Episode 10 Review
Lois and her dad are invited to the Kent family Thanksgiving but tensions run high when Clark realizes he is someone he already knows and the ship he came to Earth on as an infant is accidentally mobilized. "Hearts of the Fathers" brings the first season of My Adventures With Superman to a dramatic, emotional, and action-packed end and pave the way for a major threat to Earth and our protagonists.
Clark Kent has a vivid dream where he is powerless to save Lois and Jimmy in a field in Smallville from a Kryptonian armada. Nemesis Omega kills his friends with heat vision then reveals his face to be Clark! Clark wakes up in his apartment. He flies to Smallville and confronts Jor-El on his ship, vowing to stop him if he ever comes back to Earth. Back in Metropolis, Lois thanks Clark for hosting her and her father for Thanksgiving. Jimmy, who attends every other year, is bringing yams. Lois warns Clark her father is a lot even when he's at his best. They pause to look at the Parasite, still where it froze after Superman defeated Dr. Ivo. Clark wants their help finding The General to seek out more answers then excuses himself to get them coffee. Jimmy doesn't like keeping the League of Lois Lanes datasphere a secret from him but Lois knows seeing it would devastate him. They arrive at the Daily Planet to learn they have been promoted from interns to full reporters and were given credit for their first article, the city saving Superman. However, Perry tells Jimmy to stay back because they need to talk about Flamebird.
Clark and Lois arrive at the Kents. She is surprised to see their article already framed. Pa is focused on the turkey and Clark is on potato peeling duty. Ma confides in Lois that Clark was scared of hurting people when his powers first showed up and kept himself at a distance for awhile. Lois tells Clark she'll help him find The General. She gets a text and is nervous, her father is outside. Clark isn't so worried and goes to answer the door. Lois's father Sam is The General. Sam is stricken with deja vu and tries to recall where he saw Clark before but Clark insists he just has that kind of face. Clark takes Ma into the kitchen to confer. Sam thanks Lois for inviting him. She tells him about her first article but he's not pleased to see it's about Superman. She is upset he never read it but when she asks what he was busy with, he can only answer "classified." Jimmy arrives and he is sucked into the drama. He refuses to a part of it and shoves Clark and Lois outside. He points out he brought Lois's purse which she left at the Planet. The datasphere tumbles out and Clark sees the file as well as the Kryptonite. He collapses in pain and to make matters worse, the ship activates in reaction to the Kryponite and rises out of the ground. Sam thinks it's Nemesis Omega's return and hails Task Force X to deploy all assets to his location. Clark evacuates his parents. Robots akin to the Task Force's X-T 00 robots are deployed by the ship. By accident, Jimmy learns Kryptonite can neutralize the robots, too. Lois realizes Sam is The General and he is surprised she knows about Zero Day.
Things get worse when a portal is opened and another ship proceeds to crossover from space. Superman takes the datasphere and flies off to sacrifice himself and destroy the ship with the Kryptonite. Superman lifts the ship up into space then forces his way inside. The Jor-El AI appears and saves him from the robots and leads him to the core room. Despite the pain, Superman grasps the Kryptonite in his palm and punches into the core. The core is crippled and unleashes a shockwave of energy. The ship starts exploding, the portal closes and bi-sects the invading ship, and the robots all turn off. Superman, weak and hardly conscious, tells Jor-El he stopped the invasion to protect his family to Jor-El's surprise. Jor-El forms a small vessel around Superman and tells him, "Kal-El, my son. Live." Superman is launched down to Smallville. The ship blows up. Sam Lane takes aim at Superman with his Omega Cannon but Lois runs out in front of Superman. Lois tries to tell him Superman didn't cause it. Sam insists he's not a hero and everything he's done was to protect her. Lois counters she doesn't need protecting and begs him to let Superman go if he cares about her at all. Sam hails Amanda Waller and lies it was a false alarm and requests forces to stand down. Before Lois can thank him, he's gone. That evening, Pa finally caves and admits the turkey is still not to temp. Clark uses his heat vision and Thanksgiving is back on. Ma remembers Jimmy had something to share before all the chaos. Jimmy reveals he sold Flamebird to the Daily Planet for $5.6 million dollars then asks for someone to pass the yams. Meanwhile, somewhere in space, Brainiac is surprised by the portal to Earth being closed and reports to an armored Kryptonian warrior presiding over a conquered planet. The warrior is not concerned and declares in the end, Earth will kneel.
