Saturday, April 30, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Save The World - Part 5

In which The Commissioner calls with a new case, demanding we get down to WARP TV to stop a crazed talk show host who has gone mad with power!

So naturally we schlep around the neighborhood, check out Sibyl's new business and help save Bosco from a gang of skinbodies instead.

Friday, April 22, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Save The World - Part 4

The thrilling finale of Chapter One, in which we infiltrate Brady Culture's Home For Former Child Stars and confront the washed up mastermind behind the Eye-Bo Hypnosis Videos. 

Will Sam and Max save the world? Well, I hope so. Otherwise we haven't got much of a game.

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Save The World - Part 3

In which, having saved Bosco's from unwanted video deliveries, we turn our attention to the only one of our neighbors we haven't visited yet - Sibyl Pandemic, Licensed Psychotherapist. Unfortunately, Sibyl is at the mercy of a delusional psychotic and we don't mean Max! Once that is accomplished, we look into getting Sam some much needed therapy as part of a plan to find the mastermind behind this sinister scheme!

Monday, April 18, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Save The World - Part 2

In which we save Bosco from another pint-sized child star gone bad, before hitting the road to administer some vigilante justice to raise the money needed for some advanced crime-fighting weaponry in what may be the only time in any work of fiction that the police targeted the rich.

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 10 - Reckless

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

When the Cold-Fusion Killer targets Frost in her own apartment, she begins planning how to use herself as bait to trap them, despite Barry and Caitlin's objection. At the same time, Iris' efforts to help Tinya find her birth mother cause more harm than good.


Influences

Doctor Who (technobabble regarding Iris' time sickness) and Legion of Superheroes comics (character of Phantom Girl).


Goofs

Caitlin is said to be on vacation with her boyfriend in the Wine Country, but returns when she hears about Frost's injuries. It is implied that Barry brought her back to Central City, yet at the end of the episode Caitlin goes to call her boyfriend to tell him what is going on, saying that "He has no idea what happened today" and she hasn't told him about working with The Flash yet. So did Caitlin just leave her boyfriend on the other side of the country with no excuse?

Cold fusion, it should be noted, is not cold. It is cold in that it can occur at temperatures below that found inside a star. It is certainly not "like frostbite, only a thousand times more lethal."


Performances

Danielle Panabaker does a great job playing against herself as Caitlin and Frost. She also gets a great silent acting moment, as Frost, hugging her mother for the first time... looking uncomfortable but slowly settling into it.


Artistry

The black fire effects are more convincing this week.


Technobabble

Deon claims that the temporal mutations he's been tracking are all coming from Iris.

Deon says that he had been treating Iris' condition like a virus giving her symptoms but now it seems that she is the cause of the time fractures forming around her.

An SR37 Alert on the Team Flash warning app is a break-in at STAR Labs' medical lab.

Dr. Tannhauser theorizes that the Black Fire is targeting Frost because her powers are cryokinetic, like the fire.

A fusion containment housing is needed to trap the Black Fire - one that can absorb and amplify Frost's cryokinetic signature. So long as she's in proximity, the unit can amplify her cryokinetic signature and attract the fire.

Chester suggests using the fusion sphere from the Artificial Speed Force to speed up the process.

At one point Chester has to compensate for the possibility of a reconfiguration flip at the subatomic level while getting the fusion sphere set up.

Dr. Tannhauser suggests that two cryokinetic signatures could create a signal too enticing for the Black Fire to resist.

Dr. Tannhauser scanned herself for residual meta-genome signatures in her body, determining that a latent cryogene had been activated. 

After the second attempt, Chester says that with a strong enough signal the sphere could work without someone's cryo-kinetic RNA in close proximity. This means there is no need to use anyone as bait.


Dialogue Triumphs

Joe: Sometimes, the hardest part about being a leader is letting go and trusting the ones you've trained to make the call themselves.


Dialogue Disasters

Frost: Right now I kinda feel like the stupid person in the horror movie who runs into the house instead of running away from it. 


Continuity

This episode picks up right where 809 ended, with Deon talking to Iris about her time sickness.

