(S07E12) Tonight's episode was a few missed opportunities. They could have used it as an opportunity to explain why Clark decided to eventually work outside the law (technically, Superman is a vigilante) rather than as another explanation about why the Justice League exists. They could have used it as a CSI-type episode just to try a different type of story Heck, they could have even used Phil Morris for more than five minutes of the episode.At least Lana and Clark rekindled their relationship. You just know that it's doomed to failure. I hope they have the Kryptonite condom ready and available.
There is another cameo by a Battlestar Galactica cast member (Alessandro Juliani, who plays Gaeta) in this episode as Dr. Emil (who may be Dr. Emil Hamilton from both the Superman comics and the 50's television show).
And that' wasn't the only comic book reference in this episode. The blonde cop was named Dan Turpin, who is a reference to a creation of comics legend Jack Kirby. In the comics, he was billed as "Terrible" Turpin, the Unstoppable Cop. There was also another reference to Coast City, which is Green Lantern's hang-out. Who else noticed the cute alien toy hanging from John Jones' rear-view mirror?
Here's another one: the question Turpin asked, "What can one man do?", is the title of a popular Superman story from a few decades ago. I also liked his line "Cops have rules. Capes don't". What they fail to mention is that none of the superheroes we've met thus far wear a cape (well, except for Ollie in that one episode). I hope that changes and Clark becomes Superman by the season's end, because I really hate the name "Red Blue Blur".
When Clark caught the bullet intended for Turpin, I couldn't help but think of a similar scene in Superman, the Movie. Only on television could John Jones survive being hit by a bullet like that. I did think it was a little much when John was thrown back by the bullet hitting him. If they were using armor-piercing bullets, shouldn't they penetrate a kevlar vest? If so, isn't Clark excuse for taking a bullet at close range somewhat flimsy?
Originally, I thought having Green Arrow as a regular on the series was kind of pointless, but it seems to be going with a theme of the season about the relationship between heroes and their environment.
How about that catfight between Lana and Tess? I do want to know how Lana learned to fight so well so quickly, but I think that's going to be explained soon. She's being pretty flirty with Clark. Their kiss at the end seemed overdue.
I hope Michael Rosenbaum's appearance in a photo is a precursor to his reappearance on the series. Of course, I'm also hoping that the return of Luthor will signal a satisfying series conclusion.
The episode was offbeat and came across as kind of middle-of-the-road for me. It was the comic book references that saved it from sucking. Hopefully, those will persist.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-23-2009 @ 12:22AM
Adam said...
I thought it was funny that the guy from Flashpoint didn't even have to change his costume for Smallville, and that Alessandro Juliani looks a lot different in modern clothes. I did think this week was a bit weak in moving the mythology forward, but we did get a lot of action. I couldn't help but wonder if Kreuk returned to SV to promote her bound to be crappy Chun Li movie b/c I don't remember Lana learning the serious Kung Fu she was demonstrating. But, you can never go wrong with a gril fight, especially a good one!
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1-23-2009 @ 1:11AM
Brian said...
Ohhh yea, the Lana/Tess fight was definitely hot. High point of the episode. And Chloe seemed pretty useless...one scene only, right? Apparently Clark didn't listen either, as he went and made out with Lana. He's just racking up the disrespect for Chloe. : /
1-23-2009 @ 5:05AM
Brent McKee said...
Actually Lana began studying martial arts with Lex as early as Season 2. And when Lex taught them they stayed taught.
1-23-2009 @ 12:34AM
La-Di-Dah said...
Yes, it was nice to have a girl fight that wasn't catty (I hate catfights). Two capable but pointless female characters fighting is cool. Pointless #1: I don't have anything against Kristin K, but I really, really don't like Lana, or maybe the best way to put it, is I am indifferent to her. I got tired of the Clark and Lana thing in the earlier seasons pretty easily. Bringing her back and teasing us with it doesn't do it for me.
Right now, this show is very slow-pokey about development at least for me.
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1-23-2009 @ 12:44AM
Tim said...
Good episode- seemed like more commercials than usual. Check out http://www.globaldomains-international.com
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1-23-2009 @ 1:28AM
Nacho said...
"If they were using armor-piercing bullets, shouldn't they penetrate a kevlar vest? If so, isn't Clark excuse for taking a bullet at close range somewhat flimsy?"
Clark disabled the sniper rifle which would have contained the special rounds and the cop ended up using his sidearm, which probably wouldn't have contained anything more than regular bullets.
Of course it's still impossible for a bullet to ricochet off a vest like that, and most cops use hollowpoints in their service weapons (which at that range would still slice through a vest) so there's that...
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2-02-2009 @ 8:38PM
Ryan said...
Are you sure about that? It was only a 9mm Beretta 92, probably not even hot-loaded. I thought those vests were proof up to .357 and .44 Magnum. Plus a hollowpoint which is designed to deform would be much less likely to penetrate a vest than an FMJ.
