Review: My Adventures with Superman “My Adventures with Mad Science”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Lois and Clark quickly figure out that Jimmy has gone missing and call a truce to go look for him, eventually finding his cellphone showing footage of him being captured by Monsieur Mallah, a talking intelligent gorilla, and The Brain, a genius’ brain in a floating robot. But they aren’t bad guys (as they’re more typically portrayed) but a romantic couple of misunderstood scientists who previously worked for Cadmus but were hunted when they didn’t do as much evil science as was planned. Lois and Clark make their way through a bunch of attacking robots, OMACs, to find Jimmy, making up along the way and finding out that Jimmy knew Clark was Superman the entire time but decided to wait until Clark was ready. Also the Brain hints to Clark that he is being pursued by “The General”, who himself arrives at the facility after everyone has left to discuss things with Ivo, still scarred by the Parasite armor.

OUR TAKE

Huh, I guess the real bad guy this week was misunderstood feelings! AHAHAHAHA…but seriously, there are some interesting swerves here with the source material that I think is worth discussing, namely this probably being the first time I’ve seen Monsieur Mallah and The Brain being basically neutral good guys instead of antagonists of the Doom Patrol or Teen Titans like they normally are in media. Frankly, in terms of iconic DC talking gorillas, my first guess would’ve been the Ultra Humanite, who was Superman’s first real nemesis in the Golden Age and would feel like a more natural pick for this Superman show, but I guess that’s not where they decided to take things. This episode was really just about reforging the bonds of friendship between Clark, Lois, and Jimmy that had been fractured last week, which I didn’t exactly have much worry would get reforged or not, but I guess I would’ve held off on it until closer to the season finale or something, or at least an episode or two longer. This show is already doing some noteworthy changes to the script regarding certain characters but with the main focus being on the importance of this trio, as opposed to just fighting bad guys like in the 90’s. And that’s perfectly fine, this is a separate story with its own specific focus.

Speaking of the 90’s cartoon, I’ve been watching an episode a week of that alongside this one to do a bit of a comparison, which has helped to highlight some aspects about it that I’ve appreciated, but also where I think it may fall short. I am still liking how they’re cutting to the chase with Lois and Jimmy both knowing Clark’s secret and still loving him, as well as stepping away from more obvious villain choices as this Superman adjusts to life as a crimefighter. With that said, a lot of the bad guy designs, specifically the tech based ones, are blending together (which KINDA makes sense considering their all using similar technology, but I wouldn’t fall back on that so much) as well as them feeling a bit too soft with very little in the way of distinct characterization. I wish we had something that stood out more in a creepy way like STAS’s Toyman or Metallo, or gave a tragic backstory with more bite like their version of Parasite. We might get something like that yet, but it may just be a case of this new show working fine as is but just not being for me. We’ll find out in the weeks to come.