My Adventures With Superman season 2 continues to showcase what makes this show so special, despite taking some big risks with its storytelling.
I think critics often have a bad reputation. Audiences can sometimes, somewhat understandably, think that the average critic is just some random schmuck who whole-heartedly believes that they have been chosen by a higher power to talk smack about any major new release that it seems like the general population are enjoying. The words “pretentious” and “cold-hearted” are often thrown around, as is the idea that critics frequently see themselves as better than everyone else, and so they choose not to enjoy “mainstream crowd-pleasers”, as those are films and series made for the “common folk”. Superhero media, like the subject of this review, My Adventures With Superman season 2, seems to often fall into that category, with there frequently being a divide between what critics and audiences think of these products.
Well, I wanted to begin my review by showing that critics aren’t the cold-hearted demons we sometimes get misinterpreted as. We do have emotions, and we do sometimes enjoy crowd-pleasers. To prove that, I wanted to share a very personal piece of information. When I reached the end of the last episode of My Adventures With Superman season 2, I sobbed. Actual tears rolled down my cheeks. Two months ago, when I covered the second season’s two-part premiere, I remarked that My Adventures With Superman was the “superhero genre’s equivalent of a warm, cosy blanket”. Eight episodes later and I still very much believe that opinion to be true. At this point, every moment with these characters feels like time spent with close family members, so by the end of the season, even though it’s not necessarily doing anything too new or innovative, what it is doing is delivering some very effective storytelling with characters that I have grown to adore and develop a lot of emotional attachment to.
At first, My Adventures With Superman season 2 seems like it’s going to be a lot more of what was established in its first outing. That being a delightful mix between a classic animated superhero show and a slice-of-life anime, focusing on the daily escapades of its main trio: the bumbling Superman (Jack Quaid), the fierce go-getter Lois Lane (Alice Lee) and the always amusing Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid). However, in its fifth episode, it pivots, bringing a new character into the mix, Superman’s cousin, Kara, more commonly known as Supergirl (Kiana Madeira). It’s a change that does help freshen up the series formula, but in order to pull this off and give Kara the introduction she deserves and needs, the show has to take a risk that I’m in two minds about.
See, My Adventures With Superman season 2 is significantly more serialised than its predecessor. That’s not to say that the first season didn’t have its share of recurring plotlines, but each episode still felt distinct, almost feeling like it was taking inspiration from a classic sitcom. Season 2 does away with that for the most part: once the show introduces Kara in episode 5, it becomes fully focused on telling only this central story. In some ways, it’s a shame, because that looser, more classic structure that the show used to have was arguably one of its most endearing qualities. You felt like you were living and growing with these characters, not just watching them take part in yet another cookie-cutter superhero movie plot.
With that being said though, there’s definitely an argument to be made that by this point, the show has earned the right to tell a big, multi-episode story and actually devote some time to it. I do think that’s a fair argument, and the always lethal combination of the show’s witty and charming writing alongside its gorgeous animation does mean that no matter what it devotes its time to, it always pulls it off with aplomb. However, I do think that having over half of the season dedicated to one single storyline which at times feels like it was designed to just be a two-parter gets a bit exhausting. I ended up binging the second half of the season, which did make it go down easier, but I can’t imagine that it was particularly satisfying from an audience perspective to tune in each week only to see the story progress by an inch.
When all is said and done though, by the end of the season, I was in tears, which does mean that whatever My Adventures With Superman season 2 tried to do, it obviously succeeded at. I don’t like to just discard my problems with a piece of art just because it got a strong emotional reaction out of me, but I do think in this case it helps show us what exactly My Adventures With Superman is so good at, two seasons into its hopefully lengthy run. That strength in particular is its characters and their relationships with each other. Whilst I don’t think season 2 gives its background cast too much to do, and some characters feel completely ignored, namely the new Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman), My Adventures With Superman always knows exactly what to do with its central trio.
Clark, Jimmy and Lois are a perfectly constructed triad, their personalities never feeling too similar or irritating, and they always feel like they’re given enough to do as individuals. Whilst Jimmy is obviously seen as the least important member of the group in the eyes of the show, that never really reflects in each episode, with the fifth in particular being a highlight of what the writers can deliver when they give him the spotlight. Some plotlines, like Clark and Lois’ ability to always ignore each other, may feel like they could start to become annoying, the writers always manage to step in at the crucial second, keeping the characters lovable and their relationship believable.
At the end of season 2, it was Clark and Lois’ relationship that brought me to tears, not only due to how well it was written but also thanks to just how invested I was in it. In a genre that can at times feel homogeneous, it’s amazing that in My Adventures With Superman, we’ve got a show that does such a good job at standing out, simply by just being one of the best animated rom-coms we’ve gotten in a long, long time.
All episodes of My Adventures With Superman Season 2 are now available to watch on Adult Swim and Max. Read our review of Season 1 of My Adventures with Superman!
