do this her way. Damage comes around the corner to see the alley empty. We get the visual tip off of a manhole cover settling to tell us they’re in the sewers.

 

Jimmy and Clark are floating in the anti-gravity chamber. Well… Jimmy is, Clark might just be flying. Clark updates Jimmy’s save count to 13 times, telling Jimmy that he is the only person that made him feel like being an alien wasn’t a terrible secret, that being himself was a good thing so he can add that to his win column. The first real time, for Clark, was when he walked into their dorm room and told Clark they were going to be friends. Jimmy gets a call to report to the auditorium.

 

Things do not start off great, as it’s revealed that the Keynote speech is entitled the “Superman Problem” and Jimmy learns that he’ll be debating Lex Luthor on the merits of Superman. Considering this wasn’t included in his invite, this feels like a bait and switch.

 

We cut over to the Lanes in the sewers, Sam complimenting Lois on her knowledge of t he sewer system. Sam grunts, tries to pretend it’s nothing but he’s got a massive cut on his arm. Lois points out it’s an open wound in a sewer and goes to bandage it. We flashback to younger Lois. If the first one was Lois age 7-10, this is Lois 12-14. Lois and Sam race to a checkpoint, Lois beating her dad but he tells her that she’s done better than 48 minutes before, and that they’ll head to the next waypoint. Lois starts searching for the North star but can’t find it. Sam gives her a five-minute cooldown. While trying to talk to Lois, he asks about a friend of hers named Izzy, but Lois says that Izzy was from three deployments ago. He tries another friends name, gets it wrong, and Lois say she hadn’t talked to that girl since her mom… she trails off but we can infer that was around when she died. Lois trips, and then starts unloading on her dad, saying how unfair it is that they keep moving, that he never talks to her and any questions she asks get the “it’s classified” answer. Sam patches her scraped knee. In the present, he says she’s good at this. He tells her that during those wilderness excursions, he was trying to prepare her for the world. He’s not sorry for doing it, but there are things he’d do differently if he could. Lois asks if that means he’ll stay, but Atomic Skull arrives and starts blasting before he can answer. Sam shoots him with the freeze ray and they run off.

 

Back at the symposium, the debate begins, the first question being is if Superman is a threat. Jimmy says that he isn’t, that Superman is an alien, but he chooses to use his powers for good and that’s what matters. Lex, being an asshole, goes with the classic counterargument that if it’s a choice, Superman can choose to oppress them if he wants to. Lex pulls out the Xenophobia angle, saying should the alien really decide what humans should do. Jimmy says Superman wouldn’t do that. Lex counters that Superman has by destroying Amazo Tech and driving Ivo crazy. Neglecting to mention the whole “Ivo was already a sociopath” part of that story. Lex says that Knowledge is power, power is security, but what security do they have against Superman. Jimmy asks if he means for Earth to be for Earthlings, Lex agreeing with that statement.

 

The Lanes arrive at a pawnshop run by a friend of Sam’s, Winslow Schott. He’s a robotics and demolitions expert that used to work with Sam back in the day. Winslow warned him about Waller coming after him. Winslow asks if Sam has the tech, Sam confirms it, and Winslow says that his contact will meet them and take Sam to the docks so he can disappear. Lois is furious to learn that her dad is going to just bail like this. Winslow backs away to give them a moment. Lois asks her father why he won’t trust her, and if she’ll ever be good enough for him to rely on her. Sam tells her that she’s more than good enough, he just doesn’t want her getting hurt. Lois points out that him leaving hurts her. She asks him to stay, and Sam agrees. It’s at this point that Slade Wilson comes out in his full combat gear, teasing that Winslow got his good side for the passport picture. Yeah, this was all a set up. Wilson reveals this isn’t a capture mission, but an execution. Sam’s ice ray gets sliced in half, but he throws a bear from Winslow’s shelf at Wilson, revealed to be a bomb. The Lanes run in the confusion, Wilson radios his team and tells them to pursuit and kill Sam Lane.

 

The chase leads them to the symposium. Lois grabs a laser rifle and Sam the Gundam shield and they defend themselves against Atomic Skull. Wilson corners them and says that he’d lie that this wasn’t personal, but Sam was never his favorite. Superman rushes in and stops Damage from crushing the Lanes. Using just the shield Sam is able to disarm and take up one of Wilson’s swords. He and Clark keep the three super soldiers at bay while Lois grabs one of the cloaking vests. They vanish, just dodging Atomic Skull’s blast. Superman gets hit, though and gets thrown into a wall. Wilson orders the group to fall back. Superman flies out of the rubble, to find Jimmy, Lex and the other guests watching. Lex uses the situation to stir up more anti-Superman hate, pointing out that the latest in defensive tech couldn’t stop him. He claims that Superman is the number one threat to humanity. As the crowd turns on Superman, Lex goes over to Jimmy and thanks him for the advice. He calls Jimmy a real pal, saying that he wouldn’t be here without him. Superman calls out to Jimmy but he runs off.

