The War with Krypton

In the right hands SupermanThe first big superhero from DC Comics, Superman has survived any number of pretenders to the throne, besting not only other comic titans but even Wolrd War II to remain one of only three comics to continue publishing since the 1940s. can be awesome. Yes there is a vocal contingent online that thinks Superman is boring, a big, dumb, overpowered boy scout, a nothing character. They are wrong. His goodness, his heart, and what he chooses to do with his abilities define him and they make his character rich and interesting. We’ve seen that over on Superman & Lois, the CW show that perfectly cast Tyler Hoechlin in the lead role of the Man of Steel, and we also got another perfect version of the character in season one of My Adventures with Superman, an adorable, anime-inspired series all about, yes, Lois Lane’s adventures with Superman.

Now having wrapped up its second season (okay, yes, season two wrapped in July and I’m just now getting around to it), it’s time to evaluate how the show did growing into its sophomore year. Considering it comes to use from Studio Mir, the production house that also gave us Voltron: Legendary Defender and The Legend of Korra, it was possible the second season could be amazing… or awful. Certainly the later seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender struggled to match the high points of the early series of the series. Too much power-creep, too much rushing through storylines. Would this new season follow in the strong footsteps of the first season, or would it stumble like other works from the studio.

Honestly, having now watched the season, it’s a bit of both. This second season of My Adventures with Superman takes some big swings, not just with its characters but with its storylines. I appreciate some of these moves as they introduce new threats and broaden out the possible storylines for the series. But at the same time it leads to a finale that shows a lot of the same issues Studio Mir has shown before. The show is gorgeous and fun to watch, but the final episodes of this season feel less cohesive and more like power-slop.

Picking up sometime after the events of the first season, My Adventures with Superman finds Clark (Jack Quaid) and Lois (Alice Lee) settled into a comfortable dating relationship together. They’re happy, having tackled a big story together and now being able to date while working as reporters together at the Daily Planet. Even their best friend, Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid), has found great success, selling his Flamebird web series to the Daily Planet, getting put in charge of a team of cub reporters who are assigned to help him with his videos and keep the Flamebird brand alive.

But all is not well in Metropolis. For starters, Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman), who recently bought up a failed tech firm and also joined forces with Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson) on Taskforce X, has been working on a PR campaign to discredit Superman and turn the world against him. This causes Clark to feel like an outsider, someone not welcome on Earth despite all the good he’s done. And when Lois gets an offer to go work in Gotham for Vicki Vale (Andromeda Dunker), it puts a strain on their relationship. When Clark finds a communication beacon that could summon the other last Kryptonian in existence, his cousin Kara, he has to decide if bringing another Kryptonian to Earth is worth the possible problems it could cause, and if that’s more important than his own happiness.

There are good and bad aspects to My Adventures with Superman’s second season, but one of the better parts is the Lex Luthor storyline. Lex is the polar opposite of Superman, a greedy, corporate figure that is out for himself and doesn’t have the best interests of the world at heart. Although his specific hate for Superman isn’t thoroughly explored here, just having him working on the side, trying to discredit the Man of Steel and turn the world against the hero creates an interesting dynamic for the show. Lex presents a problem that Superman can’t simply punch and solve, which is different from every villain he’s fought so far. Lex is the kind of villain this show needs.

Unfortunately the show doesn’t utilize him as well as I would like this season. While he’s a solid threat in the early going, the season sidelines Luthor while it explores another villain, leaving what was building to an interesting storyline half finished. Sure, we’ll see more of Lex in future seasons, I’m sure (and the third season has already been greenlit), but considering how well he’s introduced, and the dynamic he adds to the series that it desperately needed, I think following Lex would have been better than where the series actually goes.

What the show does instead (and this happens at the halfway mark so you should decide if you want to spoil this storyline here or not) is bring in not only Clark’s cousin, Kara Zor-El (Kiana Madeira) but also Brainiac (Michael Emerson). Now, don’t get me wrong, the storyline they set up for these two is interesting, and Brainiac is one of the all time great villains for Superman. Like with Lex, he’s the opposite of Superman, in this case a cold, cruel robot who destroys planets instead of saving them. This whole plotline could be interesting, if it were given time and breathing room to develop. This is the kind of storyline that should be developed over three or more seasons, maybe with Brainiac paying off in a series finale. It doesn’t feel right just jumping to it halfway into the sophomore season.

Worse, the series uses this as an opportunity to indulge in what Studio Mir does best: power-creep. Without spoiling anything, there is this constant push of having Clark upgrade and upgrade and upgrade with his powers, leading to a bigger and bigger escalation of battles. It gets really bad in the season finale when not only does Superman experience this kind of constant upgrade power-creep, but so does Kara and Brainiac as well. It leads to a very messy, and frankly kind of uninteresting, finale that doesn’t really live up to what works well in this series.

That’s because it loses sight of the character dynamics. This show isn’t great because it has a powerful Superman who kicks ass and takes names. It’s great because it has a fun and friendly trio of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy at the center. It’s their character dynamics, the friendly banter and delightful interplay, that created the heart of the show and drove the first season. The further the series got into the Brainiac storyline the less we got of those character dynamics. It hurt the series because it split up the core and lost sight of their development.

Worse, it leaves the characters basically circling around where they were at the end of the first season. The show sacrifices growth for bombast when we really need to spend time with the characters and continue to get to know them. Lex, a cerebral villain that forced Clark to confront aspects of himself, is the kind of character that forces growth. Brainiac, an external threat from the stars, doesn’t cause that. He just proves that Superman is right and just and the protector of Earth. It undercuts Lex but it also doesn’t force major growth. This early in the series still, we need the growth. That’s what drives the show.

None of this is a deal breaker, mind you, but it does leave us with a season of the show that feels less interesting than what we had during its premiere. The show feels like it tread water too much, delivering on the action but not the characters. Hopefully, with Lex still looming as a threat to be dealt with, we can get character dynamics that work, and growth for our characters. But considering past Studio Mir shows, I’m not sure if that’s too much to expect.