REVIEW: ‘My Adventures With Superman’ Season 2 Episode 5 — “Most Eligible Superman”

It’s hard not to feel bad for Clark (Jack Quaid) by the end of My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Episode 5. He’s spent the majority of Season 2 still trying to get a handle on his alien nature with his wish to assimilate with the human population around him. He wants both to be a hero and someone who, in his eyes, is “normal.” With his feelings recently hurt by both Lois (Alice Lee) and Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), “Most Eligible Superman” flirts with his wounded emotional state. He’s still showing up for Lois, but their relationship has definite fissures.

It’s not just Lois and Clark’s relationship that’s suffering in My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Episode 5. Clark and Jimmy are also all the outs, with Jimmy unable to reach Clark following his inability to stand up for him in front of Lex. Luckily, at least Jimmy has a solid distraction in the form of the new-to-town Kara (Kiana Madeira). While we know this is the Kara that Clark contacted, Jimmy is none the wiser and simply tries to help her through Metropolis.

The Jimmy and Kara dynamic is wonderfully adorable, their meet cute, allowing a different version of Supergirl than we’ve known in the past. No-nonsense and earnest, she follows Jimmy as he tries to help her reunite with her cousin. Through their misadventures, we see hints of her tremendous strength along with her insatiable appetite, and the sequence is too cute to be true. Because again, we know something is amiss even if we can’t place our finger on what until the closing moments of the episode. It’s a nice break and side plot for Jimmy, though, who deserves his own romance.

But his being busy means that he and Clark continuously miss one another, furthering the gap between them. And it’s hard not to feel for Clark even as he partakes in the bizarre dating show. Shaken by insecurities, Lois doesn’t help as she begins to doubt herself and if she’s worthy of Clark — especially as Superman. Cat Grant stokes the flames of her vulnerabilities by saying that Superman could have any woman he wants. The critical point here is that even if he could, it’s Lois he chose, but Lois isn’t feeling confident, so he misses the crucial reality. Instead, this, coupled with her father leaving, has left her emotionally fragile and easily shaken.

Even still, she suggests that they might need a break, and Clark’s heartache over it doesn’t land as well as it should. Their relationship woes have been telegraphed since the start of Season 2, but it’s still frustrating to see the fallout from miscommunication. Despite everything, Clark is shocked and unable to understand where Lois is coming from. My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Episode 5 continues to do an excellent job of conveying his loneliness and isolation as his two main tethers break from him further.

However, the drama reaches its peak in the ending moments when Kara and Clark finally meet. Kara, adopting her form as The Warrior, attacks him. After meeting him, she believes he is unfit to join the Kryptonian Empire. It’s a shocking moment that reveals her identity as someone who serves Brainiac, a villain who has been teased since season one with The Warrior by his side. The fight is swift, even as Superman unlocks a new power with his ice breath.

It’s yet another blow against Superman as he’s captured and dragged away by Kara, literally and metaphorically. Yes, he’s been beaten, but it’s the mental side that takes the most significant hit. Here was his last chance at finding someone who could relate to him, his kind, and she turned on him. Kara was a beacon of hope for Clark. She was his last resort to not feel so alone on the planet he calls home. A home that sees him as a foreign creature to it. That heartache is felt in the fight and reminds us that Clark, for all the good he does as Superman, is still naive to the world and the threats he faces.

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Episode 5 sees the fallout of some of the more frustrating elements of the second season. However, the addition of Kara and the emotional turmoil felt by Clark and Lois does a great job of leveling it out. It’s not the best of the series, but even its lowest moments are entertaining, the characters too lovable, and the world so well-constructed to be anything less than charming. It’s just that we know it can be so much more, too.

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 is available now on HBO Max.

Previous Episode | Next Episode