(S07E19) Lex is still pursuing the secret of Veritas. In his journeys, he encounters a cloaked stranger who tries to kill him and later on tries to kill Clark. I think this episode borrowed a page or two from The DaVinci Code. For that matter, I think half the season did. Lex has been hurt or nearly killed a great deal since the start of this series. It's unlikely his latest chest mutilation will ever heal. It wouldn't surprise me if he left the area of Smallville entirely. Oh, wait...
Luthor's right-hand man for this episode looked a lot like him (or like Michael Rosenbaum in general), although he did have a full head of hair. Is he his cousin or something, like Clark has Kara?
Strategically-placed thematic books have been a recurring motif for the season. While lying in bed when Jimmy arrived home, Chloe was reading "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. It's a book about how information travels in a society. I suppose it's relevant because after the big scavenger hunt, Luthor has finally learned the location of the Fortress of Solitude.
Jimmy is such a rube. Would you give up a romantic night with a willing Chloe Sullivan to look at pictures? How exactly did Jimmy get such a close-up of Lex's injuries? It seems that "security" is only a four-syllable word in the Smallville universe and nothing else.
It should be noted that since Lex has killed yet another person, he's gotten even more evil. Actually, he's gotten more redundant. The Eastern European antiquity expert whom I will call Basil Von Exposition was amusing.
How could a GPS keep up with Clark running at super-speed to Montreal? For that matter, how did Chloe get to Montreal so quickly later in the episode? More Smallville logic.
The audience is finally introduced to the last surviving member of Veritas, Edward Teague (played by Robert Picardo, best known as the holographic Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager). Sadly, his current character has very cliché motives and practices very twisted logic.
Chloe has taken a little of Lana's whine for this episode. It's almost getting to the point where I miss Kristen Kreuk.
This episode once again went into the Superman/Jesus analogy that has been present since Superman The Movie and cranked up to 11 in Superman Returns.
If Teague was exposed to so much Kryptonite while he played church monk, why didn't he get superpowers? He even had Kryptonite holy water (I think it was water. It looked a little more like paint). Chloe's powers haven't been mentioned in a while, but she seems to have developed several secondary powers (such as breaking into computer systems) including the ability to easily smash the concrete slab Clark was lying on.
Boy, them Kryptonians sure heal fast! I wonder how quickly the pseudo-"S" symbol carved (which looked more like an "8") into Clark's chest will heal.
Overall, the plot was kind of slow. I'm sure they did the best they could with only four of the eight main cast members appearing in the episode. The sinking ship is being abandoned.
Given the reduction of two (possibly three) of the major characters for next season, the forecast is not positive. On the other hand, the show isn't losing its main draw, Tom Welling. Many series have reinvented themselves with a major cast change (ER, Doctor Who). This gives me some hope for next season.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-09-2008 @ 12:52AM
Adam said...
Chloe said she took Oliver Queen's plane. And bite your tongue comparing Chloe with Lana. Please.
With as bad as the writing has been and with losing the best character on the show (Lex), I couldn't see how this show could be much worse next season. But the news that it may also lose Chloe, it's second best character is definitely not good.
Tom Welling is definitely not the top draw of this show. I've always found Clark to be one of the more boring characters on the show. His character works because the others around him, but unless they really work on his character it's going to be really tough for Clark to carry the show.
Of course, I freely admit that I've always found Superman to be one of the more boring super heroes compared to others such as Batman. Not flawed enough. His unyielding determination to never do anything "bad" no matter what the end game might be is what makes him rather unique. But I've always thought it made him a little more boring too. Just my opinion.
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5-09-2008 @ 2:29AM
Brent McKee said...
Adam, you missed the obvious joke about Chloe's trip to "Montreal" (a Montreal where no one in the church speaks French? Zut alors!!): Chloe took Ollie's Arrowplane. (Believe me, if you know the history of the Green Arrow character that is a hilarious joke.)
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5-09-2008 @ 4:19AM
Thomas said...
The main draw isn't Tom Welling, it's the hope that they'll do something good with the whole Superman mythology and that the show will eventually turn itself into the show we all wish it was. Luckily for the producers most of us are still watching regardless of how slim that sliver of hope has become.
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5-09-2008 @ 7:00AM
hugeliver said...
Yeah, Chloe took Oliver's plane. I can hear the conversation now:
Ring, ring
Ring, ring
Oliver in a hungover voice answers; "Yeah"
Chloe: "Oliver, this is Chloe"
Oliver: "Who?"
