Original Air Date: August 10, 2023
Written by: Paul Chang, Cynthia Furey, and Aman Adumer
Clark tries to plan a normal date without any Superman problems - but gets interrupted when Mr. Mxyzptlk sweeps him, Jimmy, and Lois, into a high-stakes, multiverse-hopping chase!
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptational Heroism: Mr. Mxyzptlk is set up to be this, given how he proclaims to be an interdimensional peacekeeper who needs Superman's help. Subverted when this is near immediately revealed to be a lie to trick Superman into helping him break into a vault.
- All for Nothing: The other Loises went through a lot of trouble to finally arrest Mister Mxyzptlk thanks to the aid of Clark, Lois, and Jimmy, but by the end of the episode, he easily escapes from prison.
- Alliance of Alternates: The League of Loises is made up of alternate versions of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.
- Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: Lois is dejected to learn her alternates are more personally and professionally successful than she is at younger ages.
- Amplifier Artifact: Mr. Mxyzptlk's crown amplifies his already potent abilities when he wears it.
- Batman Gambit: Mr. Mxyzptlk's plan hinges on Clark believing him long enough to bait the Loises into the desert, then counting on the other Loises leaving their ship unattended and fighting with Clark long enough for him to steal it. Our Lois still being on board was only a minor hiccup.
- Beware the Superman: The restricted file that Lois takes from the Legion of Lois Lanes depicts various Supermen, including one similar to her own, destroying the city and killing people in cold blood. Mr. Mxyzptlk explains to her that not every Superman turns out to be good, and Lois finds a piece of kryptonite in the orb container, which Mxyzptlk refuses to explain to her because he thinks it will be more fun to let her figure it out by herself.
- Big Damn Kiss: Lois and Clark finally get theirs, unfortunately it's as Mxy is wreaking havoc, causing Jimmy to interrupt and ask if they can save it for later.
- Bittersweet Ending: On one hand, Lois and Clark cement their Relationship Upgrade and get off the other Loises' radar. On the other, Lois learns that not all Supermen are heroic and Mr. Mxyzptlk escapes with seemingly little inconvenience.
- Breather Episode: One last lighthearted romp before the dark Zero Day two-parter.
- Blunt "No": Clark's immediate response to Mr. Mxyzptlk's request for help is to slam the door in his face with a declaration of "Nope!"
- Bound and Gagged: Lois, natch, even if it is an illusion Mxyzptlk uses to fool Clark into helping him. Still, six episodes before this happens to her may be a new record.
- Cardboard Prison: The other Loises lock up Mr. Mxyzptlk, but it "didn't take", allowing him to give some parting words to Lois after she learns about evil alternate Supermen.
- Chekhov's Gun: At the end of the episode, Mxyzptlk leaves Lois with a shard of Kryptonite while also deliberately not telling her what it is.
- Commonality Connection: Among the League of Loises that Jimmy and our Lois meets is one Jalana Olsen. Although standoffish at first, she bonds with Jimmy over both of them being the only Jimmys to also be Flamebirds and covertly helps them escape at the end.
- Continuity Nod: Apparently, helping Mallah and the Brain open a portal last episode somehow helped Mr. Mxyzptlk escape the other Loises.
- Distinction Without a Difference:Mr. Mxyzptlk: Great! Now, you smash, and I grab!
Superman: Wait, are—are you robbing this place?
Mr. Mxyzptlk: Nooooohohoho, of course not! We're robbing this place! - Exhausted Eyebags: Jimmy finds Clark with bags under his eyes, having stayed up who knows how long trying to plan the perfect date with Lois.
- Figure It Out Yourself: Mr. Mxyzptlk refuses to tell Lois anything beyond what she learns by herself, other than confirming that what she sees is in fact real, because he finds it more enjoyable to let her puzzle it out by herself than hand it to her on a platter.
