Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena
Disc 5
Legacy
Synopsis: Lex works with the FBI to find evidence of his father's crimes. Lionel once again tries to solve the riddle of the Kawatche caves. For this he visits Dr. Swann in New York and sends fake FBI agents to raid the farm - they are looking for the octagonal disc.
My Opinion: I liked this episode because led to doubts about Dr. Swann's motives and it left the question how the disc came into his possessions. I seriously doubt that the writers intended to make the original Superman a bad guy. Unfortunately due to Christopher Reeve's death we will never find out.
Truth
Synopsis: Chloe sneaks into a LuthorCorp plant and gets exposed to a meteor rock gas. From now on everyone in close proximity has to tell her the truth when she asks him/her. While that may be the holy grail to a reporter, it endangers Clark's secret and her own life on more than one occasion. Fortunately for her, Clark is still there to protect her.
My Opinion: Great episode but it confirms my opinion about mind-reading (this was a modification of that theme). But this episode had a ridiculous scene (though other movies and series use this kind of scene, too): Clark finds that scientist in a very battered place but he happens to have a cure in his even more battered refrigerator, even after all these years. If someone would raid my fridge I would be arrested for producing biological weapons.
Memoria
Synopsis: Lex still tries to recover the memories of those seven weeks he's lost (which would include the knowlegde of Clark's secret). Clark and Lionel join forces to prevent exactly this, but Lionel double-crosses Clark. While Lex hasn't remembered those seven weeks, he remembered a part of his past he suppressed for a long time and that memory is about the death of his baby brother Julian.
My Opinion: I wouldn't believe for a second that Clark tried to prevent Lex from getting his memories back just to protect his secret. I still believe that he did it because - as he stated - he feared that Lionel could do something much worse to Lex if he poses a threat again. The flashbacks also explain a lot about the relationship between Lionel and Lex. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been for that 12-year-old boy to take the blame for his brother's death full knowing that if he didn't, his mother would be dead in a second.
Disc 6
Talisman
Synopsis: Lionel has found another artefact in the Kawatche caves. It's an ancient knife and it belongs to Naman. Professor Willowbrook still believes that Clark is Naman and thus the knife belongs to him, but one of his assistants steals it and has now the same powers as Clark. It is foretold that the blade can only be destroyed by Sageeth, the friend of Naman who turned into his enemy. The assistant believes that Lionel is Sageeth and tries to kill him but Clark cannot let that happen.
My Opinion: I liked Lex' interpretation of that tale, that Sageeth may be the true hero of that story. Firstly, because it's Clarks fear, too, that he was send to Earth to rule. Secondly, because it presents us with Lex' POV, that he - a human - fights against a superior enemy and anything he does is for the good cause. The end justifies the means. Especially in the fifth and sixth season this will be his major motive for what he does.
Forsaken
Synopsis: Emily has grown a lot over the last months. She escapes from one of Lionel's labs and returns to Smallville. There she impersonates the daughter of the new owner of the "Talon". Lana has sold it because she is leaving for Paris. But that is exactly what Emily wants to prevent. Clark wants to come clean with Lana - he doesn't want her to leave, too - but first he has to rescue her once again.
My Opinion: Pete has left Smallville.
I liked Pete but his character had always the problem that he was "just" the faithful sidekick. Chloe, Lana and Lex have stories of their own, but what do we really know about Pete? Interestingly Pete was the only character Clark ever told his secret. Everyone else had to find out by himself/herself (At least I think that he was the only one and I'm only talking about events that weren't undone).
Covenant
Synopsis: A girl comes to Clark who calls herself Kara and she knows, that he is Kal-El, because she is from Krypton, too. She urges him, to return with her to the cave where his future is waiting for him. It is revealed, that Jonathan made a deal with Jor-El when he got the powers to return Clark from Metropolis. But first, Clark has to testify in court against Lionel and he wants to bring Lana to the airport.
My Opinion: Great cliffhanger. Imagine the show would have been canceled at this point.
I liked it how they've used
Superman mythology to mislead the audience (the real Kara is indeed from Krypton and she is his cousin, she's more commonly refered to as "Supergirl"). They did that a lot this year. It began with the mentioning of Chloe's cousin Lois Lana (who isn't interested in journalism at all) and when Jonathan had his heart problems who hadn't feared that he might actually die?
As I said the first part of the cliffhangers are always thrilling and now I want to see how it continues.
The Season - My Opinion: Summa summarum the season was ok. It had its share of good episodes but there were also a number of episodes that didn't interest me that much. But we definitively left the era of FotW episodes and moved into the arc era. The experiments with Kryptonite and Clark's blood have begun and will continue and the Kawatche cave will become an even greater mystery in the next season.
(From Smallville Marathon #2 on June 1st, 2008)
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May 16, 2024, 04:14:36 PM
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