 

Superman flies over to Lois’ apartment to check on her, he arrives just as the Lanes do. Sam says that he’ll be fine on her couch and that anything will be an improvement from living with Clark. Sam says he’s a weirdo, that there’s something just off about him. Lois agrees that he’s different. Superman flies off at this point, missing that Lois says that that’s what she loves about him. Lois hugs her dad but says that she needs to make a call. She thanks him for staying, but the look Sam gives to the cuts on her arm suggests something. She calls Clark, apologizing for missing their meeting at the Daily Planet. She promises they’ll talk tomorrow. We cut over to Clark on the Daily Planet. Feeling alone and sad and just wanting to connect with his family, Clark activates the Beacon and asks Kara to come to him because he’s pretty sure she’s tired of being alone too. The Beacon breaks down into light and disappears.

 

Lois comes down to talk to her dad only to find him gone, her door ajar. She flashes back to 18 to 20-year-old Lois, frantically looking for her dad because he’d just vanished from his tent. She stumbles through the woods and finds him by his hummer. He congratulates her for finding him in record time. He doesn’t seem to get that him leaving and her being alone is the thing that terrifies her the most in the world. She says that her entire life he’s been pushing her to try to survive on her own, so she says he wins and she’ll do just that. In the present we see Lois run to the street side and not find him says she’ll make it on her own.

 

At STAR Labs, Luthor and Waller meet with the Mayor, Hank Henshaw of STAR Labs, General Eiling and Senator Sackett. Luthor says they have an alien problem, and that Taskforce X has an alien solution. Henshaw promises Luthor any resource he needs to stop Superman. As Luthor says with their help Earth is safer than it ever has been before, we see the Kryptonian Warrior arrive in Earth orbit. Well, crap.

 

This was an emotional whiplash of an episode. The emotional high of Clark and Jimmy just having fun at the Expo and reaffirming their friendship was nice. I like that Clark admits to counting Jimmy saying they were going to be friends as one of the examples of saving his life. This version of Clark and Jimmy as equals and friends instead of mentor and mentee took a little getting used to, but I think they jive really well together. Which also made it hurt that much more when Jimmy failed to persuade anyone to side with Clark at the debate. I’m reasonably confident either STAR Labs or Lex intentionally kept the topic of the Keynote speech from Jimmy to ensure that he arrived at the event unprepared. If Jimmy had known he’d defending Superman to the public, I know he’d have gotten a few better talking points together beyond that Superman helps people. I personally would have pointed out that Superman didn’t start helping people until after a bunch of military tech was stolen, including those giant robots and Livewire appeared and caused havoc in the middle of town. Both events predate the Big Blue Boy Scout revealing himself. And Lex couldn’t say that stuff was for when an alien appeared because that would sound paranoid as hell even if it was true. I liked the little vignettes of Lois and her dad’s relationship through the years. Three scenes to show a healthy parent and child relationship grow more strained as Lois’ mother got sicker and Lois got older. I liked that they included a bit about Lois’ mother’s name in Korean being Silver Star. I feel like other than the character designs and the outfit she wore for the Amazo Tech fiasco there hasn’t been that many nods to this Lois Lane being Asian. If you’re going to go to the trouble to make an animated character match her voice actor’s looks, then you might as well add as much of her culture into the character as well. Makes Lois feel more fleshed out. And while Sam is definitely in the wrong for running again after Lois begged and pleaded and said that him leaving would hurt her, I do like that he took a moment to tell Lois he’d do things differently if he could do them again. It doesn’t make up for how he did them or what he does in the future but acknowledging you screwed up does count for something. And I’ll give the show props for making decent reasons why Clark and Lois are missing each other. The lack of communication is compounding, but doing things like trying to prove to your dad you’re self-reliant, and having a day focused on your other relationships are decent enough excuses as to why that happens. My one major complaint is that there’s no way Clark flew away from Lois’ place fast enough to miss her saying that she loves that he’s weird. His hearing just doesn’t allow that to be possible. I like that they made it clear he was at his lowest point before signaling Kara without talking to Lois. Being alone can suck and feeling that loneliness after being torn down in the public’s eye and continued relationship problems, I get why Clark hit that button. I don’t think he would have had he realized what he’d be summoning, but who knows? Next time, Kal-El meets Kara Zor-El and things get complicated. See you then. 

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 13

 John Henry Irons is on the scene.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, it’s time for a prison break. Clark and Lois go looking for Lois’ missing father. Initially they have no idea where to look, but a random kid named Billy tells them his father worked at Strikers Prison went missing and that screams Taskforce X. They find a secret facility under the prison and Lois’ dad is being grilled by his former subordinate Amanda Waller for tech that’s missing from their inventory. They try to free him, a situation hampered by Sam Lane’s insistence he can make Waller fall in line behind him, a delusion broken when she unleashes the other of her two new goons at him, Atomic Skull. They try to escape and end up finding Billy’s dad and the missing inmates. Turns out the non-violent offenders of Strikers were being used in human experiments to artificially induce powers. Superman and Atomic Skull brawl until Superman tricks Atomic Skull into blasting the ceiling and burying himself. In that fight Superman finds the second communication beacon in Taskforce X’s vault. Jimmy, who’d been held up by his new team Flamebird, arrives to get everyone off the island on a boat. Team Flamebird consists of Steve Lombard and Flip Johnson and the News Kid Legion, FYI. Superman covers their escape with his freezing breath. He almost tells Lois about the communicator, but she’s distracted by talking to her father. She offers Clark and Jimmy’s apartment to help hide him for the time being. Unfortunately, in the wreckage of the facility, Alex the assistant meets with Waller, reveals he was the brains behind a lot of Ivo’s tech and convinces her to hire him as the new head of RND. And he’s decided to rebrand himself, dropping the A from his nickname and calling himself Lex Luthor. Enough recap. Let’s get to it.

