Tear Jerker / My Adventures with Superman

Per Wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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Season One

General

• While the show's Animesque art style and unabashed embracement of the wholesomeness of Superman's good nature and idealism make it seem to be a fairly lighthearted take on the character at first, there is a persistent and recurring undercurrent of cynical realism that's brought to the forefront increasingly as the show goes along.
  • Numerous characters, both good and villainous, and even those relatively uninvolved like civilian bystanders, show distrust for the idea that somebody as powerful as Superman would be as good as he appears to be, believing it's far more likely that he has some "angle" or hidden agenda behind his actions, unwilling to just accept that somebody would be that selfless and helpful because they could.
  • Superman's actions and Nice Guy attitude fit right into the Silver Age of comic books, but ultimately, the show delivers the Aesop that such a figure existed in comic books because many people wanted to aspire to a better ideal than the reality around them.
  • Having somebody like that interacting with a modernized and cynical world means that Clark's greatest enemy in the series isn't some super powerful enemy he can fight, but rather the ever-present fear and uneasiness that people have towards a being with his immense powers and how impossible they find it to just accept that somebody as good as him actually exists.
• On the reconstruction side, things are more bittersweet. Life can really hurt at the best of times and the show doesn't shy away from that.
  • Superman's main villain for Season 1 are U.S. Military Black-Ops and unlike most series they have a good reason to distrust and attack him. They're on the same side, but refuse to believe he's an ally, making things harder for everyone but their enemies.
• To an extent, Ivo's Sanity Slippage falls into this. He was always an unpleasant crook and his actions cement him as irredeemable, but he did start off as a legitimate genius and a charming playboy. His continued use of the Parasite armor gradually reduces him to a feral, raging beast with none of his prior intelligence or charisma, and completely stripped of his sanity. He brought it all on himself and is undeniably a monster, but his descent is still somewhat pitiable.

"Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 1"

• The very first scene of the series, where Clark discovers his super speed, strength, and flight, starts out fairly light-hearted and wholesome—until Clark, midway through The Joy of First Flight, realizes that normal humans can't do the things he's doing. The flashback ends on Clark asking himself who he really is, a question that takes fifteen more years for him to get any semblance of an answer to.

"Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2"

• The episode starts with a flashback to Clark's childhood when he first learned about his alien origins. After seeing his spaceship and failing to communicate with Jor-El's hologram, Clark is clearly troubled by the reality that he's not really Jon and Martha's son. While his Muggle Foster Parents are quick to assure him that he'll always be their son no matter where he originally came from, they still don't know what to say when Clark asks if he's not human. Clark eventually gets over the initial shock of learning he was adopted, but learning he might not even be human at all isn't something he moves past as easily.
• Jor-El struggling to speak with Clark through the language barrier. When Clark admits he doesn't know who he is or what he's saying, Jor-El simply goes quiet, a pained expression on his face, and morosely says something in Kryptonese. It's clear he's devastated to learn Clark doesn't know or remember him.
• The flashback of Krypton's destruction. After Jor-El and Lara save their son's life by sending him off to Earth, they spend their last moments embracing each other as the planet's explosion engulfs them.

"Let's Go to Ivo Tower, You Say"

• In the early episodes of the series, Jimmy has a bad habit of being a Moment Killer whenever it seems like Clark and Lois are about to take the next step. More than one viewer expressed their wish for Jimmy to just leave the two alone... and by the end of this episode, their wish has been granted as Clark and Lois pretty much ditch Jimmy at Ivo Tower, leaving him to watch his two best friends walk away as they completely forget about him. It's enough to make even people who were initially annoyed by him feel bad.

"You Will Believe a Man Can Lie"

• Clark and Lois's fight at the end of the episode. Clark and Lois's budding romance was instantly a hit with fans, and to see it potentially derailed after Lois gets angry with Clark over hiding his secret identity from her is more than a little tough to watch.
• Jimmy being left behind continues as Clark and Lois are so hung up on their own drama that they completely forget about their planned camping trip to find Bigfoot that Jimmy had been so excited about, and Steve Lombard's well-meaning but insensitive advice only furthers Jimmy's fears that his friends are growing apart from him despite his initial insistence that it's only temporary. After his calls go unanswered, Jimmy finally decides he's had enough and goes on the trip alone, leading directly to him getting kidnapped. It gets even worse when one considers that while Lois is a recent addition to the friend group, he's been best friends with Clark since their freshman year of college—which, given the show's timeline, is roughly five years.
  • Worse is that Jimmy doesn't immediately jump to the conclusion that he's being ditched. He knows his friends have their own commitments, and the later reveal of him knowing Clark is Superman also means he's aware that Clark has bigger priorities like saving people. When Steve Lombard tells Jimmy he's being left behind, Jimmy pushes back, insisting his friends haven't forgotten him. But once Steve plants the idea in his head, it never quite goes away.
• To cap off all of the painful drama of the episode, the Evolving Credits not only have Jimmy missing after he got kidnapped, but this time the line of photos ends with a torn photo of the main trio together, with tears between each of them to show that the relationship between the three was damaged after everything.

