Original Air Date: August 3, 2023
Written by: Aman Adumer, Angela Entzminger and Cynthia Furey
Jimmy is seemingly kidnapped by Bigfoot, but the truth is so much weirder. Meanwhile, Lois and Clark struggle to keep tensions between them in check.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptational Backstory Change: The OMACs, usually the cyborg creations and minions of Brother Eye, are the robotic mooks of Task Force X instead.
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Despite being mad scientists to their core, Mallah and Brain are by far the kindest versions of themselves thus far, leaning on their love for each other and tragic backstory as opposed to any small mutant armies they might have made while they were bored in hiding. Although they kidnap Jimmy and briefly consider cutting him open, they quickly spare and release him once it's clear he's not a threat. Likewise, it turns out that they weren't the ones sending robots after Clark and Lois for most of the episode, and once it's clear Mallah and Brain have no nefarious goals Clark and Lois even work with them to create their wormhole. Additionally, Mallah is drawn to be much more benevolent and softer in appearance whereas past incarnations of the characters are drawn to be much more fierce looking and decked out in guerilla warfare gear.
- Project Cadmus is typically closely associated with Amanda Waller and Task Force X as an organization dedicated to developing the means to subdue or kill powerful entities like Superman. In this story, Cadmus rebelled against its original purpose and tried to create peaceful, productive technology instead of weaponry. It was almost completely wiped out when Task Force X came to investigate, leaving only Mallah and Brain behind. On the other hand, Cadmus (what's left of it anyway) has now fallen into the hands of Task Force X, with Ivo in tow. So it's likely back to villainy for the brand.
- Asymmetric Dilemma: Jimmy feels for Mallah and Brain after hearing their backstory of being persecuted by the government, it's like how his friends didn't show up to go camping with him. Their unimpressed and mildly offended looks has him quickly clarify that he knows what it feels like to be abandoned by people he thought were his friends.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While Cadmus decided to apply the advanced technology they had altruistically, they were still a think tank organized to devise weapons. The remains of the military incursion to shut them down are a floating field of demolished vehicles and soldiers melted down to the bone. (At least, we assume Cadmus destroyed them. And that Mallah and Brain are right about Cadmus's intentions.)
- Big "WHAT?!": When Jimmy rants about his friends abandoning him just before he expects to be killed, Mallah turns off the saw and asks him if he wants to talk about it.The Brain and Jimmy: What?!
- Bookends: The series of events that led to Lois discovering Clark's secret and the fragmenting of the main trio's friendship began with Clark giving Lois his jacket after her jeogori was left behind at Ivo Tower. Two episodes later, after everyone has come to terms with Clark's secret and the main trio's friendship has been restored, Lois gives Clark her own jacket after his shirt was burnt by lasers.
- Clothing Damage: When evading the traps around Cadmus, Superman tanks a pair of laser guns to protect Lois, which burn his top off. He's left walking around shirtless for the rest of the episode.
- Combining Mecha: The smaller Task Force X drones have the ability to combine into larger combat forms to menace Clark and Lois.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: Turns out Jimmy was completely correct that there was a talking French gorilla, which he brings up himself.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: While Mallah and Brain were targeted by Task Force X and forced into hiding because they wanted to create rather than destroy, their repeated comments about finding a world where they are accepted for who they are makes it seem as if they were instead shunned due to their status as a gay couple.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After Brain lost his body and he and Mallah were forced into hiding for 22 years, the two are able to create their wormhole and find a world where they can live in peace. Likewise, after Clark and Lois's relationship has crumbled and their friendship with Jimmy all but wrecked as well, they are able to mend things and come back together stronger than ever, with Clark and Lois holding hands at the end to signify their Relationship Upgrade. The end credits have the same picture from the previous episode, but whereas it was torn into thirds in the previous episode, here it is fully intact to represent the trio's reunion.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While assuring Clark that he's their friend regardless of his origins, Lois and Jimmy comment that they'd like him to open up about himself. This helps Mallah realize that in order to stabilize the black hole and stop the Task Force X robots, they need to open up the black hole's containment field.
- Gratuitous French: Mallah inserts French into his dialogue. The first confirmation of his and Brain's relationship is Mallah referring to Brain as "mon amour".
- Gratuitous German: The Brain inserts German into his dialogue, complaining "Nein! Nein! Nein!" while arguing with Mallah and speaking German when ordering his mutant creations to fight off Task Force X.
- Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Gender flipped and played for laughs. After the fight, Lois gives Clark her big jacket to cover up. Being Clark, the jacket is still too small for him.
- Homage: While nothing much else fits, the creators clearly drew inspiration from the Tachikomas of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the RB-79 Ball mobile pod in Brain's Lighter and Softer design.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Deconstructed, as Clark reveals he doesn't want to be normal so much as he didn't want being an alien to define him or change how his friends view him. Reassurance occurs.
- Implausible Deniability: When Jimmy reveals he figured out Clark was a super-strong alien the moment he ripped a door handle off by accident and blamed it on loose screws, Clark lamely insists it could have been loose screws in a tone that suggests he's more upset by Jimmy's critique of his lie than his friend figuring out his secret.