 

We open with a building on fire. The apartment complex of Silas Stone has been set ablaze. Thankfully, Superman flies in to save the day. Silas is almost engulfed in flames, but Clark taps into his super mode and hyper speeds over to Silas and surrounds them both in a protective field of energy to save them both from the flames. He flies them out and asks if Silas is okay, he says he is and Superman flies off to put out the fire. When alone, Silas is approached by Livewire, who reveals she started the apartment fire. She says that she hated that it came to this and all but says she’s going to go after his son if Silas doesn’t do what he’s told. Silas deletes a video off his phone and says that he deleted all of it. His son Victor means the world to him and it’s far, far, far, far too early for him to suffer the injuries that turns Victor Stone into Cyborg in this universe. Silas agrees to keep his mouth shut as Livewire smirks evilly at him.

 

Later, we see a promo video for AmerTek, a robotics company that’s trying to be the next Amazo Tech now that Ivo’s company has gone under. It’s a puff piece promotional video explaining why AmerTek is opening a manufacturing plant in Metropolis. The idea was apparently pitched by Dr. John Henry Irons, the lead engineer at AmerTek and Metropolis native. He wants to help improve his city and all that jazz. We pull out to see that General Sam Lane is watching the promo on the TV at Jimmy and Clark’s apartment. Jimmy is in their kitchenet telling Flip over the phone that he’s not giving a ten-year-old leeway to cover stories on her own. She tries to sell him on letting her use her new helicopter with an illegal camera attachment to cover stories for Flamebird when Superman flies to the window and tries to get Jimmy to covertly give him his Clark Clothes without the General noticing. Jimmy tries to get Sam to maybe clean up around the apartment, both because it’d be nice for Jimmy and Clark, but also would distract him long enough for Clark to superspeed in. He doesn’t go for it because he doesn’t believe in putting his back to the exit. Sam’s lecturing, Flip trying to get the okay to cover a robot story and Clark trying to stealth in overwhelms Jimmy and he freaks out. He tells Flip no, he walks to the window and throws Clark’s PJs at him, and then tells Sam that he should really clean up after himself before storming out. Clark slips in as Jimmy leaves, saying good luck to his buddy. Sam almost immediately starts in on Clark, asking him where he’d been as he left sometime in the night. Sam claims to have put some pieces together and Clark is clearly scared he’s going to be accused of being Superman… but no, Sam has decided that he’s a flake, a screw up, and his tardiness will get Lois hurt some day. Before Clark can say anything to that, her realizes he’s late for coffee with Lois and runs off.

 

On the street, Lois calls Clark, revealing that she can’t make it for coffee as she’d been assigned to cover the AmerTek press conference. Clark says that he wants to talk to her about something, the beacon in his hand. Lois assumes that it’s about her dad and she cuts him off saying that Sam is a lot, but they don’t have a lot of options for him. While Clark agrees with that statement, he really wants to talk to her about family, but the conference is starting, and she has to go. Lois promises that they’ll talk later. After she hangs up, Clark admits today isn’t going great but things will get better after he talks to Lois… and then speed writes an article for Perry that he forgot to write.

 

At the press conference, AmerTek’s CEO Thomas Weston begins the preparation. He reveals AmerTek’s big invention, the Metallo, a giant security robot. He shows off its high-powered laser canon, claims its stronger than Superman, and is 100% green. It’s powered by AmerTek’s Amer-Fusion reactor, a tower-like structure that creates a ball of fusion energy at it’s apex to power the robots. I don’t know why you’d build that in the center of one of the biggest cities on DC Earth, but here we are. Weston promises that the Amer Fusion Tower will power both the Metallos and the factory when it’s all brought online tomorrow. But the Metallo starts sparking, implying they have some bugs to work out. Weston quickly powers down the Metallo and tries to shut the press conference down early. Vicki Vale reveals herself and she and Lois have a reporter fight over who gets to talk to Weston first. They both want to know where Dr. Irons is, as while he’s been the PR face of AmerTek, recently no one has seen him. Weston insists he’s busy and storms off. Lois tries to go after him, but Vicki cuts her off and compliments her for her promotion and for her rebuttal to Vicki’s own Superman article. Lois is happy to be noticed by her former reporter idol but tries to slip around to talk to Weston. Weston’s assistant tells her he’s unavailable, but Vicki gets an interview by saying she knows the hiring director at another tech firm and that she’ll introduce Weston’s put upon assistant to them if she can get a ten-minute exclusive. She “apologizes” to Lois but while she thinks Lois is doing great, no one scoops Vicki Vale. Not to be stopped, Lois sees a security guard with a keycard and formulates a plan to get in.