Deon and Iris figure out that her increasing instability is due to her asking Deon to reverse her treatments in 803. (Curiously, Deon has no memory of this, despite his power.)

Deon says Iris needs to stay in Coast City for the time being to stabilize, but she should be able to move around the city without issue.

Barry offers to stay with Iris, but she insists he needs to return to Coast City and deal with the Cold-Fusion Killer - now called Black Fire.

Frost is attacked by black fire in her apartment, while working on a new art piece.

The black fire's heat is so intense it can make Frost sweat and it burns her trying to touch her.

Joe, Cecile, Barry, Chester and Allegra discuss what they've found, affirming that all the Black Fire victims so far, except Chester, were suffering from depression.

Parker DeStefano, the yoga instructor who was the Cold-Fusion Killer's third victim, is revealed to have been going through grief counseling following the death of her fiancée and to have started dating again before her death.

Allegra has Vanya and Aariz at the Central City Citizen researching the other victims looking for common links.

Joe and Cecile go through all the files Captain Kramer gave them regarding suspicious fires that might be related to the Cold-Fusion Killer dating back to 2013.

Barry finds Frost breaking into the medical lab at STAR Labs, trying to treat her burn herself.

Caitlin is said to be on a wine country tour with her new boyfriend.

Frost says she isn't grieving anyone, so she can't think of why the Black Fire targeted her.

Frost meets with her mother, Dr. Carla Tannhauser, and asks for her help in trapping the Black Fire.

Frost plans to use herself as bait, while Dr. Tannhauser builds something to trap the Black Fire.

Barry doesn't want to risk Frost's life, saying it is too risky to use her as bait.

Frost asks Barry if he really believes Iris isn't risking her life right now and asks how that is different than her doing the same.

Dr. Carla Tannhauser is said to be the world's top specialist in cold fusion.

Carla offers Chester a job, impressed with his work on the trap. He declines, saying he likes working at STAR Labs too much, even though the pay would be better.

The Black Fire senses a trap and knocks Frost out.

Barry gets Caitlin to return to STAR Labs to treat Frost. She is furious Frost is risking her life.

Iris and Sue take Tinya to the agency that handled her adoption. Unfortunately, there's a no-contact rule that prevents them from giving Tinya any information on her birth mother. Only their board of directors could override it.

Sue's uncle Leroy is the chairman of the board of directors for the adoption agency and is also an orphan himself. One phone call gets him to override the no-contract rule.

After Iris, Sue and Tinya leave, all the furniture in the waiting room of the adoption agency blinks out of existence.

Tinya wonders if her mom is even going to want to meet her. Iris reassures her by talking about her making peace with own mother during Season 2.

Frost's stabbing herself to catch Chillblaine in 707 is held up as proof of her reckless behavior.

Caitlin accuses her mother as seeing Frost as a science experiment instead of a daughter and threatens to abandon her mother if Frost dies.

Barry tells Joe he still thinks Frost's plan is too dangerous, but Joe suggests he's really worried about Iris and that sometimes, when you're a leader, you have to trust your followers.

Dr. Tannhauser thinks Caitlin had a point and tells Frost, frankly, she needs to be more of a mother to her. This includes straight talk about her needing to stop being reckless.

Dr. Tannhauser says that Frost is just like her father, who would do anything to protect his loved ones.

Dr. Tannhauser reveals that her cryokinetic metagene was activated after the events of 519. She hasn't manifested powers yet, but has the potential to do so.

Caitlin is not happy about risking her mother and sister, but agrees to help check their plan.

The Black Fire is released after Dr. Tannhauser has a cardiac arrest while in the middle of trapping it.

Joe and Cecile found nothing in the records of all the old fires.

Barry and Chester are confident they can now use the trap to catch the Black Fire without using Frost as bait.

Dr. Tannhauser stays with Caitlin and Frost for the night.

Dr. Tannhauser tells Frost that she loves her and hugs her for the first time.

Tinya's mother is a woman named Renee Wazoo.

Renee reveals that she was an unwed 16 year old when she got pregnant and she wanted to keep Tinya, but her parents were furious and insisted she put the baby up for adoption.

