(S07E08) First, I need to make a confession to you, dear reader. I steadily watched Smallville until the end of season two. I stopped because I'm a big Superman fan and felt the show was lacking. However, upon getting assigned the steady gig of Smallville reviewer, I familiarized myself with the history and how it diverges from the comics that I read as a youngster (and still read nowadays).
Now, on to the episode review...
I liked it. It felt more like a Superman episode than a tale of awkward, super-powered Clark. To quickly recap, Clark is exposed to Blue Kryptonite which robs him of his powers after being visited by his mother who was living in a Kryptonian crystal of his cousin Kara (gotta love alliteration).
The evil Kryptonian Zor-El (who happens to be Clark's uncle and Kara's father) resurrects himself and Clark's mother (called a "replicant". Possibly a nod to Blade Runner). Then, the villain tricks Clark into losing his superpowers and blocks out the sun (if he did his research, he'd realize that their superpowers originate from sunlight so he'd be dooming himself as well).
Also continuing the tradition of appearances by former super-people, Helen Slater (of the Supergirl movie of the 80's) makes an appearance as Clark's Kryptonian mother, Lara. Granted, we've seen her before this episode, but that was in a recorded form. This time she's flesh-and-blood. My question is this: if Krypton is such a technologically advanced planet, why do the women wear togas? And Zor-El looked like a character from "The Matrix". Krypton needs a better sense of fashion.
Why couldn't the power-sapping ring be gold? In the comics, it's Gold Kryptonite that robs Superman of his powers. How inconsistent.
Since I mentioned the comics: Kara makes a reference to Coast City in the episode. Coast City is the DC Comics version of Los Angeles and home to another superhero named Green Lantern. Will the Lantern appear in the series? It seems like everyone else has.
The Lex/Lois relationship seems to be getting more complicated. I suspect that since the engagement to Lana ended, he's now targeting her for possible romance (which actually would be consistent with the comics). I do wonder when Clark is going to move beyond Lana to Lois.
Speaking of Lana, with such a huge cast now, she seems to be relegated to a cameo appearance practically. The Clark/Lana relationship in the series always seemed vague to me. They are more than friends but less than lovers. I want them to have a definite relationship so Clark can move beyond her to Lois. But that's just me.
The characters still seem woefully melodramatic after seven years. But, it's the CW. 'Nuff said.
Hey, Lex has a brother! And the brother is dating Lois Lane! At least Julian Luthor has hair.
Obviously, Zor-El had something of a "thing" for Lara (particularly when he addressed her as "my love"). Pity she married his brother. Someone dating someone's brother does seem a consistent theme for the evening.
Good ending too. It leaves open the possibility of Zor-El's return. Dear reader, you can comfort yourself with the fact that no matter how horribly your father treated you, he wasn't as much of a ball-buster as Clark's father Jor-El. A lot of things could have happened to Clark in the white flash at the end of the episode. I wonder if he is going back to the Phantom Zone?
Clark seems far more confident than he did in the early seasons, well on his way to becoming the icon of super-heroes. He even seems bigger and more heroic. Because of that, it wouldn't surprise me if this was the last season of the show (before the writer's strike ever took place). It seems like a good place to end it. Maybe start a sequel series called "Metropolis".
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-16-2007 @ 12:45AM
Bill said...
Doesn't gold kryptonite *permanently* remove Superman's powers? At least that's how it was in "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" If you're going to be comic geek nitpicky, you have to go all the way!
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11-16-2007 @ 1:13AM
Edward said...
Now the resurrection of Julian Luthor is a huge twist to Smallville. In the first couple of season's it was Lex's love/desire/obsession for Julian that seemed to have driven him crazy.
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11-16-2007 @ 1:15AM
DMD said...
'Krypton needs a better sense of fashion.'
lol :)
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11-16-2007 @ 4:43AM
Jones said...
Wow what a waste of time, you havn't watched the show since season 2 and claim to have 'familiarized myself with the history' but yet seem to have missed any of the important elements of this episode?!?!?!
Lex for example having a brother that we all knew about but beleived dead, Zor-El did know about the sun giving kryptonians their powers, 'And since the engagement to lana finished' try marriage. 'They are more than friends but less than lovers.' Really?!?!?! have you ever watched this show???????? I could nit pick all day at what a lazy attempt this was.
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11-16-2007 @ 6:34AM
Jen said...
Weren't these recycled story lines? Didn't we already have a Julian resurrection? (I know it wasn't him, but we thought it was?)
One of the weakest episodes of the season, I think.
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11-16-2007 @ 8:54AM
JPN said...
LOL...the Julian thing is a HUGE twist and it got two lines in your review! He was dead! They talked about this so much in the first two season. Definitely a bigger twist than Clark losing his powers and being punished...again...
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11-16-2007 @ 9:01AM
mel said...
"Hey, Lex has a brother! And the brother is dating Lois Lane! At least Julian Luthor has hair."
Ok, we needed a lot more than a passing comment on this.
I recall an episode in Season 4 or 5 maybe when Lex found "Julian" in Metropolis in trouble with gambling and owing money to some Asian bookies? Was the outcome that he was not actually him, or did Lionel have another son?
@ Edward, yes...Wasn't Lex thought to have killed Julian by mistake in his crib - so wouldn't his being alive alleviate a lot of pain for Lex?
