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
23rd 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.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/107034435
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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