Renee says that giving up Tinya was the biggest regret of her life, which was spent moving from crummy retail job to crummy retail job. She said the only thing that kept her going was the thought that her daughter might have had a better life with a loving family.

Tinya says that didn't happen.

Iris has a seizure and Renee tries to comfort her. Shortly after that, she disintegrates into a cloud of still force particles.


Location

Coast City

The Bottom Line

A filler episode, apart from the final two minutes. It is tolerable, however, because of the focus on Frost and the Phantom Girl storyline being limited to two scenes.

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Save The World - Part 1

In which we start another inexplicable adventure to save the world.. or at least deal with some kind of malfeasance at the local convenience store.But first we have to find our phone, cleanse our office of vermin and deal with a child star gone bad.

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Starman Plays Sam and Max Hit The Road - Part 10

The grand finale, in which we must solve the Riddle of The Totem Poles and acquire the four mystic items that will assure the salvation of the Bigfoot race. Thankfully, this involves another round of inexplicable fetch quests and clearing Sam's pockets of some of the oddities we've acquired while driving across the country.

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

The Flash Episode Guide: Season 8, Episode 9 - Phantoms

 For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

Iris follows a story to Coast City, as the rest of Team Flash focuses on the mystery of a fire-wielding serial killer.


Influences

Legion of Super-Heroes (character of Phantom Girl), X-Men (Tinya seems more like Kitty Pryde than her comic book countpart, particularly with her power to short out electronics) and It. (a serial killer with monstrous powers who feeds on fear.)


Goofs

Deon's demand that Iris not tell her family about her worsening time illness is idiotic and a prime example of the kind of random decision to keep secrets needlessly that has made the later seasons of The Flash painful to watch.

Where is Ralph Dibny in all this? Sue says the Black Hole has finally been defeated so what happened to her partner in crime fighting? 

Iris tracks the Coast City Phantom using a metahuman tracking app that measures the ambient levels of dark matter tied to the meta using their powers. However, as has been shown in earlier episodes (as in the case of Frost and her father) that only works with metahumans created by the STAR Labs particle accelerator explosion. Given Tinya is implied to be a Coast City native, the app shouldn't have worked for her. (It's possible Tinya lived in Central City eight years ago.)

Iris' decision to try and drag Tinya into the limelight seems really exploitative, even ignoring her age and the fact that Tinya has no desire to be a superhero.


Performances

Natalie Dreyfuss is a delight, as always, as Sue. Her interactions with Candice Patton as Iris are the high point of the episode, primarily because it's the most convincing friendship with another woman Iris has had on the show with someone who isn't a work friend of Barry or a subordinate at her work.


Artistry

The special effects for the black fire are generally good.


Flash Facts

A billboard in Coast City advertises Ferris Air. This is the employer of both Carol Ferris (aka Star Sapphire) and Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) in the comics.

This episode introduces the Arrowverse version of Phantom Girl, aka The Coast City Phantom (CCP). She is revealed to be a teen runaway named Tinya, who is trying to find her mother, who was a barista at the CC Jitters in Coast City, California.

In the comics, Phantom Girl first appeared in Action Comics #276 in May 1961 and was created by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and artist Jim Mooney. A native of the planet Bgztl, Tinya Wazzo had the power to phase through solid matter, which was innate to her people due to Bgztl existing partly in the fourth dimension. She joined the Legion of Super Heroes and also used the codename Apparition. 

Technobabble

Chester installs a cold fusion alarm module for the STAR Labs satellites, capable of detecting any rapid drops in barometric anomalies around Central City.

The Cold Fusion Killer's fire powers are cryokinetic, meaning that their power output is detected as extreme cold pockets.

Chester is able to trap a sample of the Cold Fusion Killer's black fire using a micro-catalyzed containment unit. He and Ray Palmer designed the device together as part of the foundation Ray started in 801.An an 8-inch vacuum-sealed borosilicate canister with an ionic-fused base and cap, it preserves the vaporized integrity of gases.