"Hearts of the Fathers" was the perfect balance of humor and heart and drama and action. The first half of the season finale was a quirky holiday family comedy that all of a sudden shifted to an emotional and action packed alien invasion third act. The tensions of Lois and Sam's relationship and the will-he-recognize-Clark were countered with the hilarity of Pa Kent's battle of wits against the turkey and the side bars into kitchen. Jimmy also shined as the audience surrogate, both in dismay at still keeping a secret from Clark despite everything they've gone through and quashing the Thanksgiving antics as the most emotional mature person. Then just from one innocent slip up, the episode gets serious. The very ship that Clark tried to keep under the surface for the most of the season, perhaps a metaphor for himself as well, literally rises up into the sky and puts a target on planet Earth. Wouldn't be a season finale if Superman saves the world even at the cost of his life. And the big solve of the season was that piece of Kryptonite from the datasphere Lois took home but didn't know about until later. You know in "Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal"? That episode that seemed like just a big DC-Superman-Lois tribute bottle episode. Wasn't for nothing. So I guess, Mr. Mxyztplk is really to thank for Superman destroyed the ship and closing the portal... But more to the core of the episode title "Hearts of the Fathers" and what it means. Despite allegiances and beliefs, love for their child reigns supreme in the hearts of this show's fathers – Jor-El and Sam Lane. Jor-El, repentant about his people, sent his son to another planet so he could live a different life until to be misunderstood and accused of being the enemy. In the end, he does the same that he did 22 years ago, saved his son from certain death. Sam Lane spent 22 years in fear of another alien invasion and sacrificed everything just to keep his daughter safe but in the end, disobeyed the system he followed all his life and spared "the enemy" for Lois.
When it comes to our main cast, the season ends with a new status quo. Yes, they've all been made full reporters. But I'm talking about Jimmy being a millionaire! The producers have really made a completely three dimensional Jimmy Olsen, a core of the ever loving photographer from the comics but expanded on with a bent towards conspiracy theorist and budding social media influencer. And it's been taken up a notch. Certainly, it seems this will be his new arc in season two. Lois finally achieved what she's been yearning to be: a reporter. Season two, will she kill it as a reporter or are there still some curve balls. The conflict with Task Force X is now a lot more personal with the revelation about her father. Maybe season two will delve more into her mother and entertain with a visit from sister Lucy. Perhaps now Jimmy's newfound fame and riches will affect his life? Lois and Clark are more closer and in love that ever. Stands to reason, Superman will learn the truth about his father and more about Krypton next season as well as master his powers and using them strategically. Maybe we'll get more stuff like freeze breath. Superman can't keep flying off and sacrificing himself to save the day. And certainly they will be reeling from the revelation that Sam Lane was their adversary all along but will he remain that in season two when a bigger threat arrives? And for that matter Task Force X. This show's Waller is dead set on her mission but so was the Waller on Justice League Unlimited and she ended up an ally in the end.
And last but certainly not least, Brainiac and its master. If that wasn't an ominous tease for season two, I don't know what is. While I'm suspicious of Brainiac being the adjutant of the duo and I think it could secretly be the big bad of season two, the bigger question is the master. Appearance-wise, way different looking than the Nemesis Omega from Zero Day but to be fair if you were caught in the explosion of your home planet and spent the next 22 years conquering planets, how would you look? So there's that question, is that the same Kryptonian as Zero Day or is it someone else, like another survivor or could it be a ruse like a robot or AI puppet being manipulated by Brainiac to fulfill its corrupted programming: go forth and conquer for the Kryptonian Empire even though it no longer exists? Maybe. Whether it's the same or a different Kryponian, then of course that begs the question of it is a name DC character? Should be. Is the use of "kneel" a red herring for the audience and tricking us into thinking that could be Zod? The voice credits the warrior as being voiced by Kari Wahlgren. Maybe a gender-bent Zod? There is a long list of evil Kryptonian ladies like Ursa and Mala to name a few. This show could even give us an evil Kara Zor-El for all we know. And yes, there was some leaked concept art that might have spoiled who the warrior is but I'm not going to discuss that further for the sake of legalities. Still, we have a new mystery and threat for season two. Season one had a repentant AI of Jor-El who tried to explain things to Clark but was haggled by the language gap and we saw some flashbacks from the stolen tech but we still have a lot of back story gaps left to fill and things could get interesting if the only ones left that can fills those gaps are the villains.
"Hearts of the Fathers" is a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the inaugural season of My Adventures With Superman, filled with humorous antics, dramatic declarations, emotional gut-wrenching moments, and one more shocker of shockers from Jimmy. And while "Hearts of the Fathers" tied up a lot of sub-plots and brought our main cast to the next level, there's still a lot of problems left to resolve and answers to seek for season two. Task Force X is still gunning for Superman. A bunch of escaped villains armed with the stolen tech are still out there. They teased us with Brainiac in the final minutes of the season finale, people. Brainiac! Season two can't come quick enough.
DCAU Resource's rating: 9.8/10