Smallville Season 5 Episode 13 Review

As the action winds down in the latest Smallville episode, Lana uses a quiet moment in the barn to chide Clark: "We should have come together Clark. That's what couples do when these things happen." Given a speech like that, you might think the two had a good old fashioned falling out or fight. Maybe Clark continues to refuse to 'put out' .

But things are not that simple in Smallville. "These things" that so divide, as Lana refers to in this episode, are: an undead ghost girl assaulting Chloe, a trip to the psych ward, a girl slashing her wrists, a body in the wall of the coffee shop, a creepy homicidal hospital worker, and a magic bracelet that transfers ghost spirits to living bodies.

Err... what?

Yep. Hot on the heels of two solid episodes dealing with the death of Jonathan Kent, we get a freak-of-the-week episode that rivals the one where Lana became a vampire. It looks like Chloe has gone crazy after she sees a ghost and slashes her wrists. Apparently, the doctors think she's crazy because her mother is in an insane asylum. Now... I can't remember ever having heard this plot revelation before, but I might have missed it. Jake will tell for sure if writers pulled this out of their ass, or it's an old bit of Smallville lore.

Regardless, Clark and Chole try to find out about the ghost while Lana and Lex are convinced Chloe has gone off her rocker and needs to be strapped to a gurney in an insane asylum. Why Lana cuddles up to Lex so quickly is not explained, but you can really feel the tension between the future Superman and his arch-enemy now. In one scene, Lex and Clark just scowl at each other.

Eventually the stupid ghost plot is sorted out. But not before some less-than-inventive horror cliches creep in. You know, the old "bathroom mirror shot" where you see a safe bathroom in the medicine cabinet mirror, then the character opens the cabinet door, and when the mirror re-appears there's a dirty screaming monster and big orchestra crash. Hmm.... I could swear I've seen that before... somewhere...

The Clark-Lana and Ma Kent-Senator subplots are tacked on to the end in a rather subpar way. Both are quite interesting. It looks like Martha is going to run for senate, and Lionel keeps "stopping by" the Kent kitchen to dole out 30-second snippits of advice to Martha. At least he's working for the lay. Good on him.

If there's one positive in this forgettable episode, it would be Allison Mack's chance to show her acting chops. She's got them in spades here. Lots of tears, lots of emotion. Along with John Glover, she is a key lynchpin for this show now that Jon Schneider/Pa Kent was sent out to pasture.

Still, it's not enough to save Ep#13. An unusually bad freak-of-the-week with a frankly bizarre ending that makes little to no sense and - to be honest - kills the momentum this show had after its 100 and 101 episodes. I don't get it. Jake? What do you think?

Smallville Episode 100/101: Another Take

Jake is dead-on with his thoughts on these episodes, although he's not quite as hard on the big 100th episode as I am.

He's right though - Smallville writers are classic for wimping out at the last minute. They've had Lex discover Clark's secret countless times, but he's lost it through time reversal, elctro-shock therapy, memory manipulation and all sorts of other crazy plot devices. It's the kind of writing that would make the folks at "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" proud in its camp-comedy crapulance.

The big question I keep raising with Jake (and anyone else who will listen to a Smallville rant for more than 10 seconds, which is to say, not very many people) is quite simply this: how much longer do we have to wait for this show to stop teasing its fans?

Seriously now, I've watched every single episode for five seasons. Jake has bought the DVDs. We all know this is Smallville's last season. So let's cut the crap. Time to ditch the lazy-ass writing-style of the 100th episode and get into story arcs where things happen for real, and where memory-loss subplots and time reversal get tossed out the window in favour of wrapping this show up in style.

I've got to say, Episode 101 was right along those lines. Ma Kent gets robbed in Metropolis in the kind of dark dirty place that puts Bruce Wayne's Crime Alley to shame. She loses the watch, some vigilante woman appears with similar powers to Clark -- yadda yadda yadda, Clark gets the watch back and finally learns to grieve over his father's death. The last few minutes of this episode are powerful, emotional, ones.

Having the spotlight on Lionel's character is a good thing. Although I still get a chuckle when Lionel drops a multi-billion-dollar company takeover bid just so Martha Clark won't hate him. Right.

