(S07E02) It's kissin' cousins (okay, not literally) on Smallville, and I think I can safely speak for most males in the audience when I say, "I wish I had a cousin that looked like that." So between Chloe, Lois, Lana, and now Kara, Clark has four women pulling him in different directions and two of them are also cousins. Plus they're all a bit too nosy for their own good. Especially that pesky Lois.

So we finally get our first real gander at Supergirl in action, plus her spaceship which has a nuclear-powered alarm system that could in handy in places like Detroit and Los Angeles. I couldn't help belly laughing listening to all of the explanations Clark kept offering to Lois as to what the ship could be. "It's probably some kind of experimental spaceship. It was probably just a styrofoam prop from a school play." What, no weather balloon?

Okay to be honest, I'm not sure what that whole "Kara flies up into outer space and checks out a picture of Baby Kal-El on an s-shield crystal, and then flies back down at superspeed" scene was all about. Except maybe to beef up the special effects budget by a few thousand bucks. "Take that, Superman Returns!" Plus the superfight between Kara and Clark was pretty cool, if all too brief. It's too bad we couldn't have effects like these on a more regular basis.

Anyhow, I found this episode to be pretty paper thin on plot and heavy on the exposition. Everything from Lois walking in and popping painkillers to an awkward introduction of Grant Gabriel (Michael Cassidy, probably happy to have work since Hidden Palms got canceled), "I'm your new editor!" and so on. By the time Kara starts quizzing kids on the playground, you know she's looking for Kal-El. I guess I was expecting a bit more meat after the season opener, but that left some big shoes to fill. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

So Kara finally finds Clark, he finds out they're cousins, and ... there's not really anything else? You think he'd at least be choked up by finding out he has an actual blood relative, but no. In fact, she's the only one who shows emotion when she finds out Krypton doesn't exist anymore. Where's the emotion, Clark?

Surprisingly, we finally have some movement on the whole getting Lois Lane on the staff of the Daily Planet front. Awkward introductions aside, if Grant exists only to get Lois behind the desk then I can take him. His motivational speech to get Lois to write that story for him was pretty damn well delivered. Hey, it inspired me ... to write this blog post. Although without all the investigative reporting. So, it was a bit easier than what Lois had to deal with.

Now, if you checked in with the backup story at all, you know that Lex has tracked Lana down in Asia. He's prepping jets and muscling Chloe and trying to figure out what's going on, but it was all slightly schlocky and boring. Personally, I wouldn't mind if Lana was written off the show because she's been such a drag for the past dozen episodes or so. So this whole fake her own death / clone saga / model 503 just makes me mad that they're taking away from the Kara / Kal-El storyline. It's like a separate show that just sort of ... sucks.

Okay, I have to rant here for just a second. Is anyone else sick of people being conveniently knocked out on Smallville? I swear these people would all have serious brain injuries and broken necks at this point, especially Lana. Now, when Lois encounters Kara's ship in the woods, what happens? Whammo -- knocked out. Later she sees the ship again, touches it, and whammo -- knocked out. It's way too convenient of a plot device to just have people fall unconscious so super-stuff can happen. Let's open an ethics committee in Smallville already for people to get some justice for their brainpans.

In the end, the Kara stuff wasn't that satisfying, although it has a lot of potential. Now if they could just jettison the tired Lana / Lex storyline and keep us on right track, we've got something. Plus, where's the Justice League been during all this? Let's start at least hearing what's going on with them. And please, stop having people tossed into walls and knocked out. Plus, tell us why Lex is a pretty good sketch artist. I mean, come on already. Somebody save me.