“Mobile Suit Toyman”
What They Say:
Big things happen at the Super Convention. Kara takes a friend’s advice. Clark gets Whipped. Lois chases a story. Jimmy makes a mistake.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first two seasons being as strong as they were, and providing for a larger overall storyline between them, interest in the third season was definitely high. Especially as it’s taking place after we’ve seen a new Superman live-action film, and a Supergirl film is coming up as well. They’re obviously not connected, but it is so welcome to have such positive characters being the ones that are out there at the moment, with bright costumes and color designs, so that it doesn’t feel like all we get are grim and ark projects. Even on the live-action side of things, it can get pretty dark which is all well and fine, but sometimes you just want something fun and crazy like this, especially with all of its manga and anime influences on it.
One of the things I love about this show is that it does embrace a lot of animation elements from around the world, and especially the anime side. Calling this episode “Mobile Suit Toyman” with some classic giant robot moments to it is just priceless. But I also just love that cold open where we get Superman and Supergirl doing a lot of general good across the city, and getting Kara to understand more of the positivity of it and what it accomplishes. Both of them have different struggles after that, however, as they’re attending Superfest, which is a big welcome to Supergirl. You can imagine there being some worry about letting it go to your head, especially since Kara is younger, and you can see Jimmy glazing her up a bit. Lois is at least keeping tabs on Jimmy and trying to get him to not blow it with how he’s acting.
Since it’s a convention, there’s plenty of good comedy and references, especially how Lois is portrayed in Jimmy’s comic, but I like that we again get Lois frustrated by having to cover this instead of “real stories,” a familiar element with her only thinking of the biggest things. But it’s just fun since we get so many nods to other characters and costumes throughout it. Where she lucks out is that she realizes one of the vendors there is Toyman and starts to keep a real watch on him because of everything from the past. And if that doesn’t complicate things enough, our cloned Superman has stumbled into the place as well, which isn’t a surprise, as he’s drawn to all things Superman at this point, and a whole convention is definitely going to make him curious.
As you’d expect from any event like this, it doesn’t take long for it to go south with someone trying to cause problems, just as Superman introduces Supergirl at her main panel. While Superman deals with that, Kara has to face her own real problem with Cat Grant being absolutely brutal about, well, everything, getting under Kara’s skin about who she is and her place in this world, which was already hard after losing everything she’s had for so long. Cat’s certainly playing with a lot of things, especially how she’s sharp with Jimmy earlier, but she’s doubly so with Kara, and it’s a comically hard watch. Kara reacts easily enough, due to age and lack of experience with Earth culture, and you just see how easily she’s being manipulated here while trying to figure out where she fits in. You’d almost rather wach her go face off against The Whip and the kryptonite tendrils she has.
© DC Studios
Lois’ subplot is pretty fun to watch play out as she eventually becomes the villain she was in the comics Jimmy had, and that self-realization at one point works well. Even then, she still knows that Toyman can’t change his ways, even if he claims he’s just a simple merchant at this point, but it leads to an absolutely delightful ending act. While Superman took care of The Whip, he now has to face a mobile suit that Toyman has launched because Lois pushed him so far – and it’s a little hard to blame him to some degree. But before Clark can change, we see how Lex’s Superman has shown up to take care of the problem with Captain Hank Henshaw. You can see how this is going to be something that’ll cause problems with the core group in different ways, but they did a really good job of adapting the Henshaw look and ideas into this, right down to the L(ex) logo across the chest. The fallout from this is going to be interesting to watch if they give it room to breathe, especially with Kara.
In Summary:
This episode has a lot going on, but it definitely feels a bit smaller than I expected, especially after the first episode. And that’s a plus. It’s not a whole episode focusing on Toyman going wild in a mobile suit, but we do get some of that delightful action and music. We get to see Kara’s more formal introduction to the public, and all its complications, not just for her but for Jimmy as well. Clark’s fight with The Whip is a minor piece, but it’s still fun, and I really was amused by Lois throughout because she’s trying to speedrun to the high point of her career and frustrated by the work required to actually get there. Lots of good stuff, and the formal introduction of Henshaw at the end definitely will make for an interesting season.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: HBO Max
Chris Beveridge
http://www.fandompost.com
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
He likes to write a lot, as you can see.
