I have some mixed feelings about “My Adventures With Superman,” and I’ve been trying to work out why. I think, for me, it comes down to the cutesy animae art style. Since comics, cartoons, and especially cartoons based on comics are very visual mediums, the look of these is very important, at least to me. That said, the writing and new takes on old characters have been really well done, as was the case in “Adventures of a Normal Man part 2.”

The episode opens with Clark at the Kent farm, watching his parents unearth the ship that brought him to Earth. The ship, and Jor-El, seem very different from previous versions, and this whole experience unnerves young Clark, who seems to be somewhere around eight or so in this scene. He reburies the ship and says he never wants to see it again, then has an understandable meltdown about what this means for who he is as his parents do their best to comfort him.

In the present, Lois has set up a very guerilla office for herself, Clark, and Jimmy, and is trying to talk her fellow interns into working the Superman story with her. While Clark frets and tries to talk them into doing almost anything else, Lois and Jimmy both leap to conclusions about what Superman really is that are biased by their own backgrounds. They even work in a riff on the whole “It’s a bird, it’s a plane,” line. Clark finally agrees, then leaves, faking that he’s ill, as Lois comes up with another plan for something they shouldn’t be doing. How these three haven’t been fired yet, I’m not sure, aside from Plot Convenience.

While the mystery woman from last episode has a few encounters on the street, Lois and Jimmy try and figure out how to track her down. Clark has gone back to the farm and is steeling himself to see his ship again. In parallel stories and alternating scenes, Lois and Jimmy in Metropolis and Clark in Smallville further their respective plots. Lois is, of course, determined to find her quarry, and Clark needs to know more about where he came from and who he is. Another little creative divergence from “normal” Superman lore; Clark can’t understand what Jor-El is saying, which I’m not sure I recall happening before.

While Clark ends up with the beginnings of his recognizable Superman costume, Lois and Jimmy find the woman, who turns out to be Leslie Willis. Willis is the civilian name for the usually villain/sometimes hero Live Wire, who is a relatively recent addition to the Superman Rogues Gallery. Interestingly, she made her first appearance on the Superman animated series that helped start the DC Animated Universe, and now she’s back in another cartoon.

Shortly, our two teams of heroes are reunited, with Superman rushing to the rescue as Lois and Jimmy find a superpowered foe a bit more than they bargained for. He manages to defeat Live Wire and even cleans up the battlefield, which includes a billboard that evokes a foe that Superman has fought many times, both alone and with the Justice League. This particular villain even made it into the Arrowverse.

It seems like Lois is finally getting what she really wants as she rushes this story to Perry. Unfortunately, Perry is a lot shadier than I ever remember him being, and does something that is at best a breech of journalistic ethics and at worst is some version of fraud. Clark and Lois get an almost romantic scene until Jimmy cluelessly steps on the moment and ends up sharing some bad news. The final scene we see is where Leslie Willis ended up, and let’s say it’s a familiar situation for many villains in many versions of the DC Universe, and introduces this show’s version of a certain Machiavellian woman who has no problem breaking any and every law if she thinks it will further her own agenda.

What I Liked: They really are being clever with the new versions of familiar characters and ideas from the Superman mythos. The writing is creative and l like that they are doing something wholly new. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Even with new versions of the main three characters, they have kept to the core of who Clark, Lois, and Jimmy really are. This take on Leslie was interesting, and I’m very intrigued by the end scene.

What I Didn’t: Aside from the art style I mentioned above, most of the episode was pretty good. I’m very disappointed in Perry White. I really hope there’s a good explanation for what he did.

For a series I had a lot of doubts about going in, this is really growing on me. I’ll give this episode a 3.5 out of 5.