- Fireworks of Love: During the kiss between the show's main Lois and the show's main Superman, the firefight in the background have the blasts explode into fireworks.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing:
- Before the other Loises take on Clark and Mxyzptlk, Leader Lois locks Lois inside a tube container on the ship because she knows that Lois will typically cause trouble for them. After Mxyzptlk hijacks their ship and escape through a portal and celebrates his victory over the Loises, the tube container in the background that's supposed to hold Lois shows she's no longer inside and she immediately points a blaster at Mxyzptlk.
- While Mxyzptlk is handcuffed, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy can be seen standing next to Jalana, but when Leader Lois turns their attention towards the trio, they're already gone. Jalana, who doesn't seem too shocked, tells Leader Lois that they took one of their portal gauntlets while they were busy and left. It seems strange that Jalana didn't try to stop them and waited for Leader Lois to notice their disappearance to explain what happened, but that's because she was the one to sent the trio back home.
- Foreshadowing: The other Loises initially marking Clark as an enemy is actually a hint to the ending reveal that not all of his counterparts are heroic.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mr. Mxyzptlk's liberal use of portals allows Lois to steal his Amplifier Artifact while Superman has him distracted.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Clark wants to give Lois a perfect, normal date, but his plans get immediately derailed after declaring this by the arrival of Mr. Mxyzptlk. Mxy also taunts Clark with the notion that there is no universe where he is normal, and he'll always be different and alone because of it.
- Internal Reveal:
- Clark shows his spaceship to Lois and Jimmy.
- Mxyzptlk casually mentions that Clark is from Krypton, which is something that he didn't know so far. The Loises also mention Clark being a Kryptonian in front of of our Lois and Jimmy. Fans of any version of Superman would also be familiar with kryptonite, but this is the first time this Superman has experienced it. Lois ends up with a piece as well at the end.
- Ironic Echo: When Superman has him pinned, Mr. Mxyzptlk says he has enough left for "one last trick" before portaling them both away. Later, when Mr. Mxyzptlk has Superman down, he also says he has "one last trick" before Lois reaches through a portal and steals his hat.
- Kryptonite Factor: The other Loises use rifles that fire green energy bolts which can neutralize Superman. Although never named, it's obvious what their rifles are powered by. At the end of the episode, Lois finds a piece of Kryptonite in the file she stole from headquarters, with Mxyzptlk deliberately choosing not to tell her what it is so that she'll find out for herself.
- Missed Him by That Much: Mr. Mxyzptlk tricks Clark into believing Lois has been kidnapped. Right after they portal away, Clark's forgotten cell phone gets a text from Jimmy saying Lois is with him.
- Mood Whiplash: A Lighter and Softer episode where Lois and Clark worry over their first date, get distracted by Mxy's shenanigans, and finally kiss... that ends with Lois finding out other multiversal Supermen are dangerous and is left with a piece of kryptonite.
- Mythology Gag:
- Mr. Mxyzptlk turns Clark into the Fleischer, Super Friends and DCAU versions of Superman, as well as a crab. The League also has past animated versions of Lois in the form of holograms, with the Lois Prime that founded the group being based on the Superman Theatrical Cartoons iteration.
- Mxyzptlk labels the Fleischer, Super Friends and DCAU Earths 12, 50, and 508. However, Earth-12 is the official designation for the Batman Beyond universe, Earth-50 houses the Beyond iteration of the Justice Lords (or the WildStorm Universe, as posited by 52), and 508 is home of the DC Super Friends (not to be confused with the aforementioned Super Friends). Then again, it's Mxyzptlk, he probably doesn't care about getting the designation number right. In addition, the League's founder is Fleischer Lois who is implied to come from "Earth-Prime" or maybe "Prime Earth" due to being called Lois Prime. So if Mxyzptlk is being accurate then there's at least two Earths among the infinite Earths that are Fleischer-based. Then there's an Earth-1 Lois who looks like the main Lois with different hair. In the comics, Earth-1 and Prime Earth have both referred to the "main" DC Earth at different times, in different multiversal status quos, while Earth-Prime refers to the real world, "our" world.
