My Adventures with Superman season 2 airs new episodes every Sunday on Max in the Nordics, Iberia & Central Europe and Saturdays on Max in the US. Episodes also air HBO Max in Poland & the Netherlands and on Channel 4 in the UK & Ireland.
Synopsis
Lois and Jimmy recruit mercenaries and mad scientists to help them steal a space ship out from under the nose of Task Force X!
Review
It’s time for a breather with this week’s episode of My Adventures of Superman. The series is taking a break from its serialised narrative to get us up to date with events on Earth whilst Clark was getting to know his cousin Kara last week.
“Olsen’s Eleven” is a fun caper which picks up with Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid) and Lois (Alice Lee) in the wake of Clark’s disappearance. The two waste little time in deciding to chase after their friend and colleague, hatching a plan to break in to S.T.A.R. Labs and hijack state of the art technology which will allow them to travel across space chasing Kara’s Kryptonian vessel.
It makes sense to split the two stories, Clark with Kara and Lois with Jimmy, in to two episodes rather than cutting between them. It gives both episodes the chance to breathe more easily. As with last week this is a well rounded narrative which adds to the overall character journeys of the season. The difference here is that “Olsen’s Eleven” is about catching up to the narrative, rather than driving it forwards. Not that it brings a complete halt to the events of the season. It’s just a fun side-mission which helps add to the stakes for Lois and Jimmy.
My Adventures isn’t a series which is known for being understated and this episode is emblematic of just how far it can reach. Taking two of its non-powered characters and having them lead a rag-tag bunch of metahumans and monsters on a mission which puts them in the crosshairs of one Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson). At face value it might seem a little nuts. But “Olsen’s Eleven” is actually a cleverly placed episode which breaks the series’ growing sense of tension, giving the audience a reprieve before… whatever comes next. Whilst the series also doesn’t stray away from difficult conversations, this is still a show with broad family appeal and so it makes sense to inject a little fun back in to proceedings before it gets dark again.
The name of the episode obviously alludes to the classic Oceans Eleven movie which seems a group of disparate con men teaming up for a heist. That’s exactly what’s happening here, only Lois and Jimmy are joined by Livewire (Zehra Fazal), Heat Wave (Laika Berzins), The Brain (Jesse Inocalla) and Monsieur Mallah (André Sogliuzzo). Expect plenty of disfunction as the group barely manages to work together, let alone break in to a top secret facility and steal its tech. But the misadventure gives the team a chance to go up against Waller which leads to some fun moments which really give the episode its power.
As always My Adventures is about learning lessons and teaming with two villains both challenges Lois and Jimmy but also forces them to accept and move beyond some of the decisions and perceptions they had made against both Livewire and Heat Wave. Whilst it’s fun to watch how this plays out. It ultimately adds up to more meaningful development for all of these characters. Setting them up to potentially be the heroes of Clark’s story.
Verdict
My Adventures with Superman sidesteps its serialised arc for a fun caper which eases the tension and puts all the pieces in the right place to setup a blockbuster final run for season 2.
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