 

At the Daily Planet, Clark is confident that he can get a story out in record time (super speed is great for that sort of thing) all he needs to do is type. But writers block has got him hard. Jimmy interrupts him by saying that Flip’s gone missing. He first thought that she was just mad at him for shooting down her “Flying Newsroom” copter idea, but then he saw a voicemail left on the Flamebird page from someone saying there are killer robots on the street. Clark says maybe she didn’t follow up on the very dangerous sounding story… but without looking away from him Jimmy plays the next message. It’s from Flip… who has figured out how to trace a call. This kid is going to be very dangerous as an adult.

 

Lois meanwhile has stolen a keycard, I guess they cut that scene, and gets into Dr. Iron’s lab. She tries to talk to him but finds the lab empty of staff and is otherwise demolished. She finds a tattered bag with John Iron’s address in it, which is super convenient for her and Vicki Vale who is standing behind her. Vicki reveals that Weston refused to answer her questions so she’s looking into the Irons angle herself. Both reporters vow to figure out what’s going on at AmerTek and have an electric stare off… right before a guard finds them and they have to run away. Vicki gets ahead of Lois and steals her stolen keycard, but once outside sees Lois escaping on the back of a truck. I must admit, while there’s a serious rivalry going on between these two, I like how the show makes it clear that this is weirdly fun for them too.

 

Superman and Jimmy fly to the coordinates that Flip sent and find her in a rather charming brownstone apartment. Jimmy initially flips out at Flip for following a story that involves specifically killer robots, when we meet the owner of the apartment, John Irons. He is so thankful Superman came, as he’d followed a tip from his niece Natasha, who’s a Flamebird follower, to use the site to contact him. After introductions, Irons shows them what he’s worried about. He explains that he’d been excited to be hired by AmerTek initially as it let him move back to Metropolis and spend time with his niece. It also allowed him to build his original idea, the Steel Mech Suit, a Mark I Iron Man style robotic suit that was designed to help first responders. His boss Weston wanted something flashier, so he stripped down the prototype, added weapons and rushed out the redubbed Metallos. Irons and Stone had worked on the project together and discovered a major flaw in their system. Turns out, if more than one robot is powered on at once, the cores start to meld together and they cause a massive explosion when they go off. Three robots at once destroyed the lab we saw Lois in. Irons points out the Amer Fusion Core runs the same core but is 300 times bigger, so the explosion will be enormous. Weston insists they can make it work despite seeing the explosion himself, mostly because if they can do it, they can take over the power gap that Amazo Tech left when it folded. Weston refuses to see reason and storms off. Irons reveals that everyone they tried to talk to about this was paid off by Weston, they were fired, and now Silas has deleted their records and disappeared. Superman reveals that there was a fire at his Silas’ place last night and they realize it was sabotage. Irons says that he must be next, and then a moment later there’s a panicked moment as someone climbs into his window… only it’s just Lois. Vicki Vale breaks in through the front door a moment later. As the adults bicker, Flip tries to get their attention about this over lady outside right before Livewire blows a hole in Iron’s wall. She says they have business to discuss, but Superman grabs her arm. She throws Superman and tries to blast him, but Superman redirects her attack. Livewire says screw it, he’s not her target. She feigns attacking Irons but switches hands after Superman dives in front of Irons so she destroys his computer. She runs off.

 

Outside, Livewire calls Weston and says she’s not being paid enough to deal with Superman. He tries to get her to take care of him anyway, but she hangs up on him. Weston refuses to be stopped and powers up the plant. Superman flies Irons to the factory. Irons tries to get Weston to stop but he’s not listening. Superman asks how they can stop the reactor, Irons says they need Weston’s controls to do it, but then Weston breaks the table he’s using. While Superman fights the Metallos, Irons runs into his lab and powers up his Iron Mech Suit. Superman holds his own against the Metallos but it’s like 15 on one, he’s just not powerful enough to handle all of them. He gets hit to the ground and almost blasted, but Irons runs in and hammers the Metallo off him. The two agree to work together to stop the Metallos and the reactor. They just need to break though the Metallos and then break the [pillars to stop the reactor. They start smacking robots around, but the cores start merging with the main reactor. The reactor turns Red and prepares to explode. Superman thinks he can contain it, but tells Iron’s to take out the pillars. Clark flies up and uses his new energy field to contain the red glowing sphere but it starts hurting him almost immediately.

 

Outside, Jimmy, Lois, Flip and Vicki are locked out and can’t get in to see what’s happening. Jimmy has Flip use her copter to see what’s happening.

 

Irons is able to break two of the pillars quickly, but the reactor grows more unstable by the second. Irons damages the lasts one, but the Metallos grab him before he can finish it. Irons refuses to be stopped and ejects from his suit and grabs his hammer. A Metallo tries to stop him, but Flip uses her copters glitter gun to distract it long enough for him to get by and break the last pillar. The reactor almost goes supernova but they’re able to stop it, though Superman is still thrown back by the shockwave.

