Lois: A man flew down from the sky and risked his life to save us. Not for a reward, or fame, but just because we needed help. Don't you want to know who that person is?
Original Air Date: July 6, 2023
Written by: Josie Campbell, Brendan Clogher & Jake Wyatt (Part One); Cynthia Furey (Part Two)
Two-part series premiere. Clark Kent begins his internship at the Daily Planet alongside his roommate, Jimmy Olsen. However, their new colleague Lois Lane soon drags them into a dangerous investigation of a high tech heist. It’s up to Clark to protect his new friends while keeping his incredible powers a secret.
Tropes for these episodes include:
- Adoption Angst: After learning of his true origins as a boy, Clark tearfully worries if he's not the true son of his Earth parents.
- All for Nothing:
- In the first part, Jimmy succeeds in getting some photos of the fight along with the mysterious "Superman" and is eager to show them to the boss. It then shows Perry disregarding them because of their poor, blurry quality.
- Lois and Jimmy go through hell and back to get the first picture of Superman as proof, only to find out the entire thing was co-opted by Cat Grant, Ron Troupe and Steve Lombardi.
- Aliens Speaking English: Averted: Jor-El's hologram doesn't speak anything other than Kryptonese, which freaks a young Clark out so much that he re-buries the spaceship he came to Earth in. Later, Jor-El uses an Exposition Beam to bypass the language barrier and wordlessly explain the destruction of Krypton.
- Answer Cut: As the trio heads out to involve the military robberies, Jimmy comments “what could go wrong”. Of course, the camera has already cut to the warehouse Willis and her crew are using to hide out in.
- Arc Words: "Who am I?", mostly asked by Clark whenever his Kryptonian heritage comes up.
- Big "WHAT?!": Lois gives one when the credit for the Superman story was given to three senior reporters.
- Blatant Lies: When Clark asks if Perry is ok with them potentially walking into a warehouse full of dangerous criminals, Lois coincidentally gets a text from Perry demanding she come back, then insists he's fine with it.
- Call-Forward: In the first scene where Clark's a little boy, he's wearing a shirt with the "Cool S" on it.
- Cat Up a Tree: In classic Superman tradition, Clark’s morning run is interrupted by a cat in a tree, which he promptly saves and returns to its owner.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Near the beginning of the first episode, Jimmy is nearly run over by a speeding garbage truck. Clark sees the driver is in a hurry but doesn't dwell on it until Flip mentions a bunch of garbage trucks running a red light. That's when he and Lois realize that the robot thieves are Hidden in Plain Sight and track down the trucks in hopes of finding the thieves and the robots.
- Crazy-Prepared: In order to force Slade Wilson into complying with her demands, Leslie reveals that she placed explosives all over the city and can send everyone to sky high if he refuses.
- Destructive Savior: Delightfully subverted. Superman takes the time to clean up downtown while restoring everything to the way it was before the fight.
- Diving Save: Jimmy rushes into oncoming traffic while trying to take pictures, forcing Clark to use Super-Speed to push him to the safety of the sidewalk before Jimmy or anyone else notices.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: Several times, Clark accidentally breaks something because he's still struggling to tone down his super strength. He accidentally smashes his alarm clock trying to turn it off with one finger (and Jimmy's comment about how often it seems to happen indicates this has happened many times before already), snaps off the bathroom faucet handle while practicing shaking hands without crushing them, tears one of his own sneakers in half while putting them on, and breaks a door handle pulling a push-to-open door.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Lois is pretty miffed when the story she and her friends worked hard to break is ultimately given to a trio of senior Planet reporters.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Leslie assumes Superman was working for the people whose robots she stole and, upon knocking out two of their agents and takes their earpiece, demands they call him off. Once she's captured by them and they ask about him, she realizes he's not affiliated with them at all.
