By: Atiya Irvin-Mitchell
Kara (Kiana Madeira), Clark (Jack Quaid), Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), and Lois (Alice Lee) are at what appears to be on a beach in space, and they’re all in swimsuits. This is confusing for all of them, and the confusion isn’t lessened by the appearance of Mr. Mxyzptlk (David Errigo Jr), aka Mxy, a trickster who can bend reality. When the group demands to know why he brought them wherever they are, he says he’s getting a divorce. This leads to the introduction of Ms. Gsptlsnz (Erin Anderson) aka Glitzy, his soon-to-be ex-wife. Jimmy is shocked he was married, and the rest of the group wonders what his impending divorce has to do with them. The answer: normal people hash things out with lawyers, but Mxy and Glitzy’s species dissolve their marriages with a contest. They both recruit a team from a different Earth, and the team with the most keys wins. What this means for Mxyzptlk and Gsptlsnz is that this’ll decide who gets the house, car, and speedboat.
Kara asks what happens if they don’t want to be in the middle of their divorce, and Mxy threatens that if they lose, they’ll never see their universe again. None of them want to be involved, but none of them want to be trapped forever, so they reluctantly agree. Lois wonders who Glitzy’s team will be. Mxydoesn’t answer and just says it doesn’t matter because they have Superman on their side. Since he didn’t get the memo, Clark informs him that he lost his powers. This upsets Mxy, and he tells him he needs Superman for his divorce and Clark Kent is “useless” to him. Since Clark is actively navigating an identity crisis, this isn’t a great thing to hear. But Glitzy is thrilled because she thinks a powerless Superman gives her a leg up.
Now it’s time to meet Team Glitzy: Good Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman), General Lois Lane (Alice Lee), Scion Kara Zor-El (Kiana Madeira), and Flamebird Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid). The difference between the two Jimmys is that Flamebird Jimmy has really cool robotic armor. On an unrelated note, Mxy thinks it’s unfair that he’s saddled with a powerless Clark, so he argues to even the playing field by saying the Kryptonians aren’t allowed to fly. To Glitzy’s displeasure, the judges agree that there will be no flying during the contest.
The first challenge is getting across an obstacle-ridden bridge to get to a key. At first things are fine,, and Lois is trying not to be psyched out by the general version of herself, because she never wanted to enter the military. While she’s insisting she isn’t bothered, pieces of the bridge start falling and she helps Clark not fall to his death. Clark apologizes for not being fast enough, but they fell to where the key was, which is a win for the team. But since Glitzy’s team got a key too Mxy isn’t happy because he wants them to win and not tie with the other team.
The next challenge is climbing S’ivaan Mountain, which has one key at the top that only one team can win. As they climb the mountain, it’ll sink into the Manticore trench, and if they slow down too much or slip, they’ll meet the Manticore. Also, Mxy says, separates the group and tells Jimmy and Clark they can use portals on the mountain. For Lois and Kara, they have to run, which is harder for Lois than for Kara. But what is hard for Kara is seeing Scion Kara because of how cold she is. She asks Lois if that version of herself is her future. But Lois reminds her that she’s already been like Scion Kara and decided to change. Plus, Lois shares that she’s met a whole league of alternate reality Lois Lanes, and her other selves don’t have to mean anything. Before they can get deeper into the conversation, the mountain starts sinking. General Lois decides it’s more shrewd to have Kara go after the key since technically only one team member needs to make it to the top. While the Karas are racing, General Lois grabs Lois, and they fall.
Above them, Kara is worried and asks Scion Kara if the Loises are okay. But Scion Kara doesn’t seem to care and then falls through a hole in the mountain. Kara saves her and tells her she needs to be cautious.
In the Manticore trench, General Lois is keeping Lois close. Lois is wondering how they’re getting out of this, but General Lois just tells her that Lanes are doers and not complainers. Lois says she isn’t complaining, but she wonders how they’re going to be able to reconnect with the Karas. General Lois just says that if either Kara ends up down here, it means they failed. At General Lois’s callousness, Lois comments on how different they are. General Lois says they aren’t that different. She recounts their childhood: dead mother, distant father, and workaholic tendencies until falling for Clark. But, in General Lois’s world, Clark lost his powers and died. General Lois says Lois is free to judge her, but the line between them isn’t as thick as she might think.
While this triggers a mini-crisis for Lois, the Manticore appears and tries to eat the Loises. Above them, the Karas are racing toward the key at the top of the mountain. They’re neck and neck when Scion Kara pushes Kara off of the mountain, which confuses Kara. She falls into the trenches and in front of the Manticore. Since Scion Kara grabbed the key, the challenge ended, and Kara, General Lois, and Lois are transported away from the Manticore. When Kara sees Scion Kara, she is angry and accuses her of cheating, but Scion Kara just says she was winning. She tells Kara that deep down she wanted to do the same thing because “this” is who they are.
Elsewhere, Clark and Jimmy are putting together the portal as a part of their challenge when Good Lex Luthor accuses Jimmy of stealing their portal pieces. This causes a fight, and Clark breaks it up by suggesting that he’ll partner with Good Lex Luthor and Jimmy can partner with the other Jimmy so that everyone can know that no one cheated. When the Jimmys are gone, Clark tries to talk to Lex, but he’s pretty shut down. Then he asks how such an… eclectic group came together, and Lex explains that when Superman died, the world got dark, so they all did what they had to do. He gives Clark a portal piece, and when Clark asks what happened to his world’s Superman, Lex explains that he made some mistakes and, without Superman to defend the world, they didn’t stand a chance when the hunger dogs came.
