Season 3 starts with candy and ends with mad science.
Last time on My Adventures with
Superman, Clark and Kara teamed up to defeat Brainiac. The scions of the
house of El had to fight off waves of hacked Metallo robots and Brainiac’s
archer cannon but got backup from Clark’s rogues and General Lane to fight them
off. Clark and Kara tried to reason with Brainiac, but he instead activates
Kara’s Eradicator Protocol which turns her into a rage monster and sends her
after Clark. He also monologues for a bit and revealed that he was the one that
killed Krypton after learning they’d brokered a peace with their unnamed enemy.
Clark breaks through to Kara with the power of friendship, and the cousins send
Brainiac’s ship, the Kandor, into space towards the sun. Brainiac, being a sore
loser, activates his Black Zero protocol which infuses the Kandor and himself
with Kryptonite. He fires a Kryptonite infused shot at them, hitting Kara. She
falls into the sun and Clark dives in after her. Their combined powers plus a
solar boost allowed them to overcome Brainiac’s Kryptonite based armor and they
shattered him into a billion pieces, grabbing his processor in the rubble. Kara
gets adopted not only by the friend group of Clark, Lois and Jimmy, but also by
Clark’s parents. The season ended with Clark and Kara grabbing their preferred
human and flying off into the sunset. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall
we?
The episode begins at the Fortress
of Solitude, which has been transformed into a proper Kryptonian building since
the last time Clark had visited. Clark comments on the change in décor and that
he and Kara will start a new chapter of their lives here. He offers to go down
with Kara, as she’s come to put Brainiac’s CPU into storage at the Fortress.
She thanks him but says she has to do this on her own. Clark is then met by the
Stewarts, the robots that are seemingly running the fortress. They all sound
distressed about something but are super vague about what they’re stressed out
about, so Clark can’t make heads or tails of it. I heard the words “Kandorian
Crystals,” which has me… concerned. As Kara puts the CPU into storage, Brainiac
wakes up and warns Kara that this won’t last. He’s impressed that she’s
convinced Clark and the humans that she’s a hero, but at the end of the day,
she’s her father’s daughter and she’ll show her true colors. Kara denies that
this’ll happen and says that she knows who she is. Then Brainiac asks the
surprisingly difficult question, “Then who are you, child?” Kara flies off in a
huff. Clark sees her go and flies after her, which upsets the observers more. Considering
they’re saying things like “Rao’s Child Stirs” and “Overcome him with strength
of will” I think they’ve a right to be concerned. They agree that Kal-El
doesn’t know their ways, the lead robot saying that he will learn, he has to.
Kara heads up into the upper atmosphere, looks down on Earth and asks the same
question that Clark did all the way back in Season 1, “Who am I?”
We then get an updated opening
sequence! It adds Kara to most of the moments, swapping Clark and Lois staring
longingly at each other while Jimmy laughs for Jimmy and Kara staring at each
other while Lois laughs and Clark blushes. There’s then a shot of Clark and
Lois looking at a boy with a sword on his back and the House of El S on his
chest before vanishing, and then Jimmy and Kara joining those two to stare down
their combined rogue’s gallery. It’s a good update.
After the new opener, we join the
Super Crew at the Kent Family Farm. Ma and Pa Kent are running a corn maze and
general Halloween celebration for the local kids, and Jimmy is promoting it
with his Flamebird page. He shows the highlights of the event, Pumpkin carving,
bobbing for apples, the corn maze, and finally, Kara, who is super excited to
pet a dog dressed up as a Pumpkin. Jimmy makes a joke about the corn maze being
so scary that Supergirl had to save him. Kara says that his distress was very
audible. She reassures Jimmy’s viewers that she is in fact Supergirl, don’t be
fooled by her disguise, and she’s here to protect everyone. As they finish the
video, Lois sneaks up on them and notices that something is… up with these two.
She notes that they’re wearing matching costumes and excitedly asks if it’s a
couple’s costume. Kara tells her that it is based on their version of the X-Files,
Challengers of the Unknown. Lois is very delighted to hear that Kara and
Jimmy had watched the whole show, together, alone, with POPCORN! Lois almost
asks if they’re dating, but Kara gets pulled aside to help Clark and Pa fix the
tractor. Jimmy tells Lois not to put him on the spot with Kara like that. Lois
asks what’s up and Jimmy tells her that there’s nothing going on between him
and Kara. While there’s a spark between them that literally anyone can see, he
insists nothing will come of it because he knows that Kara can do better. He
knows that she’ll ditch him the moment she realizes that too. Bro has got
extremely low self-esteem, it seems. Jimmy, she might walk on air, but she
clearly likes you! Kara comes over to tell them they need more small value
Earth Currency for the Plant Maze and Jimmy takes her to go do that.
