Review: My Adventures With Superman S2E9

The penultimate episode of season 2 of My Adventures With Superman came out this week. 

It is intriguingly called 'Superman!' and I think that title works for a number of reasons, especially given the exclamation point. This is Clark shaking off the fake life Brainiac has been giving him, rebecoming Superman. But we end on what seems to be doomsday and so that scream might be people asking to be saved.

I like this show. I love the dynamics of Lois and Clark in this show. I like how she saves him in this episode, opening his mind to the fake life Brainiac has fed him. I like how Superman and Kara decide to team up and fight in the end. I even like how Amanda Waller and Lex Luthor are shown, perhaps, the error of their ways. There are some nods back to this show itself and even to comics. It is both serious and comedic and wholesome all at the same time. This show is way way better than I thought it was going to be and I had pretty high hopes.

This is 'Supergirl Comic Box Commentary' so I have to talk about Supergirl's role here. 

As I have said, at length, I don't think that we needed her to have a dark past, whether as cruelly raised tool of Brainiac or mind-controlled/possessed genocidal weapon of destruction. I did know she would end up in a good place. And this episode cements both that dislike and ending. Kara starts the episode utterly defeated. She thinks Brainiac-possessed Clark is unstoppable. She calls the situation 'hopeless'. She sulks a little. She knows she has killed. It is only when Jimmy spurs her to be a hero that she shakes the doldrums and flies into battle. Heck, she seems ready to sacrifice herself for Earth. She ends up a hero.

But the truth is we could have eliminated all the darkness and got to this same place. She could have been happily exploring for Brainiac as a student for him. He could have destroyed these worlds while she was out on the next mission (we see he has to tech to destroy worlds). She might have realized she was a well-meaning dupe who didn't kill opposed to the 'raised as an angry warrior and world-killer'. We have been shown she has good traits throughout the show. Why we needed the dark varnish over her character still perplexes me. It wasn't needed. (And I know there is an outside chance that everything Kara remembers are implanted ... so maybe she isn't a killer. I can still hope.)

Anyways, I am glad Kara will end up a hero. And overall the show is entertaining and fun. Intrigued to see how it all wraps up. 

Last episode ended with a young looking Kal running to his family on Krypton, stuck in the clutches of the 'Black Mercy' tech. 

We pick up in that simulation. Kal looks much older. Like at least 10 years older. Does that mean, in Clark's mind, he has lived 10 years of life, akin to the Black Mercy Alan Moore story? 

If yes, it shows Clark's resilience. Because despite Brainiac trying to mold his mind (here Lara says 'caring is a weakness'), he remains a loving guy.

Here he is feeding a pet sun-eater (nice nod to All-Star Superman) but because the sun-eater is the last of its kind. 'Kal' wants to learn from this thing. Internally, he probably sees himself, alone, in that sun-eater.

If there was one part of the show that I am not sure was truly necessary it was Lois' amnesia at the beginning of the show. I suppose going into the Mercy wipes your mind clean (like Clark who forgot his Earth life and accepted the sim). The plot point goes away almost immediately. 

She is an anomaly in the matrix and so is picked up and captured by the Jor-El and Lara avatars. 

The jump ship with Jimmy, Lois, and Kara blips back onto Earth ahead of Brainiac. They hope to warn Earth to let everyone prepare. 

But the other bad guys on the show- Lex, Waller, and their cronies - show up with Kryptonite. Deemed traitors for helping Superman, they are arrested.

I am pretty sick of Amanda Waller being everywhere. But this bespectacled and well-coiffed Luthor is very interesting. He is brought down a peg in this episode. Will it teach him humility? Or make him double down into arrogance?

Inside the sim, Brainiac recognizes Lois for who she is. It knows that they have control of Superman's body because his persona is immersed and placated in the fake Krypton life.

She represents a glitch that could derail the simulation.

No matter where she is, Lois can be a spanner in the works.

Kal ends up running into the imprisoned Lois.