- The item Mr. Mxyzptlk is after is his classic bowler hat, which turns into a crown when he puts it on.
- The vault Mxy tricks Superman into breaking into is filled with DC Comics artifacts, including the Helmet of Fate, the Cosmic Rod, a Legion flight ring, Katana's katana, a Green Lantern battery, a Mother Box, and one of Mister Terrific's T-spheres.
- Jalana Olsen once met a telepathic horse named Comet, a reference to Comet the Super-Horse.
- One of the alternate evil Supermen Lois sees in the ending each resembles the Justice Lord incarnation of Superman. Another resembles Ultraman, his Mirror Universe counterpart, and the third resembles Superboy-Prime. Another is the version of Overman from Grant Morrison's run on Animal Man.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Aside from Superman trusting someone he just met and breaking into a museum, the other Loises' shoot-first policy has them shoot Superman as he's trying to restrain Mxyzptlk and then keeps them distracted long enough for Mr. Mxyzptlk to steal their ship.
- Apparently, helping Mallah and the Brain open a portal last episode is what allowed Mr. Mxyzptlk to escape from the other Loises in the first place.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: Heavily implied with the five League of Lois Lane members that we see in person, compared to the wider League, given all that we learn about the organization and the multiverse. These five are just the ones whose Supermen turned evil, and turned extremist as a result.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to the opening theme of Ouran High School Host Club, "Sakura Kiss", which famously starts with the line "Kiss Kiss Fall in Love".
- The wall of weapons at the League of Lois's headquarters includes a Sky-Hook, the Dragonslayer, Sakura's staff, Etna's Elder Spear, the Wabbajack, a Monarch henchman dartgun, Homura's shield, the Silence Glaive, Thor's hammer, a gunblade, Kyoshi's combat fan, a Noisy Cricket, and the metal sphere from Phantasm.
- One of the alternate Loises is dressed similarly to Kairi from Kingdom Hearts and even holds a key to the city that heavily resembles a Keyblade.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Lois and Clark have both set up String Theory boards in their rooms to plot out their date, albeit for different reasons.
- String Theory: Clark and Lois both create their own versions of this, with Clark trying to plot out their perfect first date and Lois's trying to figure out the perfect present for him. Clark's borders on Room Full of Crazy, with plans on the floor and wall, and a map on the ceiling.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Jimmy mentions to Jalana the coolest thing he's ever seen is the decaying ruins of a secret government lab that definitely did not have a gorilla or a brain.
- Teleport Interdiction: The museum has a barrier to prevent portals from forming in it.
- Tempting Fate: Clark reflecting on how nothing weird can interrupt his day of course immediately leads to something weird happening.
- Thinking Up Portals: Aside from illusions, Mr. Mxyzptlk's main ability is creating pink portals that can cross the multiverse.
- Took a Level in Cynic: The other Loises are noticeably distrustful of Clark from the get go, shooting him on-sight with Kryptonite to neutralize him, implying they are mostly from universes where Superman went bad.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After Clark, Lois, and Jimmy neutralizes Mxyzptlk and they have him handcuffed, Leader Lois's tone towards the trio doesn't exactly sound grateful, and considering Jalana had to secretly teleport them back to their universe without the other Loises noticing, it seems like Leader Lois had other plans for them.
- Wham Shot: Lois finally unlocks the orb file she retrieved from the League's headquarters and begins watching a holo-recording of another Superman. Who suddenly devastates the Metropolis he's in. She watches more Supermen turn violent and realizes not all Clarks are good.
- You Remind Me of X: When Lois decides not to stop Mxyzptlk because she doesn't trust her alternates, Mxyzptlk excitedly comments that he reminds her of Lois Prime, who was equally paranoid.
