Welcome Superman fans to our latest thoughts and recap on My Adventures with Superman. The show continues to do a great job of moving both the plot and characters forward while giving even long time fans new surprises. Read on, but beware of spoilers!
1. Third wheeling again
We pick up this week with a call back to the first episode with Lois and Jimmy starting their days. Lois wakes up and rather than being excited for her day she wakes up frustrated. Jimmy wakes up with that same excitement but this time it’s for their Bigfoot camping trip. To Jimmy’s disappointment Clark isn’t home.
Jimmy has split screen phone calls with both Clark and Lois to remind them about the trip, but they are both too focused on what they have going on. Poor Jimmy is left in the dust. Clark is focused on saving people as Superman, and Lois is focused on proving Clark is Superman. To add insult to injury he gets a notification of a response to one of his Flamebird videos. Someone has responded to all of his videos with a “nah!”
Jimmy is assigned to Steve Lombard for the day as his photographer. With Lois and Clark so engaged in what they are doing they never respond to Jimmy’s calls and texts for help. Lombard looks at this as a mentorship opportunity, but Jimmy just wants to escape. This is when Steve drops a bomb on young Olsen. Jimmy is the Steve of his friend group. He’s a lone wolf. Jimmy won’t admit that he’s been left behind by Lois and Clark. It’s Kent, Olsen, and Lane: journalism pals for life. Just doesn’t seem like the other two thirds of the group are focused on that.
Oh and that internet troll saying “nah” to all of Jimmy’s Flamebird videos? Yes even to that one psychic starfish in Germany. It’s Lombard!
Jimmy still has faith in his friends. But that faith isn’t rewarded. Lois and Clark are too caught up in what they have going on and don’t show up at the bus station for their trip. He heads to the camp grounds on his own, but instead of Sasquatch he finds a gorilla! We did get a monsieur Mallah reference in episode one, but this gorilla wasn’t wearing a beret. DC doesn’t have a shortage of intelligent gorillas.
2. The Lois & Clark relationship has hit turmoil
Clark tells Jimmy that he’s going to tell Lois he likes her. She’s been staring at him all day—probably because she knows Clark is Superman and she’s working it out in her head. Sure Lois already knows Clark likes her, but this will be the first time he’s said it out loud. Turns out Clark won’t be taking the big steps he hopes for this week.
Lois is also thinking about how to talk to Clark, but in a different way. She’s putting together the times Clark disappears without a good excuse, mostly bagel related. While waiting for Clark she struggles moving a box of weights there for Steve. Of course Clark picks it up no problem, further cementing her suspicions.
Clark wants Lois to help him crack the story of the tech weapons and brings out his investigation board. Little error here for most of the scene the board says Dr. Ivo twice. At the very end of the scene it is corrected to Intergang. Clark notes there is something weirdly familiar about the tech, but doesn’t explain to Lois what that is.
Clark’s plan is to use an old police dispatch scanner to listen for reports of the weapons. Lois is still on her one track mind and suggests they get Clark and Superman in the room at the same time to talk through it. Clark runs off to get a bagel while the scanner reports on various emergencies for Superman across town. The voice on the scanner is Chris Parnell’s Deathstroke so when they get a report of suspicious people at McGuinness Luxe Garage armed with strange tech weapons we know it’s a trap.
3. More interesting reimaginings
The main baddie of the episode is Heatwave. Not traditionally a Superman villain, but one that fits with the show’s focus on this specialized technology.
Continued belowBeyond the name Rory doesn’t have much in common with her comic book counterpart Mick Rory. She isn’t a pyromaniac with a gun that shoots flames. She’s part of a gang of small time crooks in Metropolis knocking over jewelry stores.
Heatwave’s crew gets attacked by what they think is Superman and several of them are kidnapped. When Superman and Lois track Heatwave down she’s afraid Superman is going to take her too. Heatwave thinks everyone with Livewire supplied tech has been taken by Superman.
Lois handcuffs herself to Superman because she doesn’t want him getting away without her proving he’s Clark. This causes some problems when Heatwave’s gang attacks. With some fancy footwork though, Superman keeps Lois safe and the two of them take out a few gang members.
During the fight Superman has another vision when touching the tech again. This time he sees a meteor shower, a cornfield, and a man we later learn is the general.
When Heatwave escapes Superman tells Lois they need to go to the Daily Planet first. Superman drops her off there and breaks the handcuffs. He won’t let her get hurt. She yells Superman and Clark at him through tears but he flies away. Deathstroke, who had been watching the Heatwave fight, asks Waller and the General who he should follow: Superman or Heatwave. He’s instructed to focus on getting the rest of their stolen tech.
4. The General is Sam Lane right?
We catch up with Heatwave being chased by Deathstroke thinking it’s Superman. When Superman shows up he explains he just wants to help. Deathstroke is given permission to engage with Heatwave and Superman (called Nemesis Omega) by holograms of Waller and General.
Heatwave is quickly taken down by Deathstroke and we start the real fight of the episode. Once again Deathstroke describes himself as being the good guy. Task Force X unleashes robots to assist Deathstroke in taking Superman down and Superman takes a real beating. Superman makes the connection that not only is this the group that’s been kidnapping Heatwave’s gang, but it’s also the group that had the tech to begin with. Superman recognizes the general from his vision.
During the battle an overpass to Blüdhaven is damaged. Waller instructs Deathstroke to take his shot and finish Superman while he’s trying to save people. The general calls off the attack after some back and forth with Waller. She mentions he’ll be responsible for the next zero day, which is an interesting new mystery. Could zero day be the meteor shower that Superman saw in his vision? Is the meteor shower when Superman arrived on Earth like on Smallville? Deathstroke retreats while Superman repairs the overpass.
This is the moment that seals the general as being Lois’s father for me. He cares about people getting hurt. He’s not like Waller where the ends justify the means.
5. This show likes the Donner Cut of Superman II
The episode starts with the picture of Superman with Clark’s glasses drawn on just like in the Donner Cut. Then it ends with another moment straight from that movie. Clark shows up on the roof to meet Lois after his big fight. He blames his scratches on a shaving accident and says he went home to water his plants. Lois tells him she’ll have to do it the hard way and jumps off the building.
Unlike Superman II, Clark does catch her; revealing his secret identity. He explains he wanted to tell her but she was going to publish everything about him. She tells him that she doesn’t know what their relationship was going to be, but it’s all over now.
Our three heroes have never been more apart. Jimmy with a gorilla. Lois and Clark on the outs! Our credits end with a picture of the three of them ripped up. The mysteries of the season deepen. Where did Task Force X get this tech? What do they know about it? What was zero day? Tune in next week for another exciting episode in My Adventures with Superman.