Chester hopes to analyze the black fire and, after learning its molecular properties, reprogram the STAR Labs satellites to seek out the source.

Iris' metahuman tracking app measures dark matter readings.

STAR Labs' fire suppression system detects carbon dioxide. As such, it does nothing to try and stop the cold fusion fires, which do not generate carbon dioxide like normal flames.

Sue bluffs Tinya with a molecular destabilizing matrix she claims can knock out any metahuman in a three block radius by destabilizing their powers. (It's actually a paper weight.)

The cold fusion fires start in a subzero state, but they still give off high levels of kinetic energy, which is what allows it to burn people despite a lack of measurable heat.

Chester begins searching STAR Labs for cold catalyzed reactions by tracking muon-catalyzed heat signatures. He determines that the cold flames are converging on the Speed Lab.


Dialogue Triumphs

(Sue threatens to hurt Tinya with an exotic weapon.)
Tinya: 
Yeah, I thought you two helped people?
Sue: (gesturing to Iris) Oh, she does. Me, it depends on my mood. 


Continuity

Deon, the Still Force avatar, agrees to give Iris a check-up even tough she's been stable for months.

Iris tells Deon about the lost time she experienced in 808.

Iris has vague memories of her meeting with Deon in 803, but neither one of them remember the incident.

Deon still has no idea how someone gets a time sickness, but he plans to look into it.

Deon detects mutations in Iris' aura which may be a result of his treatment. He promises to look into that as well, but asks Iris not to tell anyone until he knows for sure what is going on.

Joe takes some of the evidence from Barry's investigation into the Cold Fusion Killer to look into on his own.

Caitlin is said to have gone on a spontaneous getaway vacation with Marcus to see Dear Evan Hansen in Metropolis. 

According to Frost, Caitlin and Marcus have becoming nauseatingly weepy watching musicals together at home. 

Chester creates a new module to track the Cold Fusion Killer.

Sue Dearbon is in town, making her first appearance since 714.

Sue says she's on a tour of her family's companies, having taken over management in the wake of her parents being sent to prison and the destruction of the Black Hole syndicate. 

Sue is going to Coast City to inspect part of a line of luxury hotels she owns, but is hoping to see the Coast City Phantom.

The Coast City Phantom (or CCP) is reportedly the first metahuman to ever be reported in Coast City.

Sue invites Iris to come with her and look for the Phantom.

Chester detects a cold spot at 138 South Devon Road, but the Cold Fusion Killer is gone before he can get there. The location is a yoga studio.

The third victim of the Cold Fusion Killer was a yoga instructor named Parker DeStefano.

Iris and Sue search around downtown Coast City, as that's where most of the sightings of the Phantom took place.

Sue guesses that Iris wanted an excuse to get out of town and asks about how her relationship with Barry is. Iris changes the subject, having used the meta-tracking app on her phone to find a ping on the Phantom.

The app leads Sue and Iris to a teenage girl named Tinya in a CC Jitters, who is not interested in talking to them.

Sue observes Tinya placing something through her backpack.

Tinya is able to short out Iris' phone by phasing a fingertip through it.

Chester falls asleep while working in the lab and dreams that he hears voices before the black fire grows out of control.

Cecile claims to have felt Chester's fear.

Frost notes that Chester is the most touchy-feely person she knows and he is clearly upset about something and hiding it.

Allegra volunteers to try and get Chester to open up.

Sue tries to download Chester's app, but with her substandard data plan it will take over seven hours.

Iris says they don't need to track Tinya. They just have to research her.

Iris opens up to Sue about her illness and the mutations.

Sue says she was in the same place Iris is after finding out about her parents, but advises her that you can't run from a problem like that.

Iris realizes that Tinya may be on the run as well.

As Allegra is talking with Chester, black flames fill his lab, like in his nightmare.

Barry puts out the flames.

Chester reprograms the satellites again to include the interior of STAR Labs, which is why the alarms didn't go off.

Barry realizes the Cold Fusion Killer must be projecting the flames remotely. This leads him to search the city until he finds where they are hiding.

Sue and Iris ambush Tinya as she's going into an apartment.

