My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4 Review

When boiled down to its most basic elements, the one word to describe My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4 is cute. This is an adorable little episode, with an adorable, beloved character at its heart, and sequences and interactions that lean into the sillier, slice-of-life aspects of the story. And yet, that sweet wholesomeness is misleading. By the end of the ridiculously named “Guess Who’s Slammin’ to Dinner,” the story ends on a moment of shocking bleakness that paves the way to introducing one of the more iconic stories in Superman history. 

And it begins at what is, effectively, a Cheesecake Factory. It’s easy to assign ambition to series where the visuals take obvious leaps and bounds or ones where the narrative juggles five different storylines in an effort to become something bigger.

But sometimes ambition can be boiled down to tone and how it’s used. And, in the case of My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4, that ambition is clear in the pivot. One moment, things are fine, and they’re all gathered for domestic ease on the Kent farm. In the next, peril arrives with a thunderous clap. 

Lois is going through it in the excellent My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4.

It’s that easy, unassuming ambition that continues to let the series, created by Jack Wyatt, flourish. Because the story makes us care so much about these characters that we’re just as entertained by a friend gathering at the mall as we are by the precipice of doom. It all matters. And that it does so while continuing to look the best the series has ever looked, with clever, hilarious direction, is a sign of real artists putting thought into each beat. 

Which is all a long way of announcing the fact that Superboy/Jon Kent (Darren Criss) arrives for real in My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4. He doesn’t waste any time in announcing his real identity in an effort to conceal himself, even if it takes four different attempts and real destruction at the end of the episode for him to finally confess why he’s here. 

Lois (Alice Lee) is lowkey the MVP of the episode, even with the infectious and zippy Superboy right at her heels. That’s because, between Lee’s beleaguered performance and the character animation that emphasizes her emotional distress, she visualizes anyone’s reaction to a teenager appearing out of nowhere and introducing himself by saying, “Hi mom, hi dad.” Some of us might handle this with grace, while others might handle it with cold sweats. 

Welcome, Superboy, to this version of Metropolis. 

Lois, from the start of My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4, is already seemingly at her wits’ end. In some hilarious framing, the episode captures her tension by holding the camera at Clark’s (Jack Quaid) face as she stomps quietly through her apartment, trying to avoid waking Kara (Kiana Madeira), and letting only the top of her head appear in frame. We, too, get to witness, from Clark’s point of view, her very tenuous hold on her temper and wits. 

There’s a similarly hilarious beat moments later when she has to all but drag Clark to their restaurant to put any Superman business behind them. They’re going to get breakfast and talk about the future together, in an adult, cooperative way, because they can face anything as a team. And then said future plops himself down in the middle of their table, eats their food, calls them mom and dad, and Kara and Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), aunt and uncle, when they arrive, also to crash the date. Lois’s face, smushed against the table, and horror-struck, is one of the funniest expressions the show has ever done. 

What follows is a montage as some characters (Clark, Jimmy, and Kara) take to Jon’s appearance more easily than others (Lois). And what makes it work is both the varying levels of belief and the show’s approach to Lois’s mounting acceptance. Quaid, as Clark, also gets a meal of a zinger when Lois asks how they can believe Jon is telling the truth, only to level her with a “he’s a flying pickpocket.” That is, without question, down to Lois and Jon’s matching cowlicks, their son. 

While having fun with the Superboy reveal, the episode digs into Lois’s own fear of the future.

The episode, throughout their day at the mall, their ramen lunch on top of the Daily Planet, and their subsequent day-saving, never condemns Lois’s fear. And it never, thank God, has to go down a route where she’s at the end, finally convinced of her desire for motherhood. Season 3 has never been about her disinterest in being a mom or having a future with Clark. If it were, this whole storyline wouldn’t work and would, honestly, feel dated. Instead, it all boils down to Lois’s fear of change and the future. 

Because, as she tells Jon, he’s proof that the future is coming and there’s nothing she can do to stop it; it’s there, and he’s the evidence. But, to Jon’s point, he doesn’t believe in a fixed fate. Anything is possible. That is, if she’s around to see it. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4 spends so much time having fun with these characters and exploring Lois’s evolving understanding of what the future might hold, that it’s almost easy to dismiss the consistent unrest going on in any scene Clark, Lois, Jimmy, Kara, and Jon don’t appear in. But the entire B plot centers on Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman and his growing fury at being used as a weapon by Lex. Seeking autonomy and fueled by an increasingly fury at the general public viewing him as a threat, instead of a hero, he goes on a rampage to get under Lex’s thumb. 

The truth of Jon’s arrival is revealed at the end of My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4. 

The minor showdown makes it clear how little power Lex actually has when confronted with someone bigger and stronger than he is. And the direction plays into it, adopting horror angles, dropping to the ground, and shaking to achieve that monster movie effect as Lex’s legs scramble under him to regain purchase, while Hank remains in pursuit. 

So yes, Hank’s angry, and he’s out from under Lex’s control, and he’s challenging Superman. And this is where Lois finds out the truth. Superboy isn’t just here for a visit. He’s here because in his future, Lois and Clark are both dead. And somehow, despite the timing being just off, it seems the actions that led to that destruction are happening now. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4 delivers on bringing Superboy to life with a vivid personality and charming animation that spotlights his youthful, boyish energy. And it’s clear that the animators had fun creating this version of the character. With a vibrant introduction and some smart handling of Lois’s fears and doubts, the episode creates an enticing distraction before walloping us with the pressing truth of Jon’s arrival and what it means for our heroes. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 4 is available now on HBO Max. 

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