- Interspecies Romance: Mallah is a talking gorilla with human-level intelligence, Brain is a human Brain in a Jar with a cyborg shell.
- Invisibility Cloak: The Cadmus facility is cloaked by a field that makes it look like the rest of the forest from the air. It isn't until Lois and Clark are within spitting distance of the perimeter fence that they even notice it's there, much less the actual facility it's encircling.
- Just Think of the Potential!: Unlike most continuities, Cadmus went off mission and used their mad science for altruistic purposes instead of building weapons. Unfortunately, this brought Task Force X down on them.
- Knew It All Along: Jimmy has known Clark was an alien for years. He just didn't feel it was his place to reveal his knowledge, waiting for Clark to tell him in his own terms.
- Like an Old Married Couple:
- While they've almost certainly not officiated their relationship, Mallah and Brain love each other dearly. They also argue over the minutiae of their interests just like an old married couple.
- Clark and Jimmy's friendship also comes across this way when they start arguing about an incident from the first day they met.
- Not Me This Time: When Clark mentions the attacking robots, the Brain denies any responsibility for them, and then realizes that they are actually remnants of the Task Force X strike force.
- Once More, with Clarity: In Mallah and Brain's initial flashback, they claimed that while they were being chased, Task Force X recklessly damaged the original black hole generator and caused it to explode. Later on, they reveal that in truth they delibrately caused the generator to blow in order to fake their deaths.
- Painting the Medium: Mallah's flashbacks to Cadmus' history is presented with video and sound artifacts on startup as if it were an old vhs recording. It happens again when he quickly gives some clarity to him and Brain faking their deaths.
- Perspective Flip: Mallah and Brain say that Task Force X destroyed Cadmus because they were researching peaceful tech instead of weapons. However, the General's comment at the end about that day being "the first of many hard choices I had to make" implies that something dangerous was happening at Cadmus and Task Force X razed it to the ground to keep it from getting worse.
- Power Nullifier: The cloaking device around the Cadmus facility is based on red sun radiation, dampening Clark's powers when he enters it.
- Pygmalion Plot: Brain fell in love with the gorilla he uplifted into super-intelligence.
- Running Gag: Mallah first claims that he and Brain had been living a simple life of peace, only for Jimmy to discover another mad science experiment causing Mallah to amend his original statement repeatedly.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Jimmy's known Clark had powers since basically the exact second he met the man (for the reasons you'd expect). He never pressed Clark about it because it seemed like a sensitive topic, and figured Clark would tell him when he was ready.
- Shirtless Scene: Clark gets his sweater blasted off by a Sentry Gun halfway through the episode, and spends the rest of it topless.
- Shout-Out: Some of the robots in the flashback to Cadmus' operating days bear a strong resemblance to Gunmen.
- Sphere of Destruction: The black hole that Mallah and Brain unleashed in the past expanded and cleanly deleted a spherical portion of the Cadmus facility and the mountain nearby.
- Taking the Bullet: Clark shields Lois from the fire of a laser turret, even knowing his powers were weakened and being unsure if he was even bulletproof.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Downplayed and Played With. Despite the terrible terms they parted on in the previous episode, Lois is ready to help Clark when Clark tells her that Jimmy has gone missing. She is still angry about him lying to her, but she's willing to put that aside to help out. Then it's subverted completely after she and Clark properly communicate about Clark hiding his identity as Superman.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: Cadmus had a black hole generator that Mallah and Brain used to sell the idea they died in the raid of Task Force X. Instead of sucking everything in when they broke its containment, it just unleashed a giant black sphere that deleted a portion of the surrounding area. Later, a more controlled opening of containment is done to allow it to reach critical mass and stabilize into a wormhole into another dimension.
- Unreliable Narrator: Mallah and Brain say that Task Force X attacked Cadmus because they were trying to research peaceful technologies instead of weapons, but treat it like fact instead of theory. The General's comments at the end imply the situation was much more complex than that.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After they leave for another dimension to avoid Task Force X, Mallah and Brain leave all of their technology and mutant bodyguards behind. The General brings Task Force X to retrieve this technology while having Ivo retrofit it into weaponry to use against Superman.
- Waddling Head: Mallah and Brain's mutant army is oddly adorable little monster people, little more than over-sized heads with arms and legs.
- Was It All a Lie?: It turns out that this is why Lois was so upset about Clark hiding his identity—she wasn't upset that he was lying to her about being Superman, she was upset because she had no way of knowing what else he lied to her about as part of a cover, potentially including his feelings for her. When she asks Clark point-blank if he truly loved her, Clark appears genuinely hurt that she thinks he didn't.
- Wham Line: After meeting back up with Jimmy, Clark decides to reveal his secret, deciding it's done more harm to his friend group than good...Clark: You deserve to know. I am Sup-
Jimmy: Clark, I know you're Superman. This is not a big reveal. - Your Answer to Everything: Mallah complains that the Brain's answer to everything involves some variation on "eliminate it".