Iris reveals that she found out who Tinya is by searching the database of missing people in Coast City. This led her to discover that she was a runway who was in foster care.

Iris and Sue agree to help Tinya find her missing birth mother, who was a barista at the CC Jitters where Iris and Sue first found Tinya.

Chester tells Allegra about his father died in a car fire 24 years ago and how he's been afraid of fire and corpses burned to death ever since.

Chester says he thinks the killer is his father's ghost, because he's started having visions of his father's death.

Allegra says there is no way Chester's father, who he said was a loving man, would ever become a vengeful ghost.

Allegra doesn't believe in ghosts.

Cecile claims to feel the pain of thousands of people, maybe more, radiating from the black fires.

The black flames manifest an illusion of Chester's father, which tries to take his hand so they can join togehter.

Cecile claims that whatever intelligence is behind the illusion feeds on grief.

Chester is able to drive away the killer by affirming that his father would be proud of him and what he does every day.

Joe determines that all three of the Cold Fusion Killer's victims were also suffering from depression following bad circumstances.

Stan Mullen, the bar manager, lost all his belongings to foreclosure.

Donna Winters, the waitress, lost her sister a week before her death. 

Parker DeStefano had just lost her fiancé and childhood sweetheart to cancer. 

Cecile says it is almost like the black fire itself was sentient, as she felt passion, desire and determination from the flames.

Barry concludes that the flames must be alive.

Iris decides to stay in Coast City for a while longer to help Tinya.

Deon appears to Iris and says he figured out what is wrong with her and it is not good news.


Location

Coast City, California.


Untelevised Adventures

Sue Dearbon claims to have encountered a number of metahumans while she was traveling around the world fighting the Black Hole.

Whatever Iris and Sue do to figure out who Tinya is.


The Boomerang Factor

One wonders if Deon really knows what he is doing in regards to treating Iris' time illness since he isn't even sure how someone catches one.


The Bottom Line

Passable, largely because of the mystery of the Cold Fusion Killer, if not the actual horror show built around him. My money is that it's the Flame of Py'tar, now free to rage without Despero controlling it. In any case, the show continues to tease stories that are far more interesting than what is shown on camera and I think most fans would rather see more of Sue traveling the world and meeting other metahumans than the adventures of Team Citizen. 

Superman and Lois: Season 2, Episode 9 - 30 Days and 30 Nights

  For a summary of the episode guide layout & categories, click here.

Plot

It's Election Day in Smallville and Jordan Kent is absent. This leaves Sarah rattled, even before the revelation that her mother and John Henry Irons might be an item - a suggestion which floors Natalia as well, given that it is also the anniversary of her mother's death. Meanwhile, Jonathan continues to draw heat for his actions bringing about the cancellation of Smallville's football season, as the world wonders... where is Superman?


Influences

Superman: The Movie (Clark building up speed by flying in a circle) and the graphic novel World Without A Superman


Goofs

While the absence of Superman on Earth-Prime would likely draw attention, it is odd that none of the world's other major heroes (particularly Supergirl) are said to be stepping up to handle things in his absence, apart from Steel.

Jordan overhears an emergency call which reports a 10-41, Code 2, during a report of a fire. This may be different in the Arrowverse, but none of the real world Police 10 code systems used 10-41 for anything involving a fire.

Why don't Jordan's clothes catch on fire?


Performances

Wolé Parks gives a one-scene master-class in silent acting with the scene where John Henry watches a video of his Lois Lane and slowly breaks down.


Artistry

The montage showing the 30 days passing between Superman traveling to Bizarro World and the true "start" of the episode is beautifully shot and establishes the mood perfectly.

The special effects are great all around, from the fire in the first segment to Jordan's use of his powers in the climax.


Super Trivia

The action sequence in which Superman flies in a circle before entering the portal to Bizarro World was a visual tribute to the climax of Superman: The Movie and the moment in which Superman flew around the Earth to build up the speed to travel in time.

John Henry Irons' existence as Steel is revealed to the world as he saves an airplane from crashing. This is also how Superman was revealed to the world in the comics and how Supergirl was revealed to the world of Earth-38 in Supergirl.