 

Afterwards, Weston insists he’s not a bad man, he just wanted to be number one, though Flip does point out Superman did have to stop him from blowing up the city. Irons brings Jimmy some water and the two discuss what being a boss is. Irons tells him being a leader isn’t about bossing others around but lifting them up. He nods over to Flip who seems over the moon about making content for Flamebird with her copter and tells him that he’s doing a good job from where Irons is standing. Vicki posts her story and starts gloating to Lois, only to learn Lois posted hers ten minutes ago, as she’d been writing all day long on her phone. Vicki is annoyed but impressed and offers Lois a job and promotion at the Gotham Gazette. Lois is flattered but is clearly scared at the thought of leaving Metropolis. She says that Lois is ambitious and if she wants to move up, she’ll have to move on from the Planet someday. Vicki gives her a card and walks off.

 

Lois finds Superman standing in the ruined factory. Clark tells her that her dad is right about him being a flake and oblivious and always being late, you know, just throwing himself a pity party. Lois tells him to never say her dad is right again, and that at the end of the day Superman still saved the day. He just needed some help this time. This gives Clark the idea for his article, so he grabs Lois and does a spinning midair kiss with her as thanks. He says he’ll tell her about it later and flies off. The next day, we see that Clark has given John Irons the credit for saving Metropolis, singing the praises of the everyman that stepped up to help Superman handle a crisis. We see a montage of Irons helping get the Metallos out of the factory and of Jimmy giving Flip the go ahead to keep using the Flying Newsroom for stories as Clark reads his article. Unfortunately, the episode ends with Irons getting his suit taken away and being banned from the premises. Why? Because AmerTek and all its IPs have been bought out by a new start up with government funding, LexCorp. Lex himself gives him the news, saying that he’d hate to have Metropolis’ newest hero arrested for stealing. The last shot we see is of Waller and Lex looking over their new small battalions worth of Metallo drones.

 

This was a fun introduction to John Henry Irons. For those who don’t know, he’s a major supporting character in the Superman series and has even taken up the mantel for Superman a few times with his Steel battle suit. He was one of four heroes vying for the title of Superman after he was thought killed by Doomsday in the comic, the others being Cyborg Superman, Superboy (a Superman clone) and the Eradicator (another cyborg Superman). His name and preference for using a Hammer as his primary weapon is in reference to John Henry, an African American folk hero. That John Henry was a freedman that once went up against a steam powered drilling machine to see who could lay down the most steel track and won. Seeing him in a prototype of the suit that I just know he’ll make one day is incredibly neat and seeing him get to fight alongside Superman was fun. It was also neat to see Metallo named dropped for the evil robots here. My tinfoil hat theory at this point is that Waller and Lex are trying to build up some robotic guards based solely on human technology as they’ve noticed how Kryptonian tech also reacts to Kryptonite in this universe. They’ll then use the Kryptonite as a power source and ultimately create either the singular Metallo that most Superman continuities have or Cyborg Superman, depending on who gets really messed up in the finale. We’re seeing more of the Clark and Lois lack of communication build up as Clark still can’t tell her about the communicator and now Lois has a job offer, she’s scared to talk about. And that’s the feeling I’m getting, that they’re both scared. Clark’s afraid that he’s alone on Earth and that even someone that loves him like Lois won’t understand that feeling no matter how hard she tries. He’s also rightly scared that she’ll talk him out of trying to find Kara because of that fear. And doesn’t *really* want to talk to her about it because he’s afraid she’ll try to talk him out of it. And Lois now has a major step up in her career dangling before her, something that could fast track her to be more like the wildly successful Lois’s that she met from the interdimensional League of Lois Lane, but it could put a massive strain on her relationship. While we don’t know how far Gotham and Metropolis are in this universe, distance of any substantial length makes relationships harder, so again her fear is justified. So, both are scared to talk, both are finding excuses not to talk, and because they’re both under 25 and this is assumedly their first real relationship each don’t realize how badly this could blow up in their faces. Curse the inexperience of youth! Jimmy’s arch of not being sure how to be a boss is once again the weakest, but I like that Irons encouraged him and it seems like Jimmy is going to be encouraging Flip more in the future. It’s just a nice little touch. Also, fun to see Livewire again. Seems like she’s embracing being a superpowered thug for hire enthusiastically. I’ve seen folks complain about her gear, but I think this fits the character we’ve been given. Classic Livewire was a shock jock that said and did things for attention, so her wearing an extremely revealing outfit makes sense. This Livewire is a career criminal with a possible military background, so obviously she’s going with a more army surplus look. Oh, and yes I enjoy that Sam Lane is apparently so blinded by the father “no one is good enough for my little girl” anger that he’s missing all the Superman context clues. See you tomorrow.

