[7.8/10]I truly enjoy a good whodunnit. One of the neat things that “Target'' does is identify a mortal threat against Lois Lane, but then provide the audience a multitude of options as to who could be behind it. Is it the rival reporter, who grouses about Lois’s award and steals her overdue stories while she’s in seclusion? Is it the local cop who’s angry about an expose from Lois that cost him a promotion and who's ominously scoping out her apartment? Or is it good ol’ Lex Luthor, who has both the motive to want Lois out of the picture and the means to accomplish it?
It’s none of these guys. Instead, it’s Eddie, Lois’s former LexCorp informant who’s angry that leaking details to Lois cost him his job without the commensurate romantic interest he was expecting in return. I like that choice! I’ll admit, I guessed it fairly early on in the episode, if only because Roger Ebert’s law of conservation of characters says that the culprit was limited to a few options, and Eddie’s was the only new character whose possible motivations were even slightly opaque to where they could be a surprise. Nevertheless, I appreciate the choice.
Making Eddie a creep who only shared the info that helped Lois win her journalism prize makes it personal and disturbing in a way that none of the other possible culprits would. The fact that it’s not professional jealousy or even anger about stifled job success, but just a spurned lonely, angry man who feels he’s owed something makes his attacks more disquieting than any of the other options. It’s a strong choice for that reason.
I also enjoyed the theatrics of the death traps as problems for Supes to solve. The dangling sword bit is pretty easy, but Superman having to leap out of an out of control car as Clark, change into his Superman outfit with Lois seeing, and then save her is a tricky move. Similarly, Lois’s escapade in the elevator makes for a cool set piece as well.
This one only suffers after Eddie’s cards are on the table and the mandatory fireworks go down. I’ll admit, I don’t care for Eddie’s ever-scrunching laser bars. Why doesn’t he just blast her or something at that point? And no matter how tech-savvy this guy may be, the fact that some shcmuck can just create a red sun suit and go toe-to-toe with Superman, even briefly, feels pretty dumb and another indication of how overpowered Supes is, to where the show has to strain for reasons why any person would pose a genuine threat to him.
Still, up to that point it’s a cool story with a neat mystery at the center of it, and a quality reveal.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-03-07T06:13:22Z
[7.8/10]I truly enjoy a good whodunnit. One of the neat things that “Target'' does is identify a mortal threat against Lois Lane, but then provide the audience a multitude of options as to who could be behind it. Is it the rival reporter, who grouses about Lois’s award and steals her overdue stories while she’s in seclusion? Is it the local cop who’s angry about an expose from Lois that cost him a promotion and who's ominously scoping out her apartment? Or is it good ol’ Lex Luthor, who has both the motive to want Lois out of the picture and the means to accomplish it?
It’s none of these guys. Instead, it’s Eddie, Lois’s former LexCorp informant who’s angry that leaking details to Lois cost him his job without the commensurate romantic interest he was expecting in return. I like that choice! I’ll admit, I guessed it fairly early on in the episode, if only because Roger Ebert’s law of conservation of characters says that the culprit was limited to a few options, and Eddie’s was the only new character whose possible motivations were even slightly opaque to where they could be a surprise. Nevertheless, I appreciate the choice.
Making Eddie a creep who only shared the info that helped Lois win her journalism prize makes it personal and disturbing in a way that none of the other possible culprits would. The fact that it’s not professional jealousy or even anger about stifled job success, but just a spurned lonely, angry man who feels he’s owed something makes his attacks more disquieting than any of the other options. It’s a strong choice for that reason.
I also enjoyed the theatrics of the death traps as problems for Supes to solve. The dangling sword bit is pretty easy, but Superman having to leap out of an out of control car as Clark, change into his Superman outfit with Lois seeing, and then save her is a tricky move. Similarly, Lois’s escapade in the elevator makes for a cool set piece as well.
This one only suffers after Eddie’s cards are on the table and the mandatory fireworks go down. I’ll admit, I don’t care for Eddie’s ever-scrunching laser bars. Why doesn’t he just blast her or something at that point? And no matter how tech-savvy this guy may be, the fact that some shcmuck can just create a red sun suit and go toe-to-toe with Superman, even briefly, feels pretty dumb and another indication of how overpowered Supes is, to where the show has to strain for reasons why any person would pose a genuine threat to him.
Still, up to that point it’s a cool story with a neat mystery at the center of it, and a quality reveal.