[8.0/10] This is another episode that follows the standard DCAU villain formula. Somebody down on their luck suffers at the hands of an even bigger dastard, only to become the supervillain our hero has to face. But just like with Toyman, this is a good rendition of the form, arguably the best one the series has done yet in its young life. Rudy Jones is a sympathetic baddie. The early part of the episode establishes that he’s a down-on-his luck janitor at Star Labs who’s only committing crimes with his more committed criminal buddy to help pay off a bookie. When the partner-in-crime tries to shoot a pair of security guards, he intervenes to save their lives. And his transformation is horrifying to watch, as a truck bed getaway spills the radioactive goop that the pair tried to steal, turning him into the monstrous Parasite. It’s a cool origin story told in a crisp seven minutes. Jones faces his fair share of body horror, letting the purple goo wash over him, beg his accomplice to stop the car, only to be left for dead on the shore. Superman seems to psychoanalyze him well, noting that the world has given him a raw deal so now he’s trying to turn the tables and enjoy being the top dog. But at a character level, there’s more to Rudy than just evil for evil’s sake, which makes him a more interesting villain. At the same time, I also like Parasite as a plot obstacle. It’s hard to create any villain who’s a true threat to Superman, but someone who can not only match him in strength and speed and power through siphoning Supes’s abilities, but who leaves Superman debilitated in the process, poses a physical threat to the Man of Steel in a way not a lot of them can. At the same time, the fact that the power-borrowing effect is temporary creates meaningful limitations on Parasite’s abilities, making it plausible that he could be overcome. And the fact that Parasite takes people’s thoughts, not just their energy, makes him a particularly unique threat to Clark since he knows the secret identity. That makes it a little extra clever when Superman figures out how to defeat his foe. The time lapse of the powers creates a nice element of uncertainty as to whether he’ll be able to go toe-to-toe with this guy. That said, as soon as Dr. Hamilton introduced Superman’s special lead suit in the opening scene of the episode, you just knew it was going to come back to protect him against Parasite’s attacks. That said, I was surprised (perhaps naively so) at Supes’s using the Kryptonite at Star Labs to defeat his foe. It’s a nice poetic twist for Superman to be weakened by Parasite sucking away his powers, but using his one weakness to subdue the baddie who’s stolen his strengths. At the same time, I appreciate the fact that this is a good episode for Jimmy Olson. The kid hasn't had too much shading on the show so far, but he proves himself smart in discerning that Rudy likely went back to Star Labs, savvy in using Perry’s press badge to get in, and brave in helping Supes and getting in the fray with Parasite. He’s mostly been a third wheel up to this point, so it’s nice to see him getting his day in the sun. Overall, this is one of *S:TAS*’s best episodes yet, introducing a sympathetic villain with cool and challenging powers and giving a secondary character some nice time to shine.