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 12

 Taskforce X has been busy while under new management.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, it was a rough Valentines Day. Clark’s plans to just eat ramen on top of the Daily Planet are thoroughly shot down by his coworkers before he and Lois get assigned a story about a meteoroid. He, Lois and Jimmy head to STAR Labs. As they arrive Jimmy sees Alex, Dr. Ivo’s old assistant, get turned down for a job at STAR Labs and gives him a quick pep talk before being pulled away. They interview Lois’ college friend Hank Henshaw, who tells them they were tracking this weird meteoroid until it disappeared over Antarctica. Clark sees a picture of it and realizes that it’s the remnants of his ship. Jimmy charters a plane for them to reach the Antarctic. There Clark is drawn to his ship and meets with the hologram inside. The hologram confirms it is an AI copy of his father, Jor-El of Krypton, and that the AI has figured out English in the last few months. He gives Kal-El, Clark, a brief rundown on the fall of Krypton, saying the Empire spread across the galaxy until it picked a fight with someone much tougher than them. In the last moments before the planet’s destruction, Clark was sent to Earth, but Jor-El says Clark’s infant cousin Kara was sent off as well and might be alive. Their conversation is interrupted by the Kryptonite destroying the ships core, and Taskforce X raiding the ship for parts. Clark faces off against the newest member of Taskforce X, Damage a Hulk like soldier with cybernetic arms and Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke. They’re able to fend them off long enough for Jor-El to reclaim control of the ship and warp it away, shapeshifting it into a crystal tower. Jor-El is able to tell Clark to find the communication beacon from the portal arch sent to Earth 20 years ago to find Kara. Clark and Lois have a nice moment watching Aurora Borealis together before she asks him for his help. She heard from Waller that her father is being held captive by Taskforce X and she needs him to save her dad. Clark agrees and decides not to burden her with the info about the beacon just yet.

 

This episode opens with Amanda Waller waking up and doing her daily routine. Weirdly, the literal first thing she does upon waking up is chant to herself that she is the master of her own destiny, and she controls the outcome of this day. She prepares breakfast and coffee before taking an elevator down to the new Taskforce X prison system. As she strolls through, breakfast tray in hand we see Ivo in a cell and him raging uncontrollably. She enters a special cell that’s holding Sam Lane. She offers him his coffee and says that today is a special day, as it’s the day he talks. Oh my.

 

We cut over to Clark and Lois walking about the city. Lois is gung-ho about finding her dad. She’s already deduced that Taskforce X probably has a new base somewhere near the city as Clark and the OG Taskforce X villain team wrecked the old one in their escape. She wants to search the whole city, but as she realizes that he might not be IN the city any more gets discouraged in real time. Clark perks her up, saying that there’s nowhere that can be kept hidden from the ace reported Lois Lane. He begins to tell her about the communicator and Kara, but they’re interrupted by a young boy that needs Superman’s help, he knows they know him and that they can get in touch with him. The boy, Billy, says that his dad has gone missing. His Dad is a volunteer librarian at Strikers Prison and just before he disappeared, he’d said weird things were happening at the prison. Namely, inmates disappearing. Clark agrees to help. Lois realizes that disappearing people sounds like Taskforce X, so this might be a “two birds, one stone” situation. Clark says he’ll call Jimmy and they should head to prison.

 

At the Daily Planet Jimmy agrees to meet them there but is immediately cut off by Perry. Perry tells him that he needs to focus on his division, Flamebird, and takes him to the Newspaper Morgue to show him his new team. Well, the team is a bit of a stretch, the Flamebird division now consists of Jimmy, Steve Lombard, Flip Johnson and the News Kid Legion (Gabby, Big Words and Patty). I guess he’d hired the News Kid Legion as the new interns in the time skip. Jimmy is against having a team, but Perry insists the Daily Planet needs multiple videos every day if they’re going to get one over on Vicki Vale. Jimmy yells at Patty for chasing a cat and then says to Perry that the interns don’t listen to him. Perry starts laughing uncontrollably at the irony of that statement coming from James Olsen and walks off.

 

At Strikers, Clark tells Lois that Jimmy said to head in without him. Lois proposes a plan to sneak into the prison, they pretend to be a wealthy gorgeous widow and the bodyguard that secretly pines for her and they’re here to make a large donation to the library wing, they grab a key card and then run. Clark says they don’t have time for that, and they should just go with his plan. Which is to switch to Superman and fly through the bars and into an empty cell. Gotta love the “no secret identity” thing between these two. They head out and find every cell in the library wing is empty. Lois finds a wall that’s been freshly painted, and Clark uses his X-Ray vision to confirm that it’s a door. He rips the door open and discovers there’s an elevator shaft. Clark says that shaft goes for miles, and he can’t see the bottom even with his super vision. They have a quick pretend fight of Clark trying to convince Lois to not jump down the shaft before she ‘slips’ and falls. He shakes his head and rockets down after her, catching her. He teases that she seems to like jumping off things, to which she replies only because she knows he’ll catch her.

