I’d rank this one as one of my favorite episodes of the series. There was something interesting about seeing Superman, as strong as he is, unable to just jump into a situation and fix it right away.

Not only that, but seeing Lex have to deal with a situation where he wasn’t in control was pretty fun, too. Here you have two very powerful men who aren’t used to someone else having power over them, and you get to see how each of them reacts to the situation.

I also enjoyed the 1920s flashbacks. It was a nice chance to see the entire cast do something different.

The episode also provided a couple of really funny moments. Cat Grant coming in and out of the newsroom and not realizing everyone was being held hostage was great, as was Jimmy’s impression of Perry.

One last thing I wanted to say was that I always wondered if maybe Jack suspected Clark was Superman by the end of this episode. I always got the impression that maybe that was where they would have gone with Jack had he not been dropped from the show.

Also one of my favorites! And there are a whole lot of good fanfics based on this episode.

One of my favorite authors, Nan Smith, tells us what might have happened (if things had gone a different way) in "A Night At The Office." She also does an episode extension challenge in "Fly Hard Revisted" .

And another favorite author, Sue S., takes on the episode and delivers the smart "The Buddy System" . Lois and Clark locked together in a closet... hmmmm... that has possibilities.

Wendy Richards has Lois figure it out in "When You Say You Love Me" .

And just to prove that Lois isn't totally Luthor-obsessed, she figures it out again in Erin Klingler's "Where, Oh Where, Do Supes' Clothes Go?"

What if the terrorists got stuck in the elevator? Well, Jill tells us the story in
Fly Hard - Stuck With A Vengeance - A Plot Un-twist . Amusing as are all plot untwists.


I remember this episode for Clark darkly warning Lois about Luthor: "Be careful. You don't know him like I do." I always wanted him to TELL HER MORE!

Lois was a little too comfortable with Lex here, it seemed to me,enjoying the handcuffed closeness. Kinda kinky when you think about it, which made me think maybe she did love Lex and not just for his "philanthropy".
I really liked Clark giving Lex a double zinger. Bad Clark.

While I disliked the whole "Lois dating Lex" storyline, on watching this episode a second time it was not too bad.

I thought what was more impressive was seeing that Clark truly is Superman. That is the only way to explain his acting to save Luthor.

I think that yes, Jack had figured it out, and his little comment at the end, some vague reference to "no one would believe me" was his little tip of the hat to Clark that he was going to keep quiet.

I think that this was one of the best plotted episodes of the series: nice setup having everyone trapped together, Lex not necessarily the enemy in this one, legitimately threatening villain, interesting use of a different kind of B-plot (a noir one set in the past).

But I don't really come back to this one that often. I guess for me, the Lois/ Clark scenes didn't pop as much as some other episodes, although for my fan video editing purposes, it has two *great* scenes that I use over and over: Superman lowering Lois in front of the DP logo in front of the building and "Lois" and "Clark" in the noir story launching themselves at each other for the kiss in the office.

I dont know,John, Superman is what Clark does/is. He cant help himself ( he was born that way). No real suprise there.But that little zinger was unexpected and kinda cute I must say.

I just wanted to pop in and say that I'll begin posting these episode threads again in a couple of weeks. Things have been really busy for me lately, and I haven't had time to sit down and watch as many episodes as I'd like to. Things will be settled down soon, though, so you should begin seeing episode threads posted regularly again.

I just started re-watching FlyHard and saw that Clark's page-a-day desk calender is open in the first shot and we see the date: Saturday, March 26, 1994. (9 days after Perry's birthday for Vatman). Being that this is a show about a newspaper, I find dates a very important aspect when writing a fanfic, so silly me was thrilled at this little inclusion, so I thought I'd share it.

I guess that fits with the taxes theme, since we know Clark would not wait until the last minute to do his taxes.

This is the first time (I think) we see/hear Clark call Luthor "Lex" (in the opening scene when Lois goes to edit her article). I don't remember Clark doing this either before or after this point.

EDIT: How were Lois and Lex traveling to go see Madame Butterfly? Did they take Lex's limo (as one would expect)? I can't see them taking a cab. If they took the limo, why wasn't Asabi (or another driver) suspicious when they never returned to the limo?

They never say but I always assumed they were going to see it in it's original Italian (i.e. Italy.) I think this might be a fanon change though. The script doesn't say anything.

Being that Lex says that "We have exactly thirty minutes before the opera" as they walk out of the elevators, I'm doubting he was planning on flying them to Italy. Also FlyHard takes place at 8pm Metropolis time, so I doubt there would be any opera's starting in Italy in the middle of the night. That they would be seeing Madame Butterfly in its original language makes perfect sense for Lex's character. I couldn't see him wanting to see it if it wasn't in its original language. It would be kin to Lex buying a copy of a famous piece of artwork. He's definitely an "original or nothing" sort of guy.

Even if he were planning on flying them to Italy to watch the opera, they would still have a chauffeur waiting for them out in the towncar/limo to take them to Lex's plane, wouldn't they?