Bizarro Jonathan Kent's costume, which features red trousers, a leather jacket, and a punk haircut, is inspired by the original appearance of the Conner Kent Superboy in aftermath of The Death of Superman.


Technobabble

The Steel armor has built-in fire extinguishers.

John Henry determines that the fire that almost killed Kyle Cushing used X-Kryptonite as an accelerant. 


Dialogue Triumphs

(Jordan enters the Kent farmhouse looking disheveled. Jonathan is sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework.)
Jonathan: Yo, what happened to you?
Jordan: There was this crazy fire, and I had to save Mr. Cushing, and I got cornered, so... I flew.
Jonathan: What? You flew? No way!
Jordan: Yeah, not very far or anything.
Jonathan: Yeah, but who cares? That still counts.
Jordan: Yeah, and then John Henry showed up and his suit had this fire extinguisher, so-
Jonathan: Wait, he didn't see you, did he?
Jordan: No, no, he just saw some guy in a hoodie.
Jonathan: Yeah, but doesn't he have, like, facial ID and biometrics and... Jordan, look, I'm saying if John Henry saw you full vigilante mode, I mean, do you really want Mom to find out from someone else? Like, you have to tell her.
Jordan: What if I tell her and I blow my cover for no reason?
Jonathan: Take it from someone who's been on her bad side for, like, a month, it's not worth the risk.
Jordan: Hey, man, I'm really sorry about what happened at the auditorium.
Jonathan: It's whatever. Maybe I deserved it. Dad sure thought so.
Jordan: No, no. There's no way he would still be mad.
Jonathan: Jordan, you don't know that. Okay, Mom said that that was the most angry she'd ever seen him.
Jordan: Come on, man. I mean, you're working overtime at the store. You're doing online classes-
Jonathan: Jordan, none of that matters! None of it, okay? I don't know how to fix things with Dad, and I don't even know if I'll ever get the chance to. Speaking of, I gotta finish this up before tomorrow. (muted) Congrats on flying. 

(Lois enters the Kent farmhouse. Jordan is waiting for her expectantly.)
Jordan: Uh, Mom, I have to tell you something.
Lois: It is too late. I already know.
Jordan: Wait, you can't get mad. I didn't even have a chance to explain.
Lois: What about before you left the school?
Jordan: You were busy talking to Mrs. Cushing.
Lois: That is such a load of crap, and you know it.
Jordan: Fine, but I didn't have time to argue with you.
Lois: About whether it was okay to run into a burning building?
Jordan: About whether it was all right to save Mr. Cushing's life.
Lois: Did you know there was X-Kryptonite in there?
Jordan: So what? I couldn't just let him die.
Lois: If John Henry hadn't shown up, it could have been you who died.
Jordan: John Henry was late. He didn't save Sarah's dad. I did.
Lois: You are not a superhero, Jordan. You're a kid.
Jordan: Well, Dad's gone! And no one knows if he's coming back.
Lois: I know how hard this is for you. It's really hard for me too.
Jordan: Stop telling me to act normal. None of this is normal.
Lois: That's why it's not a very good time for you to start playing hero.
Jordan: That's exactly why it's the right time. That's why Granddad's been training me.
Lois: He has been what?
Jordan: Because people need my help.
Lois: That is not up to you to decide.
Jordan: Well, I don't need your permission.
Lois: Under my roof, yes, you do.
Jordan: Not when I'm the one with superpowers.

John Henry: I will never forget your mother, ever. But thinking about her constantly, obsessing over her death... you didn't see what that did to me. I became someone I didn't recognize.
Natalie: You and I are the only people that remember her. We're the only ones who know that our Lois Lane existed. You don't get to just run away from her memory.
John Henry: But I can't let it tear me apart either. I wanna be a dad. And I wanna be able to enjoy this life we have together.
Natalie: This life we have? It's because of her. And I don't want a dad who would ever forget that.