"My Adventures with Mad Science"

• This episode reveals why Clark didn't reveal his identity to Lois and Jimmy—not out of fear that they could be harmed, or that they'd grow to fear him, but because he just wanted to be normal. He didn't want to be seen as an alien, or a godlike being, but as the same old Clark they've known from the beginning. Anyone who's struggled to fit in knows exactly how he feels.
  • This puts the series premiere in a whole new light. Clark telling himself to just be a normal man having a normal day was largely Played for Laughs as his day got significantly more unusual... but that wasn't him trying to avoid causing any accidents via his inability to control his super-strength. It was him trying to keep his powers under wraps so he'd be accepted by his new coworkers.
• Mallah and Brain's backstory. Disobeying the government's orders to develop weapons in favor of helpful inventions, they were attacked by Task Force X in retaliation. They only escaped by faking their own deaths, but Brain's body was mortally wounded and what remained of him had to be placed in a robotic shell to survive. Jimmy discovers that they're remaking the black hole that caused Brain's current condition, but it's not out of revenge or villainy—it's to create a wormhole to a dimension where they don't have to live in fear of being hunted down by Task Force X.

"Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal"

• Clark's desire to have a "normal perfect date" with Lois is Played for Laughs. However, when Mxyzptlk laughs in his face and taunts him over the fact that multiple Supermen are fated to be different, rejected, and ''alone'', Clark's crestfallen expression is devastating.
• The episode seems like it'll end on a happy note, with Lois back from a nice coffee date with Clark. But then she opens up the file from her alternate selves and learns not every version of Clark is heroic. Now she's left with a shard of Kryptonite wondering what to do.

"Zero Day, Part 1"

• This episode shows how tough it is to be the hero Clark wants to be: once his superhearing kicks in, he spends days awake trying to save everyone while foiling the General's plans, driving himself to exhaustion. In his exhaustion, he stops a truck from running over a fleeing thief, only to be called out for nearly getting the truck driver killed in the collision. This causes public opinion to turn against him as people back away from him in fear... including a little girl whom he helped return to her parents earlier in the episode. Despite everything Superman's done for Metropolis, they've now begun to fear him.
  • Worse, Clark doesn't have time to worry about that because he's finally picked up a lead on the General... which leads him into a trap where Task Force X beats the crap out of an exhausted Superman in full view of the public, capturing him in the process.
    • Said trap has Mist pretend to have escaped Task Force X in order to prey on Superman's Chronic Hero Syndrome, claiming he wants to rescue the rest of Intergang from the General's clutches and in turn baiting Superman into rushing right into an ambush. But when Superman has been successfully subdued, Mist doesn't look triumphant, smug, or dead serious like the rest of Task Force X—instead, he looks genuinely distraught over his betrayal.
• Midway through the episode, Alex decries Superman as not being a hero but rather the end of the world. The General repeats Alex's words pretty much verbatim at the end... except unlike Alex, he's talking directly to Superman himself. Between the accident he caused and his desperate attempt to defend his character before the General has Livewire shock him into submission, it's clear poor Clark has begun to doubt himself and his abilities.
• Throughout the episode, Lois is shown to be deeply conflicted over the alternate Evil Supermen Mxyzptlk showed her, as while she knows her Clark is a good person who only wants to help, she can’t help but wonder if he could truly become the threat others fear him to be if pushed hard enough. This leads her to suggest to Clark that he take a break from being Superman and try to be “normal” for a while...which comes out the completely wrong way and hurts him further, and Lois doesn’t get to apologize before Clark is taken by Task Force X.
  • Worse, Clark had previously stated that he hid his powers so he'd be accepted as normal. Lois's words only serve to validate his earlier fears.
• Lois's whole internship with Vicki Vale becomes this when she learns that she plans to write a hit piece on Superman decrying him as a menace to society and that far from the professional journalist she idolized her as, Vicki is in actuality a cynical, opportunistic careerist only interested in writing salacious stories she thinks will sell, regardless of whether they're true or not. This is especially true when it's revealed that contrary to what Perry thought at the beginning, Vicki never planned to leave the Gotham Gazette and was just using the Daily Planet as a means of promoting herself. The entire thing is a tragic case of "Never meet your heroes".
• Similar to Jimmy's capture at the end of "You Will Believe a Man Can Lie", Clark's capture results in a different end credits sequence. No Jimmy, no upbeat music, and unlike last time, no line of photos—the credits simply play out. The show's Darkest Hour has begun.

