"Last Son" Re-Watch: "Little Big Head Man" & "Absolute Power"

 Superman the Animated Series

It's more blasts from Superman's past in these episodes. There are couple of folks you've probably forgotten about. Let's get to it.

Superman: "Listen to me, my friend. Mxy's playing you for a fool."

Bizarro: "Little big-head man, my friend. Him say you enemy."

Superman: "Him lie like rug. Trust me."

Bizarro is on the abandoned planet where Superman left him, rescuing pretend people and hanging out with his own Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and Krypto. His solitude is soon interrupted by Mr. Mxzyptlk, who tricks Bizarro into getting angry with Superman. He transports him to Metropolis where Bizarro starts to wreak havoc. Mxy is enjoying the show until he's called back to the Fifth Dimension and put on trial.

The Superman sitcom.

Paul Dini is a legend in the DC animated universe. His work on "Batman: The Animated Series" is unparalleled. He has written so many classic episodes, co-created Harley Quinn and even written great episodes for "Superman: The Animated Series." All that being said, it's nice that someone that prolific can still have an off day. And this episode is proof of that.

I was shocked when I saw that Dini had written this episode. It doesn't have any of the hallmarks of a Paul Dini episode. It isn't really clever. There are no twists. It doesn't have the intelligence that we usually see from him. When I was doing some research about this particular episode I found some video commentary from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini from the episode, "Mxyzpixilated," and they didn't have great things to say about this episode. They basically said that this sounded great on paper, but in reality, it actually came off as extremely annoying. And, I love the self awareness and they aren't' wrong.

I think the biggest issue with this episode is that it just doesn't feel special at all. It feels very similar to the last Bizarro episode. The opening is fun. I like seeing Bizarro in his own world. He's got the rock people that he's created to save. He creates disasters to save these "people" from but only focusing on saving one and letting others get caught in the crossfire. He's got his own Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and alien Krypto. It's fun and very Bizarro.

When Bizarro gets to Metropolis after being tricked by Mxy, it just becomes this slugfest between Bizarro and Superman. This is just like the other Bizarro episode. He attacks Lois. He tosses Clark Kent out a window. Honestly, how many times has Clark been tossed out windows or off  of roofs? It is just a little ho hum. There's nothing new and exciting about this Bizarro slugfest.

There is an interesting story that could have been told here. If the entirety of the episode had focused on Mxy being put on trial by the Fifth Dimension tribunal. If the episode had started there with like Mxy encroaching on our world, then being put on trial and then the rest of the episode focused on him trying to make amends, that could have been really cool. But it almost seems like a throwaway. At the end, Superman has Mxy setting up Bizarro's fake town after all the danger he creates? Like, how is that community service?

Dini and Timm were right on when they said that this just was annoying. Mxy is extremely annoying, shouting about his obsession with Superman. Again, they could have made this interesting and not annoying, but they didn't. It's kind of a bummer all the way around.

Grade: C-

Jax-Ur: "Mesmerizing. Of all the phenomena of nature, none fascinates me more than a black hole. It is the one true force of absolute power. Everything it touches becomes its own."

Superman: "You would admire that."

While exploring a black hole for S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman rescues a spaceship that gets too close. He traces it back to its home planet and is told that the people he saved were criminals. Superman soon learns that the planet was conquered by Mala and Jax-Ur after they escaped the Phantom Zone. Superman is confronted by Cetea, who tries to get him to help them overthrow Jax-Ur and Mala, but he refuses. At least until he finds out that they are building an armada to attack Earth.

These people.

One of the things that I really have enjoyed about "Superman: The Animated Series" is Superman's partnership with S.T.A.R. Labs. I think it's cool how they utilize him and send him on these various science missions. It's a side of the Man of Steel that we don't see that often. Superman comes from scientists so it's nice to see him kind of flex those muscles rather than just knocking bad guys around, even if we love seeing that too. This episode really gives off an old school "Star Trek" vibe that I really dig. I'm talking about like the original series with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Superman going out to investigate this black hole, rescuing aliens, being told they are fugitives and finding out that there is more to this alien planet than meets the eye.

I really enjoy the first part of this episode. I thought the sequence of Superman saving the ship was really cool. I thought him tracking the trail the ship left back to its home planet was a really clever use of his powers that we don't see very often. I thought the action scene where he faced off against the planet's police force was really cool and exciting. Things kind of take a turn when Jax-Ur and Mala make the scene.

I didn't love Jax-Ur and Mala when they were first introduced and I don't love them now. They are definitely takes on Zod and Ursa. I still am not sure why they didn't use them in the first place. Their personalities are so vague and generic. The way they escape from the Phantom Zone makes zero sense and it doesn't seem like the writer of the episode thought about it at all. I wish that they had made it less obvious that Jax-Ur and Mala were dictators. It would have been more effective if they had tried to hide it a little bit better. It would have injected some tension in the episode that it was severely lacking.

I had a big issue with the "lesson" that Superman learned in this episode. It made zero sense that he wouldn't help Cetea overthrow Jax-Ur and Mala. When has Superman cared about jurisdiction, particularly in outer space, when he sees people getting obviously oppressed. And wouldn't he really want to stop this since these people are Kryptonians and have re-named this planet New Krypton. Does he really want it spreading throughout the galaxy that Kryptonians are dictators? It's not a great look that Superman only seems to care when he figures out that they are gearing up to attack Earth. This lesson of never turning your back on others or not doing something when you see injustice feels like a lesson Superman learned a long time ago. So why does he need to learn it again?

We at least get a solid outer space action scene at the end of the episode and Jax-Ur and Mala get sucked in to the black hole. So let's hope that we never see them again.

Grade: C+

Next up, Superman meets the Green Lantern Corps and Jimmy Olsen gets a spotlight episode of his very own.

Two episodes that were extremely underwhelming despite their potential. What did you all think? Wa there stuff you liked that I missed? Let me know in the comments.