Another take on Smallville S5E5

Jake's review of this episode was spot-on perfect.
I don't think I've ever seen a telvision show flip-flop between such extremes of quality and crap. The first few episodes of season five, with Clark finding the Fortress of Solitude then learning to jump/fly was really powerful and great television.

And you can see little flashes of that in this episode about - of all things - vampires (I mean, seriously, WTF?). As Jake pointed out, some of the comments Clark makes about capes, and Chloe makes about the Daily Planet really help keep this turd of an episode from sliding off the rails completely because it reminds you: "Oh yeah, I'm watching a show about SUPERMAN, not some stupid lame knock-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

I can't help but think one of the problems of the show has become Kristen Kreuk. She is pretty good at the whole wide-eyed, fairly attractive, WB-cookie-cutter, music-of-the-week, candle-lit romantic love interest for Clark. But if you make her a quasi-villain or freak-of-the-week, she stinks up the screen. Her campy portrayal of the vampire queen, complete with the dumb vampire faces she was forced to make, really stunk. And if you look back to Season 4, one of the main reasons it was the worst season so far was because every episode she was travelling to China, or turning into a witch, or trying to get some secret stone while speaking Latin. It was horrible. And in this episode she's no better.

Why is Smallville cursed with horrible episodes such as this?! It makes me want to stop watching. Although, the little bit of good in the show keeps me hooked for another week.

Which brings up another quesiton: Who is the character Smallville will kill off this season? I pray it's Lana. Other ideas?

Smallville Season 5, Episode 5

“What about you Mr. Kent? Would you have the courage to try to stop him?” – Brainiac (James Marsters) – Episode 5, Season 5- talking, figuratively, about an Empire run by Lex Luthor.

Running Smallville commentaries? Sounds comic bookish to me! I turn into such a dork when talking about comics, don’t I? Everybody has a little bit of dork in them. Deal with it!

In its fifth season, Smallville has finally taken the route it should have embraced 4 years ago. It is taking on the Superman mythos head on, driving to a conclusion that will, hopefully, see the breathtaking conclusion to a new mythos that has proved to be not only be interesting but full of great writing (most of the time), new characterizations and great new twists on a 70 year old story.

Episode 5 continues that trend, but not to the same degree as episodes 1 – 4. While snippets like the above dialogue demonstrate the more head on references to Clark Kent’s every nearing future (and from Brainiac no less, that’s damn cool), Episode 5 delves into a world that Smallville should never have gone. Vampires.

What are Vampires doing at Metropolis University? Hell if I know, the good writers must have had the week off. So, our lovable Lana Lang finds herself in trouble once more as she pledges to the sorority that is full of the. Never mind the fact that Lana would never pledge to a sorority, but the writers offer a really lame excuse on that one, claiming that she’s in such a desperate need for housing that she has no choice. She could go live with Chloe though and they’ve lived together before, so why not live together again? That’s the Smallville writers mentality for you.

But, before I continue, I must ask a question. If Clark and Lana consummated their relationship back in episode 3, you’d think that they would continue to do it. So how’s that possible. And you can’t argue that they had sex just once and never again, because how is that feasible. Oh Smallville writers, when will you learn?

Back to the episode – Brainiac and Luthor play a little game of cat and mouse, which Brainiac is always going to win and Clark suspects something is wrong with Lana. Wow, this episode is really going nowhere fast. Clark smells amazing? Great, you’re turning into a vampire, you’re a bad ass once again Lana, we get it. What a stupid “freak of the week” storyline for this episode.

Although, on the cool side, Brainiac shows some of his Kryptonian supercomputer powers in this episode, which involve metamorphasizing his body into sharp instruments. Even with the vampires running around, you can tell there’s something special in the cards this season. The villains are exciting and Clark is growing by leaps and bounds.

The other exciting element the writers are playing with is Chloe knowing Clark’s secret. It offers a number of great moments with Chloe giving Clark speeches about being a hero and it lets Clark be his superself around her. It’s always fun to watch people be amazed by Clark. Weird, but true.

Another great line from the episode –

Chloe – “It’s a costume party, a great opportunity for us to pole around.”

Clark – “I hate costumes.”

Oh Clark, you’re going to love the blue and red tights buddy.

This is too good… Lex created vampires with an experiment? Oh man, the writers were really smoking something this week. And I bet there’s a cure, isn’t there? Of course there is, because we can’t have anything have serious repercussions on Smallville. Does any show use more toxins, dream sequences etc. to go back on things? I doubt it. But that’s why this show is so appealing. Just when you think they might have the guts to execute a real storyline, they back off. It’s an interesting mentality that keeps you tuning in. “Maybe this week,” you tell yourself, “they’ll do something that everybody actually remembers and not just Clark.”

And now Lana can actually bite Clark because there’s Kryptonite around as it keeps the “serum” active. This is too much. Way too much. And she’s stolen his powers? I bet she’s going to forget in the next 5 minutes, isn’t she? Yup, there she goes. She forgot. Clark has probably uttered “So how much of it do you actually remember” about 33 times during the course of the 5 seasons.

See but now here’s the conundrum that Smallville always seems to present for me. The last minute of the episode, for a complete fan boy such as myself, was gold. Chloe narrating about getting in on the ground floor of the Daily Planet and referencing that it is the place of future superhero’s (how she knows this, don’t ask me) and then saying she had no place to go but “up, up and away”. You see, I love that crap.

Damn you Smallville. I enjoy you for another week.

So far, definitely the worst episode of Season 5, but damn better than anything Season 4 had to offer.