I imagine that there was a chauffeur or chauffeuse, and that person may have wondered to themselves what was happening, but I also suspect that Lex pays his drivers handsomely to avoid noticing anything unusual. In this particular instance, such a practice would have backfired on him, but in many other cases, it would have kept him from going to jail.

Joy,
Lynn

Good point!

True, but that probably would not be an issue here. Even in the 1990's, opera houses were using surtitles. They project the English translation of the original-language libretto onto a small screen above the stage (like movie subtitles, but above the screen instead of below). That way Lex could listen in Italian ( Un bel di vedremo... ) while Lois reads, "One fine day..."

Surtitles are great for the monolingual opera-goer - you can follow the plot and learn what's going on while the music flows, like in this duet from Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers".

Scientific question: How did Clark use his heat vision to set off the fire sprinklers without melting the glass in the conference room door? When he knocked out the lightbulb in The Phoenix he burned holes in the lampshade. So, is it possible to make the fire sprinkler go off without melting a hole in the glass window of the door?

This sounds like a major plot whole to me. Maybe the limo driver was told it would be a while, since Lois was going to work on a story, and just did not figure to worry at any point.

However, most productions of operas in the US are done in the original language. The Metropolis Opera would be the top opera in the US, and never even think of performing an opera in other than the original language. I am not sure they would even include English super-titles.

Maybe the sprinklers have a setting where they become operational if they are exposed to laser light. Or maybe he uses his vision to actually alter their internal mechanisms to set them off. Does not sound likely. On the other hand, maybe he did melt holes through the door, but no one noticed in the hubbub.

Except for the fact that when just after Lex has been shot and he's handcuffed back to back to Lois, she's not caring for him, she's going on about how exciting an adventure this is for her as a reporter instead of noticing the man, who proposes to her in the next episode, has passed out. Very ironic, but not very convincing of her love. Going on about being in the belly of the beast but not noticing the details a reporter really should.

Later on, after Clark has saved him, things are different though. Just look at Mrs. Luthor's avatar.

Just found this interesting article about how deadly a bullet wound to the shoulder (like Lex's) would be. I also find it interesting that Clark looks at Lex's left shoulder entry wound and says "the bullet passed straight through" despite not being able to see an exit wound (without x-ray vision) and nobody calls him on it. Nor does anyone suggest that they should also seal up the exit wound to stop the bleeding.

Is it just me or does Clark seem to be enjoying Luthor's pain when he was pouring that stuff on his wound? Thought I saw kind of a smirk....

I guess Clark could've learned his medicinal treatment of Lex's wounds from a Borneo medicine man.

Ahh, but the acid from the orange juice did what? ;D

Vitamin C, otherwise known as ascorbic acid. Emphasis on the word *acid* in connection with an open wound -- hence Clark's smirk?

Joy,
Lynn

Exactimundo.

I'll agree with that, but the article on tannins also mentioned them being found in citrus and in peppermint, not just the tea. He needed a liquid to bind together the ingredients otherwise how would it heal the burns from his heat vision? Sure, I guess they could have used water and made a sort of paste, but where's the fun in administering that?

Since the money from Dragonetti's vault was found at the Daily Planet, wouldn't it belong to the current owner of the Daily Planet building? Or would the money, earned by ill-gotten gains of Pino Dragonetti and Bill Robertson (Willie), belong to the city of Metropolis? Clearly, Fuentes and his gang don't get the money. Who ended up with the $30 mil?

Maybe it was used by the DP to fix the damage done to the building. :p

(Though I suppose the damage was minor enough not to cost quite that much to fix.)

I would have expected a security guard to have undergone a background check before he was hired. How did they miss that Willy had just gotten out of jail for murder? Doesn't Perry make some comment about having recommended him for the job? How does Perry know him, anyway?

There was damage to the floor in Perry's office and the office below his in Advertising. I doubt that was $30 Mil to fix unless LexCo Construction was on the job.

I would think so too. Perry doesn't say how he came to know Willie; it's possible that Willie sought him out and pretended to strike up a conversation with him, and mentioned that he needed a job. Back ground checks weren't as prevalent back then as they are now, but I would think HR would've done a better job than that with a security guard, unless they had the same biases that Perry did. Old People = All Nice sweet grandparents. It's also possible that Willie fudged his background a bit on the application process or HR waved the background check due to Perry's recommendation.

I think the money would be seized by metropolis as the proceeds of crime. The one possible issue is that if statues of limitation have run, it might not be possible to still cease them on those grounds.

The best explanation for highering Willie is that night time security at the planet is a low priority. Willie seems to be mostly a glorified night watch man, and so I guess they are still on that old view of things. Considering he has only been out of jail for ten months, and had a first degree murder conviction, and on the other hand he does carry a gun on the job, it does seem a bit amazing that he got it.

One possibility is that Willie got the job under a false ID. He posed as someone else who recently died, whose death he managed to cover up, so when they ran the background on Willie Bentley they got evidence he has been a fine, upstanding citizen for all 80+ years of his life.

It is either that, or background checks were really low priority in the early 1990s. However since he carries a gun on the job, I think they would have to run some sort of check.