Criminal J.W. Gridley pulls a surprising trick out of his sleeve when his hired guns fail to steal some important documents from Clark Kent's office. Producing "Kid" Collins, a career criminal who completely resembles Jimmy Olsen, he has the young reporter kidnapped and sneaks in the fake to make sure he gets the goods.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Almost Dead Guy: Downplayed; when Superman arrives at the Planet office, he finds Lois tending the real Jimmy, who got knocked unconscious by his doppelganger and is slumped in a chair. While Superman is discussing the case, the dazed Jimmy manages one word, "Gridley", giving Superman the missing piece of the puzzle.
- Appeal to Force: One of Gridley's men pulls a gun on Jimmy to get him to his boss' place.
- Capture and Replicate: Having found "Kid" Collins, a criminal who looks exactly like Jimmy, Gridley plans to kidnap the young reporter and send Collins to the Daily Planet in his place. That way, he can retrieve the evidence Clark Kent has against him without arousing suspicion. Given that they plan to kill Jimmy after the plan is completed, it's never explained in-universe why they don't just Kill and Replace.
- Catchphrase: "Kid" Collins tends to say "smart" when he thinks someone's done something well.
- Criminal Doppelgänger: The episode featured a villain who was a dead-ringer for Jimmy Olsen, of all people. Even "Kid" Collins' wife and Jimmy's coworkers can't tell the difference. However, their personalities could hardly be more different. "Kid" is belligerent, rude, and lecherous; Jimmy is friendly, polite, and gentlemanly.
- Doomed Appointment: Collins lets his boss know that he's discovered Superman's identity, but he sets up a meeting so he can pass along the information rather than doing it over the phone. Even when he meets him at the Planet building, he doesn't say anything, just urging everyone to get away from the area. Naturally, Superman captures all of them before Collins manages to spill the secret.
- Delayed Reaction: It takes Lois a few seconds to register that "Jimmy" just called her "honey."
- Easy Impersonation: Played With. "Kid" Collins looks exactly like Jimmy, to the point that even people who know both of them well (such as the Planet staff and Mrs. Collins) can't tell the difference by appearance. However, given their vastly dissimilar personalities, it seems to take far too long for Lois and Clark to figure out that their coworker has been kidnapped and impersonated.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: A variant; "Kid", who is fond of cigars, steals one of Perry's from his pocket.
- Get Out!: After threatening him with some unspecified but heavy punishment due to the horribly-written news story he turned in and the sassiness with which he answered the criticism, Perry tells "Kid" to get out of his office.
- Gory Discretion Shot: When "Kid" slams Jimmy over the head with his handgun, the camera cuts to the horrified Lois and Perry watching from across the room. Given that Lois described the blow as almost taking Jimmy's head off, it might have been hard to do safely, even if the editors had allowed it.
- Mercy Lead: Invoked. After threatening Lois and knocking Jimmy unconscious, "Kid" demands that Perry give him ten minutes before he calls the police. Given the threat to his reporters, Perry caves. It doesn't end up mattering, because Superman turns up soon afterwards and tells Lois to send the cops to Gridley's place.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Collins barely even bothers to make an effort impersonating his target, so his behavior is out of character from the first few minutes. He wolf-whistles at Lois, who Jimmy considers more like a big sister or mother figure, and then he places bets on the races during work hours. He sasses Perry White and turns in a story that describes Superman putting out a forest fire in mobster slang. His coworkers can tell from the start that something's wrong, but Lois and Clark think Jimmy might be sick and Perry concludes he's gone insane. Lois doesn't even consider that "Jimmy" might be an imposter till near the end, and Perry refuses to believe the story until he sees the real Jimmy take a blow from his double.
- Shooting Superman: Like many crooks before him, Collins opens fire on Superman when the hero arrives to arrest him and the other criminals. Not only does it fail to harm Superman, but also one of his fellows yells at him because the bullets deflected off him are bouncing all over the room.
- Trust Password: Not believing that "Kid" Collins isn't Jimmy in disguise, one of the villains asks him a number of questions about a prison where he claimed to have been. He answers them all correctly.
- Unholy Matrimony: "Kid" claims he has no secrets from Maisie, and she's furious at Gridley when she happens on Jimmy Bound and Gagged in the office and assumes it's her husband.
- Villains Blend in Better: Inverted; while Jimmy only spends a few minutes impersonating Collins, he does a better job at acting like his rough double than Collins does mimicking him.
- Wolf Whistle: "Kid" Collins whistles at Lois when she says good morning, much to her indignation.
- "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation: While "Kid" Collins is holding him at gunpoint, Perry refuses to give him the key to the file in a rather long and fancy speech. Collins asks if that means "no" in English.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Lois and Clark, who usually call Jimmy by the Affectionate Nickname "Jim" switch to "James" when he begins doing things like placing bets, smoking, and whistling at Lois.
