'Dancing With The Stars' Season 14 Dream Casting
What To Watch On TV This Week
Smallville: Bulletproof
by Brad Trechak, posted Jan 22nd 2009 11:57PM
(S07E12) Tonight's episode was a few missed opportunities. They could have used it as an opportunity to explain why Clark decided to eventually work outside the law (technically, Superman is a vigilante) rather than as another explanation about why the Justice League exists. They could have used it as a CSI-type episode just to try a different type of story Heck, they could have even used Phil Morris for more than five minutes of the episode.At least Lana and Clark rekindled their relationship. You just know that it's doomed to failure. I hope they have the Kryptonite condom ready and available.
There is another cameo by a Battlestar Galactica cast member (Alessandro Juliani, who plays Gaeta) in this episode as Dr. Emil (who may be Dr. Emil Hamilton from both the Superman comics and the 50's television show).
And that' wasn't the only comic book reference in this episode. The blonde cop was named Dan Turpin, who is a reference to a creation of comics legend Jack Kirby. In the comics, he was billed as "Terrible" Turpin, the Unstoppable Cop. There was also another reference to Coast City, which is Green Lantern's hang-out. Who else noticed the cute alien toy hanging from John Jones' rear-view mirror?
Here's another one: the question Turpin asked, "What can one man do?", is the title of a popular Superman story from a few decades ago. I also liked his line "Cops have rules. Capes don't". What they fail to mention is that none of the superheroes we've met thus far wear a cape (well, except for Ollie in that one episode). I hope that changes and Clark becomes Superman by the season's end, because I really hate the name "Red Blue Blur".
When Clark caught the bullet intended for Turpin, I couldn't help but think of a similar scene in Superman, the Movie. Only on television could John Jones survive being hit by a bullet like that. I did think it was a little much when John was thrown back by the bullet hitting him. If they were using armor-piercing bullets, shouldn't they penetrate a kevlar vest? If so, isn't Clark excuse for taking a bullet at close range somewhat flimsy?
Originally, I thought having Green Arrow as a regular on the series was kind of pointless, but it seems to be going with a theme of the season about the relationship between heroes and their environment.
How about that catfight between Lana and Tess? I do want to know how Lana learned to fight so well so quickly, but I think that's going to be explained soon. She's being pretty flirty with Clark. Their kiss at the end seemed overdue.
I hope Michael Rosenbaum's appearance in a photo is a precursor to his reappearance on the series. Of course, I'm also hoping that the return of Luthor will signal a satisfying series conclusion.
The episode was offbeat and came across as kind of middle-of-the-road for me. It was the comic book references that saved it from sucking. Hopefully, those will persist.
19 Comments