History Recap / SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS3E8SupermansPal

** Tina. At the office, she looks like an attractive [[TheDitz ditzy]] teenage girl. She's actually a hard-hitting manipulator who even Metallo calls cold.
** Also, Angela Chen. Up until this point in the series, she was simply the other journalist in town, the one who's not quite as competent as Lois or Clark. However, in this episode she suckers Jimmy into an interview he didn't want and uses ManipulativeEditing to change his words into the exact opposite of what he meant. Aside from being a very unethical thing for a reporter to do, it also nearly gets Jimmy killed. ''Twice''. Worse, when he tries to tell her that she has put his life in danger, [[ImmoralJournalist she laughs him off]].

* CelebrityIsOverrated: Jimmy begins to get over his humiliation at the wildly exaggerated interview when it turns out that being known as "Superman's Pal" gets him a lot of benefits. Unfortunately, he ultimately finds out that it's not all it's cracked up to be, because with it comes people asking him to use his relationship with Superman to help them out in various ways and people on the criminal circuit harassing him because of his connection to Superman. It doesn't help that (as far as he knows) what he's famous ''for'' is a total lie.

* HumbleGoal: After Angela's story airs, a man approaches Jimmy to ask him a favor. He says that Superman saved his life once and he never got a chance to thank him, so he asks Jimmy to give Supes his thank-you card.

* ImmoralJournalist: The episode sees ''Daily Planet'' gossip reporter Angela Chen cross ethical lines to get her story. When Superman refuses to give her a statement, she fixes on [[Characters/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesMainCharacters Jimmy Olsen]], who she saw him thank [[HeroicBystander for helping with the evacuation.]] She convinces him to give her an interview on his relationship to Superman (though Jimmy insists it's just barely a relationship) and then cuts the footage to make it sound like Jimmy is saying that they're close friends and he's saved Superman's life before. This nearly gets him killed when the town crooks start taking the story seriously, but Angela refuses to recant it, instead calling Jimmy ungrateful for rejecting the publicity.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* OffModel:
** There are a few moments where Jimmy Olsen's eyebrows change from black to orange.
** When Jimmy listens to the man telling him about a time when Superman saved him from a sinking boat, his irises go invisible, revealing the background of buildings behind him as he walks.

* AvengingTheVillain: A thug whose friend was arrested by Superman goes aftery Jimmy in retaliation.

* EyeObscuringHat: After Angela's news story airs, Jimmy sneaks into the ''Planet'' office, pulling a baseball cap down over his face to hide his humiliation at the exaggerated tale she's telling.

* MutuallyUnequalRelationship: Jimmy starts out believing that Superman would barely even notice a "nobody" like him and that all the times the hero has saved his life are simply because Superman saves ''everyone'' who's in danger. While he's right about the latter, he doesn't know that Superman is also his friend/mentor Clark Kent, who more or less connected with him on the first day in the office. In the end, Superman gives him the pep talk that Clark Kent couldn't finish and gives him a [[JustWhistle signal watch]] so he can contact him if he's in danger.

** Downplayed; Superman's comment to Jimmy when he tells him to get the story revoked also takes on a slightly different meaning after the end. Originally, the viewer (along with Jimmy) might interpret his calling the situation a mess and warning the young reporter he can't be around to save him every time as an expression of the burden Angela put on the hero by falsely claiming he and Jimmy are close. After Superman affirms he does care about Jimmy as a friend, the moment comes off as more personal.
* ShootingSuperman: When Superman turns up to save Jimmy from getting mauled by a gang of thugs, [[WhatAnIdiot one of them]] tries to hit the hero with a metal bar. Superman {{lampshades}} this:

** The title itself references UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} comic book ''Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.''

* DownInTheDumps: Superman and ComicBook/JimmyOlsen fight Metallo in a junkyard.

* ImmoralJournalist: The episode sees ''Daily Planet'' gossip reporter Angela Chen cross ethical lines to get her story. When Superman refuses to give her a statement, she fixes on ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, who she saw him thank [[HeroicBystander for helping with the evacuation.]] She convinces him to give her an interview on his relationship to Superman (though Jimmy insists it's just barely a relationship) and then cuts the footage to make it sound like Jimmy is saying that they're close friends and he's saved Superman's life before. This nearly gets him killed when the town crooks start taking the story seriously, but Angela refuses to recant it, instead calling Jimmy ungrateful for rejecting the publicity.

* CarFu: Superman to Metallo. The android is unimpressed.

