Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Season 1, Episode 5 (10 Oct. 1993): “I’m Looking Through You”
by Deborah Joy LeVine, Mark Sobel

Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 5

Title: “I’m Looking Through You”

Medium: television series episode

Original airdate: 10 Oct. 1993

Publisher:
Written by: Deborah Joy LeVine
Directed by: Mark Sobel

8 characters in this story:

Character (Click links for info about character and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)	Religious Affiliation	Team(s) [Notes]	Pub.	# app.
Superman (Clark Kent)	Methodist / Kryptonian religion	Kryptonians; Super Friends...  The Justice League		13,409
Lois Lane	Catholic	Raleigh College [Superman's girlfriend, then wife]		3,859
Jimmy Olsen	Lutheran	The Legion of Super-Heroes [Superman's pal]		1,896
Perry White	Baptist; Elvis worship (ordained)	[Superman's (Clark Kent's) boss; Daily Planet editor]		1,574
Jonathan Kent	Methodist	[Superman's adoptive father]		816
Martha Kent	Methodist	[Superman's adoptive mother]		827
Lex Luthor	Episcopalian (lapsed); Nietzschean atheist	Injustice League; Secret Six...  Secret Society of Super Villains; The Injustice Gang; The Legion of Doom		1,508
Cat Grant	Catholic (lapsed); promiscuous hedonist	[Daily Planet gossip columnist; co-worker of Clark Kent]		140

As the recipient of last year's key to the city in Metropolis, Lex Luthor had the "honor" or passing the key onto this year's new honoree: Superman. Lex Luthor performed the ceremony with cheerful aplomb, never hinting at the animosity he feels toward he Man or Steel, nor giving any sign in public that he is anything but a benevolent philanthropist businessman. Lex Luthor is at ease in front of the large crowd, but Superman himself feels very unconfortable when he sees all the Superman memorabilia and all the people there idolizing him.

Timecode: 3 minutes, 24 seconds: After the ceremony, Lex Luthor heads to his limousine. His assistant and driver Asabi is standing at the vehicle, holding the door open for him. In previous episodes Asabi wore a turban and very traditional ethnic/religious garb. Now Asabi's head is bare. We see his black hair receding with male pattern baldness. He wears slightly oriental/Indian attire, but his dress is far more American or European in appearance than it was before. After continued service to the evil Lex Luthor, Asabi seems to have continued his slide from the religious values he was raised with. It seems now even more likely that he is a lapsed Sikh.

Lex Luthor: His time will come soon enough.

Asabi: To the penhouse, sir?

Lex Luthor: No, Asabi. To the airport. I'm in the mood for a little sport.

Asabi: Kenya? The leopard ranch?

Lex Luthor: No. Something a bit more cold-blooded.

Asabi: The Everglades.

Lex Luthor: Perfect. Just what the boot-maker ordered.

Asabi: Yes, sir.

When next we see Lex Luthor, he is wearing a pair of alligator-skin boots, made from an animal he himself killed. As did Lex Luthor's falcon-based hunting of pigeons in the previous episode, this scene once again demonstrates that Lex Luthor likes to hunt animals (both legally and illegally). This aspect of his character is used to further demonstrate that Luthor himself is a "cold-blooded" hunter and predator. The fact that he is a hunter (and the way this prediliction is portrayed) also further serves to delineate the character as "evil." From the perspective of the writers of the show, the way that Lex Luthor hunts animals (including pigeons, leopards and alligators) is morally suspect.

Timecode: 5 minutes, 43 seconds: Lois Lane and Clark Kent are sitting at a table in the offices of The Daily Planet, working hard. Cat Grant, wearing a revealing outfit completely inappropriate for this professional setting, walks into the room, heads straight to Clark Kent, sits on his lap and kisses im square on the lips, completely without invitation.

Cat Grant: Good morning, hot cakes.

Clark Kent takes a handkerchief out of his pocket and uses it to wipe his lips. He doesn't even say anything about what Cat just did, nor does anybody else in the crowded newspaper office. Perhaps Clark has simply grown tired of her antics and doesn't even have time to tell her off. He and others may simply think that this morally vapid woman is simply deranged, or tiresome. For a person of character such as Clark, there is really little that can be considered attractive or "seductive" about Cat Grant's floozy behavior.

