Episode Thirteen: Two's A Crowd

Earl Garver attempts to hold the city hostage with a hidden, lead-encased bomb while holed up in his booby trapped home.  Unfortunately, Superman gives him a major concussion before he can find out the location of the bomb.  MPD chief Maggie Sawyer elects to bring in the Parasite, in an attempt to learn the bomb's location.  Unfortunately, Garver's strength of will causes his consciousness to be absorbed and he takes over from hapless Rudy.  Parasite and Superman square off in an abandoned subway, but when it become apparently that Garvin intends to sacrifice Rudy to kill Superman, Rudy fights back.  Despite failing to overcome Garvin, the distraction allows Superman to throw the bomb down a deep pit.  The ensuing blast knocks Parasite unconscious.  Later, Garvin awakes in his own body but finds that Superman is already taking him to prison.  Garvin has to walk past Rudy's cell, where Parasite is laughing at the television he won for helping the MPD.


Evan:  Here is this episode's problem.  Not only does Lois Lane not appear, neither does Clark Kent.  Instead, we get Superman and Sawyer attempting to solve the mystery of the hidden bomb while Parasite gets a newer, meaner inhabitant.  This one was all action, which was fairly dull to me as I missed our cast.

I actually don't have very much to say about this one.  I still like Rudy as the hapless Parasite, but I think some mumbo-jumbo about strength of will is a weak way to make Parasite a threat for the episode.  It felt like an immediate attempt to walk back the decision to make Parasite fairly cowardly.  I also found the conclusion to be very similar to the Metallo episode, except stupider.

Why does Superman need a scuba-diving suit?  Why does he own such a suit featuring a large Superman shield and a similar shield on a wet-suit underneath?  Is STAR Labs that bored?  Come to think of it, wasn't that Dr. Hamilton in the first scene?  Was Garvin a STAR Labs employee?  Sadly underdeveloped.

I still like Dan Turpin.  He was background in this episode, which felt about right.  It feels nice to know the name of at least one cop.

So, I'm hoping that we see an episode with Lois up front soon.  After featuring in the first half of the season, she's completely fallen off the map.  That stole a lot of the show's charm.  Superman is nice, but he needs his supporting cast.  Sawyer has no character.  Turpin is your basic cop character.  Dr. Hamilton wasn't in this one.  Where is Lois, Jimmy, Lex, Perry, Mercy or even that reporter Lois hates?

Where's Clark?  That's the biggest indictment of this episode.  Where's Clark?

Kristin: Ok, allow me to begin with the fact that even Evan noted the fact that the Chief of Police's jacket was longer than her skirt. And even that didn't go below mid-thigh. I mean, this is the equivalent of her look from Burberry Prorsum:

And this is generous.

When a man thinks that the skin is getting to be a bit much, you know that something is not sitting right design-wise. This is supposed to be a hardened cop who has worked her way to the top with the likes of Eyebrows McGee, and I'm supposed to buy that she's modelling her look on Burberry's latest runway mini trench dress?

I am also supposed to believe that I give a crap about these two cops over Lois, Jimmy, Luthor (yes, even Lana), AND any further character development from Clark Kent himself?! I don't know how the writers got this far off the rails. Understanding Evan's reverence for these Kirby characters stems from his complete idolization of their creator, I have to say that they are so flat that they make me want to throw myself into that pit with the bomb. The bomb pit. Then again, I might just be in a danger-esque mood after watching Rob Ford take Toronto by storm... Get off the gravy train, folks, we're all goin' to crazy town!

Anyway... I don't even know what to say about this episode again. I'm not sure why we needed to bring up another criminal-whose-name-I-can't-even-bother-to-remember and I'm really not sure why we needed to see Parasite again this soon in the series. Cop out. This whole episode was filled with cop outs. Cheap new villain, convenient accomplice Parasite, even more convenient bomb pit.

Bomb pit.

Final Thoughts: We bet off-screen Lois and Jimmy are having a hell of a time trying to sneak into LexCorp to find out if Luthor was behind or knows anything about the mysterious alien technology Intergang suddenly seemed to have access to. What adventures they must be having! We wonder if they'll manage to sneak their way in frame next episode...

Evan's Episode Rating: 3/10 (Lois Lane Ratio: Does Not Appear.) - Let's just rename the show Dan Turpin: The Animated Series and call it a day.

Kristin's Episode Rating: 2/10 - Bomb pit.