Original Air Date: July 20, 2023
Written by: Josie Campbell and Brendan Clogher
White assigns Lois, Clark, and Jimmy to the party at Ivo Tower, making it clear he wants them interview Ivo as Metropolis' most eligible bachelor. However Lois wants to take the opportunity to expose Ivo's unproven corruption.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed; Anthony Ivo goes by Doctor instead of Professor.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Ivo's Parasite suit is based on the same mysterious, alien tech that Livewire and Intergang use, a connection that neither of Ivo's comic counterparts have.
- Batman Gambit: Ivo's demonstration of the Parasite armor is dependent on Superman showing up after he tosses a guy out of the window and Superman catching the guy before he hits the ground.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Ivo has one named Alex. When punching him out to access the Parasite armor's power source, Lois even remarks that his life seems hard.
- Berserk Button: Clark is willing to stick to Cat’s puff-piece script until Ivo insults Lois. It’s only then he goes full Mike Wallace on him.
- Big Beautiful Woman: One of the bachelorettes Ivo tries to hush Clark with is on the highly curvaceous side.
- Bullying a Dragon: Ivo intentionally picks a fight with Superman, relying on the Parasite armor to even the odds.
- Cast from Hit Points: The Parasite suit, as suggested by the name, can only function off a sufficiently large energy source like Superman; as a result, it's extremely dangerous to operate without a power backup. When the backup is shut off and Superman denies Ivo the proximity he needs to run it safely, it cannibalizes his own body, and both he and the suit shrivel and crumple up within seconds.
- Chekhov's Gun: Two of them.
- Jimmy's black light, one of several items he grabbed for his camera bag after they got the assignment. He uses it to figure out which button has been used recently when trying to shut down Ivo's support system.
- The page Clark rips out of the tabloid and stuffs into his coat. After he gives the coat to Lois to warm her up, she finds the page in the pocket, allowing her to figure out that Clark is Superman.
- Composite Character: Ivo is this universe's incarnation of Parasite, when in every previous incarnation Professor Ivo (traditionally an enemy of the Justice League as a whole) and Parasite (traditionally an enemy of just Superman) were two separate characters. He also has traces of Lex Luthor, a charismatic yet immoral businessman who hates Superman.
- Perhaps more than traces; his assistant is Alexander, a brilliant young man with reddish hair and a disturbingly cynical attitude about life.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Ivo allegedly has connections to criminal groups (including at least one mob family), which he ostensibly uses to force people out of low rent housing, cause accidents to befall his competitors, and obtain illegal alien technology.
- Culture Equals Costume: The top half of Lois' formal outfit resembles a hanbok, which references her new nationality as a Korean woman.
- Deducing the Secret Identity: At the end of the episode, Lois uses the murder board to piece together a timeline from the tabloid articles and figured out that Clark is Superman.
- Didn't Think This Through: Ivo publicly attempting to murder a dissenting board member, even if it was solely to draw out Superman. Regardless of whether Ivo won the fight, his public image would've been completely ruined.
- Dramatic Irony: When Clark explains why he thinks Superman is always saving people, Lois tells him that's what he would do with those powers, but they aren't talking about Clark, they are talking about Superman.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Upon examining her murder board, Lois realizes Superman only appeared after Clark moved to Metropolis, especially after seeing the Flying Boy of Kansas story.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Ivo can't seem to wrap his head around Superman helping people without an ulterior motive.
- Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: While Ivo was doing it as a sales pitch to his guests, he explains exactly what the Parasite armor does to Superman in the process, who naturally starts avoiding him rather than letting it drain him again. Lois and Jimmy also take the opportunity to cut off its external energy supply.
- Female Gaze: When Clark takes off his blazer and dress shirt, Lois can't do anything but just stare at his Heroic Build, with a lingering shot of his body that's clearly from her perspective.
- Flashback-Montage Realization: After piecing together the tabloid timeline, Lois flashbacks moments from the previous episodes to realize that Clark is Superman.
- Flawed Prototype: The Parasite suit was stated to have serious side effects from even short term use. After Ivo uses it in one fight, it turns him into a husk of a man when it crushed him after being deprived of an external energy source.
- Her Boyfriend's Jacket: Clark lends Lois his at the end, since her own got forgotten because of the supervillain fight. Has plot significance, because she finds a magazine page he specifically took so she wouldn't find it, and it's what lets Lois connect the dots on his secret identity.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Ivo's Parasite suit. Once it's cut off from its external power supply and Superman starts simply avoiding him rather than feed it, it starts compressing itself and appears to have started draining Ivo's energy instead. Soon Superman has to rip it off of him just to save his life.
- Ivo hopes to use the demonstration of the Parasite suit to quell a rebellion of Amazotech's board of directors due to lack of profits, hoping to stave off his removal as CEO and bankruptcy. Instead, the violent demonstration not only leaves him grotesquely deformed, but destroys whatever confidence is remaining in his company—Lois notes her article on the party is about 'the fall of Amazotech'.
- Ignored Expert: Blowhard that he is, Ivo seems to take obscene pleasure in demeaning his right-hand Alex. When he tries talking him out of using the Parasite suit — citing how every other test subject suffered from side-effects — Ivo throws caution to the wind and tells him to shut up.
- Internal Reveal: Lois connects the dots that Clark is Superman after finding an article in the pocket of his jacket.
- It Was Here, I Swear!: Lois and Clark bring Jimmy back to the lab after the fight to have him photograph all the weird tech that was the same as what the criminals have been using, only to find it empty. While there is nothing to indicate Jimmy didn't believe them, without photos nobody else will.
