While I don't like the way that they make Red be so desperate (like much of this season, so far it seems pretty implausible), I do love the way they show it. He has the all-too-common "hasn't shaved in a week" beard going on, but his arms were skinny and lean and he carried himself in a way that sold it for me.
I'm satisfied with the main plot of the episode. ???Darkseid??? and Sportsmaster came outa the blue, and I was expecting Sportsmaster to have had a KILLER makeover since he killed all those Kroloteans, but it worked great. I'm no massive Darkseid lore fan, but I don't think he runs around flinging radioactive waste.
Killing the golem was explained well, though it attacking Superboy was... weird.