Smallville: What Might Have Been
Smallville plays the "It's a Wonderful Life" card, which every television show that's lasted more than four seasons is apparently contractually obligated to do. Clark gets to find out what the world would be like if he'd never made it to earth. Answer? Good for a while, but not for long...
Since we've seen about 80 million takes on the "what if I were never born" plotline, we were actually impressed with how well the conceit worked here. For one thing, it actually fits organically into the storyline - Brainiac has traveled through time and space to the point where Krypton dies, and he's trying to prevent baby Kal El from getting launched. If Clark does nothing to stop Brainiac in the past, it'll be just like he never came to earth.
We could see how Clark would feel that he's done more harm than good on earth - " Ever since I arrived all I brought is death and suffering!" And his initial exploration of the alternate reality seems to confirm that: Jonathan is alive, Chloe is just about to get married to a hunk, and Lana is healthy and living in Paris with a French philanthropist. Heck, Lois even has a couple of Pulitzers! That's got to mean not saving his infant self is the right choice, right?
Not so fast: Some government thugs, led by Kara (whose civilian name is Linda Danvers, which is a nice touch), arrest Lois for possessing government secrets. Clark saves Lois, and discovers that things are much worse than they appear: Lex Luthor is president, and he's been talking up the threats from America's enemies. He's planning a pre-emptive nuclear strike against anything that moves, which will effectively destroy humanity. Why is Lex suddenly suicidal? That might have something to do with his chief of staff - Brainiac himself.
Brainiac is carrying out his programming - he'll destroy humanity, release Zod from the Phantom Zone, then use Lex as Zod's vessel. Zex and Kara will repopulate the planet, and a new Krypton will be born. See what happens when one baby superhero fails to fall to earth?
Clark is preparing for death when he snaps out of it - this was all an exercise by Jor-El to show Clark the error of his ways. Thus fortified, Clark lets Jor-El zip him to Krypton, where he saves his infant self. Kara kicks the crap out of Brainiac, who laughs disconcertingly as he dies. Clark and Kara make it off Krypton again before it explodes.
Back on earth, Clark is horrified to find that Lana is still incapacitated - killing Brainiac didn't cure her, and now there's nothing he can do. Kara pledges to stand by him, but at the end of the episode, she's struck down by some internal attack. What's going on?
We loved how they worked in much of the man Clark will become into this episode. He gets his trademark glasses and a press pass, for example. Plus, he and Lois seem to seriously bond, both in the alternate reality and the existing one. Is this the start of something?
What did you think? What was your favorite part? Tell all in the comments!
Comments
I like this epi. Tom did excellent job as an actor as well as director!
Posted by: Sl | May 7, 2008 5:45 AM
pretty good epi. i enjoyed seeing clark showing up as a "mild mannered reporter of the Daily Planet" in order to gain access to lex and kara. those glasses looked great on welling. bring on the rest of S7! that was my favorite alternate reality moment.
Posted by: Just Tina | May 3, 2008 11:30 PM