'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Smallville: Blue
(S07E08) First, I need to make a confession to you, dear reader. I steadily watched Smallville until the end of season two. I stopped because I'm a big Superman fan and felt the show was lacking. However, upon getting assigned the steady gig of Smallville reviewer, I familiarized myself with the history and how it diverges from the comics that I read as a youngster (and still read nowadays).
Now, on to the episode review...
I liked it. It felt more like a Superman episode than a tale of awkward, super-powered Clark. To quickly recap, Clark is exposed to Blue Kryptonite which robs him of his powers after being visited by his mother who was living in a Kryptonian crystal of his cousin Kara (gotta love alliteration).
The evil Kryptonian Zor-El (who happens to be Clark's uncle and Kara's father) resurrects himself and Clark's mother (called a "replicant". Possibly a nod to Blade Runner). Then, the villain tricks Clark into losing his superpowers and blocks out the sun (if he did his research, he'd realize that their superpowers originate from sunlight so he'd be dooming himself as well).
Also continuing the tradition of appearances by former super-people, Helen Slater (of the Supergirl movie of the 80's) makes an appearance as Clark's Kryptonian mother, Lara. Granted, we've seen her before this episode, but that was in a recorded form. This time she's flesh-and-blood. My question is this: if Krypton is such a technologically advanced planet, why do the women wear togas? And Zor-El looked like a character from "The Matrix". Krypton needs a better sense of fashion.
Why couldn't the power-sapping ring be gold? In the comics, it's Gold Kryptonite that robs Superman of his powers. How inconsistent.
Since I mentioned the comics: Kara makes a reference to Coast City in the episode. Coast City is the DC Comics version of Los Angeles and home to another superhero named Green Lantern. Will the Lantern appear in the series? It seems like everyone else has.
The Lex/Lois relationship seems to be getting more complicated. I suspect that since the engagement to Lana ended, he's now targeting her for possible romance (which actually would be consistent with the comics). I do wonder when Clark is going to move beyond Lana to Lois.
Speaking of Lana, with such a huge cast now, she seems to be relegated to a cameo appearance practically. The Clark/Lana relationship in the series always seemed vague to me. They are more than friends but less than lovers. I want them to have a definite relationship so Clark can move beyond her to Lois. But that's just me.
The characters still seem woefully melodramatic after seven years. But, it's the CW. 'Nuff said.
Hey, Lex has a brother! And the brother is dating Lois Lane! At least Julian Luthor has hair.
Obviously, Zor-El had something of a "thing" for Lara (particularly when he addressed her as "my love"). Pity she married his brother. Someone dating someone's brother does seem a consistent theme for the evening.
Good ending too. It leaves open the possibility of Zor-El's return. Dear reader, you can comfort yourself with the fact that no matter how horribly your father treated you, he wasn't as much of a ball-buster as Clark's father Jor-El. A lot of things could have happened to Clark in the white flash at the end of the episode. I wonder if he is going back to the Phantom Zone?
Clark seems far more confident than he did in the early seasons, well on his way to becoming the icon of super-heroes. He even seems bigger and more heroic. Because of that, it wouldn't surprise me if this was the last season of the show (before the writer's strike ever took place). It seems like a good place to end it. Maybe start a sequel series called "Metropolis".
| Sent him to the Phantom Zone | |
|---|---|
| Turned him into a monkey | |
| Cancelled the show | |
| Gave him back his powers | |
| Ended the writer's strike |
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