He is still Clark though. He feels different. He isn't a warrior on this world. He cares.

We don't know when Brainiac found Kara. But I assume he raised her (given the 'father moniker). 

Unlike her, Clark has his whole old life behind him to set him up to fight this. His not embracing the life of a Kryptonian warrior and being different, even here, shows he is fighting this. I like that a lot.

He frees Lois so he can give her some food. When the two touch, Lois' memories flood back.

She tries to remind Clark of his old life but it doesn't work. 

Trying to rid the sim of her presence, Brainiac 'erases' her.

But instead of killing her, it just sends her back to the point she first awoke in the sim and at that same time.

It's like Edge of Tomorrow on Krypton! 

I love Edge of Tomorrow so I was on board.

Meanwhile, Perry, Vicki Vale, and others block the military prison transport that has Jimmy, Kara, and the unconscious Lois in shackles. 

I love that it is a diversion so Steve Lombard (of all people) can free them from the back.

And I love ... I mean LOVE ... that this Lombard drives an old school van with a wolfpack painting on it. That IS perfect!

It truly is like Edge of Tomorrow where we see multiple times that Lois makes her way to Clark and tries to remind him of who he is only to be erased to start over.

It is only when she finally says she loves him that Clark starts to remember.

I said it above but I love how Lois and Clark play off each other on the show.

Meanwhile, Kara thinks all is lost. She can't beat Brainiac. She isn't a hero. She was a puppet.

Both Steve and Jimmy help her. Steve tells her that getting knocked down but getting back up is what a hero does. It is what Superman does.

Jimmy reminds her that she can decide who she wants to be. 

It is a nice compare/contrast. Lois has to help Clark rediscover who he is. Jimmy has to help Kara discover who she really is. 

I wish Kara some internal drive to do what's right as well. But we have seen her heart now and then. 

Within the sim, Brainiac is sick of Lois mucking things up and seems ready to try and kill Kal's identity when Lois steps up and stops him. I am 99% sure this pose has been seen before on this show, perhaps Superman saving Lois?? Anyone remember?

I hope it is an homage to something earlier in the show. How cool is this ... Lois saving him!

But this is all internally happening while the body of Superman, possessed by Brainiac, arrives with Kandor and the drone army. 

Finally we see Kara step up and try to fight Brainiac to defend Earth. She acknowledges how she was the destroyer of worlds. It still makes me upset.

But I do love how we see her ready to pick up the mantle of hero.

Before too much can happen though, Lex's now Kryptonite-powered Metallo drones show up.

Inside the sim, the fight for Clark's mind continues.

This was my favorite moment of the show. Clark explains that in his mind Lois' is the strongest person he knows. That is why she has powers in this world. Chills.

She says she loves him and kisses him. More chills.

That's right! A middle-aged man got chills from a Superman cartoon. 

That finally breaks the spell completely.

Suddenly Clark is back in his true Superman outfit.

And notice their eyes. We have seen this Superman evoke blue-eyes and blue-energy when he needs to do something extra to save someone. 

Here even Lois has them as they break out of the sim.

On Earth, Brainiac activates Kandor's 'Archer beam', which looks likes something which will blow up the planet. It reminded me in some ways of Zod's terraforming beam in Man of Steel.

Kara flies up and blocks it! Looks like it takes a ton out of her but she threw herself in front of it to save Earth.

The next bolt is blocked by the now freed Superman.

Interesting new costume. A bit too fussy for my tastes. But the shoulders were the fashion on Krypton so this is like a mix.

Kara has seen the light and it is time for the super-cousins to finally team up!

I love it!

Unfortuntely, now back in his robot body, Brainiac is incensed. He takes control of Lex's Kryptonite powered robots and wipes out Superman and Kara. 

Earth is doomed!

I better get some Super-family action in the finale!

Great episode. Love the Lois/Clark moments in particular the ending bit in the sim. I am glad Kara has turned the corner and realizes her life was a lie. 

What did you all think?