My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Finale Recap: Superman Returns and Lois Pops the Question
Warning: This recap contains major spoilers for My Adventures With Superman Season 3, Episode 10, “The Return.”
After spending the final stretch of the season putting Clark Kent through the absolute wringer, My Adventures With Superman finally gives the Man of Steel his comeback. Season 3's finale, appropriately titled “The Return,” brings Superman back into the fight against the Eradicator, reunites the House of El for one massive showdown and sends the season out with Lois Lane making a life-changing decision.
Because apparently saving the world wasn't enough for one 21-minute episode. With Clark still powerless, the situation in Metropolis is looking increasingly hopeless. The Eradicator has evolved into an even greater threat, capable of regenerating and producing copies of himself while Kara, Jon, Lara and their allies struggle to keep him contained.
Clark, meanwhile, isn't willing to sit this one out. At the Fortress, he takes a desperate gamble to restore his abilities by exposing himself to energy from the offspring of Krypton's sun. The process works, but getting Superman back comes at a painful cost. Clark eventually emerges restored and wearing Kryptonian armor, arriving when his family needs him most.
And yes, Superman knows how to make an entrance. His return transforms the battle into a full-fledged House of El family affair. Clark fights alongside Kara, Jon and Lara, while Bizarro Superman also joins the effort against the Eradicator. After spending so much of Season 3 exploring what Superman's legacy might eventually become, the finale puts different pieces of that legacy together in the same fight.
Kara gets her own opportunity to shine during the showdown, but brute strength alone isn't enough to resolve everything. Clark eventually does what this version of Superman has repeatedly shown he does best: he tries to reach the person underneath the threat. Rather than simply treating the Eradicator as something that needs to be destroyed, Superman attempts to reason with him. The Eradicator has spent his existence believing he has only one purpose, and Clark recognizes someone who was never given the opportunity to choose another path.
Unfortunately, the Eradicator isn't interested in taking that opportunity. When given the possibility of choosing something other than destruction, he would rather die than change. Clark can only express sorrow that nobody ever taught him another way to live before their conflict reaches its conclusion.
Meanwhile, Lex Luthor finds himself in the unfamiliar position of attempting to help save everyone. Jimmy continues encouraging Lex toward something resembling a better path, and Lex attempts to use his technology to control the Eradicator. That plan doesn't exactly go according to schedule, because when has one of Lex Luthor's plans involving dangerous technology ever caused a problem?
Still, the finale doesn't suddenly transform Lex into Superman's newest bestie. His story ends with another interaction involving Amanda Waller that leaves the door wide open for whatever darker direction Lex could take next. Once the Eradicator threat is handled, “The Return” finally gives its characters room to deal with everything they've been through.
Jon has spent much of the season carrying the emotional weight of knowing what happens to Clark and Lois in his future. Before returning home, he gets some much-needed closure with them. Jonathan apologizes to Lois and makes it clear that she is irreplaceable, while he and Clark are finally able to repair their relationship.
The Super-kids then prepare to return to their own time, bringing the season's time-travel storyline to an emotional close.
Kara and Jimmy also finally address the feelings that have been hanging between them. Their relationship doesn't suddenly turn into a perfect romantic ending, but they acknowledge what's there while choosing to remain friends for now.
And because apparently the finale hadn't given Superman fans enough already, Krypto shows up too.
Yes, the Superdog has entered the building. But My Adventures With Superman saves its biggest emotional moment for Clark and Lois. Throughout Season 3, Lois has struggled with knowing pieces of her possible future and wondering whether she's capable of changing what appears to be waiting for her. The finale ultimately brings her back to something much simpler: she cannot control everything that's coming, but she can decide who she wants beside her when it arrives.
And Lois Lane makes that decision herself. Lois proposes to Clark. Instead of waiting for Superman to pull out a ring and ask the traditional question, Lois takes control of her own future and asks Clark to marry her. After everything these two have survived together, it's an appropriately My Adventures With Superman way to take their relationship into its next chapter.
So yes, Superman gets his powers back, helps save the world and then gets a fiancée. Not a bad comeback. “The Return” also leaves enough material behind for the story to continue. Lex remains a potential threat, his conversation with Waller raises questions about what's coming next, and this universe still has plenty of Superman mythology left to explore.
The problem is that Season 4 has not yet been officially announced. Series creator Jake Wyatt has publicly discussed the show's future while making clear that another season wasn't guaranteed heading into the finale. That makes the ending particularly interesting because “The Return” manages to provide genuine closure while leaving doors open for more.
If this ultimately becomes the end of My Adventures With Superman, Clark and Lois are left looking toward a future they've chosen together, Kara and Jimmy understand where they stand, Jon returns home after making peace with his family, and
Superman has once again proven that his greatest strength isn't simply being the most powerful person in the room. But come on, Adult Swim. You can't introduce Krypto, have Lois propose and then expect us not to want Season 4.
My Adventures With Superman Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max.
What did you think?
Loved it
Hated it
So/So
Comments