Welcome Jimmy Olsen fans to our latest thoughts and recap of My Adventures with Superman. We never actually get Superman in this episode, but new characters and secrets are revealed. Read on, but beware of spoilers!
1. Be our guest
Jimmy is the belle of the ball this week; with Monsieur Mallah and The Brain filling in for Lumiére and Cogsworth. Heavy French accented character with a clock-faced companion who have been cooped up in hiding for years showing an outsider their magical world. Looks like anime isn’t the only influence on the show.
The episode begins with Lois and Clark both searching for Jimmy. Clark wants Lois’s help, but she’s still angry at him for the secrets and lies. She agrees to help, but only for Jimmy.
Once in the woods Lois shows her tracking skills and explains her dad took her on wilderness survival weekends. She tells Clark there is a lot about her he’s never going to know. They come across a restricted area fence and Clark is surprised he missed it in all his flights over the area. Lois tries calling Jimmy’s phone and hears it ringing on the other side of the fence. When Clark follows he is hit by a red forcefield that is surrounding the whole area. Magical barrier around a castle? This explains why Clark wasn’t able to see this area from above: it is hidden somehow by this forcefield. On Jimmy’s phone they see the video he made last episode. Jimmy has been kidnapped by big foot!
Jimmy is so happy to be right about all his conspiracy theories and so upset that his friends let him down that Mallah feels sorry for him and shows him around Cadmus Labs. In adaptations Cadmus is the stand in for generic super secret government labs so I think it works with what they’ve done here.
Lois and Clark walk by a sign for a Cadmus minefield and are reminded of a Flamebird video where Jimmy describes Cadmus as area 52. The minefield area was the site of a major battle and upon walking into it Clark unknowingly triggers a robot. Lois asks if Jimmy knows that Clark is Superman. Clark tells her no and that he doesn’t want to talk about this. She doesn’t let him get off that easily and asks if everything he’s said and done is just a cover. Lois wants to know if Clark lied about his feelings for her. At that moment they start to be chased by the robot
Meanwhile, Mallah gives Jimmy a tour of Cadmus and fills in the backstory. 22 years ago Cadmus and Task Force X were given strange technology by the government. Undoubtedly Kryptonian tech from when Clark landed. Their orders were to make weapons, but Cadmus was not interested in destruction. This is how Mallah gained his super intelligence. Task Force X was then sent in to destroy what they had built. During the attack the unstable black hole they created went critical and destroyed most of the facility. This is how Brain lost his body. Presumed dead by Task Force X, Mallah and The Brain are left alone to be together.
Lois and Clark continue to try and evade the attacking robots without much luck. Clark tries to fly them both away, but the force field prevents it. A laser cannon activates and shoots at them, but Clark is able to shield Lois—losing his shirt in the process. Lois asks if Clark knew he would be bulletproof. He didn’t, but he knew Lois definitely wasn’t.
Jimmy finds a new black hole. Mallah explains they are trying to stabilize it into a wormhole. They hope to create a gateway to another dimension where we are welcomed not feared. It is perfectly safe as long as nothing messes with the flow of power to the room Mallah says just as the lights begin to dim.
2. Jack Kirby Love
Lois and Clark arrive at the facility and Clark is greeted by a punch in the face from The Brain in his full mech form. Jimmy stops the fight and explains that Lois and Clark are his friends; the bad ones.
Cadmus isn’t the only Jack Kirby creation we get in this episode. The robots that are chasing Lois and Clark? The Brain identifies them as OMACs. Sent by Task Force X, they are not part of Cadmus security. When the OMACs reach the lab Mallah sends out his mutants which look like Kirby’s DNAliens inspired by the anime Gurren Lagann. He says they got bored one year in to hiding and made some mutants.
Continued belowThe crew retreats back into the black hole room. As they fight back the OMACs, Mallah and Brain give them instructions on how to keep the black hole stable. Mallah realizes that they need to let the black hole reach critical mass for it to stabilize. The black hole begins to suck in the OMACs and Clark is just barely able to save the group.
3. Jimmy knew all along
During the battle Clark apologizes to Jimmy and tells him his secret. This Jimmy has great observational skills. Not only was he right about the super intelligent French gorilla, he already knew Clark was Superman. They’ve been roommates since freshman year! Like in the first episode; the day Jimmy and Clark met Clark ripped a handle off a door and blamed it on the screws. He didn’t say anything before because it seemed like a sensitive subject.
Lois and Jimmy want to know why Clark never told them before. He says that he just wanted to be normal. He doesn’t want to be treated like an alien, he just wanted to be their friend. Lois and Jimmy tell him they don’t care what he is, just who he is.
4. Definitely Kryptonian Technology
We get more indications that this technology is definitely Kryptonian. The force field that surrounds Cadmus? It’s called the red sun omega field. This isn’t the first omega reference either. Could we also be getting Darkseid, another Kirby creation? The Brain warns Clark about the general. The red sun omega field and the OMACs both reacted to Clark. He is definitely connected to the tech in someway and he is now in Task Force X’s crosshairs. He describes the general as a man who would blot out the sun if he thought his country demanded it. Blotting out the sun would certainly cause Superman some problems. The Brain suggests Clark come with him and Mallah. He is different and strange like them. Clark says he wants to help the world be more welcoming to people who are different.
Lois and Clark have patched up their rift and hold hands while Monsieur Mallah and The Brain walk through the wormhole to their new world.
5. Parasite working with Task Force X
The episode ends with the general at what is left of Cadmus Labs. He explains this place brings back memories. It was his first operation and the first hard call he had to make. Now he wants the Parasite to give his opinions on the tech they’ve found. Why would Ivo help Task Force X? They both want the same thing: to take down Superman.
Our heroes are back together as indicated by the photo at the end of the credits. We’ve got three episodes left (next week’s Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal and then the two-part Zero Day) and it feels like we are moving quickly towards a climax. Is this technology really Kryptonian and did it arrive with Superman? How will Clark learn more about his origins? What is Zero Day? Is the general really Lois’s father? Tune in next week as we see the show’s interpretation of Mr. Mxyzptlk!