- Electric Torture: The episode ends with Leslie Willis captured by Slade Wilson, Amanda Waller, and an unknown third party, who proceed to violently interrogate her with an electro-shock collar.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- In the A Minor Kidroduction of the first episode, Clark's first instinct when seeing a car spinning out of control is to run after it to try to help, revealing his Chronic Hero Syndrome and generally good nature. After discovering his powers and having a blast with them, he's brought down to earth by the sobering realization that humans can't do what he just did, leading him to ask "Who am I?" The question of his identity haunts Clark throughout the rest of the premiere episodes.
- Jimmy gushes about all the important news, like aliens, they'll be breaking when they're working at the Planet thanks to his "keen eye for observation" — right as he walks into traffic. Not only does Clark quickly push him out of the way (and is the one to notice Leslie driving it), but Jimmy remains blissfully unaware of it all, cementing him as a little too inside his own head.
- Evil Is Petty: Rather than let the tech she stole get recaptured by its owners, Leslie lets random criminals have access to it, purely out of spite.
- Evil Versus Evil: Leslie Willis is a criminal selling advanced tech to other criminals, but the organization she stole it from seem to be nefarious themselves, and have no problem with Cold-Blooded Torture.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Lois rants to Jimmy about how unreasonable Clark is being and how he would have never helped her with her story if she had told the truth… then goes into a list of people he did help without anything in return who were honest with him, leading her to realize yes, she is selfish.
- Exposition Beam:
- The Jor-El hologram gives Clark a vision when it realizes Clark can't understand him. Clark sees a weapon that causes a yellow star to turn red, an exchange of laser fire between two unknown parties in space, and finally his parents sending him away as the star seemingly goes supernova and wipes the planet out.
- Later, when hurt by Leslie's power source, Clark sees a brief flash of a battle fleet seemingly connected to Krypton.
- Fake Relationship: A pair of assassins sent to hunt down Leslie pretend to be a couple while stalking her in public.
- Fearless Infant: The baby in the car, whose crying was the reason his mother was speeding, giggles as they're stopped from crashing.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Leslie hides the stolen robots inside trucks disguised as garbage trucks to transport them to the Metropolis harbor.
- Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: Clark decides to go back to the ship he came to Earth in to learn more about himself. While the language barrier is still a problem, the ship gives him his blue bodysuit, but sans the trunks and belt. Martha decides to complete his new look with a belt and colored undies.
- It's All About Me: Lois, despite being an intern, is desperate to prove herself as an ace reporter, and is not at all happy when Perry repeatedly ignores her efforts. Unfortunately, given Lois's stubborn nature, this only pushes her to defy his commands, risking her own, Clark's, and Jimmy's jobs and safety.
- Jerkass Realization: Lois has one when she realizes that Clark, who'd been nothing but kind and helpful to her, was correct in pointing out she never gave him the chance to side with her over Perry, because she lied to him.
- The Joy of First Flight: Before his identity crisis, little Clark's first reaction to his powers is to soar through the air, clearly having a blast.
- Liar Revealed: Lois lies to Clark and Jimmy about Perry giving his approval to pursue the robbery story. Eventually, Perry calls Clark directly and he confronts Lois about her lie before leaving.
- Love at First Sight: Lois and Clark both immediately become infatuated upon first laying eyes upon one another.
- Meet Cute: Clark and Lois' first interaction at the bodega is an adorably awkward interaction at the door, followed by an even more awkward interaction with the shopkeeper involving a bib.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Both segments of the episode begin with a scene of Clark during his youth. The first finds him discovering his powers in time to prevent a car crash. The second has his parents unearth the spaceship they found him in.
- Moment Killer: At the end, Lois and Clark have an Almost Kiss, but are interrupted by Jimmy at the last second.
- Mood Whiplash: After reveling in his Super-Speed and ability to fly at the beginning of the first episode, a young Clark comes to the realization that human beings can't do these things. His joy is quickly replaced with sobering trepidation as he wonders who and what he really is. As if to underscore the point, the soaring orchestra and energetic guitar that accompanied Clark's ascent into the sky is replaced with a low, somber horn as he's figuratively brought down to earth.
