WHAT'S IN A NAME?

We Have A Lot To Talk About (if there's a deeper meaning beyond that it's a cliched thing for people in couples to say to one another, I've missed it, sorry!)

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Park with fountain – where Clark proposes.
Street near park – where Metropolis Formalwear is located.
Street – Unidentified – where Sandmarsh Espresso is located.
Daily Planet
Lois Lane’s Apartment
Clark Kent’s Apartment
Cost Mart – One of a chain of discount stores that acts as a cover operation for Intergang.
Church’s Lair – Subterranean headquarters of Intergang, an international crime syndicate, underneath Cost Mart store (as per S02E20 “Individual Responsibility”).
Joe Arlo’s hotel room – Unspecified cheap hotel.
Metropolis Museum of Art (METMA)
Baseball diamond

Outside Metropolis:

In space
Nuclear Power Plant – Philadelphia
Kent Farmhouse - Kansas

POWERS USED AS SUPERMAN

1. FLYING
To rescue man from mugger.
To Philadelphia.
To Lois’ apartment.
To remove bomb from Lois’ apartment.
2. SUPER STRENGTH
Carries workers from power plant in Philadelphia.
3. HEAT VISION
Seals ruptured pipe at power plant.
4. SUPER HEARING
Lois’ call for help (bomb in her apartment).

POWERS USED AS CLARK

1. HEAT VISION
To dry Lois’ clothes.
2. SUPER SPEED
Changes into Superman in front of Lois.
3. X-RAY VISION
X-Rayed underneath Cost Mart store (unseen).
X-Rayed at museum to search for bomb.
4. SUPER HEARING
Pre-recorded bomb message at the museum.
Lois underneath the table with the bomb at the museum.


CLARK'S LAME EXCUSES

1. “Can you go this alone a little bit longer? I hear a siren.” (There is no siren, he is trying to avoid talking to Lois by turning into Superman.)

DEVICES

1. BOMB IN LOIS’ APARTMENT: Trigger bomb rigged to an exercise mat, requiring Lois to do jumping jacks at particular intervals to keep it from exploding.
2. BOMB AT METROPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART: A time bomb attached to canisters of explosive liquid, with a back-up mechanism whereby Superman’s dense molecular structure will set it off if he gets too close.

HISTORY, HOBBIES, ALL CHARACTERS

CLARK

1. Had wanted to tell Lois that he was Superman for a long time.
2. Planned to tell Lois he was Superman after she agreed to marry him (“I needed to know that you would marry me, not Superman, not his powers, just me, Clark.”)
3. Fell in love with Lois two minutes after he met her.
4. Is apparently able to store small items in the rear waistband of his suit (engagement ring).
5. Keeps Superman suits behind wine rack. (Was this new to this episode or did it start in Season 2?)
6. Doesn’t cope well with feeling idle or useless. (Looks decidedly chipper when he hears a nuclear reactor is melting down in Philadelphia).
7. At 13, he began to get “really, really strong.”
8. Made the decision on his own not to reveal his superpowers to anyone, in an effort to fit in.
9. Was afraid he was always going to be alone.
10. Used to fly up above the clouds and drift, not knowing where he fit in.

LOIS

1. Guessed Clark was Superman just prior to his freezing her with his Super Breath (S02E22 “And The Answer Is…”).
2. Figured out Clark was Superman due to the similarity between how Clark and Superman caressed her face, combined with heightened senses due to proximity to death.
3. Finding out Clark was also Superman made her feel like she didn’t know him.
4. Hates wallowers.
5. Is not a fan of syrupy public displays of affection (“lovey-dovey newly-wed spew”).
6. Has very little food in the house – pickles, mustard and ice (in other episodes there is a lot of juice/milk/ice cream).
7. Demonstrates lock picking ability on a tool box.
8. Very fit: capable of doing jumping jacks at increasing speed for almost an hour.
9. Turned down Clark’s proposal because she felt she needed time to get to know him for “who he really is.”
10. Before finding out Clark was Superman, she thought he had a stigmatism when he lowered his glasses to look at things.

MARTHA

1. Turned Jonathan down 2-4 times when he first proposed to her (Jonathan & Martha differ in their re-telling of the story).
2. When Jonathan proposed to her she was young and scared, unsure if it was “a lifetime kind of love.”
3. It broke Martha’s heart watching Clark struggle to fit in, having to hide things about himself.
4. Lois is the first woman Martha has ever been able to speak openly with about Clark.

