History Recap / MyAdventuresWithSupermanS1E09HeartsOfTheFathers

* FightOffTheKryptonite: Superman is, if anything, even ''more'' vulnerable to kryptonite here than he usually is... but he uses a chunk of it as a weapon, despite the agonizing and crippling effects it has on him, to disable a chunk of Kryptonian technology that's just as vulnerable to kryptonite as he is.

-->'''Jor-El:''' (speaking Kryptonese) Kryptonite! The poison is here?!

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Jimmy getting fed up accidentally gets Clark exposed to the truth of evil Supermen. Worse still, it also exposes him to kryptonite. His ship then detects the substance and nearly triggers another Zero Day by opening a portal to the fleet['s present location, a crisis only narrowly averted by Clark delivering the kryptonite to his ship and destroying it. The AI of Jor-El seemingly sacrifices himself to save Clark, so while Earth retains its hero, Clark no has no idea what's coming and no one who can explain it to him. And as the cherry on top, even that averted incursion has alerted Brainiac and another Kryptonian to Earth's location.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Surprisingly enough, ''Mister Mxyzptlk'' winds up being this, despite his on-off appearance. In addition to the File X he gave Lois still having some unresolved tension in Clark's friends trying to figure out the best time to tell him about it, the pure kryptonite shard contained in the Sphere triggers failsafes within Clark's ship once it detects the rock's presence nearby, which apparently allows Brainiac's AI to seize control of the vessel and nearly trigger another Zero day. Jor-El's horrified reaction to the ship reacting to Kryptonite indicates that he picked Earth to send Clark to in part also because there was ''no'' trace of the stone on it, and he's stunned that "the poison" is somehow on the planet.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Surprisingly enough, ''Mister Mxyzptlk'' winds up being this, despite his on-off appearance. In addition to the File X he gave Lois still having some unresolved tension in Clark's friends trying to figure out the best time to tell him about it, the pure Kryptonite shard contained in the Sphere triggers failsafes within Clark's ship once it detects the rock's presence nearby, which apparently allows Brainiac's AI to seize control of the vessel and nearly trigger another Zero day. Jor-El's horrified reaction to the ship reacting to Kryptonite indicates that he picked earth to send Clark to in part also because there was ''no'' trace of the stone on it, and he's stunned that "the poison" is somehow on the planet.

* PostClimaxConfrontation: PlayedWith: The "Zero Day" two parter had Clark facing off with the combined might of his accumulated RoguesGallery in Task Force X, built up throughout the season, learning the AwfulTruth about [[AlienInvasion Zero Day]] and why he's believed to be a threat to Earth by the General, and ended with him having a climatic battle with a {{Kaiju}} Parasite to save the city. In contrast, the episode initially seems to be much lower-stakes with Clark having to suffer through some CringeComedy at the Kent farm once he realizes that Lois' father is the same General who's been hunting him, until the File X that Lois had on her opens and allows the presence of Kryptonite to affect both Clark and his buried ship, which escalates events to the point that another Zero Day nearly occurs.

** Kryptonite's only presence in the series prior to the episode was the League of Lois Lanes having kryptonite weaponry and a pure shard of the stuff inside File X, all of which was from other universes. Red sun radiation replaced it as the primary method of depowering Clark throughout the season, leaving it ambiguous as to kryptonite's status in the show's main universe. This episode not only confirms that kryptonite exists in the main universe but also reveals that it's hardly an unknown substance, as both Jor-El (who refers to it as "the poison") and Brainiac (whose ship has countermeasures against it) are aware of what it is and what it can do. That said, why it's apparently utterly absent from Earth is not answered, since most adaptations have the radioactive rocks getting scattered across the universe as a result of Krypton's explosion, suggesting hat Kryptonite's origins are somewhat different (or at least, given how recent the explosion was, simply haven't reached Earth yet).
** Clark's spaceship that delivered him to Earth is apparently a repurposed and reprogrammed warship, infected with an AI of Jor-El to allow him to pilot his son to the safe haven of Earth. This unfortunately means that when the failsafes on the ship react to the Kryptonite's presence, the ship's MechaMooks are activated and infected with what appears to be Brainiac's code, turning the ship hostile against Earth and making it look to Sam Lane that Superman is indeed leading an invasion of Earth after all.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Regarding if they should show the file containing footage of the alternate Supermen becoming evil to Clark. On one side, Jimmy is right that they did agree not to keep any more secrets from each other, since that's already caused a lot of conflict between the three of them. However, Lois is also right when she points out that Clark is still deeply shaken over his perceived belief that he's a living weapon who was sent to Earth to conquer it, and showing him alternate versions of himself going full BewareTheSuperman would only exacerbate his already growing [[IAmAMonster self-loathing]].