- Kirk Summation: Superman's response to Ivo asking what his "angle" is for what he does is to tell the man to look around at all the first responders who have come as a result of his rampage, and ask if it is so hard to believe that some people might just want to help.
- Love Makes You Dumb: When Clark spots a tabloid article that's about "the Flying Boy of Kansas" (which clearly refers to him as a child), he quickly rips the page out and shoves it in his coat pocket so neither Lois and Jimmy will find out. But when he sees Lois in her formal outfit, he's so smitten that he completely forgets about the article in his coat pocket and later gives his coat to her so she can feel warm, which leads her to find the page in his pocket and realize he's Superman.
- Mythology Gag: The name of Ivo's company, Amazotech, is a reference to his comics counterpart's most famous creation, Amazo, a power-copying robot who would regularly tangle with the Justice League.
- Never My Fault: Ivo blames Superman after his own invention deforms him, never mind the fact that he started this fight by throwing a man out a window after ignoring the warnings from his assistant.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Had Clark not grabbed the tabloid article in a desperate bid to keep his identity a secret and stuffed it in his pocket, then he wouldn't have given Lois the final piece to point her to his Secret Identity. In fact, the page itself doesn't really make Lois any more suspicious of Clark—it's the fact that Clark was so desperate to hide it that tips her off.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ivo genuinely believes Superman is a threat whose seemingly-unclear motives make him untrustworthy, and creates the Parasite armor to be able to stand up to him—while he's wrong about Superman, he at least seems to have Metropolis's best interests at heart. But as his fight with Superman carries on, it becomes clear that he's just an egomaniac who won't stop at Superman, instead taking out anyone he deems a threat to his own selfish goals.
- Oh, Crap!: Clark freaks out when he finds a tabloid about the fifteenth anniversary of a "flying boy" being sighted in Kansas, realizing that he was seen when he first discovered his flight powers.
- Pet the Dog: White gives Lois an actual assignment for once. He tries to make it clear this is a one time thing and he wants them to follow the human interest angle. He doesn't seem to be happy about doing it.
- Photo Doodle Recognition: The end credits has Superman's photo with glasses doodled over the eyes with "CLARK??" written on the bottom.
- Power High: The Parasite armor has detrimental effects on Ivo's mental state, which Alex warned him about, making him act aggressive and demand more power from Superman as they fight.
- Shout-Out: The Parasite armor bears some resemblance to Zarkon from Voltron: Legendary Defender.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Clark is suitably smitten(moreso than usual) upon seeing Lois' outfit for the party.
- Sympathy for the Devil: In order to turn off Dr. Ivo's energy-absorbing Amazo Panic Room system, Lois punches out his compliant assistant Alex for being in the way. That being said, Lois quickly apologizes and remarks that Alex probably has a hard life, no doubt due to being under his braggadocious CEO.
- Take Off Your Clothes: Lois tells Clark this after seeing his suit jacket ripped so she can fix it. Clark takes it at first as an invitation for something else and is flustered until she explains.
- Talk to the Fist: Alex *starts* to explain that he won't let Lois and Jimmy interrupt Ivo's demonstration. But Lois cuts off the conversation with a fist to the face.
- Taught by Experience: Having had tons of experience of ruining her clothes while chasing stories, Lois is shown to have brought a mini sewing kit with her.
- Tech Bro: Ivo comes off this way, acting like the laid-back CEO of his own tech company. However, this may be a persona he has concocted, as he drops the act when nobody is around.
- Third Wheel: Jimmy is excited for he, Lois, and Clark to spend the evening as a trio, only for the latter two to leave him behind in the end.
- Tranquil Fury: Clark gets upset when Ivo insults Lois. Rather than raising his voice, he abandons the Cat questions he was planning on asking and switches back to the Lois questions. Ivo likewise remains calm in appearance, but soon has Clark thrown out.
- Victory by Endurance: Played with. During the fight with Ivo, Superman figures out that fighting Ivo supplies him with power, either through absorbing kinetic energy or getting thrown into a life-draining power grid. Superman responds by simply dodging everything Ivo throws at him, so Ivo's new suit isn't supplied with power anymore. As a result, the suit drains Ivo's energy instead, giving Superman the win when Ivo is nearly crushed to death by his own tech.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Played with. Amazotech is regarded as one of the greatest companies in Metropolis because of its cutting-edge technology. However, there are reports of its crimes against the lower class (such as an impoverished neighborhood being torn apart for a new base) and its business rivals (several of those companies being set on fire).
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Lois confesses that she has trouble bonding with her dad who's very closed off and doesn't think highly of her because of her repeated failures.
- Wham Episode: Lois and Clark move past their Twice Shy status and enter the early stages of a Relationship Upgrade... which is upstaged in short order by Lois figuring out that Clark is Superman.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Ivo is defeated, his assistant Alex isn't seen again. It's unclear whether he's the one who took the tech from Ivo Tower's control room or if whoever did take the tech also took Alex with them.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The investors' play to remove Ivo from Amazotech is essentially the same plotline as the first Spider-Man movie, ending with the CEO becoming a supervillain who attacks the investors' ring leader.
- Xanatos Gambit: When Ivo attempts to murder the board member who warned him about an impending vote to remove him, no matter what happens he gets what he wants—either his key opposition in the company gets taken out, or (as ends up happening) Superman comes to save him, allowing Ivo to test the Parasite 1.0 against him.
- You Must Be Cold: At the tail end of the episode, Clark puts his blazer on Lois when she gets cold (she took off her jeogori earlier). Unfortunately for him, he had hidden a tabloid page in his pocket and Lois later finds it, which helps her figure out he is Superman.
