Superman Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman
Season 3, Episode 16
316-doublejeopardy
Air date February 18, 1996
Written by Eugenie Ross-Leming
Brad Buckner
Directed by Chris Long
Episode Guide
← previous
I Now Pronounce You...
next →
Seconds

In this second installment of a three-part story arc, Lois has been captured by Lex Luthor and replaced by a clone. While Clark gradually comes to the discovery that the woman he married is an imposter, the situation deteriorates and it becomes a race against time to track down the real Lois before she is killed by her clone.

Plot[]

Starting where the previous episode left off, Lois' clone pretends she is tired to avoid marriage consummation with Clark, leaving him confused and disappointed.

Lex Luthor has kidnapped the real Lois and plans to take her to a windowless fortress in the Alps. Following Lex's orders to find out everything Clark knows about Superman, the clone discovers that Clark is Superman. Only nine days old, she naively believes that being Superman's wife gives her great power, and decides she wants to keep Clark.

While going through Lois' files in search of clues for where Lex Luthor is hiding, Jimmy stumbles upon a noir-style novel that she wrote as a way of venting her frustrations with Clark. The protagonist, Wanda Detroit, falls in love with two men: Clark, who is secretive, rushes off whenever she's about to confess her feelings, and is eventually revealed to be a career criminal; and Kent, who is heroic and admirable but does not return her feelings.

Lacking money, Lex orders the clone to withdraw from a $200 million account he opened in Lois' name while they were engaged as a way of having money not traceable to him. The clone says she will only do it if he promises to leave her and Clark alone. Lex refuses to bargain. Lois kicks him in the jaw and runs, but is hit by a car. The clone, wanting to eliminate Lois as competition for Clark, pulls out a gun and tries to shoot her. Lois escapes by hopping into a van driven by a plumber named Red Dixon. Suffering head trauma from the car collision, Lois now believes herself to be Wanda Detroit, and gets a job at a bar as a singer.

Made increasingly suspicious by the clone's completely different personality from the real Lois, Clark uses his X-ray vision to confirm that she doesn't have the bone scar the real Lois would have from an ankle break years before. When he demands the clone tell him where Lois is, she refuses to drop the facade, and leaves to find Lois by looking up the company logo on Red's van.

Lex breaks into Clark's apartment and offers to team up with him to find Lois before the clone. Jimmy interrupts, telling Clark that Red Dixon contacted the Daily Planet about Wanda Detroit in response to a headline about Lois (the clone) going missing. He also tells him all about the novel. Overhearing this, Lex discards their proposed alliance and races to the bar. Clark uses superspeed to get there faster, but is delayed by Red and the bar owner, Bibbo Bibowski. Lex saves Lois by hitting the clone with his car. He pretends to be "Kent" and tells Lois to get rid of "Clark" by pretending to have regained her memory. Lois obediently tells Clark she doesn't love him and wants to be with Lex. Clark realizes Lex has brainwashed her but is uncertain how to act without knowing exactly what he did. Lex and Lois drive off, leaving Clark alone with the clone.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring role[]

Guest starring[]

  • Paul Linke as Church Deacon
  • Billy Dean as Red Dixon
  • Troy Evans as Bibbo Bibowski
  • Ron Porterfield as the passenger

Production details[]

  • Bibbo Bibowski is a recurring character in the Superman comics.
  • Lois previously mentioned having written a novel back in episode 2 of the series, "Strange Visitor (From Another Planet)". However, this is presumably not the same novel, since Lois had only known Clark for a few weeks at the time of "Strange Visitor".
  • The song Lois performs in her Wanda Detroit identity is "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", a blues standard written in 1923 and now best known for a 1929 recording by Bessie Smith.
  • The montage in which Superman and the clone both look for Lois is accompanied by the song "If You Were Me" by Elton John and Chris Rea.
Advertisement