(S08E13) Consider that she's a recurring guest-star, a Lana-centric episode was something of a surprise. However, since she and Clark have a lot of history, it's also a necessity in order for Clark to move on.I didn't like this episode. The writing seemed more cliché and the acting more melodramatic than usual (and that's saying a lot), and the pacing of the direction seemed off. I will give Allison Mack the benefit of the doubt because it was her first time as a director (and she's just so darned cute).
The backstory was okay. I was even a little jealous because in the beginning of the show, I always fantasized about torturing the ever-whiny Lana. Okay, maybe not actually torture her, but I still found her annoying. Even worse, Kristen Kreuk's performance in this episode sort of reminded me of early Lana.
I wonder how Lana paid the guy that tortured her in order to teach her to be tough? Did she still have some of Lex's money or did she trade in, ahem, other assets?
At first I thought the flashback between Chloe and Lana broke continuity since Chloe was surprised to see her at the wedding. But when I learned she agreed not to tell Clark about it, I realized it didn't.
The beginning of the episode was very Star Trek. I presume the "suit" Lana is wearing is a dermal layer of skin based on Clark's DNA which somehow replicates his powers. My guess for the next episode is that she is either going to lose her powers, die or both. It's likely that Lex allowed her access to the Prometheus project in the first place to use her as a human guinea pig.
The following contains spoilers for next week based on the trailer, but that's pretty brilliant how they returned Lex Luthor without having Michael Rosenbaum return. They give him a mask and a voice modulator. Eventually, they could even replace Luthor with an entirely different actor (something I recall the producers were planning for all the actors at the end of season three when everyone's contract was up for renewal).
With everything else happening, where the hell is Doomsday? I haven't seen him for weeks. Maybe he'll end up killing the super-powered Lana. That would be an interesting twist on the legend.
If Lana ever decides to give up her philanthropy, she should become a hairstylist. She can work wonders with simply a razor blade.
There were some positive points to the episode: I liked how the writing fooled you into thinking it was yet another "Lana in danger" plot (even though she was at the end), however it turned out she left willingly.
Tess is going full-blown evil in the episode and murdering (or attempting to murder) everyone in sight. In fighting Lex, she's become as bad as him. Let that be a lesson to us all.
Speaking of corny dialogue, at the episode's end I was practically expecting Lana to break out into the song "No Day But Today" from the musical Rent.
The verdict? Mostly a bad episode with one or two highlights. Next week: Lex returns.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-30-2009 @ 3:26AM
kennat5pm said...
Shut up about Lana. KK has a huge fan base and people want to watch Clark and Lana. You are a f***ing a**hole and you are a completely worthless writer. No wonder you can't get a job anywhere else.
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1-30-2009 @ 5:04AM
Brigden said...
Brad is completely allowed to give his opinion on the episode, if he liked it, he liked it, if he didn't he didn't. You don't have to be pissed off at him because of it. Relax.
Kristen may have a huge fan base, but that being said, he didn't think it was the best episode for her, and nether do I. She has been a fantastic character for the advancement of Clark, but she won't be around forever, we all know that. If they do a ninth season, the chances of her being there are extremely slim. Clark is slowly becoming Superman, which doesn't involve Lana. Face it, she won't be around for long, even if she has been a major part of the series.
1-30-2009 @ 1:35PM
ac said...
The Lana fanbase is you, 3 other people, and her parents. So Im sure Brad is shaking in his boots *rolls eyes*
1-30-2009 @ 4:59AM
LordPaul said...
Whoa, Lana fan club alert! ^^^
I thought this episode was AWFUL.
Everythign about it seemed jarring & it annoyingly took away from the stuff that's been good this season so far (doomsday, justice league, comic book stuff)
I think KK is FIT, but her acting is as wooden as a spoon & it seems her character stories mean every else has to take a back seat or change their personality to fit.
bizarro!
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1-30-2009 @ 7:14AM
Jason said...
Shut up about Brad. BT has a huge fan base and people want to read his articles. You are a fasteriskasteriskasterisking aasteriskasteriskhole and you are a completely worthless poster. No wonder you can't get respect on this site.
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1-30-2009 @ 7:34AM
Jason said...
Can I just add that I cringe every time Chloe starts talking tech? I think she said something like, "She wanted to keep that information off my gigabytes". AAAARGH! A 3rd grader could write better lines while setting up my TIVO and explaining quantum physics to me! I think, if you're going to play a computer (ergh) wiz, you should take a few basic classes and learn what it is you're going to be babbling about so you don't sound like a fool. This goes for the writers moreso, since they wrote that $h1+e. And how much energy did it take to say that line? If the CW is going green, they need to cut the bs out of their scripts. It's all wasted fuel and oxygen, baby.
Signed,
J
Computer Wiz
Proud waster of electricity
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1-30-2009 @ 8:15AM
Jason said...
