TVSquad

(S08E09) Apologies to all for the tardiness of this review. My local cable station preempted Smallville with a football game, thus showing the priority the show is given by my local CW affiliate as compared to sports.

This episode contained a lot of retro-Smallville. From the little things, such as photos of Martha Kent and Lionel Luthor and a mention of Lana, to the big things such as complete reenactments of scenes from various past episodes (and scenes from Chloe and Clark's childhood). But that's what you get when Chloe is losing her memory in an episode that seems like a cross between The Matrix and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Clark made a difficult decision in having Jor-El take away her memory. On one hand, I think it was the wrong thing to do. Messing with other people's minds like that is simply not cool. On the other hand, knowing Clark's secret is legitimately dangerous. If she ever does regain those memories, she is going to be extremely pissed off at Clark.

It's about time Clark talked some smack to his father. What a jerk he's been. However, I'm glad Kal-El and Jor-El reconciled (before the Fortress was corrupted by Brainiac). Clark called him "father". Think he'll call him "Daddy" later on?

I did note all the appearances of James Marsters as Brainiac in the flashbacks and am glad he had a voice-over at the end (at least, I think it was his voice). It was a nice surprise since he wasn't even listed in the credits.

I called it pretty early on in the episode that Brainiac was trying to connect with Davis (a.k.a. Doomsday). Brainiac would want a Kryptonian living weapon on his side. I recognize that Doomsday wasn't even a glimmer in the writers' eyes until this season, but I hope they explain why Brainiac didn't try to approach Davis sooner. It has seemed a bit coincidental that Davis and Chloe keep running into each other. That could have been a strategy by Chloe's puppet-master. It also makes me wonder if he left a little of himself in Lana, as well, since he similarly infected her last season. It would be interesting if that came into play when Kristen Kreuk makes her appearances later in the season.

Chloe made one of the biggest mistakes you could make (second only to starting a land war in Asia) and jilted a Kryptonian killing machine. You can measure Jimmy's expected lifespan on an egg-timer.

Young Chloe and young Clark got their characters down pat. Excellent acting on both parts.

We now know that Smallville is a two hour drive from Metropolis. It certainly seems less, given the frequency in which someone who lives at one of those locations visits the other.

Brainiac is made of black sludge? Since when? It was very a very X-Files moment.

This episode lacked Lois, Oliver and Mercy. I wonder where they went off to together? The mind reels at the possibilities.

I enjoyed this episode. Perhaps the format change was a good idea to revitalize the series. Still, this particular formula can only last so long, and I will reiterate that it's time for this series to wrap up.