Just watched Episode 6.

I'll be honest: I was never a Superboy fan. Considering that my mother used to read comic books to me and my brother when John F Kennedy was in the White House, that's saying a lot. Also, I dislike time-travel stories, lost-powers stories - and clones. Which brings us back to Conner Kent: the canon version of Conner was that he's a hybrid mix of DNA from Kal-El and Lex Luthor, 'fermented' at an accelerated rate until freed at the biological age of 16 (though his chronological age is considerably less). Ok, that was tolerable, I suppose. Then the writers gave the kid less raw power than his Kryptonian donor, but more of the latent Clairperceptive/Clairmanipulative abilities of his Terran donor. Ok, that was a step in the right direction. I thought they missed the boat by not making the kid look more like Lex, nor bestow upon him some of Lex's natural craftiness. But, I'm hoping some of those plot elements surface here, which would make this incarnation of Conner much more fun to watch.

As I recall, Conner and Tim Drake (Robin) had the same kind of potential long-term partnership potential that their respective mentors had developed. Superman and Batman are about as polar opposite as you can get, but that's what makes their dynamic so interesting; opposites do attract, after all, though not particularly smoothly. So I find the repeated pairing of Conner and Dick Grayson (this show's Robin) a breath of fresh air. One can make the assumption that Aqualad keeps sending Robin out with Superboy because (1) he's got the most experience, and (2) it keep the ambitious little punk out of his hair. And Superboy, at this point, cooperates because he has nowhere else to go. But I foresee some great potential here, starting with their personalities: they are reversals of their mentors, i.e., Robin is the outgoing witty one, and Superboy is the brooding taciturn one. Another potential benefit here is that, while Robin may help Superboy accept his overall situation, Superboy may help Robin acquire some leadership abilities.

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At Mount Justice, Conner Kent observes Dick Grayson slip away and climb to the island's peak. Conner follows, and finds Dick sitting quietly on a high ledge, contemplating the ocean. Conner joins him.

CK: "Is something wrong?"

DG: "No, just watching..."

CK: "Watching what?"

DG: "Watching the last days of summer slide away."

CK: "Why?"

DG: "School starts soon. KF is already in school. I'd rather stay here."

CK: "Oh."

DG: "I envy you not having to go to school."

CK: "I envy you the need to go to school."

DG: "Why? The way I see it, you've easily got three or four college degrees in your head. You don't have to spend years of time and energy getting all that knowledge."

CK: "What I have is information, not knowledge. They're fundamentally different."

DG: "You're still years ahead of me."

CK: "That's ironic, considering you're years older than I am."

DG: (chuckles) "Yeah, I guess it is ironic."

CK: "Can I ask you a personal question?"

DG: "Sure. I can't promise an answer, but you can ask."

CK: "I've been watching you on our missions, when we're partnered together. You have impressive analytical skills. Did you learn those at school...or did Batman teach you?"

DG: "A little of both, I guess. But I figure most of it's intuitive, something you're born with, or learn by experience."

CK: "Oh."

DG: "Look, some of the craftiest, shrewdest, toughest people I've ever met had little or no schooling under their belts. They learned on the streets, in the School of Hard Knocks. Mostly, they learned to read people."

CK: "Reading people...whether learned in school or on the street, I'm still new at it."

DG: "You're starting to catch on, though."

CK: "Thanks."

DG: "Now, can I ask you a personal question?"

CK: "Yes."

DG: "Why are you so angry all the time?"

CK: "It's...about Superman...and me."

DG: "I think you need to ease-up on that a bit. It's reckless and risky for you, as well as those depending on you."

CK: [frowns]

DG: "You aren't the only one here without a father, you know."

CK: "You have Batman."

DG: "He's not my father, he's my guardian. My parents died in an accident a few years back."

CK: "But a guardian is better then nothing."

DG: "That all depends on the guardian. Batman and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye all the time. I like him, I trust him, I respect him...and for now that's enough."

CK: "Still..."

DG: "Look, Superman will come around. But, what do you want from him? Do you want a father, or a guardian, or a teacher, or what? As you said, they're fundamentally different."

CK: "I...hadn't analyzed it."

DG: "It gets easier with practice."

CK: "I hope so. I guess...I should practice reading people, too."

DG: "I can help you with that."

CK: "How?"

DG: "Let's go to the mall in town. Lots of people there, lots of guinea pigs."

CK: "Ok. But I think we should take Megan along, too."

DG: "Megan? Why?"

CK: "She's as new to this planet as I am."

DG: "See what I mean? That's a good call. C'mon, let's go."