Review: My Adventures with Superman “The Death of Clark Kent”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kara, Lois, and Jimmy join forces to fight Brainiac, while Clark mentally duels him in a virtual environment.

OUR TAKE

Yeah, I think the Krypton and Brainiac stuff is definitely going to end up being the better part of the season to me. There’s things about the plot I’m not most fond of, like Kara and Jimmy very quickly falling in love with each other (I know there’s precedent in the comics for them getting together but nowhere NEAR this quickly) or Brainiac’s design and voice acting (I’m a lot more partial to when he’s got a green head and I just don’t care for this more jagged and metallic look), but so far it feels like the most thematically coherent part of the story. While Kara is finding herself doubting her given mission and starting to side with Clark, Clark himself is putting his own sense of self to the test against Brainiac. Meanwhile Brainiac himself…well, he’s not revealing himself to actually be the most intelligent, is he. Yes, I know this is a more straightforward villain and this cartoon was originally pitched towards kids, but I really feel like he would be smarter than to be the kind to just loudly and directly reveal to Kara that he’s been mind controlling her this entire time. Seems like a route that’s going to backfire.

But perhaps he thought he had finally gained enough control over Clark, which I was also not a fan of…up until the end. A lot of his time with Clark in this episode is preying on Clark’s insecurities and fears about being a hero on Earth while not being FROM Earth, using clips from previous episodes but tweaking them to have characters say things that Clark fears they may think of him, like Lois saying it DOES bother her he’s not an Earthling. It also has stuff with Lex’s subtle-as-a-brick political manipulations but I’ll get more into why I didn’t like that another time. Regarding THIS, I was pretty concerned that we were just going to see Brainiac torture Clark with negative mental illusions, which would be pretty disappointing when one of the most famous Superman stories, For The Man Who Has Everything, involves Clark being tortured with a NICER illusion. Thankfully, that’s what Brainiac pulls out at the end, possibly after beating Clark down until he feels he needs to take this, and also somehow making a neat evil looking design (it’s established Clark’s suit is programmable so it tracks). And next time, in the penultimate episode of the season, we’ll see how that world keeps him trapped there and for how long before Lois can save him.