Review: My Adventures With Superman S3E7: The Ex Games

My Adventures With Superman S3E7, The Ex Games, was another fun diversion after the brutal Cyborg Superman episode back in E5. But this wasn't just about the humor and another breath of fresh air. This episode pushed forward the underlying theme of this season. Who are you and who can you become?

Clark is powerless and has been struggling greatly with who he is if he isn't Superman. Can he even like his life.

Kara has been trying to distance herself from the Brainiac trauma, wondering if she can ever put that violent past behind her, even if she has embraced Earth as a home, a place she loves.

Lois is trying to figure out her future and who she will be if she marries Clark. Will she still be able to be a Lois she is proud of, happy with. 

And Jimmy is Jimmy.

These storylines have been front and center for most of this season, just under the surface of the threat of the Cyborg Superman, the simmering evil of Lex, and the dystopian futures we have seen. It is that seamless mix of character growth and action plot that has made this Superman content one of the best I have seen recently. Toss in humor and deep cut comic references, and you have a winner.

So seeing our main characters in a Squid Game styles tournament against other versions of themselves is a good way to showcase differences. Of course, the tournament is a plot by Mr. Mxyzptlk so everything isn't as it seems.

On to some details that stood out. But seriously, I hope everyone is watching this.

Last episode, our main cast was teleported away. 

We open 'The Ex Games' with our heroes arriving in dimentions. But for some reason, they are dressed like they are going to the beach.

I don't exactly know why there is this artistic choice. But here we are.

And while I get 'Ex Games' is a pun for ESPN's X-Games. But I assumed we would be seeing some 'exes' here ....

And yes, as anticipated based on the pattern of the portals, the perpetrator is Mr. Mxyzptlk.

Mxy is getting divorced from Ms. Gsptlsnz and instead of a long drawn out legal battle, they say the 5th dimension solves the division of assets through games. 

Gsptlsnz is a nice nod to the actual comic name of Mxy's wife. 

And if only divorce was that easy. 

Mxy picked our cast as his team, assuming it would be an easy win because he has Superman on his side.

Except ... Clark is powerless. 

Love how Mxy assumes the flying pose while being irate that he actually doesn't have Superman.

The opposing team. 

'Good' Lex Luthor. General Lois Lane. Jimmy 'Flamebird' Olsen, garbed in high-tech armor. 

But most interesting to me is 'Kara, scion of the House of El'. This is a glaring, fist-clenched, armor wearing Kara. Visually you can see she is more like the Brainiac Kara than ours. 

Kara is thrown by this a little. Remember, all of this is about identity. Even Lois is thrown by this version of herself.

There will be a series of tasks and keys to be obtained. The winner gets to go back to their universe.

The first is a simple race across an open expanse. 

It isn't like the other team is evil. But it is clear their Kara will do what it takes to live, including beaning our Supergirl with a brick. 

Funny.

Both teams get their keys and turn them over to the imps.

The next contest is for the Lois/Kara pairs. 

As said, our Kara is worried that she'll end up like the sterner version. 

The military Lois knows only one person needs to win, so she grabs our Lois and pitches them both off the side of the mountain. Crazy! Turns out that this Lois is just as hell-bent on winning.

And when their Kara almost falls off, our Kara saves her.

Even though she is fearful of becoming that Kara, it is clear she isn't.

In the pit they fell into, their Lois says something important, a theme that carries through.

On their world, Superman died. Everything fell apart afterwards.

We have seen in Season One that there are plenty of universes where Superman is bad. It seems like there are some ... or maybe some timelines ... where he dies. 

The other Kara isn't quite as magnanimous or heroic as ours. 

With the race on the line, she body checks our Kara off the mountain. 

With the key obtained, all four reappear at the beginning. It is chilling when the other hardened, cheating Kara says this is all who Kara will ever be,

You can see the look of fear and concern on our Supergirl's face. 

This running plot with Supergirl has been very good to watch unfold.

The Jimmys and Clark/Lex are on a different playing field looking to find pieces of a puzzle to build a portal. 

The opposing teams pair up to make sure no one is cheating.

In it, 'good' Lex admits that he made a mistake, he didn't listen to Superman at one point. As a result, Superman died. And when 'The Hunger Dogs' arrived, the planet went to Hell.

Hunger Dogs!!! 

Are we going to see some Fourth Wall in this show?

The Lex/Jimmy team win this one too.

The next task is setting the contestants in an icy maze where they see glimpses of possible futures. They need to pick their one true path or be frozen.

Clark can only see ones where he is Superman and wonders if he will ever be him again. (This whole identity crisis with Clark wondering who he is in the world without powers is another great theme bubbling away.) He freezes in his place.

And Lois only sees futures where Superman dies in her arms. She too is frozen. 

But once again it is Supergirl who sort of outshines them all. 

She is nearly frozen in place when she perseverates over becoming a harsh version of herself.

But then she realizes this whole game is a hoax. There is no one true path. She was afraid of what Brainiac said. But there isn't one true path because she carves a new path every day.

She really has grown this season and I love it. In fact, I think this Supergirl is just fantastic.

Finally, both teams realize they are probably being played by the imps and they are right.

Mxy and his wife are collecting the keys to unlock the 'cosmic anvil', a device that can rewrite a universe. A curse bars them from collecting the keys themselves so they formed these teams.

They'll add some incentive. Whoever helps them win the last key can rewrite their own universe.

The Anvil is interesting, a statue of a person pinned to an anvil by lightning. Mxy calls the person a 'sore loser'. Who is it??? Darkseid (like a Promethean Giant sort of thing)?? 

General Lane says they would wish back Clark.

Losing Superman was hard.

Losing Clark cost them everything.

Given our Clark wondering if he has any value, that has to help. And it is interesting that the goodness of Clark sees to be more powerful than Kryptonian powers.

And it is Clark who tells everyone that helping Mxy will only lead to something worse.

I love that 'good' Lex never knew Clark was Superman until they showed him that fact with our Clark. 

But this is a good Lex. He says he will listen to Superman this time. It is a funny bit but I like that this Lex somehow recognizes how much his world misses our hero.

And Clark is right. A timer ends meaning the game is over and the imps lose.

We have two more episodes ahead of us this season. Will we see the Cosmic Anvil again? Or is that a hint for next season?

Back in their time on their Earth, Lois and Clark talk about what happened.

It was Clark who saved the day there, figuring out the timer and that the imps were up to mischief. So suddenly Clark is feeling all right about being who he is.

Lois starts to talk about her thoughts on the future ...

But then a cliffhanger ...

Look this was a great episode with Clark, Lois, and Kara all dealing with identity issues and growing. Seeing the other group talk about how devastating losing Clark was also added to the mix. Loved seeing Mxy again.

And there was the usual banter and humor to keep it all aloft.  But these two bits had me laughing.

One, throughout the episode Kara is extremely annoyed by Mxyzptlk and keeps saying she wants to crush him. 

I love this one where she shocks Jimmy with the saying ... so she adds 'humanely'. Fantastic.

And I love the silliness with the imps. 

They don't know how to relate to humans. For example, Gsptlsnz needs to conjure a 'book of compliments' and awkwardly pats Jimmy's head  when her team wins a round.

Or when we learn the divorce was a lie, a role playing game to spice things up and try to con the heroes to open the anvil for them. And, as always in all media, Mxy seems to be punching out of his weight class with his wife.

What another winner of an episode. Truly, the Supergirl arc this season has been fantastic.