* CelebrityLie: A played-with variation; Jimmy's reputation as "Superman's Pal" isn't due to him, but to Angela Chen; he's originally embarrassed and only starts going along with it later when he realizes the perks of the reputation. Then, at the end, Superman reveals he ''does'' see Jimmy as a close friend (although perhaps not quite as much as Angela implied).

* DidNotGetTheGirl: But given that she's a frigid supervillain fan girl, Jimmy didn't appear too disappointed.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Metallo's plan was thwarted because he didn't consider if the hostage might try to help his intended victim.
* DistressedDude -> DefiantCaptive: After failing to escape, Jimmy doesn't do much until Superman shows up to rescue him and Metallo tries to kill him. Then he breaks out of the car compactor and grabs Metallo with the car magnet.

* DudeWheresMyRespect: Lois, upon Angela reporting on Jimmy Olsen, "Superman's Pal".

* HandBehindHead: Jimmy does the "uncomfortable" variant when Angela Chen pumps him for information about his relationship with Superman.

* RescueReversal: Superman flies into Metallo's trap trying to rescue Jimmy and Jimmy winds up having to save him.

-->'''Superman''': You lived up to your press, Jimmy. You saved my life again.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Lois is talking to Perry near an open window. During that time, Superman flies outside. Obviously, the flying causes air to blow and Lois talks about how she has to stop wearing skirts. So Perry likely got a [[PantyShot view of Lois' intimates]].

'''Clark:''' Aww, I'm sure Superman likes you too Lois.

** Downplayed; Superman's comment to Jimmy when he tells him to get the story revoked also takes on a slightly different meaning after the end. Originally, the viewer (along with Jimmy) might interpret his calling the situation a mess and warning the young reporter he can't be around every time as an expression of the burden Angela's story put on the hero. After Superman reveals he does care about Jimmy in that way, it comes off more personally.

* OhCrap: Metallo has a brief one when he realized that Jimmy Olsen had just removed his Kryptonite power source. He has time for a brief shriek before he collapses.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: You don't get much more this way than dating a supervillain.

* AvengingTheVillain: A thug whose friend was arrested by Superman goes after [[RevengeByProxy Jimmy]] in retaliation.

* CallBack: Angela Chen mentions the events of "Feeding Time", "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E11SolarPower Solar Power]]", and "Little Girl Lost" during her televised 'interview' - but she doesn't get all of it correct.

* HeroicBystander: in the beginning of the episode, Jimmy drags an unconscious man out of a crashed helicopter. At the end, he saves the Man of Steel himself.

* RecycledSoundtrack: This was one of the complaints about the episode.

** Also, Angela Chen. Up until this point in the series, she was simply the other journalist in town, the one who's not quite as competent as Lois or Clark. However, in this episode she suckers Jimmy into an interview he didn't want and uses ManipulativeEditing to change his words into the exact opposite of what he meant. Aside from being a very unethical thing for a reporter to do, it also nearly gets Jimmy killed. ''Twice''. Worse, when he tries to tell her that she has put his life in danger, she laughs him off.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Tina. At the office, she looks like a pretty, [[TheDitz ditzy]] teenage girl. She's actually a hard-hitting manipulator who even Metallo calls cold.

* RewatchBonus: A lot of Tina's part in the episode takes on a different meaning after the reveal.
** Originally the viewer attributes Tina suddenly developing an interest in Jimmy after the news story airs to simple social climbing. It turns out she just considered him easier to lure to her boyfriend's place than Lois.
** When a group of thugs attack during their date, Tina starts screaming for Superman. On the first watch, it comes across as a reasonable reaction given what Jimmy told her, but later it turns out she implemented the whole thing as a test to make sure Superman would come when she and Metallo used Jimmy as a hostage.

* FriendshipMoment: between Superman and Jimmy at the end of the episode. [[Heartwarming/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries The hero reassures his young colleague that he's done well and gives him the famous signal watch in case he's ever in trouble.]]

* HopelessSuitor: Tina doesn't want Jimmy's attention, until the news story airs.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Tina.

* ShootingSuperman: When Superman turns up to save Jimmy from getting mauled by a gang of thugs, [[WhatAnIdiot one of them]] tries to hit him with a metal bar. Superman {{lampshades}} this:

* SmugSnake: Metallo believes a superhero who is vulnerable to his power source and a teenager cannot possibly defeat him.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never find out what happened to Tina after Jimmy locked her in the closet. But it's very likely she got arrested.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: First Clark tells Jimmy that "you're selling yourself short", then Superman drops by to break him out of his slump.