Superman: The Animated Series
Episode 20
Target
This is a nice episode, a solid base hit. Someone is trying to kill Lois Lane and Superman keeps saving her. As an investigative reporter she’s made a lot of enemies. Were introduced to the jerk Detective Bowman who has a payoff in a later episode. There are some nice twists and turns over who’s actually trying to kill Lois Lane. The culprit turns out to be Edward Lytener a former employee of Lex Luthor who got fired after whistle blowing on LexCorp. He was angry because he had a thing for Lois Lane but she never noticed. There are now whistle blower laws that would protect Lytener from getting fired for such actions.
It’s a nice change of pace. Superman and Clark Kent are not the focus, neither is one of the villains. We get a nice look at Lois Lane. She’s an aggressive news reporter, strong willed, confident, etc. This reinforces her character but doesn’t add anything we didn’t know from prior episodes. It’s nice to see the spotlight directly on her as opposed to being just a side character or person Superman needs to save.
There is an interesting dream sequence where Lois Lane is sleeping in her apartment, an intruder breaks in and throws her over the balcony. It pushes boundaries, we see the fall, not the splatter, she wakes up at the last moment. Her pajamas are the stuff of male fantasy. She’s wearing this little black number and no woman is sleeping in something that elegant when she’s alone. Her curtains are wide open which allows anyone in the nearby high rises to peep on her. Maybe she’s hoping Superman will flyby one night. It's unrealistic how completely exposed she is. Especially since someone is trying to kill her.
Also, the place is fantastic. Well above her pay-grade. Yes, she’s an award winning newspaper reporter but that place is well above her means. Maybe Metropolis housing costs are incredibly reasonable but it’s one of the largest cities in the world, so that’s doubtful. How does Lois Lane afford that nice place? One would have to guess she subsidized her income with a book deal. There’s plenty of money in the book industry, she must have an unmentioned best selling book under her belt.
Once the villain is discovered, Superman saves her with relative ease. Problem solved, the episode ends.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