Lois Lane, who was sitting right next to Clark when Cat kissed him just now, is intelligent enough to know what kind of person Cat Grant is and what kind of person Clark Kent is, and what is really going (or not going on) between them. But Lois can't help teasing Clark again abou this.

Lois Lane: What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?

The camera cuts to Cat Grant, who has sat down at the table, because Perry White is starting a staff meeting. As in most scenes featuring Cat, she once again is holding an object that is intended to be viewed subtly (or not so subtly) as a phallic symbol. Where Cat has held regular-sized bottles of water and glasses of drink before, along with magnifying glasses and other oblong objects, now Cat holds up a very large red water thermos while attempting to give Clark a "come hither" look.

Perry White: Okay, let's get started. Clark?

Clark Kent: Right here, sir.

Perry White: Oh, Kent, didn't see you. I take it you and Lois are on that, uh, "Superman gets the Key to the City" story?

Lois Lane: Yeah. On it.

Perry White: Great.

Lois Lane's face tells Clark that she is less than enthusiastic about this story.

Clark Kent: What's the matter, Lois? Bored with Superman already?

Lois Lane: I was standing right in front of him, and he didn't even notice me?

Cat Grant: What's to notice?

Cat Grant's comment here was certainly uncalled for and had no other purpose than to demean Lois Lane. Aside from her wanton promiscuity, Cat Grant's only other major characteristic thus far in the TV series has been her cruel constant denigration of Lois.

Timecode: 9 minutes, 9 seconds: An invisible man has recently been reported as the culprit behind a "Robin Hood"-style theft of fancy catered foot, which he gave to homeless people. Just minutes ago, Lois Lane and Clark Kent watched a news report about this story on TV. Lois is very incredulous about the possibility that an "invisible man" really exists. After this news report aired, the wife of the invisible man came to the offices of the The Daily Planet. The invisible man's wife wants to talk to reporters about her husband, but Lois doesn't really want to talk to her.

Lois Lane: Could you just wait over there for just a moment. Jimmy!

Clark Kent: Come on. Let's talk to her.

Lois Lane: Why are you so interested in this?

Clark Kent: I'm . . . fascinated by the paranormal.

Lois Lane: Uh! Why doesn't that surprise me?

Clark Kent: Oh, come on.

Lois Lane remains reluctant, but agrees to indulge Clark's interest in talking to the woman.

Lois Lane: Who knows? Maybe she'll introduce us to Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Despite what he says here, this is not the real reason that Clark wants to talk to the wife of the invisible man. Clark may well be interested in the paranormal. His interests vary widely and certainly he has seen many strange and amazing things in his journeys throughout the world. But this doesn't explain Clark's interest in talking to the woman who claims to be married to the invisible man. Clark's interest in the invisible man was piqued earlier when he saw the news report. The look on his face showed that the wheels in his mind were really turning. Possibly Clark is simply interested in meeting another person who possesses super-human powers like himself. Another possibility is that Clark is intrigued by the invisible man's actions. While Clark has recently begun to use his powers to rescue people and help out in emergencies, he hasn't really been pro-active. Clark has done essentially nothing to really address major problems such as poverty, homelessness, starvation, etc. Yet now he hears of a person with unusual powers who is using those powers in a far more pro-active manner: by taking from the wealthy and redistributing to the needy. But this seems unlikely given Clark's previous stated dedication to the rule of law. Clark may be pondering whether he should do something like this, or he may be thinking that he should definitely put a stop to this, no matter how well-meaning the invisible man may really be. Were Clark to continue pondering this issue more, he might think that much of the function of the government in modern times is to operate in the same way that the invisible man does, by forcibly taking money and resources from those who have more, and redistributing to those who have less.