 

They drop lower and find the elaborate prison complex. They sneak past some guards in hazmat suits and Slade Wilson.  Clark tries to see through the walls but the walls are reinforced with something that blocks his X-Ray vision. They decide to go to Lois’ infiltration plan, grabbing some hazmat suits and trying to blend in. The plan doesn’t work as Lois is a bad actress, and the control room guards pull their guns on her almost immediately. Superman knocks them out with a tap to their skulls. They check the cameras and see some of the cells, including Ivo’s. Superman also notices the fragment of the gateway from Zero Day, with the beacon clearly on it. He quickly explains to Lois that his cousin also escaped Krypton and is on Earth, and that with it he can find her. Lois is not super jazzed at the thought of calling up more Kryptonians, but they’re interrupted by the feed switching to Waller interrogating Sam with a knife in hand.  She say they’ll talk about it later as they need to save him.

 

The knife was just to slice a chunk of apple off as Waller tries to get him to spill where his weapon stash is. Waller says that she has half the tech she’s supposed to, and she knows Sam stashed it somewhere. They take a few verbal jabs at each other before Sam reveals that he knows what happened in Antarctica, saying that he ran Taskforce X for 20 years, and while he might be locked up he’ll always know what is happening. He says Taskforce X is still his. Waller implies she’s going to go after Lois to break Sam and then walks off. Lois herself then walks in and says she brought Superman to rescue him. He’s surprised at the first part of that sentences and furious at the second.

 

Back at the Planet, Jimmy is trying to get his team to finish a video. He says he has one mostly finished of the Mermaids of Metropolis Bay, I guess Arthur Curry is visiting, but no one is listening. Steve pitches a series of videos starring him on a yacht and Flip cuts in wanting to do a volleyball video. I feel like no one explained to them their job was tracking cryptids. Jimmy notices that his last text to Clark didn’t go through and decides that his team needs to do a bonding exercise. Like, say, going out to Strikers Island for… reasons! He realized that if the whole team goes with him then Perry can’t get mad at him, the devilish genius.

 

At Strikers island, Clark leads the Lanes out of the prison. Sam starts yelling at Lois for rushing blindly into danger trying to save him. He hits a door panel and reveals a cache of guns, to show that he knows this facility well and that he was in prison because he didn’t want to escape. He then asks where that Weirdo Kent is and how can that boy call himself her boyfriend if he lets her go into danger alone like this. Lois, making obvious eye contact with Superman, says Clark was busy and that Superman volunteered to help him, but Sam says he didn’t want to be found. He says that he has it under control, but Superman disagrees. Lois pulls Superman aside and tells him to stop picking fights with her dad while they’re trying to rescue him. Superman rightly points out that as Sam kidnapped him, he’s the one that literally started it. Superman says that they need to find Billy’s dad and that they also need to find the beacon. Lois blurts out that she isn’t sure if they should. She says that the beacon was from Zero Day, a failed invasion, and that they don’t know anything about his cousin or what sort of person they are. It’s at that moment that they realize that Sam left.

 

Waller is walking with a squad consisting of some goons, Wilson and a new guy in green armor, demanding to know how Sam escaped his cell. Wilson points out he ran this department for 22 years so he must have some backdoors they don’t know about. Waller insists that he can’t have them here, as she built this place. A door then drops, separating Waller from her men. The new guys eyes and fist start glowing, and he says he’s got it. Sam faces off against Waller. He says that she can’t run Taskforce X without him and that they can still protect the world together. Waller says that she isn’t going to play second fiddle to him again, and behind her the wall melts from the touch of Joseph Martin aka the Atomic Skull. While he looks normal at rest, when Martin uses his powers, his head is engulfed in flaming green energy and shows only his skull. She orders Agent Martin to finish him. Martin fires off an energy blast as Sam runs.

 

Lois wonders why someone would try to un-rescue themself, to which Superman says “An egotistical man that’s used to getting what he wants.” Lois wants to know why he’s so upset with her dad and Superman says it’s because of how Sam talks to her. Superman says that she’s amazing but Sam makes her feel small, he can forgive a lot but not that. Sam comes running up, saying they need to get out of here. Superman rushes over carrying Lois and takes the blast from Atomic Skull. They fly off as Skull keeps chasing them. They break through a wall and find a bunch of prisoners from Strikers in the mess hall. Many of them have deformities and burns on their bodies, suggesting they’ve been experimented on. Superman asks what Taskforce X is doing to them and Sam says he doesn’t know. They find Billy’s dad and Superman asks what happened. Billy’s dad says things were fine for a while until he realized that inmates were disappearing. He says that most of the inmates of Cell Block C are mostly non-violent offenders, the folks who can’t pay bail, and that after asking too many questions he ended up there. Superman thinks they must be trying to induce powers in people, like with Livewire but on purpose. Lois realizes they’re testing Kryptonian tech on these inmates to make soldiers like Damage and Atomic Skull. Superman says this stops now, and he highspeed flies around to open the cells. Sam asks how Waller could do this. Waller comes in and says easily, and that after she thanks the civilians for their service to the US of A. Superman flies into Atomic Skull and they start battling, and Sam fires off some shots from his energy rifle to cover their escape. Waller orders them after the test subjects as Martin will handle Superman.