- Multi-Part Episode: A two-part episode, fitting for a series premiere.
- Mythology Gag:
- When Jimmy pulls out a sticker of a UFO for Lois' murder board, she assumes it's a plane while Clark thinks it's a bird.
- Superman's House of El bodysuit gets red shorts and a belt added to it by Martha to complete the look. This is both an allusion to her creating his costume from Kryptonian materials in the earliest version of the story, but also the controversy over removing those specific features in later adaptations, particularly in the New 52.
- In a case of Foreshadowing, the billboard Superman is shown straightening up reads: "Amazo Tech", after the power-copying Justice League villain created by Ivo.
- Revenge Before Reason: Leslie chooses to freely distribute the tech she stole to petty criminals largely to spite the people she blames for the job going south rather than try and salvage some profit or concessions using it.
- Ring-Ring-CRUNCH!: A variation occurs when Clark destroys his alarm clock trying to turn it off gently. With a finger poke. This is even inverted by way of contrast when Lois wakes up; she energetically whacks her clock with her fist a couple of times, but still fails to activate the snooze button.Clark: I can't believe we're late.
Jimmy: I can't believe our alarm clock exploded again. Why do you think that keeps happening?
Clark: So... Hey! Our… Our… [clears throat] Our… first day at the Daily Planet! You nervous? - Save the Villain: After Slade damages Leslie's power source, she starts being consumed by energy. Superman has to destroy the power source to save her.
- Smokescreen Crime: Leslie plants explosives across Metropolis and threatens to detonate them if Slade doesn't call off the hunt for her. After Leslie is captured, the explosives are found and disarmed. However, Leslie informs Slade that the bombs were simply a distraction and she sent a message to every criminal in Metropolis telling them were to find the rest of Slade's stolen weapons.
- Spanner in the Works: Lois and Jimmy would have been killed by the giant robot if it wasn't for Flip tailing them to see what they're doing and then telling Clark that they're in danger.
- Star Killing: In Jor-El's Exposition Beam, a yellow star is hit with a purple blast (either a missile or energy bolt) and turns into a red giant. It may have also went supernova, but this isn't as clear based on the limited flashback.
- String Theory: At the start of part 2, Lois already has a "murder board" set up to track down Superman.
- Stupid Crooks: After Lois and Jimmy get spotted by Leslie, she orders her men to take care of them. Unfortunately, one of her men decides to handle it by sending a huge robot to kill them, despite the fact they were trying to keep the robots a secret. Leslie even calls them out on it.
- Taking the Bullet: Leslie tries to detonate the explosives in the sewers with her electricity after losing her detonator. Superman blocks the shot with his body, providing an opening for Slade to zap her suit's power source.
- Taking You with Me: Leslie tries to kill Superman when her suit is overloading and she believes she's dead either way.
- Twisted Echo Cut: In the opening of part 1 in Metropolis, Clark and Lois are both trying to psych themselves up, saying "It's today!" when they wake up, and practicing a speech given to Perry White. The difference is that Clark is trying to talk himself into being normal, and Lois is trying to talk herself into confidence. During these intercut speeches, it even does one of these cuts to show the differences between the mindsets of Clark and Lois.Clark: (nervously) Today, just be normal. Today, just—
Lois: (confidently) Be extraordinary! - What the Hell, Hero?: Clark calls Lois out for lying to them about having Perry's blessing to pursue her story, risking their jobs as well as her own to benefit herself.
- Who Are You?: When Leslie, currently being subjected to Electric Torture by Slade, Amanda Waller, and a currently-unknown third party, realizes Superman isn't with them, she asks who her captors are.Slade: That's easy, Willis. We're the good guys.
"Now tell us everything you know about... Superman."
