"Last Son" Re-Watch: "Feeding Time," "The Way of All Flesh" & "Stolen Memories"

 Superman The Animated Series

We are a little over halfway through the first season of "Superman: The Animated Series" and we are meeting classic Supes villain after classic Supes villain! Let's go!

Commissioner Henderson: "She must have been delirious when our boys found her. She said something about being attacked by a purple monster."

Jimmy Olsen: "Was its name Barney?"

Commissioner Henderson: "You here to make 'haha', kid, or take pictures?"

Jimmy Olsen: "I guess that's a no..."

Janitor Rudy Jones is in deep. So deep he's helping criminal, Martin LeBeau, steal some chemicals from S.T.A.R. Labs, not knowing that Superman is there testing out his new anti-Kryptonite suit. After a chase, the chemicals spill on Rudy, morphing him into Parasite, a being who can absorb the powers, energies and memories of anyone he touches, including Superman. Once Parasite has a taste of Supes, there's no going back. Can the Man of Steel shut Parasite down with a little help from Jimmy Olsen?

Check your complexion...

Parasite is a Superman villain that will inevitably show up in any iteration of the character. He was on "Smallville." He was on "Supergirl." I'm sure he'll pop up on "Superman and Lois." It's not a huge shock that he is on "S: TAS" so early. Rudy Jones is your typical schlub. He's a janitor. You have no idea how he ended up helping this low level gangster steal chemicals, but you're not really surprised. It just makes sense that he either owes the guy money or who knows? Maybe he just thought that this would somehow give him some cred, even though he's literally shaking the entire time that he is doing this. It very much feels like nothing in Rudy Jones' life ever goes right, so it's not a huge surprise that Metropolis' greatest hero is at S.T.A.R. Labs when he decides to make good on this heist. And of course, once Rudy has power, he becomes mad with it. It's classic little man syndrome. Give them a small taste of power and they will lord it over you and do whatever they can to keep it.

There's a lot of great horror elements to this episode that I think they do a great job of really playing up. When the chemicals spill on him in the back of that truck, there is a body horror element that is really disturbing. It's a great transformation scene. The scene where the EMT finds Parasite and is attacked could have been taken directly from any horror you've ever seen. That isn't a knock. It is a bit of a trope, but the trope is used to great effect here. 

Lois is barely in this episode, instead, Jimmy Olsen is Clark's partner in crime. I have a feeling they are setting up the "Superman's best pal" angle here and I'm not mad about it. Jimmy sometimes comes across a little too '90's for me, but what can you do? It's cool to see Jimmy take some initiative and find where Parasite is holding Superman. Lois better watch her back here. Though, I'm not sure stealing Perry's press pass will get Jimmy to be taken seriously by his boss.

The show is already running into the problem that a lot of Superman media runs into. How do you find credible threats for a guy like Superman. You can't have Kryptonite in every episode, so in this case, Parasite acts as human Kryptonite. It's not the worst idea, but it is a little anticlimactic and the reveal that Superman uses the anti-kryptonite armor to go against Parasite is so obvious. As soon as you see that suit, you know what's going to happen. Apparently, Parasite is also hurt by Kryptonite, which makes sense, I guess, but it wiping his memory so he no longer remembers Superman is Clark Kent feels a bit too convenient.

Grade: B

Lex Luthor: "I have a luncheon to attend, but I expect to hear the tragic news about him just before dessert."

Metallo: "Dessert, I haven't had anything to eat or drink since the operation. Haven't wanted anything."

Lex Luthor: "The only hunger you should have is for power, my friend. The only thirst for revenge."

After battling with Superman in the three part pilot, John Corben is living it up on Stryker's Island. It turns out it pays not to turn a dime on Lex Luthor. It's not all wine and roses though, because it turns out Corben is dying from a disease called Orozco's retrovirus. Never fear, Lex Luthor is here. He saves him by implanting him into a Kryptonite heart fueled cybernetic body and sends Corben after Superman. Things seem to be great, but once Corben realizes that he's more machine than man and that Luthor may have been behind it all, it becomes time for Metallo to have his revenge.