Lois, who is dressed as Dr.
Frankenstein, complains to Clark, dressed as the Creature, about how Jimmy is
fumbling things with Kara. Clark tells her that they shouldn’t butt in and that
the two of them need to figure this out on their own, as this is both of their
first relationship. Lois is a bit surprised to hear that about Jimmy, but Clark
insists he hasn’t ever seen Jimmy romantically involved before, and they’ve
known each other since college. Lois teases him about this being why they have
bunkbeds. While they’re discussing this, they watch a cute moment where Kara
uses the fact that Kryptonians don’t need to breath to scare Jimmy into
thinking she drowned bobbing for apples.
Clark loves fall on the farm and
when Lois agrees it’s pretty, he brings up that he’s been… thinking about
things. Turns out, Clark’s been looking at listings for small hobby farms near
Metropolis for them to move in together. Lois is down for a ‘hypothetical’
farm, but then Clark also points out that they could also get a dog. Which Lois
is also down for… but then Clark mentions that he’s been looking at prospective
three-bedroom two-bathroom farmhouses near Metropolis in a good school
district… it’s the prospect of reproducing that makes Lois panic a little and
ask how long he’s been ‘thinking’ about this. Clark admits it’s been since
Brainiac almost destroyed the world, it made him think about ‘the future.’ Lois
is clearly scared of change. Clark sounds a little disappointed but
understanding when it sounds like Lois might not be into the idea. Lois quickly
backpedals, saying that she does want that life with him, but maybe they
should take it slowly. She knows that he had a good childhood with Ma and Pa at
the farm but her relationship with her dad was… weird. She’s pulled out of the
conversation when Lois notices her DAD is at the event. He’s in his dress
uniform and enjoys Martha’s apple pie. General Sam Lane tells her that the
Kents invited him, he’s retired now but is doing work at the Pentagon. It’s
much lower stress than when he was running Taskforce X. He says he’s at the
event just to see her and enjoy the holiday. He even gives Lois her old compass
from when they used to do wilderness weekends that he’d found in his office. In
case she needs help finding her way.
Sam then ruins the moment by revealing
that there was a break in at the Pentagon and he wants Lois to tell Superman to
check it out. He says that someone stole files on a program connected to
Project: Cadmus and Taskforce X dubbed Project: Caliban. Lois clarifies that
this Project: Caliban is a Kryptonian bio-weapon project, which, ya know, is
bad. She agrees to help and runs to get everyone, with Sam shouting after her
the clarification that he wants Superman to check it out.
Clark, Kara, Lois and Jimmy head
out and find a fenced off area and some old warehouse looking buildings. Clark
makes her promise that they’d be back in time to hand out candy, which Lois
does, and then he hurls the fence out of the way. Inside, they just find a
dilapidated warehouse. Lois thinks they’ve really cleaned out the place, but
Jimmy thinks otherwise. He noticed that there are no roads, trails, or plumbing
for this building. It’s like someone built a shell and left it empty. Kara
notices what she calls a dog. Kara seems to be under the impression that all
Earth animals are dogs. Jimmy tries to correct her and says it’s a deer… but
then the deer turns its head and its revealed to have a two headed monster.
It’s a deer with a second head, a wolf. The two heads are connected by the eye.
Kara chases after the dog-deer, saying she wants to pet it. Deeper in the
woods, they find a hidden bunker.
The group quickly deduce that
something really strong broke out of the bunker and then tried to force the
door back into place. Kara, Jimmy and Lois want to go inside, but Clark is less
than enthused. Jimmy asks, “What could be better than solving a mystery on
Halloween with your three best friends?” with Clark responding, “I don’t know,
bobbing for apples!” Lois tells him to lighten up a little and they head
inside.
