| Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | |
| Season 4, Episode 10 | |
 | |
| Air date | December 8, 1996 |
| Written by | Brad Kern |
| Directed by | Peter Ellis |
| Episode Guide | |
| ← previous Ghosts |
next → 'Twas the Night Before Mxymas |
When Lois becomes the editor of the Daily Planet after Perry is promoted, her and Clark's relationship is strained, a situation made even worse when two hacker brothers attempt to obliterate Superman. The episode's title is a pun; the family name of the hacker brothers is Press.
Plot[]
Perry is promoted to a corporate position, forcing him to choose a successor as editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet. He picks Lois, telling Clark that "in every category [she and Clark] were neck and neck" and he only broke the tie based on experience. Clark is blindly confident that having Lois as his boss will not affect their relationship; Lois is more worried but accepts his assurances and takes the job.
Jimmy fears that Darlene, who works in the Planet's research department, is stalking him after he turned her down for a second date. He is so tense that he flinches when Darlene walks by him with a letter opener. Darlene gets a new boyfriend, briefly reassuring him, but he tenses up again when she tells him, with no preamble, to lock his doors at night.
Eric Press, described by Jimmy as "the Michael Jordan of computer hackers", has gone missing. Though the initial suspicion is that he was kidnapped, he is actually collaborating with his older brother Ethan on a project to destroy Superman. They are already rich by inheritance and have no aspirations of power; they simply want the infamy of having killed Superman. They hack into a laboratory, opening up the hydrogen tanks, and when Superman flies into the building to check for anyone who might have failed to evacuate, they blow it up. Superman is unaffected by the blast to all outward appearances, but their monitors show his energy levels briefly dipped. Encouraged, the Press brothers contact a Pentagon agent and purchase a Quantum Disbander (described by the agent as "a new and improved version of the Quantum Disruptor", the weapon used by Lex Luthor in "Seconds").
Ralph and Clark: the hottest new team in journalism.
Lois is caught off-guard by how busy and high pressure her new job is, but quickly adapts and acquits herself well. However, when holding a meeting with staff reporters, Clark gives only vague assurances that he is still working on the Eric Press story. Recognizing he has no concrete leads, she takes him off the story and teams him up with novice reporter Ralph on investigating possible mayoral corruption. Clark strenuously objects. Lois is also stressed by work calls which interrupt dinner with Clark's parents, and her work colleagues are no longer comfortable conversing around her. Reviewing Ralph's notes, Clark notices contradictions in the witness accounts and concludes the mayor is being set up by Ralph's sources.
A rocket engine is overheating due to Eric Press's hacking. Superman arrives and fuses the fuel line, preventing an explosion. The Press brothers notice that though his energy severely dips this time, it is immediately restored by the Sun. Clark believes Eric Press must be behind the hacking, but Lois is unconvinced and points out that he still has only gut instinct to indicate a connection. This leads to them having a fight in her office over her killing the story and his continuing to pursue it against her orders. The tone between them is chill the following morning.
Martha and Jonathan Kent arrive to individually counsel Lois and Clark. Clark admits that he knows he should be supportive of Lois, but doesn't feel capable of going against his instincts on the Press story. Lois likewise feels trapped, since taking Clark's side goes against doing what she feels is the best possible job at editor-in-chief. While meeting over what to run as the lead story, Lois looks over a list Jimmy compiled for Clark of phone numbers called by Eric Press before his disappearance. Lois kept the list from Clark since he was off the story, but now notices Eric called S.T.A.R. Labs. She asks Jimmy to see what Eric was hacking, and learns he pulled information on how Superman's powers work. She intuits what is going on and looks for Clark.
Superman is called to another incident at the rocket center. This time he must enter the missile silo to dispose of a warhead before it explodes. When he finishes, the Presses close up the silo, thereby blocking out the sun. This leaves him vulnerable to the power of their Quantum Disbander. Superman uses heat vision to knock out the lights, then disarms Ethan while they are blinded and reopens the silo doors. Lois arrives too late to help. She runs the story on the Presses as the lead, and Clark insists on sharing the byline with her since she cracked the case.
Perry says he feels uncomfortable in the corporate setting, and Lois likewise feels she is better suited to being a reporter, so he and Lois agree to go back to their old jobs. Lois and Clark formally make up.
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
- Eddie Jones as Jonathan Kent
Guest starring[]
- Krisinda Cain as Darlene
- James DuMont as Ralph
- Charles Esten as Ethan Press
- Jeff Juday as Eric Press
- James Martin Jr. as Reporter #2
- Raymond O'Keefe as The Colonel
- Tanika Ray as Researcher
- NiCole Robinson as Reporter #1
- Nicholas Shaffer as Technician
- Bahni Turpin as Carly
Trivia[]
Though Perry's new job is never identified by the characters, a brief shot of the Daily Planet's masthead identifies him as senior editor and vice president.