Superman on Television

My Adventures With Superman: Episode Reviews

Season 1 - Episode 5: "You Will Believe A Man Can Lie"

Reviewed by: Steve Younis

Originally Aired: July 28, 2023
Story by M. Willis, Cinthia Furey and Aman Adumer
Teleplay by M. Willis
Directed by Diana Huh

VOICE CAST:
Jack Quaid as Clark Kent/Superman
Alice Lee as Lois Lane
Ishmel Sahid as Jimmy Olsen
Laila Berzins as Heat Wave
Joel De La Fuente as The General
Chris Parnell is Agent Wilson
Vincent Tong as Steve Lombard
Debra Wilson as Amanda Waller

Lois thinks she knows Clark is really Superman, but she wants to be 100% sure before confronting him.

Someone is posting negative reaction videos to Jimmy's online Flamebird show. While annoyed, Jimmy is nevertheless excited for the Bigfoot camping trip he, Clark and Lois are going on.

Clark and Lois are occupied with their own endeavors, and Jimmy is roped into tagging along as Steve Lombard's cameraman for the day. Steve tells Jimmy he's, like him, a loner. Jimmy is adamant that he, Lois and Clark are a trio, but Lombard thinks otherwise.

Clark, hoping to tell Lois how he feels about her, asks her to help him with his plan to find out about all the strange tech being used by criminals all over Metropolis. He brings in an old police scanner, which will alert them to any potential leads. As Clark is about to confide in Lois about his feelings an alert comes over the scanner, and he needs to make an excuse to go to the rescue as Superman. Lois is more certain about her suspicions.

Chasing Superman all over the city on different rescues, Lois finally confronts him at the scene of a robbery. A gang is using more of the strange tech, but when Superman and Lois corner the main guy, who Lois dubs Heat Wave, he's scared of Superman, because he thinks he's the one responsible for kidnapping anybody using the tech supplied to them by Livewire. Heat Wave's tech finally starts working, and he manages to escape.

As Superman flies Lois back to the Daily Planet, Slade Wilson, the person who is actually responsible for the disappearing criminals, chases down Heat Wave. Superman arrives on the scene, and Wilson (along with holograms of Amanda Waller and a General) attacks Superman with high tech armor of his own. Two high tech robots are also employed to take down Superman, and Superman is injured, but when an overpass is damaged, the General tells Wilson to stand down as civilians are in danger. Superman saves everyone, repairs the damage and flies back to the Daily Planet roof where he finds an angry Lois waiting.

He comes through the rooftop door as Clark, and Lois notices the cuts and bruises on his face and neck. As Clark tries to explain them away, Lois gets angrier over Clark's lies, backs up to the edge of the roof... and steps off.

Clark flies down and rescues her. Back on the rooftop Lois angrily yells at Clark for lying to her. He defends himself explaining Lois was planning to expose Superman's secrets to the world. She says she would never have done that had she known from the beginning Superman was Clark, and puts an end to whatever personal relationship the two were about to embark on.

A despondent Jimmy, unable to reach either Lois or Clark on their phones, waits at the bus stop alone, planning to go on his Bigfoot camping trip alone. As he walks through the dark woods, a hulking ape shape emerges. Jimmy screams...

Rating - 5 (out of 5): It kinds of makes sense that Lois would be angry at Clark for keeping the secret, but I also understand why Clark feels the need to keep his secret from both Lois and Jimmy. He's obviously still trying to figure things out. While he enjoys being Superman, and he clearly does, he's still not sure how he does the things he can do, or what the extent of those powers are. He doesn't even yet know where he's really from or who he really is. It's not easy to share a secret when you're not sure what the secret really is.

I feel really bad for Jimmy. While Clark and Lois work out their individual issues and their combined relationship status, Jimmy is on the outer. It doesn't help that Jimmy's interests seem a little frivolous to everybody else. Perhaps his encounter in the woods will act as a catalyst for Lois and Clark to take their friend more seriously and realize they've been neglecting him.

As a Steve myself, I found the whole "Steve" situation with Lombard and Jimmy hilarious. There are definitely some sound grabs from that scene I'll be using in the future. I'm sure fellow Steves will agree.

The introduction of yet another familiar name in Heat Wave, but with a "My Adventures With Superman" twist was fun. Slade Wilson, Amanda Waller and The General are an interesting trio of their own. What the ultimate goal is intrigues me.

"You Will Believe A Man Can Lie," with the secret identity reveal, was definitely an early high point of this series so far. I can't wait to see how this plays out in next week's episode.

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