The Jimmys are getting along and comparing notes on their respective experiences. Flamebird Jimmy is a glass-half-full kind of guy and says that Kara and General Lois can be super negative. He says if the hunger dogs hadn’t invaded, he wouldn’t have such a cool suit. Then he mentions Clark’s death, but says the upside is that Lex isn’t evil anymore and they’re all close. Jimmy is concerned that the other Jimmy isn’t more upset about Clark being gone, but Mxy interrupts. He doesn’t like all the cooperation and sharing happening because, as a chaos God, he thrives off of chaos. He adds that the girls finished their challenge already and releases the Hell Hippos.
The Hell Hippos are radioactive and aggressive. Both teams need one more piece of the portal to be finished, but Mxy has the piece.
He says he doesn’t know which team to give the final piece to. Jimmy points out they should be the obvious choice, because they are his team. But Mxy says it’s more fun to see them scream, so he throws the portal piece on the ground for them to fight over. Jimmy and Lex get into a fight for it, but Clark says to let Lex have the piece because he can’t fight the hippos. So, Clark says Jimmy needs to give up the piece, or they’ll all die. Jimmy lets go, and Flamebird Jimmy and Lex jump through the portal. When Jimmy and Clark are left behind, Clark is afraid that he doomed them and apologizes, but they are sucked through a portal and are with Kara and Lois.
They compare notes on near-death experiences, and Lois wonders why they were saved before they could be killed. Mxy doesn’t answer the question, but criticizes them for losing and wonders if they even want to see their universe again. Then they’re swept away into a maze, where Mxy says the challenge is to choose their one true path and follow it. Lois wonders how to know if they’re on the right path. Mxy just says they have to pick the path they like best and don’t let the trail go cold. When Mxy leaves, Kara vows to crush him someday.
The group quickly gets separated by the ground splitting apart and locking them behind ice. Clark tries punching his way out, but he still isn’t as strong as he used to be. Memories of him being Superman start playing on the ice, and Clark laments everything he lost. He wonders who he is now, and when he sees himself flying with Lois as Superman, he wonders if Superman is still his path. He starts getting frozen in ice, and we cut away to Lois. She just sees all the different Loises on the different earths. Then she sees Clark dying in General Lois’s arms and is horrified. Then she sees herself losing Clark in different ways and says that can’t be real and is frozen too. Jimmy and Kara are together, and Jimmy tells Kara that Flamebird Jimmy is in denial about how bad things are in his world. Kara is distracted by the clinical, cold versions of herself and says perhaps that the other world is their only path. Kara is starting to freeze like Clark and Lois, but Jimmy stops her from spiraling. He admits that he hasn’t been a good friend, or anything to her, but she deserves better, so he resolves to be better and promises her she’ll change. This stops the freezing for Kara, and she says Jimmy has it. When Kara saw the other Kara, she was afraid that Brainiac was right about her being like him, but they’re all creatures of change. Since they are all creatures of change, they can become whatever they want. Kara tells Jimmy that the game is a trick because they decide who they are every day, which means there can’t be only one true path. The realization breaks Clark and Lois out of the ice, and they’re all transported back to the beach.
It’s time for the final challenge, which involves the group navigating an obstacle course in hamster balls, but both teams from both worlds have questions. Why doesn’t it seem to matter who gets the keys? And why do they keep being saved? And what is that statue that has been being protected the entire time? When Kara breaks the hamster balls and demands to know, Mxy explains the statue is a cosmic anvil and whoever has it can re-shape reality. As it turns out, they both want it but due to a curse, only mortals can get it. Also, they were lying, they’re not getting a divorce this is just date night for chaos gods. Both teams are angry and no longer want to participate, but Mxy tempts them with the anvils possibilities. Clark could get his powers back and the other team can revive Clark. Clark asks if they mean Superman, but Jimmy and Lois say that losing Superman was bad, but losing Clark was unbearable. The other team is ready to agree, but Clark doesn’t think it’s a good idea because you cna’t take Mxy at his word. This confuses Lex, because he doesn’t know what someone like Clark could have had to do with Mxy. Because he hasn’t realized it, Clark says he was Superman.
At any rate, the revelation causes Lex to acquiesce, because he says he didn’t listen to Superman before and he regrets it. So, he doesn’t want to make the same mistake twice. Mxy tries to threaten them into playing, but Clark says they aren’t playing. Mxy says if they try to defy him he’ll crush them like bugs. He tells them to play or die and Clark calls his bluff. This worries Clark and Lois, but Clark seems confident and rightfully so. The announces says the clock has run out and since there’s no victor the seal will remain unbroken. Clark figured out they just had to run out the clock. Mxy is disappointed, but everyone else is happy and are sent back to their respective worlds.
The next morning Clark and Lois bump into eachother in the park because they both wanted to go for a morning run. They talk a little and Clark feels better than he did before. He said Superman was great, but he’s been getting to know Clark Kent and he’s pretty great too. For her part, Lois admits she’s pretty shaken up. She tells Clark she feels like they’re fighting all these dark futures, but Clark says they’re not bad futures they’re just different. Speaking of that, a portal opens and boy and a girl wearing the House of El crest appear before them.