Timecode: 11 minutes, 4 seconds: Clark Kent and Lois Lane have come to the home of the invisible man. The invisible man's wife has shown Lois and Clark her husband's basement laboratory and explained how he has been working on a project for many years and explained exactly what she saw the night he disappeared. She told Lois and Clark how she heard his voice telling her good-bye but didn't see anybody, and then she saw the door to the laboratory open and close without anybody being there. The wife is certain that her husband really is invisible. Clark Kent believes the woman's account but Lois Lane remains skeptical.

Lois Lane: Poor woman. Her husband's probably got something going on the side. He walks out on her, she think he's turned invisble.

Clark Kent: Well, how do you know he isn't?

Lois Lane: Are you serious? We're talking about a figment of somebody's overactive imagination.

Clark Kent: Does everything in life have to have a reasonable explanation?

Lois Lane: Everything.

Clark Kent: All grounded in clera, scientific reason?

Lois Lane: Of course.

Clark Kent: No magic left in the universe.

Lois Lane: Well, there's no werewolves or vampires loose in the city either.

Clark Kent: What about Superman?

Lois Lane: Huh?

Clark Kent: There's a man living somewhere in Metropolis who flies, Lois.

Timecode: 12 minutes, 21 seconds: After returning to the offices of The Daily Planet, Lois Lane and Clark Kent see the invisible man's wife on television, explaining how her husband discovered the secret of invisibility after working day and night in his laboratory for 15 years. She begs her husband Alan to come home.

Jimmy Olsen: A nosy next-door neighbor sold the story to the news services.

Lois Lane: It doesn't matter. There is no story, anyway. There is no such thing as in invisible man.

In the next scene we see an invisible man use a gun (actually, we only see the floating gun) to rob a jewelry story. Later we learn that this criminal is not actually Alan Morris (the original invisible man in this story), but another invisible man.

Timecode: 13 minutes, 55 seconds: Lois Lane and Clark Kent arrrive at the scene of the recent robbery. A police detective on the scene complains that he can't call in a sketch artist because the criminal was invisible. He doesn't know how his men will find the culprit.

Lois Lane: Has everyone in this city lost their mind? There is no such thing as an invisible man.

Clark Kent is amazed that Lois is so skeptical, refusing to believe in something, despite an abundance of evidence and numerous eyewitnesses. Clark seems to think that Lois is acting like the proverbial "doubting Thomas."

Clark Kent: At what point are you going to start believing in this, Lois?

Lois Lane: When I don't see it with my own two eyes.

Timecode: 15 minutes, 24 seconds: Lois Lane and Clark Kent are driving in a car on a rainy night after working on a story. An invisible man attacked Helene Morris, the wife of the invisible man. Lois Lane and Clark Kent took another look at the basement laboratory of Alan Morris, which has been ransacked. Helene was insistent that the invisible man who attacked her was not her husband. Lois thinks that she was attacked by her own husband. In the course of their discussion, Lois insists that all people wear disguises, even within a married couple. Clark is a firm believer in marriage and he believes that a married couple should be completely open and honest with each other. Clark's own upbringing, with two wonderful parents who were unquestionably devoted to each other, has given him a very positive view of marriage. Lois Lane's view of marriage is more jaded. Her parents divorced when she was growing up.

Clark Kent: But marriage is about sharing everything you have even when you don't feel like it.

Lois Lane: So is divorce. Ask my mother.

Timecode: 16 minutes, 29 seconds: Lois Lane and Cat Grant are in attendance at a charity auction. Women are bidding on a date to dance and dine with various eligible bachelors next Friday night. The auction money will go to charity. Lex Luthor is currently being bid on. Lois Lane is modestly dressed. Cat Grant, on the other hand, is wearing a very revealing "dress." The top covers no more than a bikini would.

Lois Lane: [To Cat Grant] Couldn't you afford a whole dress?

Cat Grant laughts off Lois Lane's criticism and comes back with her own verbal attack.

Cat Grant: Less is more, darling. [Cat Grant looks down at Lois Lane's chest and makes a face that says, "My, your breasts are small compared to mine."] Sometimes. [Cat Grant smirks, pleased at her witticism. Lois Lane says nothing further, but merely rolls her eyes.]