They descend several flights of
stairs, Jimmy mentioning that he hopes the digging didn’t disrupt the race of
dino people living beneath the earth. Lois tells him that the Earth isn’t
hollow and filled with Dino-people. Jimmy counters by asking ‘Like how aliens
and bigfoot weren’t real?” Lois claims Clark doesn’t count as an alien, and
Bigfoot was Monsieur Mallah. They find the biolab; it’s filled with huge
incubation tubes with various experiments growing inside. Lois notices one of
the tubes is damaged and tells the others there’s been fighting in there. Jimmy
finds a filing cabinet full of documents. He looks through it while Lois walks
in deeper. She hears something running around in the background and we see
canine-like feet run passed her. She finds an empty tube, its plaque reads:
Subject B-1Z, DNA Sequence: Extraterrestrial, Outcome: Viable. Lois hears glass
breaking and sees another empty tube.
Jimmy leaf’s through the documents,
learning that the creatures here were made from DNA taken from the Zero-Day
event and wonders if this was a weapons program. Clark and Kara go off together
and Kara tells Clark that Kryptonian DNA is in those tanks. Clark ominously
states, “They were trying to create us…”
Losi realizes she was separated
from everyone and starts to freak out. She gets ambushed by a mutant animal. It’s
like a six limbed, five-eyed lizard. Clark and Kara hear Lois scream and super
speed to her. Kara asks, “Is this a dog?” as Clark charges it, shouting, “No.”
Whatever this creature is made out of, it’s a sturdy beast. It slices through
Clark’s shirt, revealing his costume, before firing a freeze ray from its
mouth. It freezes Clark in place, but Kara knocks it back and he’s able to
break free. They fall back from the creature, grabbing Jimmy and enter into a
decontamination chamber.
After being sterilized, they find a
room filled with Kryptonian plants that Kara recognizes. Jimmy gets grabbed by
Kandorian Ivy, but Kara saves him. They have a moment, but Lois ruins it by
saying that the forest thins out ahead. The find a clearing with a single oak
tree growing in the middle. Clark sees a mound of dirt and uses his X-Ray
vision to confirm there’s a body buried there. It’s old, the body is just a
skeleton in a lab coat now. His ID says he’s George Otto Binder. Lois thinks
that something got loose in the lab and killed the scientists. Clark points out
that it’s weird that whatever killed him buried the guy. He goes to grab
Binder’s glasses that were left like a headstone, causing a hulking creature to
lunge at him. Everyone, say hi to B-1Z, aka Bizarro! B-1Z attacks Clark, his
huge frame letting him overpower even Clark’s spectacular strength. Unbeknownst
to them, a flying robot is tracking their movements. Kara decks B-1Z to get it
off Clark, calling it a Kryptonian Clone, an abomination. The lizard thing
leaps out of the foliage to guard B-1Z. Before they can do anything about it,
there’s an earth-shaking slam that scares B-1Z off. Jimmy asks the obvious,
what scares something like that?
Clark and Kara force open a door in
the direction of the quake. They find a forest of trees, more oaks. Weirdly,
they find things like a kite in a tree (exactly like the one Clark had to fly
up and free), blocks, child drawings, making everyone realize that a child was
being raised here. Clark hears a noise in the distance, someone calling for
help and he super speeds away to investigate. Kara also hears something and
goes to investigate. She finds a little classroom setup on the outskirts of the
trees and a TV playing a video of Dr. Binder giving a lesson. The advice Binder
gives is ‘no matter what, choose to be kind.’
Clark finds a shattered wall and
hears someone calling for help. He rips the wall open and they find a robot
inside, it playing the cry for help. The Robot charges Clark, knocking him
aside. It flies out and connects with that robot we saw earlier, turns out that
small robot was its head. It flies away and attacks B-1Z. Clark tells his
humans to stay with Kara. He super speeds over and saves B-1Z from being shot
with a blast of energy. He realizes that the robot was the one destroying the
lab and that B-1Z was just defending himself. B-1Z warns Clark as the Robot
charges him again.
Back in the lab, Jimmy and Lois
find Kara watching Binder’s lesson. Jimmy reveals that Binder was the head
scientist of this project, based on the files he found. Lois guesses that
Binder was raising the clone as a weapon, but Kara corrects her, saying that
Binder was raising the clone as his son. Which, ya, tracks with the children’s
toys and drawings. Kara says that Binder taught B-1Z how to grow things, gave
him a reverence for life that her own father, Brainiac, never allowed to form
in his weapon. She claims to not even know how to grieve, so there’s no way
B-1Z was raised like her. Jimmy realizes that Binder was protecting the clone
from people that wanted to exploit him.
