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Recap / Superman: The Animated Series S2 E14 "Ghost in the Machine"

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Superman's old foe Brainiac gets the jump on Lex and locks him in a lab to build a new body for him. When Luthor's disappearance is discovered, Superman and Luthor's Dragon Mercy Graves team up to rescue him.

This episode includes examples of the following tropes:

  • Admiring the Abomination: Lex hates to admit it, but he is impressed by how advanced Brainiac's body is.
  • Ask a Stupid Question...: After Clark voices his belief that the missile test was deliberately sabotaged.
    Lois: But who'd want to destroy Luthor?
    [Clark openly looks surprised she just said that]
    Lois: Well, yeah, but who'd be crazy enough to try?
  • Asshole Victim: Luthor. Lois lampshades that it's not that plenty of people wouldn't want to kill Lex, but that they know better than to make the attempt.
  • Beam-O-War:
    • Mercy uses her laser pistol against Brainiac's beam, but is quickly beaten and knocked out.
    • Superman mans the Sky Sentry and counters Braniac's blast, eventually overloading him with so much Hollywood Magnetism Brainiac is crushed by the debris of the lab.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Superman saving Mercy from the drones.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Lex is rescued and Superman saves Mercy, but she goes back to Lex in spite of his behavior.
  • Bodyguard Crush: Mercy has a crush on Lex (which is completely obvious to Lois), but to him, she's just another employee.
  • Brain Uploading: Brainiac hid in Luthor's computers.
  • Break the Haughty: Lex is forced to slave away for Brainiac to point of sleep deprivation and aching hunger. When he's finally able to get some food, he gorges himself, but then he sees his reflection and winces at how pathetic he now looks.
  • Call-Back: Brainiac tells Luthor that he survived his ship being bombed by the military, at the end of "Stolen Memories", by downloading his mind into the computers of LexCorp.
  • Chekhov's Gun: After his defeat, Brainiac began a plan that took 8 real-life years to bear fruit.
  • A Day in the Limelight: This is the only episode to have such focus on Mercy Graves.
  • Disastrous Demonstration: Lex's Sky Sentry fails to activate during its unveiling — after Lex has ordered two actual missiles fired at the building it's unveiled at. It's ultimately revealed that Brainiac had sabotaged the machine to lure Lex to him.
  • Ditch the Bodyguards: Clark finds the idea that Lex would try to fool Mercy as part of a scheme difficult to believe.
    Clark Kent: Granted, Lois, Luthor does a lot of strange things. But what reason could he possibly have for trying to fool his own bodyguard?
    Lois Lane: Maybe he just needed some space. Haven't you ever noticed how she hovers over him, everywhere he goes?
    Clark Kent: But Lois, that's her job.
    Lois Lane: It's no wonder why you're still single, Kent.
  • Enemy Mine: Superman and Mercy team up to fight Brainiac.
  • Everyone Can See It: Lois points out it's very obvious that Mercy's interest in Lex goes beyond professional. She's incredulous that Clark completely missed it.
  • Foreshadowing: invokedAn incredible example, since it can’t possibly have been intentional. Midway through the episode, Brainiac zaps Lex with a laser beam that leaves him completely unharmed and isn't brought up again, despite the fact that Brainiac had no reason to spare Lex after his usefulness was at an end. A few years later in Justice League, it's revealed the blast functioned exactly as Brainiac intended.
  • He Knows Too Much: After Clark forced his way into Lex's office, he and Mercy saw that Lex really isn't there. To try to cover his tracks, Brainiac fires a missile into Clark's apartment and sics the drones on Mercy.
  • Hologram: Brainiac makes a hologram of Lex so that no one initially realizes he's gone.
  • I Owe You My Life: Mercy says she was a homeless vagrant before Lex took her in, which is why she's unfailingly loyal. Too bad for her Lex doesn't return her loyalty.
  • Innocuously Important Episode: This episode turns out to have major ramifications down the line in Justice League Unlimited.
  • It's Personal: After the humiliation that was the failed demonstration of his new magnetic weapon, which recquired Superman's intervention to save him and everyone else in LexCorp building, Luthor is visibly pissed off goes to investigate himself and alone the reasons for this failure. Brainiac was counting on it, to be able of trapping him without anyone's notice.
  • Made a Slave: Braniac demonstrates to Luthor a perfect 3-D rendering that also sounds just like him, so no one will notice he's missing after being trapped in the research lab. Several days of rebuilding Braniac's body, Luthor collapses from exhaustion, when Brainiac demands he keep working, Luthor says that as a human being he needs food and rest, but Braniac only allows him enough time to eat some candy bars from a nearby vending machine. Luthor is only freed when Mercy figures out where he's being held, and she and Superman confront Braniac.
  • Meaningful Echo: When explaining her backstory to Superman of how Lex took her off the streets, Mercy describes that she used to live like a "stray dog". Later, when Mercy is still loyal to Lex despite that he previously left her for dead, Superman disappointedly comments "Just a stray..." The way he sees it, Mercy's still a stray dog obedient to her master, no matter how often he kicks her.
  • No Sympathy Between Mooks: Mercy, trapped under a load of debris, calls to Luthor for help... and he abandons her.
  • Rage Against the Reflection: More like "Shame at the Reflection" as Luthor painfully winces and then closes his eyes in shame after seeing how pathetic he looks after several days of being forced to work for Brainiac without food and rest.
  • Recruited from the Gutter: Mercy Graves explains to Superman that Luthor took her in off the streets, explaining her loyalty to him. Unfortunately, Luthor doesn't return the sentiments and abandons her when Brainiac makes the lab collapse.
  • Save the Villain: Superman's mission is to save Lex (and, after she's abandoned, Mercy), both of whom have been involved in attempts to kill him before.
  • Sequel Episode: Follows up on "Stolen Memories" and the code Brainiac left behind in LexCorp's systems.
  • Spanner in the Works: Brainiac's plan to cover his tracks is derailed by Clark Kent being Superman.
  • Taught by Experience: Having fought Superman in "Stolen Memories", Brainaic now has a better understanding of his power and combat abilities. So, Brainiac's rebuilt body has been upgraded and improved to allow him to go toe-to-toe with Kal-El (something he even lampshades).
  • Too Hungry to Be Polite: Lex Luthor is held hostage inside his own office by Brainiac, who forces him to build him a new robot body. When Brainiac finally allows Lex to take a dinner break, Lex gorges himself on a handful of candy bars from a nearby snack machine.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Brainiac had his new body designed with improvements to better fight Superman.
  • Weakness Is Just a State of Mind: Brainiac doesn't know that as an organic being, Lex needs rest and nutrition, so when Brainiac overworks him to the point of collapse, he thinks Lex has stopped working on purpose.
  • Wrong Assumption: Given his history, Superman wonders if Lex has some kind of dirt on Mercy that forces her compliance. Mercy says she works for him out of appreciation for saving her from the streets.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Brainiac makes it clear this will be Lex's fate once he finishes work on the body. Lex tries to throw a wrench in the works by giving up before finishing, but Brainiac demonstrates he completed enough of the work for that to not be an issue.

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