Smallville: Look! Up in the Sky! (Or More Accurately, On Top of that Building!)
Clark Kent took one more step toward becoming Superman this week on Smallville -- and it was a doozy. Jimmy Olsen has been theorizing about a hero for Metropolis for a while, and this week, he got proof -- sort of. When Lois is attacked by a mugger and thrown in in the path of a speeding car, Clark superspeeds to the rescue. Unfortunately, Jimmy is aiming his camera at Lois and her attacker, so he catches a red-blue blur swooping her to safety. Now he's determined to find the hero -- and he wants Clark to help.
So now Clark's singing the "Oh Noes! My Secret!" blues, but the people who know him -- and his secret -- are tired of that tune. Chloe thinks this is a great opportunity for Clark to develop a heroic alter-ego, someone who would give the good people of Metropolis hope. And Ollie emerges from his drunken debauchery to sneer at Clark and tell him to suck it up.
Things take a turn when Jimmy figured out this hero seems to have gotten his start in Smallville, he wears red and blue, he always shows up just at the right time.... wait a second! It's Clark! That explains everything, including the bond between him and Chloe! Clark denies it, but he superspeeds to Chloe's to panic in her general direction. Unfortunately, Jimmy appears soon thereafter. And as he sped there in a car, and Clark STILL beat him there... well, what more evidence does he need?
Clark, Chloe and Ollie cook up a plan to throw Jimmy off the scent with a cunning scenario -- they'll set it up so a disguised Ollie saves the pair of them, giving Clark plausible deniability. The scenario is interrupted by an imperiled Lois (more on that in a second), so Clark disappears right when Jimmy gets menaced by the same mugger who attacked Lois earlier. Ollie saves him, Clark reappears, and Jimmy scoffs -- how dumb do you think I am? Fortunately, Ollie is posed photogenically on top of a building, red cape flapping in the wind. Jimmy buys it. The masked-hero story makes the front page, and Clark will just have to live with it. Thing is, he's starting to see the upside -- maybe his destiny isn't to help from the shadows, but to give people hope.
But that's not the only danger faced this episode. Lois meets Sebastian Kane, the new city reporter, and seems smitten. Something funky happens when he shakes her hand -- he seems to be siphoning memories from her. Indeed, Sebastian isn't who he says -- he's one of the superpowered individuals Tess took out of Black Creek, and yes, he can read the mind of anyone he touches. Tess is using him to find out if Lois stole the crystal. Sebastian discovers she didn't... but she DOES know that he's one of the Black Creek detainees, and that he's a murderer. Tess tells Sebastian to eliminate Lois. That's why she calls Clark in distress.
Unfortunately, in saving Lois, Clark touched Sebastian, and now he knows Clark's secret. Uh-oh! Chloe takes matters into her own hands -- she visits Sebastian in the hospital and touches him. Her Brainiac-enhanced mind overloads Sebastian's synapses, and he crashes. Holy crap, y'all -- did Chloe just kill someone?
Comments
Metropolis is a city on the east coast of the USA. Smallville is a town in Kansas in the centre of the USA. Since when did Smallville become a suburb of Metropolis ?
Posted by: Tony Lloyd [Cardiff, Wales] | December 16, 2008 4:42 PM
Writers/Producers/Network: There has been a noticeable lack of comment on this blog site. It went from paltry to zero. I wonder why. Any chance of getting Al and Miles back as consulting producers and/or writers to stanch the bleeding?
Writers/Producers/Network: Has the show lost its way? It seems so. We are now seven episodes into the final season and I feel as if Season 8 is turning out to be an after thought. Is this what you have in mind? An after thought (and uninspired at that)? My sense is that you are not sure how to end the series. The ship is sailing off into the horizon without a captain at its helm and it’s sinking. Someone’s lost their mojo.
Writers/Producers/Network: Please don’t make the same mistake as Heroes did in its season 2 – taking too long to get to the storyline’s reveal. You are writing this season as if there will be a Season 9. Last I checked, S8 was going to be the last. I can’t imagine that you have the luxury of time for thoughtful character development as you did for Lex/Lana/Lionel/The Kents. I get that. But I’ve recently developed a headache when I watch this show because my sense is that you are trying to do too much in too little time. You have too many new storyline subplots going on and you are not getting to the reveals quickly enough.
I like Sam Witwer and he’s great eye candy. But what’s up with his character? Doomsday is NOT Lex Luthor. Sure, he’s the villain that killed Superman but he’s a lesser-known and more recent villain. Surely you realize that when you give air time to explain Davis’s character (or even Tess’s) it translates into less air time for Clark Kent. Remember that guy? Result: both characters get short shrift at the expense of each other.
The show’s name is Smallville and I don’t understand why you have renamed it “Smallville: The Metropolis Years.” Superman (read: not Clark Kent)/Metropolis/The Daily Planet are synonymously identified with each other. By the time “Clark Kent” arrives on the scene in Metropolis all his powers are fully known and realized to him and he knows who he is and why he is disguised as “mild mannered reporter Clark Kent.” Now we have a show called Smallville. Its main character is Clark Kent (read: not Superman) and he has become synonymous with this show. So, now I don’t get it. What’s up with Clark Kent showing up in Metropolis at The Daily Planet not fully aware of all his powers and history? It’s bad enough he shows up at The Planet not knowing his full Kryptonian potential (powers) but it’s disappointing that you characterize him as a 21-year old adolescent.
I already know the myth of Superman. This show is about the myth of Clark Kent and HOW this man becomes Superman. I want to know more about Clark BEFORE he makes the jump to the big city. This is the show’s last season. Get back to basics and spend time tying up loose ends related to the myth of Clark Kent and Smallville. Keep Clark in Smallville for the better part of the show. I already know what happens when he finally decides to leave Smallville. Why jump the gun and get ahead of yourselves? Why tell me something I already know? Clark needs to discover that he can really fly. (That really should have happened in Season 7.) Clark is not ready for Metropolis and The Daily Planet. Instead of working at the Daily Planet without a degree in journalism, he needs to look for the crystal that encapsulates the Fortress of Solitude and get on with his training. Bring back Martha Kent for a few guest appearances. When she left for Washington I expected that she’d be home on weekends, even if it was every other week or monthly. There has not been one peep from her. Her name is not even mentioned. Has she abandoned her son? I get that Clark is growing up and needs to cut parental strings. But not a peep from her? That seems uncharacteristic of Martha Kent.
Please don’t take your fans and audience for granted. Do right by them.
Posted by: Just Tina | October 31, 2008 7:39 PM