"Zero Day, Part 2"

• Lois gets hit hard with Parting-Words Regret, as she reflects on her potentially-final words to Clark and how she never got to apologize. If not for Jimmy, she very well may have crossed the Despair Event Horizon.
• Mist doesn't speak in the episode and is only present for a few minor scenes, but it's clear that his exploitation of Superman's goodwill is still haunting him. Having been returned to his cell, all he can do is think about what he's done while Rough House tries in vain to console him. The devastated look on his face says it all.
• The simulation of Zero Day. It's Nightmare Fuel first and foremost, but also completely tragic. These are soldiers the General and Waller have come to consider close friends, and they're slaughtered in minutes. It's later revealed that the General and Waller were the only survivors, and it's only due to the invading force being cut off from the two by an explosion implied to be from Krypton's destruction.
  • The simulation opens with the General, revealed by Waller to be Lois's father Sam, calling his wife. It's clear as day how Sam, at this point a new father (Lois being about one year old at the time of Zero Day), loves his family, and said love is the only reason both he and Waller aren't immediately killed in the first few seconds of Zero Day (Sam having ditched his unit to make the call and Waller trying to find him before he gets in trouble)... but the audience knows that in 22 years' time, his happy family will deteriorate as his wife dies and his daughter grows to hate him for his constant secret-keeping.
    • For that matter, the difference in Sam's personality before and after Zero Day. While Waller remains as no-nonsense as ever, Sam acts more cheerful and carefree like his daughter, breaking the rules to do what he thinks is right and having similar mannerisms she'll have 22 years later (greeting Waller with finger-guns the way Lois considers greeting Perry with in the pilot). In just minutes, Zero Day completely breaks him down and reshapes him into a much more cold and callous man, forever changed by the unforgettable trauma he's been through.
• Clark's reaction to the simulation. As the General continues to interrogate him, demanding to know who Superman is and where he comes from, Clark can only answer truthfully "I don't know" as tears start streaming down his face, wondering aloud how his people could have done something so horrible. This rattles the General as he realizes he may have been torturing and attempting to kill an innocent man all along.
  • It's especially noteworthy that Clark doesn't start crying for his own sake—not over the Trauma Conga Line he's been through for the past few days, the General's torture, or the revelation that he might be a weapon designed for evil—he cries for what the General, who's currently torturing him with the intent to kill him afterwards, has been through.
  • The General is so shaken by this that it kickstarts his Character Development, and after Superman escapes and defeats Ivo, he realizes that Clark may not have been involved in Zero Day and refuses to persecute him further until he at least has gathered enough information to be sure whether he's innocent or guilty. Unfortunately, Amanda Waller doesn't share this viewpoint. Not only does she strip the General of his current position, but she also assigns him a new task: terminate Superman. The General has been steadfast in his refusal to let anyone under his command harm innocents for the entire series, and now he's being forced to personally kill one.
  • The simulation and the General's earlier words lead Clark to believe he was only sent to Earth as a weapon to help conquer Earth. Once he reunites with Lois and Jimmy, he tearfully confesses this to them and states Earth would be better off without him.
• Jimmy and Lois using the former's Flamebird account to appeal to Metropolis to help defeat Parasite and save Superman. Despite the previous episode showcasing the city's cynical outlook on Superman, most everyone still takes part, proving that Superman may have given everyone hope after all. Unfortunately, Alex was not moved by their message and ignores it while rolling his eyes.

"Hearts of the Fathers"

• Clark tells off Hologram Jor-El at the beginning of the episode, accusing him of sending Clark to Earth to help Krypton conquer it, and swearing that he will do everything in his power to stop that from happening. While his role in Zero Day is still unclear, this is Jor-El we're talking about. It is entirely possible that Clark told off Jor-El for something he had no part of, and Jor-El can't defend himself because of the language barrier. After Clark leaves, Jor-El says something in a sad tone of voice, including his first lines in English:
  Jor-El: My son...
  • Unlike Episode 2, Jor-El's Krpytonese dialogue is translated in the subtitles. He doesn't know what Clark is angry about, but is desperately trying to communicate that he would never hurt him.
• After Martha warmly greets Lois at the Kents' farm and compliments her article on Superman saving Metropolis, she privately thanks Lois for being there for Clark; according to her, ever since Clark got his powers, he's distanced himself from others out of his fear that he might hurt someone. The scene pans over some framed photos of Clark on the wall; while one childhood photo shows him with a girl^note (who may or may not be Lana Lang, his childhood friend and First Love from the comics) and they're both smiling and happy, another shows him standing apart from the rest of his Little League baseball team while they celebrate a win, while two more show him celebrating his twelfth birthday and winning a chess trophy all by himself with no one else in frame. It seems very likely that Clark didn't have any friends for quite a while until he met Jimmy in college.
• When the orb with the file containing evidence of evil alternate Supermen falls out of Lois' bag by accident, Clark picks it up and finally sees what's on it. In the previous episode he already had to deal with the idea that he might be a living weapon sent to cause destruction on Earth, and seeing a video of an alternate version of himself terrorizing people only seems to confirm his worst fears about what his true nature might be. Lois tries to convince him that this alternate Superman isn't him, but Clark is at a complete loss for words and on the verge of tears. And then the orb opens up to reveal the shard of Kryptonite hidden inside...
• Jor-El's second Heroic Sacrifice, sending Clark away from the exploding ship in a pod while he stays behind. He puts his hand to Clark's face, which finally allows Clark to understand what his father is saying.
  Jor-El: Kal-El, my son. Live.
  • Jor-El's stoic expression briefly breaks when Clark speaks of his Earth "family". You can see how much it hurts Jor-El that he never got a chance to be a part of his beloved son's life.

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