Comic Reviews - October 26, 2005

This week’s trip to the comic store proved to be one that held a first – The first time I didn’t get to grab a book because it was sold out. In my small comic town of Nanaimo, in which we only have one comic book merchant, there are never any “sell outs”. It’s unheard of. Even the sales guy gave me that, “I’m sorry, I have no idea what happened” sort of reaction.

The book in question, Justice Society of America: Classified #4 holds part 4 of the 4 part arc dealing with the origin of Power Girl, or, as my girlfriend likes to say “the sexual frustration super heroine”, considering she has huge breasts. I don’t care about how she looks, she’s related to the Superman comic books so that makes me interested.

Nothing much else of note this week. I only got to pick up three titles.

As for the rating system, I’m going to steal a page out of Thomas McKenzie’s book (he’s the music editor at Cut & Print Magazine) and give marks like a CUT & PRINT YEAH, or CUT & PRINT HELL NO.


ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #645 - With a plot by Greg Rucka, The Adventures of Superman looks to be getting back on solid ground once more. Other than the Sacrifice plot line from a couple of months back, all three series have sort of been twisting in the wind, awaiting a direction. Adventure of Superman is a direct tie-in to Infinite Crisis and seems to come a week too late as the ending corresponds with the beginning of the Crisis event.

The art takes a step forward in this issue. I’ve been unimpressed of late with the drawing of Superman but Karl Kershl & Renato Guedes take a leap forward. Their drawing Superman better now, even though their were a couple ugly pages.

Definitely a CUT & PRINT FOR SUPERMAN FANS ONLY.


JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #121 – After a stellar five part series that ran from 115 – 119, in which the Justice League broke apart in glorious fashion, it seems like they’re already back together again, minus Superman and Wonder Woman. Batman seems to be sticking around, but only to keep tabs on the league that mind wiped him. For some reason, I just don’t care.

I’m a huge fan of the Martian Manhunter, who disappeared after getting blow to kingdom come in #119, but even his whereabouts don’t really interest me. It’s not an interesting book right now, but hopefully things are going to pick up soon.

Aquaman, having nothing better to do, is now leading a sort of “covert” Justice League who’s apparent mission statement is to piss off Batman. For being so bold I give this a CUT & PRINT IT’S OKAY.


WONDER WOMAN #222 – Wonder Woman is not a title I usually collect. The only reason I started buying it was because it crossed over with the Sacrifice storyline from the Superman titles. And then Wonder Woman killed Max Lord and things got interesting. They quickly, though, got uninteresting as Wonder Woman #222 might be the last Wonder Woman comic I pick up for awhile.

That’s what I was thinking, until I arrived at the last 5 pages. Which included Wonder Woman killing another villain and a whole boatload of OMAC’s heading to Amazon island. They’ve got me for another issue. Wonder Woman #222 was the best comic I bought this week so it gets a CUT & PRINT YEAH!

Batman comics

Much like Jake, I've had an on-again, off-again, history with comics.
I've dabbled a bit in the Superman series, but mostly I've focused on Batman.
I guess I was hooked when Jake got me Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's "The Long Halloween" Batman graphic novel one Christmas.

Not only was it full of amazing art, with dark rich colours and double-page single frames, but the story was astounding. It brought together all the Batman's villains into one storyline, and was a defintive origin story for Harvey Dent/Two-Face.

Years later, and you can still see the impact this comic had on the Batman animated series and the new Warner Bros./Chris Nolan movie Batman Begins.

Then of course was the great Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns series which, as a Batman fan, is just about the damn coolest thing you could ever read.

Lately, I cought up with another Jeph Loeb graphic series, illustrated by Jim Lee, called Hush. While it was a pretty pricey investment for two glossy volumes, the story that unfolded inside just had to be seen to be believed.

And I guess that is the crux of what interests me about comics - the wonderfully bright and sometimes brilliant storylines that can only come from superhero characters. There's nothing like a Justice League story, or a Batman/Superman crossover ,to take advantage of the interesting characters.

Rob

A Movie Reviewer Becomes a Comic Book Junkie

Welcome weary web traveler to the Cut & Print Magazine Comic Review Blog.

Why are we here? To help you get your fix of comic books, damn it. Comics are valid storytelling medium, no matter what your girlfriend tries to argue. We don’t have room in Cut & Print Magazine to publish comic book reviews but we do on-line. Thus, Cut & Print Magazine Comic Review is upon you.

I’m the editor of Cut & Print Magazine, Jakob Brzovic and I’m also the resident comic nut at the magazine. There’s also a closet comic fan working on the staff, so, if we can convince him to join up, then we’ll have some dueling comments on comics for ya!

A little background on my comic book reading history – I started like any comic reader, at a young age. While I obviously gravitated towards Superman (what kid doesn’t), I was a huge fan of some “lesser” known heroes like Firestorm and Dr. Fate. Why? Don’t ask me. I think it was something about having fire for hair with Firestorm and Dr. Fate’s boffo helmet.

The grand daddy for me, though, was Green Lantern. Hal Jordan as Green Lantern was awesome but it was Kyle Rayner that hooked me into comics for an extended period of time. During those days (the mid 90’s), I was collecting only three books. Everything Green Lantern, Superboy and The Power of Shazam.

Like most kids, I got older and stopped reading. Actually, I think it was more because I couldn’t afford the hobby that I stopped reading, but, let’s not argue.

The fact is, I’m back into the comics fold. The looming Infinite Crisis and its attached mini-series’ have brought me back into the DC fold and I’m here to stay for awhile. Long live DC. With more disposable incoming, I’m collecting a lot of titles, all of which will be reviewed on The Cut & Print Magazine Comic Review. The reviews will start with the next shipment of comics and hopefully, continue for a long time.

If you want reviews of movies, check out www.cutandprint.ca

Regards,

Jakob Brzovic
Editor and Chief of Cut & Print Magazine.