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Regarding if they should show footage of the alternate Supermen becoming evil to Clark. On one side, Jimmy is right that they did agree not to keep anymore secrets since they caused so much drama that it could have been avoided. However, Lois is also right when she points out that Clark is very depressed over his perceived belief that he's a living weapon who was sent to Earth to conquer it, and showing him images of alternate versions of himself going full BewareTheSuperman would only exacerbate his alredy growing [[IAmAMonster self-loathing]].

* IHaveNoIdeaWhatI'mDoing: Though his dialogue remains mostly [[LanguageBarrier incomprehensible]], Jor-El's body language and tone clearly convey this sentiment at the episode's beginning, when Clark accuses him of sending him to Earth as a LivingWeapon and then leaves before he can try to communicate the truth. He comes across as a father reluctantly estranged from his son with no idea of how to bridge the gap between them, no matter how much he cares for him. Similarly, Sam's emotional breakdown when Lois [[GoThroughMe stands between him and Superman]] after he just witnessed another Zero Day nearly occur makes it clear that his love for his daughter is fighting with the fear of the unknown threat to Earth that Superman and all the Kryptonian technology represents, and as much as Sam is trying, he has ''no idea'' how to keep Lois safe and out of danger from such a menace, his true underlying motivation for his [[BewareTheSuperman antagonism]] towards the "invader".

* HypocrisyNod: The only reason why Lois and Jimmy haven't told Clark about the evil alternate Supermen is because they are worried about his emotional state. Jimmy is well aware how hypocritical this is since they all promise not to keep secrets anymore.

** Sam understandably has a horrified expression on his face when he sees Clark's ship rising from the ground, re-living Zero Day all over again, before he composes himself and orders the civilians to flee from the threat whilst he engages it solo. Though he retains an outward stoic expression, his tone is full of stunned disbelief when his own daughter talks to him about Task force X and Zero Day, despite all that he'd done to keep her away from the threat involved with those. When the ship opens another portal with an incoming alien shape ship ''exactly'' like Zero day, Sam clearly has a HeroicBSOD at the sight.

** Kryptonite's only presence in the series prior to the episode was the League of Lois Lanes having kryptonite weaponry and a pure shard of the stuff inside File X, all of which was from other universes. Red sun radiation replaced it as the primary method of depowering Clark throughout the season, leaving it ambiguous as to kryptonite's status in the show's main universe. This episode not only confirms that kryptonite exists in the main universe but also reveals that it's hardly an unknown substance, as both Jor-El (who refers to it as "the poison") and Brainiac (whose ship has countermeasures against it) are aware of what it is and what it can do. That said, why it's apparently utterly absent from Earth is not answered, since most adaptations have the radioactive rocks getting scattered across the universe as a result of Krypton's explosion, suggesting hat Kryptonite's origins are somewhat different.

* SummonBiggerFish: Clark's ship escalates in response to the destruction of its assault. When Jimmy takes out one drone with kryptonite, it sends out a bigger one. When Clark takes out the larger drone, it opens a portal to bigger warship.

-->'''Sam Lane:''' ''No''...not again.

* TheUnreveal: Nemesis Omega's fate following Zero Day is not clarified. Whilst Brainiac confers with another Kryptonian warrior during TheStinger, his body armor and physique are noticeably bulkier and different from Omega's, and Brainiac's ignorance of Earth's existence until the episode's ending indicates that whatever happened to them, they weren't able to report back about the planet they attempted to conquer.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Jimmy getting fed up accidentally gets Clark exposed to the truth of evil Supermen. Worse still, it also exposes him to kryptonite. His ship is corrupted by the kryptonite and nearly triggers another Zero Day by opening a portal to another warship. Fortunately, Clark manages to stop it. Unfortunately, this destroys his ship and possibly the AI of Jor-El so the situation can't be explained, as well as alerting Brainiac and Nemesis Omega to Earth's location.

* CringeComedy: The bulk of the episode's humor revolves around the Kents, Lois, and Jimmy keeping secrets from Sam and the embarrassing excuses they make to hold conversations away from prying ears. There's also the awkwardness of Clark facing Sam, who kidnapped, imprisoned, and tried to kill Clark not that long ago.

* RagsToRiches: While downplayed in that none of the trio were ''poor'', they end up going from a working-class income to becoming millionaires after Jimmy sells Flamebird to the Daily Planet for over five million dollars.

* ImNotDoingThatAgain: Jimmy gets fed up with the sneaking around and being put in the middle of his friends keeping secrets from each other after Clark piles on that Lois' father is the General while already keeping the secret about evil Supermen. He marches outside and demands Clark comes clean to Lois outright.