Recap / Superman: The Animated Series S1 E13 "Two's a Crowd"

The police besiege a heavily fortified house, and even Superman has some trouble breaking through the defenses. He finally reaches the occupant — a former STAR Labs employee named Earl Garver, who stole an isotope sample and used it to build a bomb to hold the city hostage. Unfortunately, Garver got a concussion during the battle and will be unconscious until long after the detonation deadline. The authorities resort to making a deal with the Parasite to read Garver's thoughts and get the information. Unfortunately, Garver's will proves strong enough to take over the Parasite's body and powers.

This episode contains examples of the following tropes:

• Adaptational Name Change: Earl Garver is loosely based on Torval Freeman from the "Doc Parasite" story arc in the comics.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: When Garver!Parasite gloats that his original body is far away from the bomb, Superman points out that he's writing off the Parasite's original Rudy Jones personality as expendable. Rudy doesn't take this very well.
• Comically Small Demand: Parasite is willing to cooperate in exchange for cable TV (with premium channels) in his cell.
• Hard Head: Averted with a vengeance. When Earl Garver gets knocked out, his doctor explains that he has a serious concussion and will be unconscious for hours, if not days, and might even be comatose. The police have to bring in the mind-absorbing Parasite in order to get the required information before Garver's bomb explodes.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Parasite has absorbed Earl Garver's personality, and the two personalities team up... for a while. Eventually, it becomes clear that the clever guy is perfectly willing to let the Parasite die, since, after all, his real body and mind are miles away, and they start battling it out inside the Parasite's head. Meanwhile, Superman, on the sidelines, shouts encouragement to the Parasite personality. Both personalities are bad guys; Superman is just rooting for the lesser of two evils.
• Karma Houdini: Rudy isn't given any extra punishment for teaming up with Garver, even being given the premium cable he asked for. Somewhat justified in that he helped stall Garver while Superman disposed of the bomb, and he was perfectly willing to hold up his end of the bargain to begin with before Garver lied to him.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Rudy becomes this between him and Garver.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When in a stalemate with Superman he knows he can't win, Garver!Parasite resorts to reactivating the bomb, knowing his real body is safe elsewhere. The problem is, as Superman points out, this callous act doesn't sit well with Rudy, who doesn't like the idea of having his body blown to bits. Seeing his new "partner" doesn't care about his well-being, it's what prompts Rudy to mentally turn on Garver. Garver ultimately regains control of Parasite's body, but it at least buys Superman some time.
• Sadistic Choice: Garver tries to invoke this by pointing out to Rudy that he can either stay in the partnership and die of a bomb explosion, or fight him back and go back to jail. As much as Rudy voices that his choices aren't optional, it backfires on Garver when Rudy chooses to fight back anyway. If he's going to jail, he'll go to jail knowing he lives another day.
• Shout-Out: Two men, one far smarter than the other, wind up sharing a super-powered body, their disembodied, normal heads appearing onscreen in transparent, ghostly fashion. Very familiar...
• Snipe Hunt: Garver!Parasite lies about the bomb's location, buying time to escape while Superman is otherwise occupied.
• Spanner in the Works: The plan was for the Parasite to obtain Garver's knowledge about the bomb, but no one expected Garver to have such a strong will.
• Voices Are Mental: Garver speaks through the Parasite's body. This is a deliberate use of the trope to show that Garver has overwhelmed Rudy's personality. It also makes sense when you remember Parasite's debut episode, where he could flawlessly imitate the voice of any person he drained.
• We Can Rule Together: The lie that Garver uses on Rudy Jones to grant him access to Parasite's body. Superman has to talk Rudy out of believing Garver.

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