I was afraid of this. Every other season of Smallville has
suffered from this same type of ailment. There are these amazing, poignant episodes that crop up a couple of times a
year (normally in November, February and May; go figure), and the rest of the season is a lot of fluff and filler. This
season, as a whole, has been amazing. Even the episodes that weren't the cornerstones had huge character development
that was being used later on. For the first time, this felt like an "epic", like the huge origin of Superman,
instead of his weekly comic book adventures as a young man. Everything seemed to build to Reckoning, the 100th episode two weeks ago, and
since that amazing event, the show has been, well, pretty "meh". On with the show!The episode was very hokey and paint-by-numbers. It started off with Chloe being haunted after getting out of the shower. She screamed, and when Lois came running in, Chloe was laying on the ground with her wrists slit. She was taken to a mental institute where they were treating her for an attempted suicide. She kept claiming she wasn't crazy, and of course the only person to believe her was Clark. Together they found a skeleton of the murdered woman who was haunting her, hidden in the walls of her *ahem* padded room. Once they unearthed the body, the dead woman possessed Chloe, through the magic of her "meteor rock" bracelet, and proceeded to try and get her revenge on the man that murdered her, an orderly at the mental institute named Mikey. After some quick scares, the ghost inhabited Mikey and managed to seemingly just vaporize him. Still not sure how that worked. After that there was the normal Smallville melancholy between Lana and Clark, and our weekly reminder that Jonathan is dead. As I said in the beginning, pretty disappointed in this episode.
There was one good thing that I got out of this episode, though. I had one of those "romantic movie epiphanies" where the lead character realizes that the person he loves has been his friend right next to him the entire time. I think I've always taken Allison Mack for granted on Smallville; she's amazing. There seriously was a single moment last night, when she was talking to the orderly Mikey for the first time as the dead girl, that I saw just what a good actress she was and suddenly had this rushing retrospective of all the great scenes she's had so far in this show. I think one of the problems is she's always overshadowed by not only the story and episodes themselves, but that there is already the most under-rated and unappreciated (at least by the various institutes) actor anywhere on the cast in Michael Rosenbaum. There were a lot of people predicting that she'd be the one to bite the bullet during Reckoning, but I never thought that (I also knew better.) She's just been such an integral part to Clark and his life that I don't know what he, or we, would do without her. Let me know what you think.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-10-2006 @ 1:13PM
Walt said...
Yes, it was paint by numbers horror, and it was still decent watching.
No question on Ms. Mack's acting ability; I'd put her up toe to toe in an acting duel with Kristen Bell and I'm confident Allison would win.
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2-10-2006 @ 2:55PM
Dorv said...
Wow... I mean, I love Allison Mack as much as the next guy, but saying she'd win hands down against KB is one heck of a statement. I agree with Ryan that between Mack and Rosenbaum that there is a whole lot of underrated talent on the show.
You couldn't pay me to pay attention during this show. I tried, but kept getting distracted by whatever was on my laptop at the time. The show was fairly linear, with very few tweaks from the regular FOTW episodes we've seen over the years.
I guess I was confused, because I thought Clark and Lana broke up at the end of the Reckoning, but I must have messed that one up.
Two other things... They didn't find the corpse in a 'padded' room...... Or am I just missing a joke. Also, I was suprised to see them actually follow Chloe to see her mother, and then not pay us off by showing a face. I don't know if that was a circumstance of "Saving it for another day when they could afford a name guest star" or "leaving something for our imagination.
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2-10-2006 @ 5:31PM
sanna said...
the body was in the bathroom wall of lois apartment.
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2-10-2006 @ 8:54PM
Jimmy said...
I totally agree. Allison Mack is so under-rated and under-used on this show -- has been from the beginning. It's always Lana, Lana, Lana. This episode was not that great, but it really allowed Mack to step forward and show her talent. Somone needs to grab this girl up and give her a show she can shine on.
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2-11-2006 @ 12:05AM
Klo said...
I totally wish Lana had been the one taken out during Reckoning. This whole Clark and Lana thing is getting annoying. He needs to move on and realize Chloe is way cooler than Lana.
As for the acting duel between Allison Mack and Kristen Bell, Kristen Bell is on Veronica Mars. Do you mean Kristen Kreuk? Cause Allison could so take her on any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
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2-11-2006 @ 8:50AM
Dennis said...
True, Lana is weak. But let's face it, good acting or not, Chloe never makes it into Superman's life. She's gonna go somewhere else; heaven or another state are the obvious choices. Even the name Pete Ross shows up now and again in the comics. I always used to think it was a strange name growing up as a kid, because it was always so close to Pete Rose, a childhood idol of mine (prior to the gambling).
Chloe ain't gonna make it, folks. Clark marries her cousin, and she doesn't even make it to the wedding?! Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause Chloe's leaving. It's just a matter of time.
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2-11-2006 @ 12:20PM
Hoshi Reed said...
I too found AM's performance stellar. Her Gretchen was subtly different yet you KNEW which was which.
This role must have taken a toll on her both physically and mentally. At points she shakes as if in true subconscious anxiety and fear, which when someone tries to duplicate it either looks fake OR it takes a toll on the body as you make your muscles do it. (And I'm sure take after take after take must have had her really worn out at the end.)
As far as the "disapearing body" I think they just forgot to drop him in the special effects and add the thud sound effect. When the camera pans to full and Lois walks to Chloe to untie her you can see the body. Plus Chloe and Lois look down.
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2-22-2006 @ 7:01PM
West Leon said...
I've Loved smallville from day one but i feel that recently it's been slowing down for it's inevetable end. Allison Mack has always been one of my favorite actor of the show. As a whole the cast works extremely well with each other and as thy're characters. I had hope for chloe to have had more of a change and be more appreciated by the writers after her "death" but it seems she's been placed way in the back of writers interest. I feel the writers of the show should attempt to go back to their earlier principles (in my opinion they had other fates for the characters-chloe,lex,martha,lionel etc.)- in addition please kill Erica Durance, i like her as an actress but i hate her L.Lane
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