(Sam and Lois are tied up in the drug dealers' hideout. Sam begins to struggle against his ropes.)
Lois: 
What are you doing?
Sam: What's it look like?
Lois: Dad, stop. You're gonna give yourself rope burn. These are fireman chair knots. The harder you struggle, the tighter it gets. If it was a hobble knot, maybe you could wiggle out, but not this.
(There is a long pause. Sam is incredulous.)
Sam: How many times you been tied up?!
Lois: Better you don't know.

(Jordan is standing on the porch, looking depressed. Enter Lois, holding a large glass of wine.)
Lois: Find a new spot. Brooding on the porch is my thing.
Jordan: (looking at Ma Kent's necklace) Sarah gave this back to me.
Lois: I'm sorry, sweetie.
Jordan: I don't know what to do.
Lois: Sometimes, with heartbreak, you just have to feel it. On the bright side, you did kind of save your mom's life tonight.
Jordan: (without enthusiasm)Yeah, I guess.
Lois: Hold on. I think that warrants way more enthusiasm!


Continuity

First Sergeant Erin Wu, a DoD agent seen in previous episodes, is revealed to be part of Ally Allston's cult. It is she who gets a hold of Sam Lane's badge and uses it to free Ally from DoD custody. 

Wu is apparently not the only one of Allston's followers in the DoD as she makes reference to multiple people repairing the suit worn by the Bizzaro Superman when he traveled between worlds.

Wu inquires as to whether or not Allston will save Anderson. She says that she intends to save everybody.

Superman follows after Allston into the Bizarro world portal, despite Wu telling him that even he can't survive the journey between worlds.

The action picks up 30 days later.

The world has noticed Superman's absence and Steel has been recognized as a new hero, dubbed the new Man of Steel, though he has not spoken to the press.

Jonathan is shown to still be romantically involved with Candice.

Mayor Dean continues to try and paint Lana as an incompetent mother and leader given her family problems, but Lana continues to fight back against his slander.

Jordan is still training in secret with Sam Lane. This training includes working with a weighted punching bag (which Jordan eventually destroys), shooting cans with his heat vision and freezing a bucket of water with his freeze breath before any of it touches the ground.

Jordan spends so much time training in his father's absence that he ignores Sarah's phone calls and texts.

Jordan uses his super-hearing to search for any sign of the missing Clark.

Natalie is shown to not be a very good cook, as she has trouble making waffles for breakfast.

Lois has explained Clark's absence in Smallville by saying he's on a special assignment investigating something, suggesting it is as a journalist rather than as Superman.

Lois, Jonathan and Jordan show up at Lana's campaign headquarters to volunteer on Election Day.

Jonathan leaves to work with the street team after being confronted by the angry mother of a senior student, who missed out on playing football because of him.

Lana tells off the mother, saying this isn't the place for this.

Lois agrees to help Lana with her acceptance and concession speeches.

Jordan leaves after overhearing an emergency broadcast involving a fire off Highway 14.

Jordan intervenes to save Kyle Cushing from the fire and flies for the first time.

Steel arrives and puts out the fire, covering Jordan before he is seen.

Natalie sees John Henry and Lana talking and laughing in a manner that seems more than friendly.

Sarah is not overly concerned, until Natalie reveals that it is the anniversary of her mother's death.

Natalie is upset because the waffles she was trying to make that morning were from her mother's homemade recipe and John Henry didn't even notice it or seem to remember the day.

Sarah offers to make a Day of the Dead style memorial altar for Natalie's mom. She likes the idea, until she finds out she has to have a photo, since the alternate Lois Lane would be recognized.

Natalie lies and says she doesn't have any photos of her mom on her phone.

Natalie gets upset and goes home.

Lana is called about Kyle being in the hospital after the fire. She, Sarah and Sophie drop everything to check on him.

Kyle lies about being fine and says he'll be heading to his apartment to get cleaned up as soon as he gets the all clear from his doctor. 

Kyle says he will come by the election party later.

Sarah asks Kyle if he is sure he is okay, but he lies and says he'll be fine and she should be with her mom.

Kyle notes there was something strange about the fire.

Jordan tell Jonathan that he flew for the first time but that Steel saw him.