Timecode: 18 minutes, 42 seconds: At the charity ball, we see Lex Luthor shine his boots with a cloth. These are the alligator skin boots that Lex Luthor had made with the alligator(s) he killed recently in the Florida Everglades.

Timecode: 23 minutes, 20 seconds: Interior of The Daily Planet offices. Lois Lane and Clark Kent discuss their recent work on the Alan Morris story.

Lois Lane: What did you find out at STAR Labs?

Clark Kent: Oh, it was incredible. They said the material we found in alan's lab is a type of fiber optic. It's designed to reflect visible light as ultraviolet.

Lois Lane: Come again?

Clark Kent: Ultraviolet light is an invisible part of the spectrum.

Lois Lane: Are you saying that it's possible for somebody to be invisible?

Clark Kent: Think of it as the next stage of stealth technology. If you wore a suit made of this material you could appear invisible.

Lois Lane: Well, that makes sense. The appearance of invisibility is completely different from real invisibility.

Clark Kent: Do you know, Lois, it must be tough being right all the time.

Lois Lane: Yes, it is.

Timecode: 30 minutes, 46 seconds: Clark Kent glimpses the Superman pajamas that Lois Lane is wearing under her pajamas. (More about this is explained below.)

Clark Kent is visiting with his parents at their home in Metropolis. They are looking at a number of "Superman" toys and trinkets, and Clark is complaining about the commercialization of his image. Clark innocently mentions that Lois even has Superman pajamas. Clark's parents are shocked to hear that Clark saw Lois in her pajamas. They have brought Clark up to believe in abstaining from sexual abstinence until marriage. Clark quickly tries to explain the situation. In fact, the explanation is very innocent. The night before Alan Morris snuck into Lois Lane's apartment to finally introduce himself to Lois and tell his side of the whole "invisible man" story to the reporter. The appearance of Alan Morris initially frightened Lois (although he really did turn out to be a very kind, gentle man). Lois immediately called Clark Kent to come over to her apartment, both for safety's sake and also so he could participate in interviewing Alan Morris, as both she and Clark were working on the news story about him. Lois was wearing a very modest robe but at one point she stood up and Clark glimpsed her very modest Superman pajamas that she was wearing beneath her robe.

Timecode: 32 minutes, 20 seconds:

Clark Kent: Mom, they're buying and selling Superman on street corners. Lois has a pair of Superman pajamas.

Martha Kent: You saw Lois in her pajamas?

Clark Kent: No! Well . . . Yes. But it was an accident, when her robe came undone.

Clark Kent's say nothing upon hearing this, but they look at their son in shock. The scene is played out here for comedic effect, but it does serve to illustrate the seriousness with which Clark Kent's parents take the subject of sexual morality. They genuinely would be disappointed in their son if he were to violate the teachings they brought him up with by sleeping with somebody he isn't married to.

Timecode: 33 minutes, 52 seconds: Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent and Perry White have just finished watching a news report about an invisible man freeing a whole cell block from the Metropolis Penitentiary. Perry White, shocked and concerned, repeats the Elvis-based profane curse that he used in an earlier episode. Perry's curse ("Great shades of Elvis") has nothing to do with the particular situation. This is simply what he says when shocked, in much the same way that other people curse by saying things such as "Jesus!" (as Lois did in an earlier episode) or "Oh my God" or "Great Rao!" (as Superman previously did in comics but never in this TV series). Because actor Lane Smith is a Southerner, "Great shades of Elvis" replaced the previously popular Perry White curse: "Great Caesar's Ghost!" This new curse is not simply incidental or a throwaway line. It truly does illuminate a core aspect of the Perry White character as he is portrayed in this TV series: Perry White's religion, more than anything else, truly is "Elvis worship."

Perry White: Great shades of Elvis. An army of invisible criminals.

