REVIEW: ‘My Adventures With Superman’ Season 3 Episode 2 – “Mobile Suit Toyman”

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2, written by Angela Entzminger, puts a strong emphasis on one of the key focal points of the success of the series: its voice actors. This should be a given, considering the medium. But Jack Quaid, Alice Lee, Ishmel Sahid, and Kiana Madeira are so infectious and lively in their roles that it reminds us of the elasticity of a good voice actor rather than, say, a Hollywood A-lister grabbed to sell tickets to a family film. The four of them bring these versions of Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Kara to life in a way that makes them synonymous with their roles and suggests the series wouldn’t be quite as good without them. 

And this is important in an episode like “Mobile Suit Toyman,” which is heavy on jokes. The physical comedy is just a layer, such as the image of Kara’s face smushed against a car window to admonish a driver for texting while driving. And there’s a lot of humor to a background gag where Jimmy tosses a phone that hits Lois square in the forehead. What heightens the existing hilarity is the fabulous delivery of lines such as Quaid’s palpable exasperation as Superman gently tells a woman he doesn’t want to hurt her, or Lois’s outrage when she tells Jimmy he’s blowing it with Kara. 

On the whole, My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2 is a lighthearted affair. Opening with a charming sequence of the super cousins protecting Metropolis, the story unfolds with a breezy confidence, blending lore from prior seasons while keeping it fresh through Kara’s perspective, which makes the tonal shift at the end all the more jarring (a good thing) when Lex’s plan announces itself in a major way. 

Jack Quaid, Alice Lee, Ishmel Sahid, and Kiana Madeira are doing consistently great work. 

But, for the most part, My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2 is happy to simply let the characters shine through their quirks. From Jimmy’s desire to capitalize on any trend and Lois’s pursuit of good stories to Clark’s want for normalcy and Kara’s clear-eyed, naive exuberance at anything new, “Mobile Suit Toyman” lets the personalities drive the show. 

While attending the Super Convention, with Superman meant to be introducing Supergirl for a debut interview, the four inevitably split off into their own storylines. Though there’s a fun nod to past mayhem when Jimmy gifts them all Flame Bird watches as a means to keep them all connected in case trouble arises. 

We see more of Clark’s hope for domesticity as he looks at a display case of a mini farm, while Lois tries to find a bigger angle for the convention. And she does, when she discovers Winslow Schott, the man who once tried to kill her and her dad with an explosive teddy bear. He tries to convince her that he’s good now, reformed, but she isn’t buying it, causing a scene, much to Clark’s distress. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2 splits up the characters for their own mini-adventures.

Clark, meanwhile, is pulled into action to stop a bank robbery, only for the thief in question, dubbing herself The Whip, to bust out some kryptonite to help level the playing field. Clark’s incredulous “You brought kryptonite to a robbery” is another highlight for Quaid’s performance.

The scene is fun if relatively insubstantial aside from a throwaway note where The Whip admits that kryptonite is easy to get these days. It’s fun in the moment, but spells further trouble down the line. Because if she’s able to level damage, who’s to say what a bigger, more menacing adversary might be able to accomplish with the same step up? 

Clark’s defeated attitude upon returning to the convention is understandable. Jimmy is also going through it, but at least he has made his own bed. Because Kara is the one who admits to him first that she has feelings for him and wants them to be together, the way Clark and Lois are. But, as always, one of the biggest issues in any story ever, Jimmy tells her that he thinks she needs to see more of the world first before settling for him in his mind. 

Jimmy makes a mess out of what could’ve been a sweet moment. 

This leads Kara to invite any eligible bachelors from Metropolis to meet her at her booth. It’s a funny way for her to interpret Jimmy’s meaning, and it also lets us watch as a line of eclectic suitors approaches her. The convention as a whole offers plenty of background fun, such as a group of Teen Titans cosplayers or Bizarro wandering the halls in a Superman costume. There’s even a sneak peek at Jessica Cruz (Auliʻi Cravalho), the lead of the upcoming My Adventures with Green Lantern animated series, who calls Supergirl a “warrior,” saying that while she likes how Superman “defends us,” she loves how Supergirl “fights for us.” 

It’s an interesting distinction that helps separate the cousins’ methods while offering Kara a much-needed sense of self. Something that becomes more important as My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Episode 3 draws to a close. Because Lois, ultimately, was right. Winslow Schott is still rotten and is goaded into launching an attack in the form of a massive Gundam. This show will never, ever be subtle about its references (see the episode title), and it’s one of its greatest charms. 

But before Clark can intervene, Hank Henshaw appears, dressed in Superman’s colors, seemingly healed and with a power boost. He immediately neutralizes the attack but goes further, beating Schott into submission rather than walking away after the battle is first won.

“Mobile Suit Toyman” shifts the tone once Hank Henshaw appears. 

If Superman defends Metropolis, and Supergirl fights for the people of it, then Henshaw and Lex Luthor’s version attacks despite it. In Luthor’s words, “We have a homegrown American hero.” And that, in this case, means someone whose desire to win overrules a desire to protect. 

In a poignant final moment in My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2, Kara asks if Lex does because she’s been bad. It’s the same fears Clark faced in Season 1. The series has always had a wonderful way of demonstrating the way fear of the unknown manifests in violence and how Superman’s alien origin makes him feel out of place despite his innate humanity. And now, they’re doubling down on that, showing how far someone like Luthor will go, to the point of making a superhero who is mostly machine. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2 earns that shift towards introspection and darkness. “Mobile Suit Toyman” lets the talents of the voice cast shine as the characters’ idiosyncrasies shine, paving the way for that tonal pivot that makes it all the more jarring and Henshaw’s threat more noteworthy. It’s an excellent way to set up a significant threat for Season 3 that builds off of the fears and personal doubts plaguing the heroes since the very start. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 2 is now available on HBO Max.

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