Superboy. Season 2, Episode 9. "Programmed for Death"
It barely features Stacy Haiduk (boo!) but this is a terrific episode.
It opens with some night filming. For some reason, whenever they filmed at night the show seems more mature, gritty and... better. In later seasons, they did almost all their filming at night and it set a great tone for everything that happened. In this case, the night stuff is kept to the story opening but it still permeates the rest of the story.
And it's a good story. Andy's shady dad show's up. He's been in trouble before, but this time he's on the run for murder. A murder he never did. Get this: his brainwaves were transferred to a mobile computer, as part of an experiment, and it has run off after killing it's crazy. Totally crazy, yes, but everyone plays it straight and you end up with a thrilling adventure that's got major comic book vibes (Cary Bates is the writer).
George Maharis is sometimes a little flat in his performance, but Ilan Mitchell-Smith really carries their scenes (Andy was taken hostage by the computer thing, in the teaser).
There are some great Superman/Superboy scenes, too. He lands, at one stage, and a crowd of people flock over to him and surround him. It's got nothing to do with the story, but it looks cool. I've seen a lot of Superman interpretations, but they never bother to show that stuff. Later, he arrives at Police HQ and there's a great scene with a detective character who feels like a semi-regular, even if he's not.
Stacy Haiduk is basically ignored in this episode (boo!) but she gets to give the episode's final line, as Lana ponders the origins/parentage of Superboy. The camera pans away to the sky and it's another high-point in a terrific episode.
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Superboy. Season 2, Episode 9. "Programmed for Death"