The real villain of this episode is not the kind-hearted Alan Morris, the original invisible man. Rather, it is Henry Barnes, a career criminal who stole the extra invisibility suits that Alan Morris made. Lois Lane and Alan Morris figure out where Henry Barnes is probably going to hit next in his crime wave: a vault filled with gold. Lois Lane and Alan Morris go there, but unfortunately they end up getting captured by Henry Barnes and his henchmen. Barnes locks Lois Lane and Alan Morris in the vault (after removing all the gold). Barnes tells his prisoners that he intends for them to die. Barnes suggests that they pray, but this is probably just a typical villainous taunt rather than an expression of any sincere religious belief. Given his criminal career and murderous intentions, it is clear that Henry Barnes is functionally non-religious, regardless of whatever background or upbringing may have given him an awareness of prayer. Timecode: 40 minutes, 15 seconds.

Henry Barnes: By the way . . . Did you know this room is air-tight? With the door shut, I'd guess there's only about two minutes' air left in here. So if I were you, I'd say my prayers.

Lois Lane: I'll say one for you, but it won't help.

Lois means by this that even if she were to say a prayer for Henry Barnes (and it seems likely that she doesn't actually intend to do so), that such a prayer would be of little benefit to him because of the evident depravity of his soul. Lois Lane believes that a person's actions - whether good are evil - are what determine the state of their soul in God's eyes and in the hereafter, so regardless of any prayers she might say on his behalf, or any degree of false piety that Barnes might express, Barnes' soul is in dire straights because of his selfish, criminal, evil, murderous actions.

Henry Barnes: I'll be seeing you. [Barnes laughs an evil laugh and slams the vault door shut.]

Barnes' last statement before he locks Lois Lane and Alan Morris in the vault is curious: "I'll be seeing you." What does he mean by this? Does he mean, "I'll see you in hell," which is a taunt often used by villains regardless of whether they actually believe in hell or not? Does Barnes think that Lois Lane will die soon, and go to hell, and that later he himself will go there and see her there? Or is Barnes' making a reference to the fact that Alan Morris and Lois Lane tried to use invisibility cloaks to thwart Barnes and his gang, yet Barnes found them anyway? Or is "I'll be seeing you" merely his way of saying "Good-bye?"

Timecode: 43 minutes, 54 seconds: After thwarting Henry Barnes' and his evil gang of invisible would-be gold thieves, Superman is about to fly away. Before can do so, Murray Brown arrives on the scene and gets his attention. Murray Brown is a talent agent who has been trying to talk to Superman throughout this episode.

Murray Brown: Supe, you were terrific. Ha ha! You want it in writing, right? Okay, here's the L-list. We got worldwide merchandising rights. Now I'm talking movies. I'm talking mini-series. I'm talking music videos, comic books, action figures. But you call all the shots. Quality control, that's Murray Brown's middle name. If you don't like it, kid, we don't do it. Now, how can you turn down a deal like that?

Superman: I can't.

Lois Lane: You can't?!

Superman: But all proceeds go to charity.

Murray Brown: Great touch.

Superman flies away. While he ascends into the sky, Murray says one last thing, not really expecting an answer or hoping that Superman is actually paying attention.

Murray Brown: That doesn't include my commission, right?

Timecode: 45 minutes, 35 seconds: Later, Lois Lane shows Clark Kent the copy she has written for their article about Alan Morris.

Lois Lane: I think we should lead with this.

Clark Kent: [Reads what Lois wrote.] Hmm. Nice work.

Lois Lane: You know, Clark . . . not that I'm one of those people that revel in saying, "I told you so."

Clark Kent: Uh-huh?

Lois Lane: But . . . I hope you learned your lesson. There is no such thing as an invisible man.

Clark Kent says nothing as Lois Lane walks back to her desk. He waits until she is out of earshot before he utters the last line of this episode.

Clark Kent: Yes, there is, Lois . . . Yes, there is.

Clark here appears to be speaking not about Alan Morris, the "invisible man" they were investigating throughout this episode, but about himself. Lois Lane is infatuated with Superman, but she doesn't realize that Superman is right there in front of her: hidden within the guise of Clark himself. On the other hand, Clark may here be asserting that, yes, there are things that are exist in the world even if Lois Lane's skeptical nature refuses to believe in them until she sees overwhelming evidence for herself.

The process of listing characters who appeared in this source is not yet complete. Webpage for Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - Season 1, Episode 5 (10 Oct. 1993) created 26 December 2007. Last modified 11 June 2014.

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