Chloe: "Chloe. Chloe Sullivan"
Oliver: "Are you the stripper from last night?"
Chloe: "No. CHLOE SULLIVAN. Clark's nosy annoying blonde friend"
Oliver: "Clark?"
Chloe: "Clark Kent?"
Oliver: "Okay"
Chloe: " Anyway, the silly goose is in trouble again and I need to get to Montreal tout suite because I'm the only one in the whole world who can save him even though I apparently have superhero phone numbers. Can I borrow your plane?"
Oliver: "Sure. Just bring it back gassed up once you find this Ken guy"
Click.
WHATEVER!!
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5-09-2008 @ 7:34AM
mj said...
Obviously, some people don't read fan fiction. Oliver would NEVER talk to Chloe that way. The majority of fan fiction is about Ollie and Chloe, working (hehe) together with the JL. Clark is a very minor character. Which shows what should happen. Bye, Smallville, hello JL. THAT would be an awesome show. Seriously, with Lex gone, I doubt if I will watch next season. If Chloe, too, goes, it is a certainty.
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5-09-2008 @ 9:17AM
Blu-Sam said...
I careless until I see Clark finally learn to fly.
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5-09-2008 @ 11:16AM
John said...
The symbol carved into Clark's chest is an 8 in a pentagon... it's the symbol of the House of El (in this and other reboots) and this is the second time its been carved into Clark's chest on the show:
http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/Kryptonian_pentagon
Lex did kill the guy attacking his expert, but that guy had killed two of his guards! I don't think that counts nearly as much as the two people he had murdered (Grant Gabriel and Patricia Swann) or the person he killed personally (Lionel).
The story of Lionel moving the castle stone by stone from Scotland has been around since the beginning. I thought it was really clever to involve the Luthor Mansion in the Veritas mythology...
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5-09-2008 @ 5:20PM
Christopher Wilde said...
Smallville is suffering sagging ratings, Michael Rosenbaum will not be returning in season 8, and now TV guide is reporting that Allison Mack, who portrays Chloe Sullivan, maybe leaving over contract negotiations. Chloe Sullivan is Clark Kent’s long time confidant, popular know it all can do anything heroin, and one of only a handful of characters who knows Clarks super secret identity.
Smallville may need to hold on to Allison, but only because the writers or producers seem stuck in the past. For years now Smallville has retreated again and again to storylines about meteor freaks (humans mutated by Kryptonite) and the tired moral message that keeping secrets is bad (sometimes secrets save us).
The whole article is on www.futureosophy.com if you like the article I'd love a link.
Thanks
Christopher Wilde
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5-09-2008 @ 5:53PM
Nathaniel Teager said...
Something irrelevant:The actor who played the role of the antiquity expert,plays the role of Dr.Cottle in Battlestar Galactica
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5-10-2008 @ 1:25PM
james said...
what was the name of the song that plays at the very end? it wasnt the piano part, but the part when lex was breaking down the fireplace mantle. PLEASE reply
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5-10-2008 @ 2:48AM
wilco said...
Smallville seems to be going the Alias route more and more with the Rambaldi-like plot. I preferred the single episode meteor freak storylines....
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5-10-2008 @ 7:54PM
kickit said...
"How could a GPS keep up with Clark running at super-speed to Montreal?"
It couldn't... it was just a corny product placement. They even added a line that could have been taken straight out of the commercial - Chloe: "Everything you need right at your fingertips" ... wow.. just wow.. lol. You can't blame them though, considering they need to take all the advertising they could get.
As corny and ridiculous as this show has gotten, I can't help but enjoy watching still. I'm actually looking forward to no Lex and Lana, and hopefully no Chloe as well. We need to focus more on the main character, rather than all these secondary characters that don't contribute anymore to the overall Clark-becoming-Superman story. Even Lex should leave for a while... Clark needs to fulfill his destiny. There's plenty of time for him to go up against Lex when he is older (when the series ends just watch the Superman movies or TV shows or read the comics to get your fill of Lex).
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5-11-2008 @ 1:01AM
mel said...
This was a poor review... rather than a decent plot analysis or catalyst for conversation, this post is a series of negative criticisms and choppy observations. Perhaps a more appropriate reviewer can offer more than merely his stream of consciousness on the episode....
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5-13-2008 @ 4:23PM
vacelts said...
I'm not looking forward to this season finale. It should be the series finale. I'm not sure it can recover from losing Lex.
http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/2008-season-finales/
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