Smallville Review - Season 5 Episode 6

Fresh off of last week's vampire suckfest, Smallville turns it up a notch in this week's episode: "Exposed".
It's an appropriate title for an episode which spends half its run time in a strip joint. Not that I'm complaining. See that picture over there of Lois in a Stars and Stripes bikini? That's ratings my friends. Ratings.

But I digress, let's get to the episode. Chloe is now answering phones as a quasi-receptionist at the Daily Planet, forced to work her way up the ladder after getting hired in last week's episode. A call comes in front a frantic woman who wants a reporter because she's being hunted down by a madman (why she just wouldn't phone the cops is beyond me). And so Chloe and Lois end up in the dodgy end of town watching the chick get run down by a car in an inspired, but gruesome, bit of CGI work.

Why she was killed, and who was behind it, ends up involving Lex Luthor, the Metropolis PD, Jonathon Kent, and a special guest star... Senator Jack Jennings, played by none other than former Dukes of Hazzard star Tom Wopat.

That's right, this episode features a reunion of the original Dukes of Hazzard. Pretty cool actually, and the writers do a lot to play it up, from the opening sequence when Wopat barrels down the Kent farm dirt road in a super-powered blue car that kind of resembles the General Lee, to when Jonathon Kent gets behind the wheel and they go out for a spin (complete with a car jump). They even have Wopat hop through the window of the car rather than use the door, explaining in a moment of fine writing that the "door keeps sticking." Indeed. It makes you smile, and the chemistry between Jennings as a Senator with a fondness for stippers (hell, that probably puts him in the political majority) and John Schneider is great.

The show also advances a few plot lines, albeit slowly. Luthor is now running for State Senate. Which, as we all know, is foreshadowing for his final destiny as President of the United States. I would suspect he doesn't win the race, but then again, what do I know. But if he does win elected office, it's going to be harder and harder to explain how a powerful Senator AND head of a multi-billion-dollar defence company is just sitting around in his study drinking scotch whenever Clark wants to barge in and accuse him of being an evil genius.

Which brings me to the real highlight of the show: Lois stripping. No, I'm not kidding. Her sequence of being forced to get naked on stage (or at least to a revealing bikini) and Clark's undercover sting job into the "Gentlemen's Club" both hit on all cylinders. Watching their facial reactions, Clark's adjusting his tie, Lois's reluctant lap dance, and then the final moment where the future Superman has to decide where to deposit the $20 bill - well, hell, folks that's just good TV. Inspired all around.

I was impressed by this episode. And I wish they did more of this kind of smart writing than the usual "freak of the week" random superpower nonsense. Kristen Kruek wasn't in this episode at all, which was also good. And with Clark pulling down helicopters in Metropolis (wait for it) and rushing out in superspeed from the newsroom of the Daily Planet, you just get the feeling we are more and more on the verge of him donning the cape and "S" costume.

I'd say it's a good time to be a Smallville fan, but, we both know next week's episode could suck monkey balls, and likely will. Still, if you want to convince a non-Smallville fan that this show has some chops, then sit them down in front of this diddy of an episode. Not a bad way to spend 60 minutes.