My Adventures with Superman Season 2 has a lot of irons in the fire: Superman's weakness, Supergirl's introduction, Waller and Luthor's response to Superman, Lois and Clark's relationship, and, of course, John Henry Irons. Spoilers follow for My Adventures with Superman Season 2, Episode 9.

"Pierce the Heavens, Superman!"

Things are moving quickly now. Everyone who was so far away from Earth that they needed a hyperspace portal is now above Metropolis. Jimmy tries to call upon his social media presence for help, only to be interrupted by Amanda Waller and her team. Lois is chasing down Clark in his own mind, much to the dismay of Brainiac. Kara, being fully aware now of the damage she's caused and worlds she's destroyed, is struggling with how she can move forward.

This season has sidelined Superman significantly. The first half of the season gave us a few monster-of-the-week episodes before delving into Lois' history. In episode 5, Kara defeated Kal El and shipped him to space in a red box. Since then, Superman has spent most of his time in his head while Lois, Jimmy, and the other characters are out in the real world.

This episode finally brings that all together rather nicely, though, and sets up the finale well--even if I'm not quite thrilled with the overall direction of the season.

Jimmy is streaming to the world for about five seconds before a laser beam from one of Amanda Waller's robots takes their ship down, but it was long enough to catch the attention of people like Perry White and Vicki Vale, who quickly set up a distraction to free the captured trio of Lois, Jimmy, and Kara.

Superman stories can often be boiled down to just being about Superman and no one else. After all, very few of his friends can just fly off into space with him, fight on Warworld, or what have you. But the best Superman stories remind us of why the other people in his life are so important. In this version, Jimmy is his biggest hypeman, and Lois is his emotional strength. Kara is his lineage and cultural memory, and Brainiac is the truth of any fantasy Kal El might maintain about the world he comes from. Perry and Vicki are the honest free press, effective veteran reporters who have creative ideas about ensuring the truth gets out when every avenue is being cut off.

Meanwhile, Luthor and Waller are reminding us that the hubris of the human ego is as fallible as its always been. No sooner does Lex launch his Metallo army than Brainiac hacks the entire thing at once, effectively doubling the size of his already strong army.

I'm somewhat dissatisfied with the handling of Lex and Waller this season. They've been these evil, scary specters around the edges meant to add tension to certain parts of storylines, but as far as anything they've actually done--they've been pretty ineffectual. Lois and Jimmy stole a spaceship from them (with some help), and then Steve Lombart freed Lois and Jimmy with nothing more than a pair of boltcutters while Waller was mere feet away. Now, just as Lex launches his army, its taken from him. Sure, he offered up a compelling argument against Superman's presence, but since then he's done little to actually make good on his claims--at least as far as screentime is concerned.

The star of this season has been--unquestionably, in my mind--Brainiac. Michael Emerson is so good at that condescending evil genius tone, and Brainiac is the perfect character to deploy it with. Where characters like Riddler and Lex Luthor are all ego, Brainiac at least thinks he isn't about ego. He's examined all of the angles, planned for all the contingencies, and is certain he'll win. Of course, he won't, because this is a Superman story. But it makes him a compelling, likable, but still scary villain.

Even so, the relationship between Lois and Clark is at the center of this story, and this episode makes good on that. Brainiac's takeover was successful because he pinpointed the one moment where Clark doubted Lois' feelings for and faith in him. Lois breaks into Clark's mind, scrambling Brainiac's brainwashing process. With Brainiac keying in on that moment of doubt, this is the perfect place for Lois to talk to Clark. Not many couples get to have a literal meeting of the minds (well, not many couples outside of comics. Pretty sure it's a daily occurrence in DC and Marvel), and it gives Lois the chance to be as real as she possibly can, showing Clark what truly wild, Lois-Only measures she'll take to make her way to him. This stuff works well.

I'm just left with one question. We spent a whole episode setting up John Henry Irons. I wonder what the heck that guy is up to.