Titans - "Conner" - Episode 17 Review
The Superboy persona has existed since the 40's and gone through many incarnations at DC Comics. From alternate dimensions to clone we will now get the DC Universe Titans version and I can't wait so lets super leap right in.
Cadmus was a greek hero and founder of Thebes, our mythology tells us, but in the DC Universe Cadmus Labs have been around since the 70's and were created by the King, Mr. Jack Kirby. Based out of Metropolis the group was known for genetic manipulation and a reckless pursuit of knowledge. The opening video reminded me of the Umbrella Corp. in Resident Evil. Droning on about how it's going to slowly take over your life and make everything better. Then wrecking it all without a thought. I enjoyed how the action picks right up from where we left off with Conner as he frees Krypto and they exit the Cadmus facility. A boy and his dog.
Sometime later two Cadmus employees walk and talk about "Subject 13's" escape. They examine the blood stained holding facility in shock and meet Lex Luthor's right hand woman and a character that first appeared on "Superman: The Animated Series", Mercy Graves. On the show she was Lex's chauffeur and bodyguard and someone not to mess with. Seems the toughness and confidant angle, along with Personal Security Specialist for Mr. Luthor will be the show's angle as well. The hard partying Dr. in a dress gives Mercy the rundown on Conner and tells her he his emotionally a 2 year old and highly unpredictable. He is experiencing everything for the first time. Pretty trippy if you think of it. And throw super powers in as well and you could get an Akira level event no problem. Except Conner is enjoying it all and literally stops a moment to soak up some Sun. He has his first run in with Capitalism and it triggers a flash memory for him of an abusive man yelling at him. That t-shirt salesman is lucky he didn't get some laser eyes to the face a la Brightburn. The Superman t-shirt he was selling looked familiar and I think we'll be seeing it again.
At Cadmus the trio examine the situation some more and we learn that the clone that escaped was created by two men. Hmmm so they're going with the Superman / Lex clone angle from the 90's. Interesting. Some fun stuff came out of that and set the tone for many different story lines. Red dress Dr. Eve Watson tells them Superclone will have some memories from his two daddies and that some of those might not be so pleasant.
Conner walks along the pleasant streets of Metropolis where in every alley you can find a mugging going on at any time of the day. He instinctively saves a woman and her money and in a nice move, throws the assailant down the alley. He naively asks the woman for her money. Rightfully fearful for her life she gives it to her smiling savior and he walks away, assumably to go back and get that sweet Superman t-shirt.
The Cadmus trio try to determine what is going to happen and we see Dr. Eve set snippy with the imposing Mercy by reminding her to remind her boss that he ignored her and did what he wanted to do and now is going to have to live with it. EEEWWWWWW girl. She does acquiesce a little when she tells Mercy she's going to need her team to help bring Conner in. Team of bad asses I'm guessing. Probably not her water polo team. After changing clothes Dr. Watson addresses the group of tough guys and briefs them on their mission. Love Mercy's "I'm interviewing replacements because not all of you are coming back line" here, very cool. We find out Conner costs 40 Million dollars and that he should be taken alive. Mercy tells the Dr. she has to go on the mission too to make sure he comes back.
