Saturday, June 29, 2024

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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