JONATHAN

1. After Martha turned down his proposals of marriage he “sulked” and “dove into his work,” ploughing up fields of snow.
2. Eventually realised getting married wasn’t just about his feelings and that he needed to give Martha time to be certain of her feelings.

PERRY

1. Used to play golf with Bill Church Senior.

OTHER CHARACTERS

BILL CHURCH SENIOR

1. Head of Intergang and CEO of Cost Mart stores (first seen in S02E05 “Church of Metropolis”).
2. Recently suffered a heart attack and subsequently had a change of heart about being a ruthless criminal (“new heart, new man”).
3. Wants to dismantle Intergang and give back to the community.
4. Married his young nurse, Mindy.

BILL (BILLY) CHURCH JUNIOR

1. Son of Bill Church.
2. Became interim head of Intergang after Bill Church Senior suffered a heart attack.
3. Returns from Japan to find his father is dismantling Intergang and has married a much younger woman.
4. Resents his father spending money wildly and pulling apart their criminal empire.
5. Gets a perverse delight out of sleeping with his father’s wife.

MINDY CHURCH

1. Bill Church Senior’s former nurse and new wife.
2. Plays the part of clueless bimbette but is clever and ruthless.
3. Manipulates Bill Junior into ousting his father and taking over Intergang (he doesn’t need much convincing).

JOE ARLO

1. Nickname “Joe the Blow,” explosives expert and former CIA operative from Atlanta.
2. Hired by Bill Church Junior to build the bombs intended to blow up Lois Lane and the Metropolis Museum of Art.

THE CHURCH GROUP

1. 4,000 men and women patrolling Metropolis in order to make it the “safest place on earth”.
2. Funded by Bill Church Senior.
3. Board members include a former Governor, a Vice-President, and a General.
4. According to LNN reporter Grant Burton, the Church Group have “taken it upon themselves to offer free auto assistance, safety checks of homes, businesses and all manner of public transport, management of busy intersections, teaching kids about community service, taxis for the elderly and the infirm. Even going so far as to guarantee food freshness in restaurants and grocery stores.”

PERRY-ISMS

1. “This is a newspaper, it’s either catastrophe or atrophy!”

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

1. “Come on, guys - I’m Superman!”
2. “Just found a job for Superman.”


LIFE GOES ON (other headlines that are generally unrelated to what is going on in the episode)

WAIT...WHAT?

1. Gold is a soft metal, but is apparently unharmed by passing through the Earth’s atmosphere (which threatened to “burn up” a space station in S03E21 “Through A Glass, Darkly” – a space station being an object that is designed to pass through the Earth’s atmosphere).
2. Bill Church Junior says, “If [Lois] connects [Arlo] to the museum…” while he and Mindy are looking at a photo of Lois standing in Arlo’s hotel room holding a Metropolis Museum of Art map.
3. When Perry slaps Clark on the back at the museum he stumbles forward, nearly setting off the bomb. It is unlikely that Perry would have the strength to knock Superman forward, particularly when he is tensed against any movement for fear of setting off a bomb.
4. The expression on Perry’s face as Lois and Superman exit the Daily Planet at the end is very much a “looking at Lois and Clark in love” expression, not a “looking at Lois and Superman” expression.

IT TAKES TWO… (Kisses and other couply stuff).

1. Clark knows Lois will be angry when she finds out he’s Superman, and she finally realises that he’s right – she is mad. Essentially, he knew how she felt before she did.
2. Clark knows Lois’ facial expressions very well (“It’s your ‘not giving me any look’ look.”)
3. Lois and Clark kiss after the bomb at the museum is diffused.
4. Lois and Superman kiss in front of a harvest moon in the final scene.

MISCELLANEOUS

1. Coffee vendor is called “Sandmarsh Espresso” and as Clark approaches it sounds like he says, “Hi, Marsh.”
2. Map in Church’s Lair: Intergang Group Centers of Influence – Greater Metropolis.
3. Rivers on Church’s map of Metropolis: Hobbs River, West River.
4. Daily Planet headlines: “Church Member Stops Mugging”, "Churches Arrested, Bomber Confesses", "The Fall of Intergang".
5. “An hour ironing my ‘S’,” sounds decidedly similar to “An hour ironing my a**.”
6. Balloon vendor: Creative Balloons, 701-1818.