Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | |
Season 2, Episode 19 | |
Air date | April 2, 1995 |
Written by | Tony Blake Paul Jackson |
Directed by | David Jackson |
Episode Guide | |
← previous Tempus Fugitive |
next → Individual Responsibility |
Two women have inherited a project that allows them to control minds, and Jimmy has been selected as their 'trial run'. Meanwhile, Lois is getting fed up with Clark's emotional distancing and abruptly running out on her with weak excuses, and Dan Scardino starts stepping up his efforts to court her.
Plot[]
Jimmy Olsen gets a huge rash on his arm, which he says happens every year at the same time, and that his lifelong doctor, Alan Golden, told him not to worry about it. He gets a call at The Daily Planet that Dr. Golden was just found dead. Perry White assigns Lois and Clark to look into it, and allows Jimmy to go along when he claims a sense of obligation to Dr. Golden.
Dr. Golden was murdered by his colleague Dr. Katherine Wilder and her mother Claudette in order to keep him from destroying his files on Project Valhalla, a U.S. Army mind-control project which Dr. Golden decided was ethically unacceptable. They plan to sell the project formula to terrorists, who can then distribute the formula en masse under the guise of a flu vaccine. To make the sale, they need to provide a demonstration. Katherine develops a trigger serum but needs one of the three test subjects which have been given the necessary treatments since childhood: Sarah Goodwin, G. E. Mallow, and Jimmy.
Daniel Scardino acts on his promise (in "Resurrection") to ask Lois out. She turns him down because she is dating Clark. He nonetheless calls repeatedly to ask her out, while Clark peevishly snipes at his appearances.
Hospital staff bar Lois, Clark, and Jimmy from Dr. Golden's office, so Lois and Clark provide a distraction by posing as a doctor and a woman in labor while Jimmy sneaks in. He finds that the files for the three patients Dr. Golden called the night of his death (the Project Valhalla subjects) are missing. Lois and Jimmy go to Sarah Goodwin's apartment and find her being manhandled by the Wilders' muscle man, Klaus Martin. Having learned that G. E. Mallow is missing, Clark sees Klaus fleeing from Jimmy and captures him as Superman, but he refuses to talk.
They quickly discover commonalities between Jimmy and Sarah: They are the same age, were born at Fort Truman, had Golden as their doctor all their lives, and have the same reoccurring rash. Jimmy and Sarah hit it off. With it now clear that someone is targeting the three patients Dr. Golden called, Jimmy stays with Clark and Sarah with Lois. The latter pairing proves problematic since Sarah is a psychology major and Lois is more adverse to psychology than ever since her experience with Dr. Carlin in "Madame Ex".
Following the Fort Truman connection, Lois and Clark interview Perry's retired admiral friend Sailin' Whalen. He tells them about Project Valhalla, which was shut down by the Pentagon when they found out. Since the colonel in charge, Wilder, died months ago, Clark checks out his family and learns that Katherine works at the same hospital as Dr. Golden.
Having noticed the triangle between Lois, Clark, and Dan, Sarah advises Lois that she can't make an informed decision between Clark and Dan unless she tries dating Dan, while Perry advises Clark that he needs to stop being so standoffish now that Dan is courting Lois. Clark insists that if Lois really feels for him, she wouldn't be interested in Dan.
The Wilders use Mallow for their demonstration, sending him on a shooting spree through the streets. After Superman disarms Mallow he collapses dead, indicating a flaw in the trigger serum. Katherine finds the problem and corrects it.
Lois and Clark question Katherine, who claims the Project Valhalla papers were destroyed by the Pentagon. Lois spots a message to call Roxie Terrace, Klaus's bail bondsman, but Katherine says he is just a patient. Lois and Clark stake out Katherine's office. During the stakeout Clark breaks the ice about how their relationship has been floundering lately, but as Lois positively responds, he hears a cry for help and has to cut her off with an excuse about getting takeout. In his absence Dan shows up with Thai food and wine. Lois is charmed by Dan's persistence and openness with his feelings. Clark returns and bluntly tells Dan to take off, which leaves Lois even more angered at Clark's running off.
While Jimmy and Sarah have a date at Lois's place, Sarah opens the door to let Claudette in, then keeps a gun pointed at Jimmy while Claudette injects him. Claudette explains that they already injected Sarah with the trigger serum; contrary to their assumption, Klaus was not kidnapping Sarah, but returning her.
As a demonstration of the formula, the Wilders call Jimmy and order him to kill Lois. Dan shows up to see Lois, but Jimmy sucker punches him, knocking him out. At the same time, Sarah is called at The Daily Planet and ordered to shoot Clark. Clark catches her bullet and uses Super Speed to subdue her before anyone can turn and see him using his powers. Realizing Jimmy must also be under the full influence of Project Valhalla, he asks where Jimmy is. Sarah tells him how he mentioned going to see Lois. Lois defends herself against Jimmy, but is handicapped by her unwillingness to hurt him, and he starts strangling her with a power chord while the Wilders and head terrorist Mr. Moonhauer enter to witness the murder. Superman arrives and uses Heat Vision to sever the power chord. The Wilders order Jimmy to jump out a window, then flee while Superman is busy catching him. However, Dan has since recovered from Jimmy's blow and captures both the Wilders and Moonhauer.
Clark apologizes to Lois for running off during the stake out, but before Lois can accept his apology he has to run off to be Superman again. Irate, Lois takes Sarah's advice and asks Dan out on a date. He accepts.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Dean Cain as Clark Kent/Superman
- Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane
- Lane Smith as Perry White
- Justin Whalin as Jimmy Olsen
- K Callan as Martha Kent (credits only)
- Eddie Jones as Jonathan Kent (credits only)
Recurring role[]
- Jim Pirri as Daniel Scardino
Guest starring[]
- Claire Yarlett as Dr. Katherine Wilder
- Michelle Phillips as Claudette Wilder
- Meredith Scott Lynn as Sarah Goodwin
- Charles Napier as Sailin' Whalen
- Erick Avari as Mr. Moonhauer
- Alaina Reed Hall as Nurse Birke
- Tony Giglio as G.E. Mallow
- David Sage as Dr. Alan Golden
Production details[]
This is the only episode of the series to open with clips from the same episode. Using such teaser clips as the cold open was standard practice in television dramas during the 1980s, but the practice had died out by the time Lois and Clark premiered, making it unclear why the show experimented with it in this one episode.
Quotes[]
Mr. Moonhauer: "I want proof. And on a man only! Where I come from, we don't need drugs to control our women."
Sarah: "Now if I told you you could only have one ice cream flavor for the rest of your life, what would it be, rocky road or chocolate?"
Lois: "Well, I don't know. I guess I'd have to try the rocky road before I decided."
Sarah: "That's the point! Clark's chocolate! I mean, it's good. It's good, and all, but you know, you've had it."
Lois: "Yes, but you can put hot fudge on it. And whipped cream. And nuts."
Sarah: "Bananas."
Lois: "Ohhh, bananas, mmm."
Sarah: "Don't take me there. ...Okay, so, now this Scardino guy, he's rocky road! He's different, interesting... chunky."
Lois: "You know, Sarah, if you go around trying every flavor that comes out, you're going to get awfully fat."
Sarah: "Well, that's when you go for the little pink plastic taster spoons. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that... I'm telling you, Lois, chocolate will always be there."