TVSquad

(S07E10) In a triumphant return to television after a few months off, Smallville returns with Brainiac (played by James Marsters, best known as Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and introduces a new Kryptonian named Dax-Ur (played by Marc McClure, best known as Jimmy Olsen from the Christopher Reeve Superman movies).

Has any actor involved with a previous screen version of Superman NOT been involved with this show? Anyone? Anyone? Okay, maybe Gene Hackman...

More after the jump...

I'm shocked at how ignorant Lana is. Hasn't she had relations with Clark before (if not outright sex)? Maybe that was an alternate timeline. Even I noticed that Bizarro, or "The Phantom" as he is called, was wearing the color-inverse of Clark.

I admit I was a little fuzzy on "The Phantom's" motivations. Obviously, there is survival. He fell in love with Lana? She's like a Kryptonian magnet.

I also admit that I thought "The Phantom" was the return of General Zod (Phantom as in Phantom Zone). Obviously, I was mistaken. Why was he being called "The Phantom" then by both Brainiac and Jor-El? Despite being blown up by Blue Kryptonite, I suspect he'll return.

Once Julian revealed himself to Lionel as his cloned son, I didn't think the storyline would last much longer. I didn't think it would end in the same episode. When the "mugger" arrived, I figured it was Lionel's work. Obviously, being possessed by Jor-El has mellowed the man. I guess cloning his dead brother didn't really impress Lionel with Lex. You'd think firing his brother would have been enough. I find it hard to believe that Lex had him killed to protect him from Lionel. The big reveal here was that Lex has become homicidally dangerous. He's totally evil now and ready to step into those "arch-enemy of Superman" shoes.

Lionel himself is starting to look older and more gaunt. Maybe that's just due to the passing of time.

I'm starting to think, much like Chloe, that Earth is the Club Med of Krypton and before the planet exploded everyone went there on vacation. Even for television, it seems a big coincidence that Clark ended up on the same planet as Brainiac's creator. Mind you, if we kept tracking all the crazy coincidences on this show, that would be a drinking game unto itself.

I liked the mention of "Suicide Slum" as Brainiac's locale. That's taken from the comic books.

At least Chloe isn't as clueless as Lana. Close, but not quite. She suspected something was wrong with Clark. It could be argued that Lana's relationship experiences last season left her a little blind to things, but come on. For a moment, I actually believed that Lana was going off with Bizarro, then I realized that it was beyond lame to do that so it must have been a trick.

Dax-Ur apparently had extra Blue Kryptonite to spare to take down Bizarro otherwise he might have actually had powers to fight Brainiac. I wonder if that will be a plot point later. The sad news is that unless Brainiac decides to let him live, it's unlikely we'll see Dax-Ur in the future.

Why is it such a science-fiction cliche' that scientists from technologically advanced worlds become auto mechanics on Earth? It's like having a gourmet chef working at McDonalds. If he created Brainiac, he's reponsible for the Kryptonian equivalent of the Manhattan Project.

There are going to be new episodes for the next two weeks. I wonder why there were no previews. I guess the CW doesn't really care about Smallville anymore. I'm sticking to my theory that this is the last season of the show.

They never really explained who "The Phantom" was. I also wonder why Kara was shown in the episode's introduction but not seen in the episode (and this isn't the first time that has happened). Her return from having amnesia in Detroit better be a good one.

I don't know how to feel about the episode. I liked it, but it felt like a lot of stuff thrown together and the whole Dax-Ur thing felt out of left field. I'd like to think that the writers have a grand plan in all this, but I'd hate for the strike to have ended it halfway.

At least the Clark/Lana relationship is getting better. Oh, wait, it's not. Same old drama. No doubt there will be more next week.