Clark fights off the robot, though
it is able to shoot a laser through the lizard’s side. He asks B-1Z if he’s
alright. The robot attacks Clark, grappling him and attempts to self-destruct
to kill him. Clark tells B-1Z to run as he flies up to get him clear. The root
explodes and the blast is intense enough to knock out Clark. This triggers a
lab failsafe, and the building starts to flood. B-1Z finds the knocked-out
Clark. He grabs Clark and leaps them out of the building to safety. He calls
Clark his “friend,” before he hears the others approaching. He grabs his lizard
and leaps away.
That night, Clark answers the door
for some trick-or-treaters. They’re dressed as a reference. … A bird, a plane
and a little superman. Clark passes out candy and the start struck little
superman is pulled along by his siblings. Clark stands and Lois puts an arm
around his waist, a motion Kara copies immediately with Jimmy. Totally, Jimmy,
she’s so not in to you. She’s just copying casual touching for no reason.
We cut to the streets of Metropolis
where B-1Z is wandering around. He remembers his father’s message about
choosing to be good and kind, and how his choices will shape the world. A child
hands B-1Z a sucker, and he sees his ‘friend’ on the big screen as Superman
saves the day, causing the big lug to smile.
We cut to LexCorp. Lex is looking
through the footage his robot sent him. Slade walks in and asks about Caliban.
Lex says that the project is a bust, they didn’t get a viable sample and
Superman ruined everything. Slade offered to go get the drone, but Lex tells
him not to bother. He says they’ll go see Henshaw. Slade asks why, when Hank
Henshaw needs machines to breathe. Lex says that’s what makes him perfect. We
get a shot of Hank Henshaw, and he’s not looking good. His face is covered in
metal bits, his head is hooked up to a brain scanner of some kind, and he’s
wrapped up like a mummy. If you know anything about Hank Henshaw, you know
where this is going…
This was a great start to the new
season. My theory is that the only reason we’re picking up on Halloween is to
set up Clark and Lois’ personal drama for the season. They chose Halloween as a
timestamp, to show us that it has been at least a year since the season 1
finale, which took place on Thanksgiving. Why? To make it clear that neither
Clark nor Lois is ‘wrong’ with this drama. Clark is ready to move onto the next
phase of their relationship, going from long time dating to cohabitation and/or
marriage. And when you’ve been with a partner for 1.5-2 years, that’s a
reasonable expectation. Lois is definitely not, which, when you’ve been with a
partner for 1.5-2 years, isn’t an unreasonable reaction. Which isn’t to say
that she doesn’t want to settle down and start a family with Clark… but she’s
(about) 25, and that’s a huge lifestyle change. She’s enjoying the adventure
and freedom she has right now, something that could end at least for a while if
they go the farm and kids’ route. Lois is 25 going on 26, and Clark is 24 going
on 40, they need to make some adjustments. Jimmy and Kara’s relationship drama
is going to be… a trip. Let’s just say, we’re starting a plot point that is…
divisive online. The lab is interesting, and getting a new spin on Bizarro is
always fun. I should note that his creator, Dr. George Otto Binder, is his creator
in multiple senses. The character is named after DC artis Otto Binder, who created
the original Bizarro, and is also credited for co-creating Supergirl and being
a major writer for the Captain Marvel series. Due was a big deal. Now,
typically, Bizarro is depicted as a failed clone of Superman, with chalky
white, rocklike skin, and usually displays some kind of diminished
intelligence. Sometimes he’s stupid, sometimes he’s confused, sometimes he
speaks with the opposite meaning. (He says, “I hate you,” when he means “I love
you,” that sort of thing.) This version they seem to be playing up more of a
naiveite, since he was raised in isolation and had been along since Binder’s
death. So, he’s not stupid, just timid and lacking in real world skills. We’ll
see him a few times in this season and he adjusts well to his new surroundings.
He’s a very good boy at heart. And the tease with Hank, oo, that’s a good
tease. For those NOT in the know, Hank Henshaw is mostly known in the DC mythos
by the name “Cyborg Superman.” So, you can probably guess from that name alone
what Lex is going to do with that broken man. But more on that next time. Have
a good night and stay safe, everyone.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/u2761062/posts/viewer-log-my-ep-165423978
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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