Review: SuperMansion “I Didn’t Even Have to Use My J.K.”

I see what they did there.

Spoilers Below

We finally get to see Dr. Devizo back in the game, along with a guest appearance by J.K. Simmons, playing J.K. Simmons himself. This episode of SuperMansion brings us back to the misfit group of bad guys we were reintroduced to at the beginning of the season. Their leader, Dr. Devizo, has rented out their new headquarters, a boarded-up, abandoned pizza place atop an underground missile silo, and given them a unifying name: the Injustice Club. While they finally assemble again under one roof and attempt to wrong some rights, Lex Lightning begins to feel some injustices of her own.

Back at the mansion, Jewbot’s not Jewish anymore, and Rex is upset that J.K. Simmons is going to be playing the big screen version of Rex Titanium in a Hollywood movie. J.K. will be shadowing Rex for the day. No one is happy about it.

The episode switches back and forth between the goings on with the League of Freedom and the Injustice Club, but there isn’t much parallel. Rex begins to try to impress the increasingly critical J.K. Simmons, and Lex Lightning starts to take offense to Devizo’s leadership style.

Lex is the type of character who typically becomes my immediate favorite. She’s a forceful female who also seems to have a few emotional problems going on. When Devizo announces that he’ll be taking the biggest bedroom in the house, she finally stands up to him. There’s no apparent reason Devizo was announced leader, and she calls for an election.

In the Devizo vs Lex vs Groaner race (“the two part system is broken,” Groaner says), Lex wins unanimously. She takes her new power seriously and sets up a brainstorming meeting, but leading the team is harder than Lex thought it would be. Dr. Devizo enters the scene and announces he’s been secretly hatching up a plan. J.K. Simmons is a spy for the Injustice Club, sent to find out Rex’s only weakness.

J.K. is doing a good job, too. Having successfully beaten down Rex’s ego, Rex is at the point he’ll do anything for approval – even reveal his only vulnerability. Via live feed spyglasses, the Injustice Club watches as Rex and J.K. enter the mansion’s secret vault. As J.K. tries to steal the Anti-Magno Rod, Lex suddenly appears and takes it for her own. She explains – no one’s going to kill Lex but her. Lex goes back to her team to show off her new trophy and her capabilities.

This episode was built for plot advancement. It doesn’t get a chance to play with the personalities of the team and the reactions between them that make the show fun to watch. In fact, SuperMansion doesn’t need much plot development at all, just the minimum amount to keep the story moving forward. I enjoy it more when there’s as little setup as possible. I also didn’t feel like the conflict in “I Didn’t Even Have to Use My J.K.” was all that successful. Where did the Injustice Club find J.K. Simmons and why is he helping them? It was an exciting guest appearance, but other than that, I’m not sure why I should care. Above all, I watch this show for the quirks of the team, and this episode didn’t quite follow through.