One more thing, that hard drive was open and exposed, which means it probably worked like a piece of crap thanks to dust, fingerprint oils, scratches, moisture exposure, etc. Damn it, they could at least have used a flash drive or an external hard drive, but no... they had to
ok, I'm gonna take a break from bashing now. Just had to get that off my chest. I still think Allison Mack is a hottie.
1-30-2009 @ 3:50PM
eugene said...
you're not going to say anything on how she jammed a usb cable into the back of the drive and it started working?
1-30-2009 @ 8:49AM
Michael said...
"My guess for the next episode is that she is either going to lose her powers, die or both."
Sorry to burst your bubble, Lana's death simply can't be written into the show. If you recall from "Legion" two weeks ago, Lana was told she has her own special destiny that is big enough that they still know about it in the 30th century. That kind of negates having her bite the big one any time soon.
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1-30-2009 @ 8:56AM
mj said...
She may have a huge fan base, (cough), but she also has a HUGE can't stand her base. Actually, the Lana story about her training kind of reminds me of a fan fiction, about Chloe, in which Batman trains her, to be part of Ollie's team. Hmmm. I keep saying this; push the League, bring back AC, Bart and Victor. Use Chloe more with them, and slip nicely into a new series. Clark is becoming more of a joke every episode. Dude, she's just not into you.
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1-30-2009 @ 9:48AM
AmyW1205 said...
This episode truly was horrible. I really did not like it. Where is Lois? Where is Doomsday/Davis? Where is Green Arrow? Every time the show takes a step toward turning Clark into the Man of Steel, it takes two steps back. This is frustrating to loyal fans like myself who want to see Clark's metamorphosis into Superman the Hero.
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1-30-2009 @ 11:41AM
Scott K. said...
I didn't like the episode either. I didn't mind the acting (I'm used to it now and consider the well-acted episodes as pleasant anomalies) as much as the story. And for the record, I like(d?) KK as Lana (for a while), but I was ready for her to leave the show well before she actually did. Then she came back and it wasn't bad. At first. But last night's episode was just dumb. There have been a lot of potential story-lines built up this season and to pull this out... Ugh.
It's amazing how one week the show makes me hope it comes back next season and the next makes me not care if it gets cancelled.
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1-30-2009 @ 10:19AM
Tony said...
Now that they've got the Lana-centric episode out of the way, let's move on with the real storyline, and bring back the Justice League.
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1-30-2009 @ 10:32AM
Jimmy said...
I've forgotten how much I dislike Lana-centric episode. For an episode that was meant to shed light on what happened to Lana after she left Smallville it turned out rather boring. This episode reminded how much I dislike the Clark/Lana relationship -- at least as it's been presented on this series. Lana completely holds Clark back because he can't get past the idea that Lana is a grown up doesn't a hero to take care of her every minute of the day. While that was the point of the episode, the way they got to that was lame.
After the great Legion episode, Smallville is back to its usual mediocrity. It's time for Clark to move past Lana and for Lana to move on.
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1-30-2009 @ 10:45AM
John said...
I just found it annoying that they gave Lana powers again. It seems anytime she wants to move past Clark or try and do some good, she has to get powers. And what's with the fact that every time someone gets super powers like Clark's they know how to work them immediately? It took Clark days in order to figure out new powers and he grew up with them.
I really didn't like this episode. This has so far been my favorite season of the last 4 and they kinda of went back to the chafe from season 7.
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1-30-2009 @ 11:29AM
Mike Moody said...
Worst episode of the season. Super Lana? Terrible.
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1-30-2009 @ 1:34PM
ac said...
I'm just wordering if Lana's butt hurts from all the people kissing it for the last 8 years. It was back in full force tonight and I have a feeling someone the original showrunners are laughing as they have sex with their Lana clone props. I mean why is she always so damn important! Her character is not interesting at all and the fans of the show hate her. Just kill her, have the suit malfunction, and kill her. Why does she need powers anyway she already has powers? Everytime she is in the vicinity of Clark his balls fall off. Thats an ability. I mean this season he was embracing his destiny and on the road to embracing Superman. Then Lana comes along and they derail everything in a 5 episode ark. So lets just kill her off and go back to what was the best season of the show.
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1-30-2009 @ 1:34PM
Ryan said...
What is it with the writers' obsession about Lana Lang? Just get rid of her already! Send her to Mars, send her to the future, send her back to Superman III. Just get her the hell out of Smallville. She's an anchor on this show's promise.
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1-30-2009 @ 10:40PM
Thanagarian Fan said...
I guess no one caught the only good thing in the whole episode. Lana's physical trainer is non other than Carter Hall, HAWKMAN !
The necklace was the HAWKMAN symbol and Lana even calls him Carter, for me it saved an other wise bad episode.
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1-31-2009 @ 10:45AM
Adam said...
Can we just kill (or at least get rid of) Lana and move on? Lois is such a great character and makes Clark a better character yet she's completely off the show right now so we can have full episodes about a character that most fans don't want to see, who's played by an actor who doesn't want to be on the show anymore.
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