Most Eligible Superman
Can I start with how much I love that we are getting a new weekly animated Superman show that is full of so many surprises? This character has so much potential for new great stories 80+ years into his existence. Let’s talk my thoughts on this latest episode.
Kara not Zod
I admit, I was wrong. Last year for the season one finale I assumed the character next to Brainiac was Zod. I’m willing to bet they had planned for it to be Zod too, but when writing season two they had a good pitch for it to be Kara. I also assumed that the Kryptonian figure hovering above Earth last week was Brainiac.
The show threw a curve ball and surprised me! Kara seems to have been raised by Brainiac! She calls him father, he’s the Primus, she’s his Scion. She wants Earth to kneel before the new Kryptonian Empire! I assumed there would be some adversity when Kara shows up. Not silver age buddies immediately, but this isn’t how I expected they’d do it.
We heard early on that season two was made right after season one. My initial assumption was that they produced the two seasons together. But in a recent podcast interview with show runner Jake Wyatt, he mentioned that they had a much bigger writers room for season two. Feels like this change was something the writers came up with later and it works.
I did really like Kara’s time with Jimmy. I think it will be a major part of Clark showing Kara the error of her ways. She already seems ready to defy Brainiac. Plus she loves ice cream as much as Wonder Woman does! Who would subjugate a planet that makes something as wonderful as ice cream?
Last notes on Kara this week: I dig her Ramona meets Android 18 look. Anj at Supergirl Comic Box Commentary did not like this take on Kara, saying that this is an overdone trope. I’m not certain I completely agree, but I do know what it’s like to see evil Clark constantly and how frustrating that can be.
Easter Eggs keep coming
The contestants in the most eligible contest Chandi Gupta, Byrna Brilyant, Silver St. Cloud, and returning guest Hank Henshaw were good DC deep cuts. Although Henshaw was married in his initial appearance only a few episodes ago so I don’t know how he’s an eligible bachelor. Of the new cameos only Silver and George Taylor really get to do anything. The others were just winks to people who know obscure characters. I am loving the continuing expansion of the universe.
Truth, Justice, and Hope on Bluesky thinks that Henshaw is a red herring:
Couple of thoughts on MAWS s2 so far:
I love that Michael Emerson (Ben from Lost) is playing Brainiac. Perfect casting
I predict that Henshaw is a fake out, and that Cyborg Superman will be a Brainiac- infected Zor-El
[image or embed]— Truth Justice and Hope (@aboutsuperman.bsky.social) Jun 16, 2024 at 6:10 PM
I think this is a great prediction. The show loves to subvert expectations and this would be highly motivating for Kara. I do think they’ve used too much Henshaw and set him up in such opposition to Superman that it would be a waste to not amp that up. Maybe not as Cyborg Superman, but at least as an adversary of some kind. Maybe he’ll get stretch powers to mirror his introduction as a Reed Richards-type character.
Lois & Clark (and Jimmy)
The “A” plot of the episode was the Lois and Clark relationship. Maybe the show feels like they got them together too early because it seems like now they are trying to keep them apart.
Last week I said that I liked the way they kept Lois & Clark separate and pushed their character’s insecurities to heighten the drama. I liked it a bit less this week. Superman being the most eligible bachelor as a way to make Lois jealous didn’t ring true for me. She knows Clark. She knows what he is interested in. She can be afraid he’s going to leave like the General without her being jealous of Silver St. Cloud. She knew the whole reason he was there! It was her idea to get suspicion off them! It fell flat for me.
It did work as a way to make Kara think he was weak and maybe for that reason it was worth it.
I’m a big fan of secret identity excuses especially when Clark being a terrible liar makes bad ones. When Lois is in on the secret she usually has better excuses for him, but it’s still fun to hear the bad ones. I loved it when Lois used the feeding the meter excuse twice this episode. Cat is so oblivious to Clark and would never assume he’s Superman. I definitely don’t want Batman on this show, but it would be funny if Silver was dating Bruce leading Cat to think that Bruce is Superman.
Jimmy and Clark were the same way as Lois and Clark this week. Jimmy avoiding Clark after the Symposium didn’t connect for me. It just felt like a way to make Clark feel alone again rather than something this Jimmy would actually do.
Days til Jimmy is insolvent
Last episode he ended at $3,204,002. Between then and now he’s spent $204,804! On his day with Kara he spent at least another $414 ending with $2,998,784. Side note: I’d love a FlameBird credit card.
We’ve hit the halfway point with another great episode. It lokos like Brainiac has some plans for Clark so we’ll see what happens when they meet. Come back next week for “The Machine Who Would Be Empire”