Superman TAS S01E06 Review: Enter the Parasite

Superman, Season 1, Episode 6: Feeding Time

Honesty time, Parasite is probably my favourite major recurring Superman villains. Discounting the amazingness of Luthor and Brainiac, I've always had a fondness for Parasite. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was his design -- purple skin with silver straps all over, and an extra lamprey-leech mouth in the modern comics. Maybe it was his tragic backstory. Maybe it was his cool powers. Maybe it was that one Hero-Clix figure I own as a kid and I liked very much because it's the only character I recognize from my meager collection.

But whatever the case, this episode brings us Parasite, and short of his brief moments of Kryptonite weakness, this is when Superman is actually put through the wringer. In the pilot Superman was able to more or less hold his own, and against the Toyman he was never truly in danger. Here? The Parasite is a bona fide powered human himself, and the Parasite's powers allows him to not only drain someone's powers, it also leaves Superman powerless temporarily... but more scarily, it also allows the Parasite to 'download' people's minds. Nothing is scarier than Clark hanging out in the safety of his apartment only for the Parasite to break the sanctity of a superhero's civilian identity and jump him, tying him up in a basement and feeding off of him periodically. Add that to various scenes of a powerless Clark just looking sick and miserable while other people talk about putting their faith in Superman is also well-done, making the scene when the heroic music swells as he tells Perry how Superman is 'probably going to come back' only for the Parasite to jump Clark and beat the shit out of him. 

The Parasite's just so awesome, and unlike the Toyman (whose origin story is told briefly through a book), we actually see the Parasite's origin story unfold on-screen. He's a pathetic janitor who ends up getting doused with some science-y chemicals, and transforms into a hideous purple creature that drains other living things, like mice and that unfortunate patrolwoman and Superman himself, to survive. The conflict with his partner in crime, Martin, isn't necessary but adds extra depth to Parasite being bullied pre-transformation and becoming the bully post-transformation. 

We also get some nice continuity bits with the previous episode, with Hamilton helping Superman to develop a lead anti-Kryptonite suit, which ends up helping Superman defeat the Parasite. That final conflict was pretty cool, too, and seeing Parasite drain too much Kryptonite and overload himself, being locked as a vegetable, before gaining a brief bit of sentience when he drains a passing cockroach, is well done. 

Oh, and I guess I have to mention that this is the first of the many Jimmy Olsen centric episodes here. He's... all right. I remembered him being very annoying back when I was a kid, but here he's just... well, he's Jimmy. A little irritating, a little over-eager, but honestly just a sidekick who wants to help. I can't really hate him for that -- he's mostly just bland. 

Overall, the Jimmy stuff is a little weak, and I thought the pacing of the episode could be framed better, but I really liked Parasite's origin story. Well, mostly I just like Parasite, but the episode's also relatively decent.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Parasite, real name Rudy Jones, is based on the Superman villain of the same name, and his transformation into the Parasite is more or less identical to his post-crisis origin story, though some versions of his backstory had Darkseid or Luthor be behind his transformation into the Parasite. There were other versions of the Parasite in DC comics' history (Raymond Jensen, the pre-Crisis Parasite who was retconned out of existence during the Crisis; dr. Torval Freeman, a scientist absorbed by Rudy Jones but was able to retain his ego; Alex and Alexandra Allston, a pair of twins who were transformed by the villain Ruin as new Parasites after Rudy Jones's presumed death; Joshua Allen, the New 52 Parasite, who was transformed due to an alien creature) but Rudy Jones is by far the most iconic.