 

At the pier, Jimmy and co just missed the last ferry to Strikers. There’s a sudden explosion at the prison and Flip says that they found their story. Jimmy, being a responsible adult, says that the interns are staying at the pier, and he asks Steve about the boat guy he knows. We see the Jimmy Olsen net worth tracker drop to 3.7 million. This episode takes place in May, so he’s spent about 2 million dollars since Valentines day. Damn, dude is blowing through cash.

 

Superman is blasted into the beacon room. Atomic Skull marches in and says the Man of Steel has no idea what he’s up against. He claims to be designed to destroy Superman and that Superman can consider himself obsolete. He blasts Superman around, pinning him against a wall. Superman outwits Skull, though, using his own energy blasts to slice the ceiling above them and burying Atomic Skull in rubble. Superman grabs the beacon and flies off.

 

The prisoners make it to the pier but are cornered by Waller, Wilson and some goons. Sam tries to appeal to Waller’s humanity, saying that experimenting on civilians is going against their code. Waller admits to having freed Livewire and the other inmates to show their superiors in Checkmate that Sam was too Soft to stay in charge. Sam says that she betrayed the mission, betrayed him, but Waller says that he is mistaken in thinking those are the same thing. She believes in sacrificing the few to save many. Sam tries to get Wilson to stop her, but he says that Lane should have let him take the shot against Superman. Jimmy and Steve come around the bend with a boat, and Superman super speeds over, disarming the goons and smashing their rifles. One of the goons clearly says “dammit, Superman” and that made me chuckle. Lois, Sam and the inmates jump onto the ship, and Superman super breathes Waller and her people over to cover their escape. As Waller gets up we see news copters in the sky, so she’s beaten for now.

 

On the ship, Superman switches back to Clark and meets up with Lois. Clark begins to talk to her about the beacon, but she’s distracted by her dad. Sam is rattled by Waller willingness to use civilians. He thought he knew the people he was working with. He wants to go off the grid for a while. Lois says he can stay with her, but Sam points out that he’s been compromised so her place is one of the first places they’d look. Lois then offers Clark and Jimmy’s place, to keep him close but not in her apartment. Sam is okay with this, as it’ll give Clark a chance to make up for sending Lois into danger alone. Oh boy.

 

At Taskforce X’s base, Waller gets chewed out by her superiors at Checkmate for exposing their covert operation. She claims to have everything under control. The official says that Lane used to tell them that she needs to get it together or she will be replaced. A guard suddenly screams. He’s been attacked by Ivo who’d gotten out of his cell. Ivo is stopped by Alex; he had a kill switch for the parasite armor. He introduces himself to General Waller as the one that built the suit. He says that was behind most of Ivo’s tech as his ‘assistant’ and that he’s worked on the alien tech before. He says that he’s going to carve his own path, like Jimmy told him, and offers his services to help Waller protect Earth from all alien threats. Aliens and Supermen. Wilson runs in to tell Waller about the containment breach, but she says he’s 45 seconds too slow and asks Alex for his name. Alex begins to introduce himself, but decides it’s time for a rebrand, introducing himself as Lex Luthor, her new chief scientist. Well… shit.

 

So, a big recurring theme this season is going to be communication, or lack thereof. Lois and Clark clearly love each other a lot, but they’re already falling into the trap I think just about everyone in a relationship has fallen into at least once, avoiding talking about things. It’s a lot of “We can talk about it later,” and “it’s not important,” and “this is more important,” between them this season. It’s a common problem and I give the show props for making it the first big relationship hurdle for Clark and Lois since they became official. Can it be annoying? Yes, but only because it’s a level of realism I don’t think we’re used to seeing it on TV. It’s impressive to see how much Waller has been doing in the six months since her takeover of Taskforce X. A new facility, new weapons, and two new super powered agents at her disposal. And as much raw destructive force as Damage can dish out, Atomic Skull is on a whole other level. As his name implies, he fires off atomic energy in those blasts, melting metal in seconds and irradiating the very air around him as he uses his powers. He’s in a class similar to Livewire, where while he can’t hit as hard as Superman his powers sort of bypass invulnerability and go right into “causes extreme pain.” Clark using his powers against himself was a nice touch. The weak link in this episode was Jimmy and his new Flamebird crew. I’m sure Jimmy will need to learn leadership skills to help by the season finale but watching him try to corral four kids and Steve was just kind of dull. Oh, and the Lex Luthor reveal. Okay, some behind the scenes talk. According to interviews, for the first season, the show runners were barred from using Brainiac and Lex Luthor. But, taking a page out from X-Men: The Animated Series, they took that to the literal extreme of “we can’t use the name” and just made a very similar looking character and call them something else. So, Dr. Ivo got a red headed assistant named Alex, and if maybe they were allowed to use Lex Luthor next season then this guy’s full name would be revealed as such. And that’s what they did. It’s funny, because of that rule they were able to set Lex on a similar trajectory as the main trio, being a younger version of himself that is just starting out but rapidly uses his intellect and cutthroat nature to rapidly develop as a power in Metropolis. We’ll be seeing a lot of Lex this season, hope you’re ready. See you later.

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