The Last Son of Krypton: Part II

"The Last Son of Krypton: Part II" is one of my personal favorite episodes from Superman: TAS. It has a great feel and tone, it has a pure and relatable main character. Superman's upbringing in Smallville has been done so much, but I still love this episode so much.

The time jump feels slightly rushed, and the pace of it feels unnecessarily fast. I think this could've easily been a 2 episode arc. But anyway, a great introduction to Clark's origin.

As to the other characters in the episode, I really liked Lois Lane (as per usual), Ma & Pa Kent are great, The little of what we saw of Jimmy was fun, and gives a good introduction to Lex Luthor.

The space ship arrives in Smallville. What's different from the movie and TV versions is the space craft doesn't really crash into the ground. The writers here quickly go from that scene to where Clark is now a high school student and just learns of his powers. After going through an early mid-life crisis, Clark is showed the spacecraft he landed in, and in that craft is some sort of hand-held computer which gives him his background material in visual form.

We also see a classmate, Lana Lang, who admits to having a crush on Clark since he was three. Her cracked voice sounds a lot like Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane in the '80s Superman movies but it is Kelly Schmidt.

By the way, any comments I make in this review or in other episodes where the material looks new to me is only in comparison to the TV show of the '50s or the movies of the '80s. I don't know the comic book versions of Clark/Superman and all his wild enemies.

In another too-fast-of-a-transition, Clark goes from teen to new reporter on the Daily Planet. (What happened to the part where Clark's dad dies? Where is the segment which explains why he leaves for Metropolis??)

We see an updated Lois, right of the bat, kind of snotty type that Hollywood likes, the kind of person with an "attitude." Then we are introduced to Lex Luthor, whose company ("Lexcorp") makes defense items, like a new indestructible robot, for the military. Why am not surprised they show Luthor, a villain, aligned with the military? It's so typical Liberal Hollywood, where the military and anyone connected with them is always the bad guy.