My Adventures with Superman season 1, episode 2 recap: Adventures of a Normal Man Part 2

Just like the beginning of the first episode of My Adventures with Superman, this one starts with a brief scene set in Smallville with a young Clark. This time, he and his parents are uncovering the ship that brought Clark to Earth.

As soon as Clark steps on the ship, lights start to flash, and an image of Jor-El appears, speaking in a language that Clark can’t understand. The spaceship begins to close in on him, and Clark, panicking, quickly runs away and buries the ship, symbolically trying to bury his non-human past as well.

My Adventures with Superman season 1, episode 2 recap – A plan to expose Superman

In the present, we start the day with Lois excitedly showing Clark and Jimmy her board, detailing all of the information she’s gathered on the possible existence of Superman. Clark wants to dissuade Lois and Jimmy from trying to hunt down Superman.

But as Lois talks about how important it is for her to find out more, Clark realizes that he wants to learn more about who he is as well. Faking a stomachache, Clark quickly exits and then hurries back to Smallville where he tells his parents that he wants to learn more about his origins.

He digs back up the ship from the opening of the episode, and once again, a hologram of Jor-El appears. Clark is pulled into the spaceship, as the recording of Jor-El tries to tell Clark where he came from.

Jor-El seemingly can only speak in Kryptonian, but with a series of images, he reveals to Clark that he was Clark’s father, that Clark was sent away as a baby before the planet exploded, and the other basic bullet points of the Superman origin story. Clark is then presented with his house symbol and a uniform that will become his Superman costume.

He returns to his mother, Martha Kent, who has been waiting anxiously outside of the ship. Clark assures her that everything is fine and shows her the Superman outfit.

She wants to make some changes to the overall outfit.

My Adventures with Superman season 1, episode 2 recap – Investigative reporting leading to bombs

Meanwhile, without Clark, Lois and Jimmy are back in Metropolis trying to find some evidence to help them track down Superman. Lois wants to track down Leslie, the woman who attacked them with robots last episode, but Jimmy wants to track down the boat that was used to smuggle the military robots into the city.

They end up doing both because when they locate the boat, they also find a trail that suggests the direction in which Leslie made her getaway. Also, that trail is covered in bombs, so Lois and Jimmy may have discovered more than they bargained for.

Lois and Jimmy pop out of a sewer grate right into a meeting between Leslie and a mysterious mercenary, who seems to be the original owner of the equipment that Leslie stole. Recognizing Lois and Jimmy, and assuming they are part of a trap being set for her, Leslie goes into full attack mode and begins to destroy the block with an electricity-based suit she’s wearing.

Jimmy accidentally sends a message to Clark’s phone letting him know what is going on. Clark rushes back from Smallville in the nick of time to try and stop Leslie.

A battle ensues, and Clark, now fully embracing the name Superman, manages to save the day. However, both Leslie and the mysterious mercenary disappear at the end of the battle.

But a final scene reveals that Leslie has been taken into custody, by a mysterious organization that seems interested in the new superpowers that she seems to have gained from the weapons. Meanwhile, Jimmy managed to get a clear picture of Superman, causing Perry to take the story seriously for the first time, much to Lois’ delight.

However, that delight is short-lived, when the story goes, not to her, but to some of the Planet’s biggest reporters as the episode comes to a close.

My Adventures with Superman season 1, episode 2 recap – The best kind of Superman

This show loves Superman. There are often Superman stories where you can almost feel the creator’s contempt for Superman oozing off of the screen (or page if it’s a comic).

You can see the story missing the point of Superman entirely as it tries desperately to fix something that isn’t really broken. One of the biggest problems with Superman is how often you run into Superman media that want to complain about him.

That is not the problem here. This show gets Superman.

It’s passionate about what makes Superman work. It’s only been two episodes, with only one real big “Superman” scene, and already the show is ready to embrace everything that’s great about this character and this world that would never get to fit into a “dark and gritty” Superman story.

At the same time, the show clearly has a love for the depth that a history like Superman’s can bring. The reporters mentioned at the end of the episode are just names, but they mean something if you’ve got enough old Superman issues stashed away in your house somewhere.

The mysterious mercenary in this episode doesn’t ever come out and say it, but there’s enough hints that you can confidently say that’s Deathstroke. A character in the background of one scene has no lines, but there are fans who will instantly be able to tell you that, given the character design and the location where that character is seen, that’s Amanda Waller.

There’s a whole host of information that you can get from her mere presence in the show.  This show is unabashedly enthusiastic about getting to be a Superman show and be set in the DC universe.

And its enthusiasm is one of the show’s strongest points in these first two episodes. It would carry a weaker show and this show isn’t that.

It’s a statement of what kind of show this is going to be, and it’s headed in that direction without hesitation.

What did you think of My Adventures with Superman season 1 episode 2? Leave your answers in the comments below!

Stay tuned for a new episode July 14 on Max.