As far as range being a factor, I've seen videos of gun enthusiasts demonstrate shooting themselves in the chest with live ammo, and the vest held just fine.
Lastly, if a cop had been wearing the ceramic or titanium chest insert, the bullet could have ricocheted off that, so the cover story is viable.
1-23-2009 @ 2:04AM
xnifex said...
Just a few observations:
-Clark used Whitney's last name as his: Fordman
-I want Lana to go away. Also, she's known how to fight since she was possessed by the witch
-where the hell is Lois?
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1-23-2009 @ 7:28AM
Chrisw said...
Did anyone else notice that the Prometheus project that will "save Lex's life" was his special suit from the comic books. It was on for only a flash, but it was clearly the suit from the comic books and the Justice League comics.
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1-23-2009 @ 9:18AM
Blu-Sam said...
That tickle me off to see Lana and Clark back together.
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1-23-2009 @ 9:48AM
The Fox! said...
I really thought this season was moving along pretty good. Now, they go and bring Lana back on, and Clark becomes his same disloyal to everyone weakling self whenever she's around. What the hell about Lois? Wasn't messing over Chloe's head enough? Of all of the women on Smallville, Lana was the most disloyal and accusatory of Clark all of the time. Everyone that came on the show was always obsessed with Lana, even women! I was glad to see her go. And, while I love the exciting fighting Lana, her love interest shouldn't be Clark. They were moving the Lois/Clark love along and all it took for Clark, who was about to kiss Lois to stop dead in his tracks was to see that damn Lana. Really, everything is great. But, let's get things moving towards the actual comic storyline. We all know it's only a matter of time before this series ends. And, they can come on and bring that fine Lex Luthor back. This show is seriously lacking as they did the last season when they relegated Lex to nothing more than cameos (I know Michael had some other projects going on) but, really? You can't do that to such a fascinating character. Please, Smallville producers and story writers, please let go of the first love Lana/Clark story. It's really not being loyal to the Lois/Clark storyline. It's lasting way too long!
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1-23-2009 @ 10:42AM
ac said...
Ugh the end of this just set the show back another season. I thought it was final and over, but I swear Clana is like Mike Myers: every its killed its comes back again even more poorly written than before. So for the love of God writers just kill her and free us from this. You were doing so well.
The rest however wasnt that bad.
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1-23-2009 @ 12:10PM
mj said...
Loved last week's episode. This week, not so much, except for GA. Why, oh why, must Lana be back? Bring on the good stuff, like the JL.
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1-23-2009 @ 5:13PM
Tom said...
Random thoughts:
- Also not a fan of the rekindling of the relationship. We as smart viewers know it's going to go nowhere, because we know Kruek is only here for several eps. That in itself makes watching them kiss all the more annoying.
And as some are saying, we've been through this song and dance enough. I would loved to have seen them kiss and then one or both of them pull back, and realize that they were falling into the same trappings. But no, this will get dragged out.
- Funny how the entire Smallville Universe has conveniently forgotten that Clark Kent is the son of a Senator. I mean, the crooked cops, when they found out who he really was, framed him for murder. Not one of them said "Man do you think we're pushing things, setting up some politician's son?"
- I missed it, but my friend said that when the computer screen at Isis was scanning LexCorp stuff -- there was a quick shot of what appeared to be a suit of armor. A nod to comic book Lex Luthor's battle suit?
Overall an okay episode. Certainly better than some from last season. But not as good as last week's the more I think about it.
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1-23-2009 @ 9:25PM
Brent McKee said...
Just for information purposes, Turpin was played by David Paetkau, who plays Sam Braddock, one of the major characters on "Flashpoint."
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1-24-2009 @ 10:22PM
Heather said...
"What can one man do?" wasn't a Superman story. It was Green Arrow story.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=17934&page=article
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1-26-2009 @ 11:53PM
DanGarion said...
I was yelling at the TV telling them to kill Lana off the whole episode. But then Clark would be brooding about Lana, so why can't they just have him say, sorry, my heart is for another now Lana, and she runs off and he proceeds to pursue Lois... GAH...
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1-27-2009 @ 9:00AM
chuck said...
they have turned superboy, into a super wuz, the whole story line is about lana,he does,t know how to fly, don,t have an outfit, how is he expected to save the world, he,s still trying to f---the hood rat lana, she,s given it to every male but him, not like the superboy i grew up with, this clark looks 30years old already, the only kool eposiode was the justice league, take lana out and lois in
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1-28-2009 @ 7:30AM
Emma Hutchinson said...
Please no more of the Lana and Clark, that storyline is beyond old. This series is rumbling along as if it is about to take off, but never quite gets there. Also I get that we are dealing with a comic book story here, but I felt Smallville's original strength was that it was grounded in some semblance of reality, I feel like I am being asked to suspend belief just a bit too often.
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