To get revenge on Superman, a group of criminals plot to capture and kill the Daily Planet staff. Can Superman save Lois, Perry, and Jimmy without giving away his identity as Clark?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bound and Gagged: The gangsters leave Lois Lane tied and gagged to train tracks.
- Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Clark gets captured by the crooks and lowered into a vat of acid.
- Cassandra Truth: The crooks realize that Clark Kent must be Superman, or he wouldn't still be alive after being submerged in acid, but they think no one would believe them.
- Chained to a Railway: The crooks tie Lois to the train tracks.
- Conveyor Belt o' Doom / Lumber Mill Mayhem: Perry is tied to a log in a sawmill.
- Damsel in Distress / Distressed Dude: Lois, Perry, and Jimmy are all put in danger during this episode.
- Death Trap: The villains use a number of overly complicated methods to kill their hostages.
- Fatal Flaw: The leader of the villains takes great care to hide his identity; he wears a mask with a lead coating, which Superman's x-ray vision can't see through, and all his partners wear a similar one; all the masks are locked on, and the leader carries the only key. The flaw, which Superman figures out is, he can ID the leader by the one who has the key; his x-ray vision can see into pockets just fine.
- Hollywood Acid: Clark Kent was lowered into an enormous vat of acid by chortling villains, who then walked out to arrange their next evil deed. Naturally, Superman then emerged, his costume soaked, but unharmed. Presumably, Kent’s glasses and clothes were dissolved.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Superman finds Jimmy dangling off a ledge after his car crashed.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Two crooks ask Perry how he'd describe the route to their hideaway. Perry describes the route, and the crooks use a recording of his voice to get Jimmy onto the roads in the sabotaged car.
- Revenge by Proxy: Lampshaded. The Villain of the Week comments that while he can't hurt Superman physically, he can "strike at him through his friends."
- Shout-Out: The title may refer to The Perils of Pauline.
- Vehicular Sabotage: How the villains try to kill Jimmy. They use acid on his brakes so that they give out when he rounds a curve.
