[8.5/10] Such a great villain intro. I like how this one breaks the formula. There’s no bigger bad here, just a baddie who has a certain worldview and resentments against Superman.
There’s so many details to how the episode builds up Livewire. For one thing, I like how she’s a scuzzy mirror to Superman in the same way that Lobo is. While Supes is an upstanding, works with the authorities type of boy scout, Leslie is a trouble-making, rough around the edges rabble rouser. THat makes them distinct in terms of personality and temperament long before they actually clash.
But I also like how they motivate Livewire here. Lois asks her point blank what her beef with Superman is, and the cruz of her argument seems to be that SUperman has everything come easy to him while she had to work twice as hard to get where he is. The episode leaves it to subtext, but I like the thematic resonance here of the idea that Supes is a man and so had the option to be loved and get public adoration and attention, while she, as a woman, had to fight tooth and nail to get people to pay attention (and pay, you know, money) to her, so she’s more apt to be against the status quo.
That’s just one of the particularly interesting things about making Leslie an essentially gender-flipped version of Howard Stern. There’s something particularly amusing about the way the episode turns her into a more literal “shock jock.” But there’s also a distinctive energy (if you’ll pardon the expression) to her style and personality that makes her a colorful and unique antagonist for Supes.
Beyond the great writing, that comes down to Lori Petty’s great vocal performance. She imbues such colorful combativeness to every line read, that makes Livewire believable as a radio personality. Granted, the show fumbles the ball a bit to depict her transformation. It’s hard to know why getting struck by lightning would turn her into an energy being of some sort, but maybe the bolts getting channeled through Superman’s Kryptonian physiology did it or something. It’s a silly thing to complain about in a superhero show.
That said, it also provides her good motivation to be against Supes as a superhero and not just as a public figure. She blames him for making her like this (or at least others do), despite the fact that she seems to like it. She at least doesn't want him to get credit for saving her.
The episode takes a bit of a dip once she actually has the powers, but still had plenty of good stuff. There’s a lot of good Superman feats here. I particularly like the way that the sequence of him saving the construction worker plummeting from a broken crane is juxtaposed with Leslie’s criticisms of him, making a nice contradiction to her conception of Supes and the reality without anybody having to speak it. I also like the middle portion of the episode, where Supes can’t really fight Livewire because he has to scramble around Metropolis to solve all the smaller problems from her cutting the city’s electricity.
Their actual fight isn’t bad either. As with most villains, it’s a little tough to know how/why she poses a challenge, but it works well enough. Livewire needing to recharge is a good limitation, and Superman using the old “douse the electricity-powered baddie in water” routine works nicely.
I also enjoy the hint that Lex has bigger plans for her, naturally agreeing with her anti-Superman stance, and the way this episode centers on a lot of details about public perception.
Overall, this was a quality outing for the show, one that introduced a memorable villain and had some good thematic material as well.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-03-06T01:47:11Z
[8.5/10] Such a great villain intro. I like how this one breaks the formula. There’s no bigger bad here, just a baddie who has a certain worldview and resentments against Superman.
There’s so many details to how the episode builds up Livewire. For one thing, I like how she’s a scuzzy mirror to Superman in the same way that Lobo is. While Supes is an upstanding, works with the authorities type of boy scout, Leslie is a trouble-making, rough around the edges rabble rouser. THat makes them distinct in terms of personality and temperament long before they actually clash.
But I also like how they motivate Livewire here. Lois asks her point blank what her beef with Superman is, and the cruz of her argument seems to be that SUperman has everything come easy to him while she had to work twice as hard to get where he is. The episode leaves it to subtext, but I like the thematic resonance here of the idea that Supes is a man and so had the option to be loved and get public adoration and attention, while she, as a woman, had to fight tooth and nail to get people to pay attention (and pay, you know, money) to her, so she’s more apt to be against the status quo.
That’s just one of the particularly interesting things about making Leslie an essentially gender-flipped version of Howard Stern. There’s something particularly amusing about the way the episode turns her into a more literal “shock jock.” But there’s also a distinctive energy (if you’ll pardon the expression) to her style and personality that makes her a colorful and unique antagonist for Supes.
Beyond the great writing, that comes down to Lori Petty’s great vocal performance. She imbues such colorful combativeness to every line read, that makes Livewire believable as a radio personality. Granted, the show fumbles the ball a bit to depict her transformation. It’s hard to know why getting struck by lightning would turn her into an energy being of some sort, but maybe the bolts getting channeled through Superman’s Kryptonian physiology did it or something. It’s a silly thing to complain about in a superhero show.
That said, it also provides her good motivation to be against Supes as a superhero and not just as a public figure. She blames him for making her like this (or at least others do), despite the fact that she seems to like it. She at least doesn't want him to get credit for saving her.
The episode takes a bit of a dip once she actually has the powers, but still had plenty of good stuff. There’s a lot of good Superman feats here. I particularly like the way that the sequence of him saving the construction worker plummeting from a broken crane is juxtaposed with Leslie’s criticisms of him, making a nice contradiction to her conception of Supes and the reality without anybody having to speak it. I also like the middle portion of the episode, where Supes can’t really fight Livewire because he has to scramble around Metropolis to solve all the smaller problems from her cutting the city’s electricity.
Their actual fight isn’t bad either. As with most villains, it’s a little tough to know how/why she poses a challenge, but it works well enough. Livewire needing to recharge is a good limitation, and Superman using the old “douse the electricity-powered baddie in water” routine works nicely.
I also enjoy the hint that Lex has bigger plans for her, naturally agreeing with her anti-Superman stance, and the way this episode centers on a lot of details about public perception.
Overall, this was a quality outing for the show, one that introduced a memorable villain and had some good thematic material as well.