Season Three Review
In record time, just shy of a two year wait, fans of "My Adventures with Superman" can finely anime breathe a sigh of relief as season three premieres this Saturday, June 13, at 12 am Eastern/Pacific and each week, the new episode arrives next day on the HBO Max streaming service. The official season three description reads, "Clark has truly become Superman and made peace with his Kryptonian origins - he's ready to settle down! But Lois, who has finally become the Planet's star reporter, is NOT. Jimmy has evolved from freelance photographer to celebrity journalist-but he's still intimidated by the romantic attentions of the newly arrived Kara Zor-El, who's trying to find her place on Earth. In our latest action, comedy, and romance-packed season, this found family will have to confront powerful new enemies that challenge Superman, threaten their future, and test the bonds holding them together. Can our heroes save their tomorrow--before it destroys today?" If you were already all in on this series, season three will feel like a natural progression into the next phase of the lives of Clark Kent (voiced by Jack Quaid), Lois Lane (voiced by Alice Lee), Jimmy Olsen (voiced by Ishmel Sahid), and Kara (voiced by Kiara Madeira). In fact, it feels like no time has passed. The high level of quality animation, writing, drama, humor, romance, anime and DC inspiration with a twist, and acting are all still present and accounted for. Count on the recurring arcs and themes of identity and self-worth continue to bubble to the surface as well.
While matters were left unresolved at the end of season two, as viewers can tell from promotional images and the season three trailer, Hank Heywood will play a big role this season as Cyborg Superman right out of the gate. Jake Wyatt has been quoted hinting season three will draw inspiration from the famous Superman run in the comics known as the Reign of the Supermen when several surrogates rose up to try and take Superman's place as the titular hero after he fell in the battle against the alien threat known as Doomsday. Like the comic, season three is poised to ask the main cast and the audience, "What makes Superman Superman?" Is it the super powers or is it the moral values (or lack of) or world view that defines him? Let's just say the show succeeds in giving us a clear stance on where Cyborg Superman stands.
Without spoiling things, Clark is no longer feeling plagued by the specter of Krypton but in true My Adventures fashion, he gets thrown for a loop or two or three or... yeah. It was surprising to discover Clark's next move was to "settle down" with Lois and yes, we do find out exactly what that means. In retrospect if does make sense Clark wants that. You get the sense he always had his life planned because he yearned for some sense of control over the future. After all the revelations of season one and two, it would track co-habitating or marriage would be the next step for him, Lois, on the other hand, has her life goal #1 achieved and is considered a star reporter at the Daily Planet. Something like "settling down" is certainly not on her radar. Seeing if she learned anything from past seasons and react accordingly this season to everything thrown her way was a delight and truly showed her level of growth and resolve. But don't worry, she's still a feisty gurl and boy, did she get a lot of great lines.
Jimmy's arc this season was the surprise among the four that left a little to be desired. Usually the rock, there is a, let's call it really dumb, choice that Jimmy makes this season that drives (and haunts) him the whole 10 episodes that quite frankly, I did not enjoy lasting all 10 episodes. On the bright side, comic book aficionados will be rather pleased with some of the things that happen to Jimmy. What you saw in the trailer is the tip of the iceberg. It was very entertaining to see how Metropolis makes use of Jimmy, who is essentially vindicated from the events of season two that his crazy aliens exist theory was right. Should there be a season four (there better), I hope to see more of his claims turn out to be true. If I can, he did drop some Atlantis references here and there, for instance.
Kara is just trying to be like her cousin and be a hero but has to learn some hard lessons, there is no easy way to copy that. In way, she learns what is means to make choices and live her life after being under Brainiac's thumb and constantly being told what to do or how to act. And seeing Clark and Lois together, she learns romance isn't as easy as she thinks and there are many... subtleties and feelings associated with it. How Kara reacts to all this and how Metropolis reacts to her was very entertaining.
Lex Luthor returns, having founded his own company Lexcorp at the end of last season, and what you saw him doing for Task Force X in preparation for another Zero Day style alien invasion... well. Let's just say the dial gets turned to the max for this season. Lex's distrust and fear of aliens, in retrospect, along with the fears of the main cast are really the true villain of this season. A fear of the unknown. Of other. Of no control. That is the real threat that leads to some choices that almost led to certain destruction. The heart of season three that won me over were watching as Lex, Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Kara all face their fears and failures and dig deep into the cores of their real inner strengths in order to make the only right choice save the planet and everyone living on it.
The new addition this season is a new take on Superboy from the comics. While visually he takes heavy inspiration from the 90s version from Reign of the Supermen, trust me when I say you'll be surprised as you learn more about this kid and how he affects our leads was a fun watch as well. In no way does Superboy break the flow but in a weird way he couldn't have shown up at a better time and helps the cast navigate their personal issues in real time.
The action is as intense and inventive as past seasons but don't worry, season three is that same balance of action, drama, and humor you've come to love. In fact, I dare say there is a better handle on that balance this season. Likewise, don't worry. A whole lot of surprises, crazy revelations, fights, dramatic tension, humor, rom-com, hard life lessons, and character growth await. If you thought the showrunners were going into cruise control this season and give us the same old stuff, they raised the bar way up high. As for the new characters that show up this season, yes, like past seasons it's a mix of Superman characters and DC characters with some reinvented and upgraded in new ways. In addition, like the past seasons, some cool easter eggs and mentions!
What I did appreciate about season three is that while there is a season arc from episode 1 to episode 10 like season one and two, season three differentiates itself by having a clearly defined pod of episodes for the first half of the season and a clearly defined pod for the second half. It helped make everything that happens more digestible. On the flip side, I can see detractors of this season would call it overstuffed. They would not totally wrong on that front. However, we do live in a time where a show's lifespan is not so certain. The showrunners told the story they wanted for sure. Would a 13 episode season provided more breathing room potentially? Sure, but that's just not too common anymore. Not that a 10 episode format or uncertainty of another season is justification to jam things to the brink, it makes sense to raise the degree of challenges thrown at our cast or it gets stale and predictable.
One half of the season will be the standard fare Superman show to a degree, while the other is when that show is turned upside down and thrown down a hill. While most of the season had me cheering, there were some points that were hair pulling and wondering why the showrunners delved into such forms of torture - well to test the main cast of course - but a very small bit of nomenclature, creative decisions, and ambiguity later into the season may draw mixed reactions. Overall, My Adventures with Superman season three is a solid and entertaining journey down to the final seconds. Oh and Adult Swim, Toonami, Warner Brothers Animation, Warner Brothers Discovery, Sam Register, James Gunn.. WHOEVER! Just go ahead and secretly renew this show for three more seasons and a movie.
DCAU Resource's rating: 9.6/10