Everything's fine.

After appearing in the three part "The Last Son of Krypton," it was only a matter of time before mercenary John Corben took up his villainous alter ego, Metallo. Well, not that he as great before this, but he's even worse as Metallo. I think one of the things that makes Metallo so great and convincing as a villain is the voice acting. Malcolm McDowell provides the voice for Corben and you probably know him from "A Clockwork Orange," "Star Trek: Generations," the Rob Zombie "Halloween" movies. He adds a lot of gravitas to the role and is cheeky too, especially in the beginning, which is great. He really sells it too when Corben embraces the fact that he is more machine than man. There is a slow burn here. It's not zero to 100 hundred, which I enjoy. In this twenty some minute episode, you really see Corben go through it and it never feels rushed which is a credit to episode writer, Stan Berkowitz. 

The show doesn't shy away from the sheer evilness of Lex Luthor. He infects someone who has been unfailingly loyal to him with a deadly disease just to use him as a guinea pig. It is a staggering level of evil genius manipulation here and I am living for it. We continue to see Lois Lane doing what she does best and that is investigative journalism. I never get tired of watching Lois just do the damn thing and I am exceedingly happy the show keeps giving us moments like that. 

This episode has some body horror in it too, when John starts ripping his fake flesh off to expose the metal underneath. It's really cool. The fight between Superman and Metallo is great. We get to see Superman really let loose and have to defend Lex at the same time. Using Metallo's massive weight is a nice way to defeat him and I always enjoy watching Superman use his brains. The ending image of Metallo walking on the ocean floor is fantastic and chilling.

Grade: A

Superman: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Lex Luthor: "Precisely. Though in your case I'll make an exception."

Lex Luthor is the first point of contact with an alien species which turns out to be Brainiac. Upon returning from outer space himself, Superman is alerted to his and heads to Brainiac's ship himself. Brainiac claims that he comes in peace and Superman is moved when he finds out the alien intelligence comes from his home planet. When he learns that Brainiac captures all the knowledge of the planets he visits and then destroys, can Superman and Lex team up to stop him?

A meeting of the Kryptonian minds.

I haven't seen a ton of "Superman: The Animated Series" and while I knew we would see Brainiac again, I was kind of surprised to see him so soon. It tracks because after Lex Luthor, Brainiac is probably Superman's biggest dangerous enemy. And being that Brainiac hails from Krypton, he might be more dangerous than Lex. The show tweaks Brainiac a bit. In the comics, Brainiac would take an entire city, shrink and bottle it and put it in his archives. In the show, Brainiac collects the knowledge of all these worlds into these orbs and then destroys the planet itself. There is an added layer of drama here since Brainiac was on Krypton when it was destroyed and contributed to its inevitable destruction. Brainiac is able to use that knowledge to manipulate Superman which is nice. 

Lex Luthor is not the person you want to make first contact with an alien entity. He is not the representative of the human race that you want. It's bad for the aliens too because he hates aliens. It's great seeing Lois and Jimmy undercover at this dig site or whatever. It's fantastic. There's a lot of great action in this episode. Superman going HAM on Brainiac's robots was a highlight. 

I do wish this episode would have been a two parter. I felt like things needed some time to breathe. It fees like almost immediately upon meeting him, Superman figures out Brainiac's plan and is going after him. I think things would have been more impactful if there was a full episode of like Brainiac sort of manipulating Superman using Krypton and then in part 2 Superman figures things out and enters into an uneasy alliance with Lex. It could have been so much better and should have been. I wanted something that befitted Brainiac a little bit more. But, hey, at the end we do get an allusion to the future Fortress of Solitude.

Grade: B

Next up, Superman comes face to face with the main man and Lana Lang visits Metropolis.

What do you all think of these episodes? Did you want a little more from Brainiac? Are you hopeful that Metallo makes it out of the ocean soon? Let me know in the comments.