Conner escapes from Cadmus Labs and emerges into the world for the first time as a free agent. With Krypto in tow, Conner's search for the truth about his past leads him to Lionel Luthor, Lex Luthor's father, and Cadmus geneticist Eve Watson. Eve informs Conner of his true heritage and sends him on a path of self-discovery, examining his own identity and inherent impulses. In a moment of question, Conner chooses to act heroically and finds himself face-to-face with the Titans.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Abusive Parents: Lionel Luthor regularly abused his son Lex when he was a child.
- The Alcoholic: Eve has turned to day drinking to cope with the stress and demands of working at Cadmus.
- Apologetic Attacker: Conner apologies after attacking Eve.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Kryptonite bullets are used against Conner.
- Animal Testing: Krypto was being tested on when Conner breaks him out.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: The Cadmus soldiers think it’s a good idea to continually attack a clone with all the powers of Superman.
- Badass in Distress: Jason is dropped by Deathstroke from a building.
- Badass Normal: Jason Todd and Mercy Graves have no powers.
- Big "NO!": Eve yells at the soldiers to stop attacking Conner, as they weren’t meant to harm him.
- Blatant Lies: When Mercy demands to know where Conner is, Eve tells her that Conner tried to kill her and that she begged for her life. Mercy doesn't buy it at all.
- Bullet Time: Conner is able to see the bullets the Cadmus soldiers fire towards Lionel Luthor and steps in front of them to save him.
- Call-Back: Dick can only watch as Jason falls, just like his parents did.
- Catch and Return: Krypto does this with a rocket that has been fired into the Luthor Farm.
- Character Title: The episode is titled after Conner.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Conner suffers from this a lot.
- Conner’s escape from Cadmus was triggered by a desire to stop the scientists from abusing Krypto.
- Conner helped a woman that was getting mugged.
- Conner protected Lionel from the Cadmus soldiers.
- Conner wanted to help a woman that was getting abused by her boyfriend, but was stopped by Eve.
- Conner saved Jason from falling to his death.
- Cliffhanger: After saving Jason, Conner is shot twice by Mercy Graves with Kryptonite bullets.
- Clothing Damage: Averted, Conner’s clothes don’t take any damage when shot with normal bullets.
- Contrived Coincidence: The Cadmus facility Eve takes Conner to, so he can see where he came from, just so happens to be located in San Francisco. And their visit is perfectly timed so that he just happens to be walking by the building Jason was thrown out of at the end of the previous episode.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Conner does this to the Cadmus soldiers sent after him.
- Damned by Faint Praise: Eve describes Connor's other genetic donor, Lex Luthor as being, 'very smart and... very smart.' Conner lampshades that he isn't as popular as Superman."They don't love him, do they?"
- A Day in the Limelight: The episode focuses on Conner, both his origins and how he came to meet the Titans.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Eve Watson has taken up drinking to cope with the guilt she feels because of her involvement with Cadmus.
- Escaped from the Lab: Conner escapes from Cadmus Laboratory at the start of the episode.
- Establishing Character Moment: Conner has two moments, one for the audience and one for the Titans.
- Conner breaks out of his containment and attacks Cadmus scientists to rescue a fellow test subject.
- Conner forgoes laying low and uses his powers to save a falling Jason from death.
- Female Gaze: Conner's first scene shows him wet and completely naked, with his butt in full view for a few seconds.
- First Time in the Sun: Conner spent his whole existence, however long that is, in a laboratory. After escaping outside, he takes a moment to just bask in the daylight.
- For Science!: Eve’s reasoning for creating Conner, just to see if she could.
- From Bad to Worse: Eve starts her day hungover, only to be called into work, told that her creation has gone on a rampage, attacked a number of her co-workers and has escaped the laboratory.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Conner attacks the Cadmus scientists while naked.
- The Ghost: The present day Lex Luthor is constantly mentioned throughout the episode, but never makes an appearance.
- Heel Realization: Seeing what Cadmus was willing to do to get Conner back, Eve realizes that she is working for the bad guys and takes Conner away, hoping to hide him.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Conner grows attached to Krypto after he rescues him from Cadmus Laboratories.
- I Am a Monster: Conner believes himself to be a monster after Eve shows him the other cloning attempts made by Cadmus.
- Immune to Bullets: Conner can easily take bullets to the chest, averted if the bullets are made from Kryptonite.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Conner takes his name from the nametag on a Cadmus uniform.
- Mission Control: Eve plays this for the Cadmus soldiers.
- Mythology Gag: Mercy Graves uses bullets made from Kryptonite.
- Mundanger: Mercy Graves is a normal human that manages to severely injury Conner.
- Naked on Arrival: Conner's first appearance since the finale, and he is shown completely naked.
- Neck Lift: Conner does this to Eve after she shows him the previous cloning attempts made by Cadmus.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Despite Eve urging him to not use his powers and lay low to avoid alerting Cadmus, Conner cannot sit idly by while Jason Todd falls to his death and chooses to jump in and save his life. Cue Mercy Graves showing up just a few moments later to shoot Conner with Kryptonite bullets the second he let his guard down.
- No-Sell: A Cadmus soldier tries to knock Conner out by hitting him with his gun and Conner barely moves from the hit.
- People Jars: The previous subjects of the Cadmus attempts to clone Superman are kept in these.
- Pet the Dog: Conner attacks and hurts several scientists to rescue a dog.
- Shout-Out: Upon arriving in Smallville, Conner says, "Krypto, I have a feeling we're in Kansas."
- Taking the Bullet: Conner steps in front of Lionel Luthor and takes three bullets to the chest, however he is Immune to Bullets.
- Three-Point Landing: Conner does this after crashing a solider through a wall.
- Who Are You?:
- Conner asks this of Eve after the attack on Luthor Farm.
- Jason asks Conner this after he saves him from falling to his death.
