Pleasantly surprised by this show. The way people talked about it, I thought it would be significantly worse than the Batman Animated Series, but it was very good! I haven't engaged with a ton of Superman media, but the first two episodes of the series are definitely my favourite version of the origin. I don't know the fate of Krypton was intended as a climate change metaphor in 1996, but that's sure how it plays now. And Jor-El realizing all he can save is his son is heartbreaking. The rest of the show is more optimistic, in the ways that I've always liked about Superman. But there's a slightly more modern approach to the central conflict. Here, Lex Luthor is an unregulated capitalist propped up by the systems of Metropolis, and Superman is such a nerd that he refuses to beat him up or kill him. So there's this great image the show keeps returning to where Superman just hovers outside of Lex's penthouse window and they talk about how they can't stop each other. It's Superman's humanistic ideals against Lex's unscrupulous capitalism. They are unable to fully stomp each other out. Superman is still a centrist nerd though. He loves the cops, and there's a part where some guys are trying to escape from jail and Superman puts them in a fishing net and brings them back. Leave them alone! For the record though, I thought there would be more of this and it's pretty unobtrusive. The show also nerfs Superman's powers a bit, which is a good move. Early episodes are very careful to establish his strength. He's super fast and super strong, but he can be hurt. There's no flying around the earth to turn back time in this one. That being said, I never really cared that Superman was so powerful. There were always interesting stories you could tell about him. This show leans a little heavily on Kryptonite or otherwise depowering Superman for suspense, but the best villains target Superman's care for human beings. Many times throughout the show villains will start shooting at innocent civilians, and Superman will go save them instead of going after the villain. I liked it every time. This is also the first piece of Superman media to make me care about Lois Lane as a character. She's a lot of fun, and though she's kidnapped a few times, she never becomes a drag on the story. The way she ribs Clark is funny, and this show makes you buy that she's a driven journalist, instead of just having other characters say she is. Super long review, but I also wanted to mention how horny this show is. Sometimes it gets in the way, like the design of Mercy Graves, but a lot of the time it's kind of interesting? The central conflict of the Metallo episode is that he's really strong in his robot body but he's driven to madness when he realizes he can't fuck. It's kind of sad, but it's also very funny that this storyline made it into the Superman cartoon. Later, a villain agrees to help Superman in an implied exchange for porn. Bless this show. Overall, this season delivers the nostalgic optimism that I need in these awful times. Excited to watch more. Hope Lobo comes back.