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Review: Smallville - Kandor
by Brad Trechak, posted Nov 7th 2009 1:08AM
(S09E07) If Smallville continues to produce episodes of good quality like tonight's, I may have to take back some of the things I've been saying about it. Seriously.Tonight we got a lot of backstory and explanation about some of the stranger aspects of the Smallville universe. Why is Earth such a magnet for Kryptonians, dead or otherwise? Because Krypton has been observing Earth for a long, long time and designated the planet as a bolt-hole. We also learned more about that Kryptonian artifact that has been a mystery in Smallville for a few seasons now.
All this and no Lois, too.
You'd think they'd at least have Lois featured in the episode after the big kiss, but making us wait might be the better tactic. Having Lois around would also be awkward, what with the secret identity thing. Without the relationship melodrama, Smallville is actually a darn good show and has a lot of the potential I'd always hoped for. Granted, there was some father-related angst tonight, but it's forgivable in the context.
We also have learned that Zod and company are clones from their youth rather than temporally displaced persons. Lois' chronological displacement via the Legion ring was only coincidence. This works because if the writers wanted to, they could kill the character by the end of the season without worrying about repercussions to the timeline. As a nerd, I think about things like this.
As the case with this show, there were several comic book rand movie references:
- Chloe states that Clark has liked Lois "since the 1930's." Superman was first published in 1938 and Lois was in that comic.
- The set used for Jor-El's "trial" is pretty much a copy of the one from the first two Superman movies.
- They mention the Sacred Book of Rao (Krypton's equivalent of the Bible). Rao, as mentioned before, is the Kryptonian version of God.
- The terrorist group "Black Zero" was used in the 80's comic book Superman revival.
- The soldiers did "kneel before Zod."
From Tess; "I see my crack security team is on the job." Given the frequency that everyone gets through locked doors in the world of Smallville, this doesn't seem an exception to the rule.
Zod is like an evil Sherlock Holmes, given his ability to decipher the subtext of Jor-El's words. He's also a bit of the Phantom since Clark couldn't detect him in the distance with his various super-senses (unless Zod was only metaphorically there). I wonder if Doomsday was a clone of Zod's son. That would have been an interesting development had the story gone in that direction.
It was also neat to see Krypton before its destruction in the flashbacks. Please note that Zod is anti-death penalty. Did anybody else dig those fashionable berets worn by the Kryptonian soldiers?
Oliver was fun to watch in his brief screen time. Clark is way too melodramatic on his own.
Next week: Wonder-Twin Powers, Activate!
[Watch episodes of Smallville at SlashControl.]
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