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11-16-2007 @ 9:26AM
Dan-El said...
OK, in the comics, blue kryptonite effected Bizarro in a myriad of different ways. As for Julian, he was believed dead as of season 3. Lex's mother killed him to prevent Lionel from pitting the boys against one another, and young Lex took the rap to protect his mother. We saw Lex and Lionel standing over the dead baby's crib, for god's sake. Perhaps he's a clone? In season 2, we met Lucas Luthor, Lionel's bastard son. He was never mentioned again.
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11-16-2007 @ 9:47AM
Jimmy said...
I'm sorry, but I thought this episode was poorly written. It was meant to be something big for the November sweeps and just, IMHO, peetered out. This season of Smallville has been a major letdown so far. That being said, I am looking forward to the return of Green Arrow and the introduction of Black Canary. Hell, give those two a series and I think we would have something fun to watch.
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11-16-2007 @ 10:04AM
JPN said...
@7 - I think that was Lucas.
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11-16-2007 @ 10:39AM
Jeff said...
Does it seem at all suspicious to anyone else that "Julian" shows up nt long after Lex's clone experiments have supposedly come to an end?
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11-16-2007 @ 1:30PM
CARZ said...
I guess no one really noticed one of the most important parts of the show......
with Clark not having his powers......HOW DID HE GET TO THE NORTH POLE!?!??!?
I wasnt able to tell if he was able to get the ring off...but the fact he was able to walk in with kryptonite in his hand.....means he still didnt have his powers........so how could he have made it to the Fortress??
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1-03-2008 @ 11:48AM
jb said...
He used the portal at the cave.
11-16-2007 @ 3:39PM
ac said...
CARZ: There is a portal to the fortress in the cave with all the symbols. The metal disk Chloe gives Clark is the key to transport him.
The Julian Luther revelation also explains alot about Lex's behavior this season. He isn't as evil as he was last season (granted he is still bad) and that is probably because of his brother's return.
The guy who wrote this post also left out that Kara woke up in Detroit with no memory after Zor-El whooped her behind. This is the worst Smallville review I've read. It was a really good episode though, very season finale like. I guess thats because of the strike maybe this is the backup finale.
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11-16-2007 @ 7:43PM
Mel said...
I'm not one to nitpick, but seriously dude, the review was horrible. When it does suck, everyone seems to be on board don't they?
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11-17-2007 @ 6:22PM
Melissa said...
Good grief Mr. Trechak. I applaud you for admitting you haven't watched the show in a while and for not trying to BS us into thinking you had but really, if this is the best you can do, you shouldn't bother.
"Hey, Lex has a brother! And the brother is dating Lois Lane! At least Julian Luthor has hair."
Wow! If your curiousity gets the better of you, you can try the season 3 episode "Memoria" to understand why your casual Julian Luthor mention is downright laughable.
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11-21-2007 @ 10:03AM
Dan said...
This ep was completely weak. It had great potential but really just seemed to fall flat. I think the Julian story is a little bit of a reach considering that both Lex and Lionel saw Julian dead in his crib. There's no chance Julian could have lived for this long w/out Lionel's knowledge so I guess the clone idea is possible.
But still - this season really could be a lot better. I think we have had plenty of setup and now just need Clark to move forward in the Superman mythology. Seriously, shouldn't he realize by now that every other Kryptonian can fly (including him as Kal-El and Bizarro) and that he probably has the same powers they do? The boy may be strong, but he's just not that bright...
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11-21-2007 @ 5:32PM
Eric said...
I think the problem with Smallville is that the series has gone to long. I'm not wishing that the show ends any time soon but the reality is that Clark is way beyond the point of time where he should have excepted his destiny and become Superman. Smallville has moved beyond the journey of a young Clark Kent coming to terms with who he is. Not much of the show even takes place in Smallville anymore. It may be time to make this show interesting and get rid of the "no flights/no tights rule and move this show forward. Because the story lines they are coming up with now are just not interesting or believable. Smallville has reached a crossroads I think. They can keep going in the direction they are and give us poor episodes, or they can take a left and do something exciting again. I hope they do something, because I have not really been impressed this season. Clark Kents Smallville story has ended, it is time for Supermans destiny to begin. They need to take us to that point soon, because this season is falling short of many fans expectations. enough said.
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11-26-2007 @ 11:09AM
John Michael Hess said...
Yeah, this was an episode that had potential and didn't live up to what it could be and I agree that the show needs a good kick in the pants. It's time for Kal-El to get off the whiney bus and accept that he has a destiny and stop feeling responsible for every hangnail his friends get. Lana, as a character has felt tired for a while for me. I liked her with Lex and I like her getting evil and trying to buck her own identity by trying to hold on to Clark as some sort of hope that she can be vanilla and good. It's time for Clark to meet Bruce Wayne and have a good chat about getting off the pot and doing something proactive when there's evil all about. It has been mentioned several times to Clark that his sitting around a barn crying about keeping secrets and not wanting to endanger anyone while allowing evil to get away with stuff is just neglegant and wrong. I just...I dunno...i want to see this show move forward but it seems to just get more and more stuck in the mud. The strike feels like a bad omen for this show to say the least.
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