Jake has hit the rest of the key points for the review. I'll just end with a lament for the character of Jonathan Kent, who was superbly played by Jon Schneider and who will be truly missed on this show. I've said it countless times, but Schneider was perfect for the role. After seeing him add real dramatic weight and heart to his scenes, can you really imagine anyone else as Clark Kent's dad? No matter what they do for future movies, TV shows, or comic books - when I think Pa Kent I'll think Jon Schneider.

Smallville - Episode 100 & 101

Smallville’s 100th episode is in the bag and I felt that it was important to review 100 & 101 together because it shows, far more clearly the direction that Smallville is headed in.

Okay, that was a blatant lie. I was just far to busy playing videogames last week and didn’t feel like writing much more than I had too.

A quick word on 100 before moving on to 101.

Episode 100 would have been the best episode of the entire run if it happened in the 2nd or 3rd season. At that point, I wasn’t completely sick of the Smallville writers constantly writing themselves out of a corner by calling something a dream or having everybody but Clark forget what happened. 100 episodes in, this is just downright lazy.

As most of you probably know, the first half of the episode deals with Clark telling Lana his secret, proposing and Lana dying. Of course, the Smallville writers couldn’t actually let that happened so Clark goes back in time and lives the day again. This time, though, Jonathan Kent dies from a heart attack (I so called this one, folks) and there’s no going back in time again (although Chloe does have the line of the entire series when she explains “what could you do, make the earth rotate backwards on its axis?” Not the exact line, but close enough).

Jonathan dies, which is completely heartbreaking in that, you know it was going to happen but you didn’t want to because he was one of the best characters sort of ways.

I guess episode 100 is the landmark episode it was hyped up to be but not the pivotal series moment it could have been. You could have easily killed Lana and fix the continuity for the movies. I mean, Lana is in Superman 3 but Superman Returns happens after Superman 2, meaning that Superman 3 never happened and you never had to actually have Lana alive.

Onto episode 101 - What’s sad about this issue is that it’s almost better that the 100th but nobody dies, there isn’t any epic plot revelation, it’s just that the show seems to be going in a better direction. Clark hurting like he is, is actually a good storyline and surprisingly, Lana trying to be there for him while being pulled by Lex is also intriguing.

Another surprise is how well the vigilante storyline works for this episode. When Clark’s mom ventures into Suicide Slum’s alone and at night (she must not be thinking straight), she’s saved by a woman who seems to have all the same powers as Clark. Now, I’ll forgive the worst filmed scene in Smallville history (the camera panning back as the vigilante chick super jumps off a platform) as it looks completely sound stage with no hint of reality, including a poor spotlight that is obviously hanging from a catwalk pretending to double as a helicopter. But it’s an interesting way for their to be an outlet for Clark’s powers, what he can do and what he almost does in anger.

But what the biggest question that this episode raises for me, is, - WHERE THE HELL IS METROPOLIS IN RELATION TO SMALLVILLE. Seriously. Where? It is a small
jaunt to the big city because it seems that Martha can drive from Smallville to Metropolis whenever she wants. It’s only a hop skip and a jump it seems. Now Clark going back and forth I can understand. But what about everybody else. It is a small commute or something?

I digress, as usual.

Episode 101 also has the second best line in the series. Clark, having just saved Lionel’s life from the hands of the Vigilante, is thanked by Lionel with the words, “Whatever the reason, thank you son.” Lionel replacing Jonathan? Oh man, that would be awesome.

Thank god they didn’t kill Lionel. He’s the best part of this and almost every episode. One of the final scenes of the episode, with Lionel coming to Martha and expressing his interest in knowing whether she’s going to take the senate seat that has been offered to her (he reveals it, we don’t know yet) and the pains of his and Jonathan’s relationship is riveting, intense stuff, made perfect by John Glover’s take on Lionel.

The episode ends on a fittingly emotional one. Lana finds the watch for Clark and Clark ends up watching a home movie with mom. A great shot of Jonathan on a tractor with a young Clark, exclaiming “he’ll be fine, he’s a man of steel” and end it with waving into the camera and saying goodbye. Cheesy, sapping and powerful – all at the same time.

Sadly, Episode 101 is superior to the much vaulted 100th episode because it delves into the heart of the show, the characters. Not the plot around them.