Jonathan encourages Jordan to come clean with Lois about his training before John Henry tells her.

According to Lois, Clark's anger with Jonathan over the X-Kryptonite incident was the angriest she had ever seen him about anything.

John Henry remembers what day it is after thinking about how Natalie had been upset ever since that morning.

John Henry tells Lois that he recognized Jordan as the stranger who saved Kyle. 

Jordan is ready to come clean to Lois, but she isn't in the mood to hear it.

Jordan defies Lois regarding it being necessary for him to help people.

John Henry apologies to Natalie but says he's been trying to move on from the day their Lois died. He agrees that they can't forget her but that he can't dwell on the past either.

Natalie goes to her father's apartment. She discovers that he is bleeding and he hasn't unpacked most of his belongings.

Lois confronts Sam over his training Jordan in secret, but he defends his actions saying Jordan needed help

Sam thinks the fire from earlier was meant to cover up an X-Kryptonite distribution hub.

Sam and Lois confront Jonathan over the X-Kryptonite dealer he was protecting. 

Jonathan agrees to see if the dealer is willing to help the DoD in exchange for a promise of immunity from prosecution.

Mayor Dean tries to shut down a ride-sharing program that is helping people to vote, accusing Lana of bringing in people from outside the county.

Sara tries to talk to Lana about how bad Kyle is doing and how he seems to be waiting for her to take him back, but Lana says Kyle has to learn how to take care of himself.

Candice reveals that she had ben selling X-Kryptonite for about fourth months and she got it from a man in her trailer park named Micky Jeroux.

Lois knows Micky Jeroux is a crook despite only living in Smallville for a year.

Candice says her father has a heart condition and treating it exhausted their savings. She also says the moved seven times in the last nine years.

All Candice knows about the distribution of X-Kryptonite locally is that Mickey picked up his supply from somewhere on Old McClellan Road.

Candice tries to apologize for getting Jonathan in trouble, but Lois doesn't want to hear it.

Sam and Jordan persuade Lois to allow Jordan to ride along with them to use his super-hearing to locate the X-Kryptonite distribution center. Lois only agrees with the understanding that all Jordan do is listen.

Sarah brings the rest of Kyle's belongings to his apartment along with everything she needs to cook a decent meal.  

Kyle says Sarah deserves better than Jordan after asking why he isn't there helping her deliver his stuff.

John Henry watches a video of his Lois just after Natalie was born.

Jordan reveals he has not gotten X-Ray vision yet.

Lois and Sam decide to scout out the X-Kryptonite lab before calling in the authorities, but are caught before they can do so.

Lois has considerable experience being tied up and can identify several kinds of knots and knows which ones not to bother trying to wiggle out of.

When a drug dealer emerges with a gun, clearly ready to shoot them, Lois speaks to the open air and tells Jordan he needs to come save them.

Jordan saves Sam and Lois.

Lana wins the election for Mayor, 57% to 43%.

Lois says the operation is clearly bigger than Smallville and has big money behind it.

Jordan goes to Sarah and tries to apologize for being gone the whole day.

Sarah dumps Jordan and returns his grandmother's necklace when he won't tell her where he was.

John Henry makes his wife's waffles for dinner and spends the evening watching old family videos with Natalie.

Sarah goes to stay the night at Kyle's place.

Candice talks with Jonathan and they agree to a fresh start with their relationship, after deciding they do want to stay together.

Jonathan gets a weird headache while talking to Candice, but he writes it off as a side effect of looking at a screen more than normal because of on-line classes.

The Bizarro version of Jonathan Kent arrives at the Kent farm and tells Lois and Jordan that Clark made it to his world but he was too late.


The Bottom Line

An amazing episode which proves that the show can tell a compelling story without Superman. It shouldn't do so often, but it can.

Starman Plays Sam and Max Hit The Road - Part 9

In which we infiltrate a bigfoot party, engage in a final confrontation with Conroy Bumpus, and become honorary yeti chieftains before being charged with saving the bigfoot race and unraveling the mystery of the totem poles! No pressure, though.