As the season progresses, the goofiness is revealing itself, like a late on the tongue note from a fine glass of wine. These two are goofy to the max, and I’m here for it.
1. Artistolsen
In what can only be described as the best luck of all time, Jimmy Olsen bumbles his way into nearly killing a cat, has Superman bail him out, and then gets a million dollar reward for it by the eccentric old lady whose cat he almost killed. In an instant, Olsen goes from local goofball to local goofball who thinks he’s part of the aristocracy. It’s practically Dumb and Dumber in terms of his dress and over the top spending.
Due to the show’s budget, Jimmy’s lavish apartment looks pretty much exactly like Clark’s apartment, or the flophouse apartments of any number of hoods we’ve seen on this show. We see Jimmy buying things like a rowboat and oars and an archery set, furthering the show’s portrayal of him as an idiot manchild of undetermined age. I must say, Jack Larson goes hilariously over the top in Jimmy’s new demeanor, and while the choices are, at best, unsophisticated, they are fun.
2. Dumbest way to reset the deck
Although it would’ve been a bold move, there’s no way the episode could’ve ended with Jimmy Olsen still a millionaire. So, how do they get him to lose all of his money? Due to some kidnapping shenanigans, Jimmy and Lois are trapped in a lead-lined basement that just so happens to have a fireplace with a baffle, and so they get the idea to send up an S-O-S in Morse Code to get Superman’s attention. However, the only thing they have to burn is all of Jimmy’s money. No one thought, “Hey, I bet Jimmy’s suit jacket, shoes, sock, pants, shirt, or Lois’s purse would burn just as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
There’s a fun silliness to all of this, but it just seems like the show is undermining Lois here. Sure, Jimmy is a dull boy, but Lois is quite smart. Doesn’t she realize how silly it is to burn more money than she’ll ever see in her life? Sure, no one wants to see Jimmy in his skivvies, but she’ll get over it. Pocket a couple grand for the trouble, Lois.
3. An absolutely bizarre double reference
Both of these episodes had safes in them, which I suppose is why both also had a reference to noted fictional safecracker Jimmy Valentine. I was not familiar with Valentine, so I did a little digging, and it’s not like the O. Henry story was burning up the charts in the mid-1950s. The story was published in 1903, had not been adapted into a film since 1928 or as a radio drama since 1939. I’m not saying that these characters wouldn’t know who Valentine is, but it’s funny to me that the writers would insert Valentine references into both episodes. Clearly, one of the writers brought his O. Henry short story collection into the writer’s room and it was subsequently flipped through by everyone in the office.
4. This is the most incredibly dumb set up for a scene
To begin “Clark Kent, Fugitive,” our pal Inspector Henderson is involved in a shootout with some gangsters, with them in a building and he and some officers behind a cop car. Well, up pulls, in a convertible Clark Kent and Perry White, just casually arriving in an open air target. They don’t park far away, or speed by when they realize the lead flying by them, they just pull up right behind the cop car, both get out casually, and then join the cops in hiding behind the cop car. I know this show often had little time to get the plot pieces in motion, but there is absolutely no excuse for that lazy writing.
5. The best scheme thus far
The crooks in this episode had two separate pieces of their scam that rank among the most clever set ups in the series thus far. First, they plant money in Clark Kent’s car, because why would the cops either cuff or watch a crook? But they then ‘expose’ Clark as part of their gang. That’s fun, if silly. But the other part of their plan is really clever.
They rob a jewelry store, and when the alarm company calls the owner to report the alarm being tripped, they jump him outside of his house. When he comes to, he’s in a hospital with an FBI agent explaining to him what just happened. Except, the FBI agent is one of them, too, so they use that as a ruse to get information to use to take the mark for even more money. They pull this scheme twice, and it works both times.
In general, after the ridiculous arrival scene, this was one of the more fun episodes of the season, due to some strong writing. Good work, George Blair!