Conner got his shirt and is pleased as punch with himself that he did so. Joshua Orpin is doing great work so far with his portrayal of Subject 13, Conner Superboy and I hope it keeps going. Conner hides from the bad guys and he has another memory flash, this one of some wheat fields and nice woman yelling "Clark". Awwww. Ma Kent. That's so sweet. Conner and Krypto hop on a bus and next thing ya know the two are in Kansas. They walk to an old farmhouse but Kryto doesn't want to go. Hmmm. What's he sense I wonder? Conner encounters an old blind man who invites them in. They determine that he's remembering the old Kent place down the lane so that must make this man Mr. Lionel Luthor. Personally I never liked the Smallville connection that the arch enemies were from the same small town. Lex is a big city boy through and through. It's yet another thing that shows his complete opposite nature to Superman when they battle later on. Not a fan. Conner gets some more info and insight into Lex Luthor and we get to see a young bald Lex. Conner confronts Lionel about beating Lex and the man tries to explain it away. Just as Conner channels Lex a moment and tells him all he really wanted was his approval, Mercy's gunmen bust in and point their guns at the two. One of the goons knocks down Lionel as he protests and Conner doesn't like it. Did anyone else giggle a little when Conner said "Hey" and a goon tried to hit him in the head with his gun? Great musical score here too, nice slow pulsing beat, trippy synths, deep drums as Conner busts loose and takes out the squad. Nice little comic book action scene here with some sweet super speed and invulnerability on display. The Superclone goes off and wipes them out easily. Dr. Watson in van outside is freaking out that they're firing at her pet project but the second wave of mercy doesn't care. They come in guns blazing. Krypto gets in on the action and uses he laser eyes to melt one of the goons gun. Good boy! Loved Conner ramming that guy through the wall, Krypto attacking that guy, and Conner sucking in all the gas and wiping out the bad guys with it, as well as Conner using his X-Ray vision the find Dr. Watson in the van outside! Krypto grabbing the incoming missile? Meh. Good boy! Conner comes to the van and wants to know what he is. And refreshingly, the Dr. tells him. She lays it all out. He's a clone. She did it because she wanted to see if she could. The end. Not really of course she has to explain who his dads are and that he really doesn't want to meet Lex Luthor. The Dr. wants to save her experiment so they hit the road.
The two chat in the car as they drive to the Dr.'s cabin and Conner grills her on the state of his being. She tells him he isn't bad and he tells her about nuclear fission. Even though he didn't know about money or crosswalks but OK sure whatever. Dr. Watson tries to rationalize her crazy plans by saying she stayed to make sure he was alright. Great line here where he asks her to be his mom. Ha!
Mercy is at the Luthor home and tells Lex his dear old Dad is alive and OK. She lets him, and us, know that they are tracking the duo.
Conner sits and waits for the Dr. to emerge from a hot dog joint when he sees a guy roughing up his girlfriend, trying to get her to get back into his car. He is about to intervene when mommy Dr. comes out and uses the parenting number one go to line "because I said so" when she tells him to let them go. Conner protests and poutingly storms off. Dr. mommy yells at him to get him to stop, explains what consequences are, even though he knows nuclear fission but whatever, and ends up telling him she's going to take him to find out who he really is. They drive from Kanas to San Fransisco and Conner gets a lesson in day drinking. They are at a Cadmus Labs site and slip through the fence to get inside. Dr. Watson describes the horrible world she and Lex come from and that she is a big loser. She gets him to open the door to her an old lab. Conner rips the steel door off and sees the many failed clones that came before him. This triggers him and for the third time we hear the line "what the hell is the matter with you?" as he chokelifts her off the floor. He comes to and drops her. She lays out how it is having Lex as a daddy and that he's going to need to control himself. She explains how life is difficult and hard and things are tough all over. Dr. mommy tells him to run as Mercy's goon squads approach. She tells him to not be a hero. Mercy arrives and doesn't believe the Dr. She slaps in a Kryptonite clip of bullets into her gun and says they're doing it her way. Very Dirty Harry-esque.
On the street Conner ignores some bums fighting but stumbles across Jason Todd about to fall out of a window. He sees Robin 2.0 fall and leaps into action! He catches the new boy wonder and lands on a car with him. As Jason and Conner talk, Superclone is shot! Dick and Kory come running out, I guess they asked Deathstroke nicely if they could leave, or maybe he bailed but they ask Jason what happened? Jason only knows that the guy saved him and now he's bleeding out. Oh no! We see Mercy and her gun and she's captured Krypto and has him in a Kryptonite Kollar!
Great great episode here. Conner learning was fun to watch, minus the nuclear fission stuff of course. Drunk Dr. Mommy was an interesting exposition vehicle but I guess it'd be real quiet if Conner only talked to Krypto so that's to be expected. Let's see how the Titans react to Superclone and how are they going to save him?
