Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark Season 1 Rewatch - Episode 3: Never-ending Battle

Lex tests Superman's abilities, and Lois tries to find out everything she can about the new hero! The last time we see Elizabeth Barondes as Lucy Lane. A different actress portrays her in Metallo

- Favourite moment/quote of the episode?
- Fanfic, media or artwork recommendations based on this episode?
- Any plot bunnies you'd like to set free?

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How long have these two been working together now? Lois smacks him for emphasis on her words multiple times in the opening bit so she's either comfortable around him to do that, or really treats him like dirt.

Couple of great lines in the beginning:

- Clark is the before. Superman is the after... make that the way way after.

- Couple of hours behind the wheel and I'd know if we're driving import, or domestic.

Laughing at the girls bringing Lex a pogo stick. It's never explained... did he have it invented? Was he using it?

The landlord wants $950 for that apartment. What was average rent back then? Currently in the city, you can rent a room in someone's house for $900 CAD. A studio apartment would be somewhere in the $2000/month, and downtown would be much much more. The oldest just got a place in the city, just outside of downtown, for about $2000/month. It's tiny. Clark Kent's living room is probably bigger than their entire space.

Clark changing in a bathroom with a duffel bag was hilarious. This is the one suit variation I didn't like. It was too low on the chest... it looked strange.

The awkward handshake with his Dad after a quick visit. Kisses his mom on the cheek, and then shakes his Dad's hand?

Is this the only time Asabi speaks?

For the tests, if you were Lex would you do anything else? I would have seen how deep he could go in the ocean, a test of pressure resistance, and holding his breath.

The quotes that Toomi8 pointed out are two of my favorites but I also like the one at the end where Clark says he can hold his breath for a long time. It’s a good thing because he waited a long time for Lois.

Clark’s landlord’s reaction to seeing the apartment’s refurbishment all finished a minute or two after just seeing it cracks me up. You really would wonder if you were losing your mind.

I don’t remember what rents were back in the 90’s but $950 could be reasonable for that time frame.

I always enjoy the scenes with Clark and his parents. I thought it was brilliant that they kept Jonathan and Martha in the series. Those were great moments. Clark and the world were very fortunate that they found Clark and not someone else.

I’m glad Jimmy got the courage to drop Perry’s fish in the trash at the end. I liked Perry’s comment after he left - good for you, son, indeed!

I was always thrown by the fact that this is the third episode. In my eyes, it'd be much more reasonable if it were the second one and Strage Visitor the third one.

But I realize I'm loving this episode more and more with each time I watch it. Clark standing up to Lois is just great to witness. She's really treating him badly and he still tries to be friendly around her.

It was hilarious watching him change in the bathroom. Seems like he can't spin-change, yet. Which would certainly explain why he opened the door clad in a towel in the Pilot. But when the landlord comes with.The keys, he paints and cleans up his entire apartment, plus changes into a suit (and probably showers somewhere in the meantime) - so, he probably learned to spin-change during that episode?

Was there ever a fic about Clark learning to change at superspeed? That would probably be fun.

Oooh! That's a great point about the spin-changing. I imagine it was something he had to learn while Alt-Clark just walked into a closet to change. Can you imagine him trying at home and figuring out a way not to create a mini tornado in his home? The first time he knocks all the pictures off the wall, the second time he gets a blanket wrapped around his feet...

- Favourite moment/quote of the episode?
Hey, that’s mean. You’re going with singular. Well, Clark’s dull, insipid mudbrown eyes sure sparked many a plot bunny and FoLCs sending Lois off to dig for Superman’s spaceship, well…

- Fanfic, media or artwork recommendations based on this episode?
Well,… The Wild Goose-Chase by me does come to mind. What else…? One could look through the fanfic database for stories by Wendy or Kathy from that episode… There’s probably a bunch of good ones out there

Neverending Battle should be Episode Two, not Three. There’s the Superman-drawing because they don’t have photos, there’s the Superman-carries-Lois photo from the Pilot. Lois stealing Clark’s story and Clark paying her back works better if it’s episode two, especially since Lois and Clark work together in Visitor. There’s also the production code, which shows that Battle was done before Visitor. The one thing that's questionable is Trask shooting at Superman with a missile after Superman survives a lobby bombing. Then again, it doesn't make sense the other way around either and the Daily Planet report surely stated that Superman ate the bomb on the colonist transport. So, I guess everyone needs to try their own high explosives on the guy until one finds a mixture that's laced with Kryptonite. Oh, and of source, at the end of Visitor, Superman gives Lois a short interview and tells her he's from another planet while in Battle, they still discuss "import or domestic". He also tells Lois that he's a "man" in Visitor. => those two episodes are switched.

Quotes:

PERRY: Great shades of Elvis.
PERRY: Who are we? Daily Planet newspeople or second-stringers from the Weehawking Gazette?
PERRY: I love the smell of fear in the newsroom.
PERRY: Olsen, when I say soda, I mean real soda, not this lily-liver diet stuff
PERRY: If you gonna do a job, do it right.

LOIS: It’s the idea of Superman. Someone to believe in. Whatever he can do, it’s enough.
LOIS: Now there you’re using that word again. There is you, there is I, there is no we.

Stats:
Lois’s plants get repeatedly watered with coffee

Lois has an award plaquette on her cubicle wall (Meriwether?) At Minute 39 we have good picture

Clark and Lois have their desks right across the aisle from each other, side by side.

Lex has a pet falcon, “Faust”

The Daily Planet costs 35 cents.

Clark's cape is a work in progress.

Reporters:
Eduardo Friez.
Schwartz (white guy, ca 50).
Paulson (black guy, ca 35) (Minute 19)
Linda Montoya of “Lex News”

Mention of the Metropolis Star.
Jimmy introduces “Mad Dog Lane” as Lois’s moniker to Clark.

Fun details:
Jimmy suggests that Godzilla would be needed to teach Lois a lesson. Clark uses the Godzilla doll later on.

Clark mentions Martha has made an updated version of the cape and they’re getting there.

Lois steals the ideas, stories etc, from several people at the Daily Planet.

Lex has female entertainment in the form of Japanese girls with a pogo stick and later on, a cheerleader.

Lex and his “council”: Monique seems quite the outdated trope of “incompetent woman" and in general, why would Lex have someone this arrogant/incompetent on his senior advisor team?



About Asabi speaking: I don't think so. I'm pretty sure Asabi asks Lex if he needs anything else after the snake-exercise in the Pilot. I also think there's a bunch of dialoge during he ARGH give Asabi does the soul transfer of the clone bodies.

Michael