Chloe: "This guy can fly? God, Clark, you got to get on that one."So they started off the season with a bang. Literally.
Bizarro was cool and scary, and I thought Tom Welling did a good job, considering all that was really different was his voice and his expression, plus brief flashes of cube face. He burned a guy to death with his heat vision for pretty much no reason at all. That creeped me right out. At least he didn't hurt Lois; he just grabbed her butt.
I really liked the scene where Clark outwitted Bizarro with the yellow sun thing. And I liked all the flying. Tell me again why Clark can't fly? Yes, I know, no flights, no tights, but Martian Manhunter was back, and flying around. A strange girl in white was flying around, too. (Gee, I wonder who she could be.) At this point, the fact that Clark doesn't fly just seems weird. Isn't it time? Couldn't the two of them teach him?
As usual, last season's cliffhanger left half the cast dead or dying. I think my favorite scene in this episode was Chloe waking up in the morgue. (I particularly loved her expression when she saw her own toe tag.) And I'm glad they didn't try to pretend Lana was really dead when we all knew she wasn't. I'd hoped she was, of course, but I'm starting to believe they're never going to write her out.
Lex was imprisoned for killing a member of the cast who isn't really dead. (Why does this seem so familiar?) He was outright suicidal over losing Lana, and I absolutely believed he wasn't faking it. His near death experience appeared to change him. Has he had a conversion? Is he going to try to be good again? I wonder if he's going to replace his Lana obsession with one about a superpowered blonde angel? The final shot showed our new female cast member flying right into the camera, just like Bizarro at the end of season six. Was that a suggestion that she could be evil as well as super?
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but so far, so good. I do have one request. I want some forward movement on either Clark/Chloe or Clark/Lois. Either one, I don't care which. And minimal Lana. Please. Okay, that's two requests.
Bits and pieces:
— Lots of casting changes this season. Michael Rosenbaum now has second billing (long overdue), and Kristin Kreuk is third. Aaron Ashmore and Laura Vandervoort have been added, and Annette O'Toole is gone.
— I can live without Martha Kent, but not Lionel Luthor. Fortunately, John Glover is still in the cast. Lionel is now Clark's only remaining parental figure. That's really funny when you think about it.
— All we saw of Lionel was him being pulled out of the water by someone wearing a black coat and beige gloves. And we didn't see Jimmy at all. Too much other plot, probably.
— Lana was in CGI Shanghai, wearing a blond wig and looking like a hooker. Why? Going to Vegas wasn't far enough away? She must be there for a reason. Maybe it's another Kryptonian knowledge crystal.
— Chloe can heal with a tear, but it kills her for awhile. That's an interesting meteor talent there, Chloe. I thought Chloe looked particularly good, at least after she wasn't dead any more. Maybe, like Lex, a near (or actual) death experience gave her a new lease on life.
— Bizarro had all of Clark's memories, and he made a heavy pass at Lois. So what did that tell us about Clark's true feelings?
— The breaking of the dam was a lot like the first Reeve movie. Fortunately, Clark didn't solve it the same way.
— Lex's army is still mostly intact. A few were floating around, but there appeared to be plenty to spare.
— Tom Welling either has a new hairstyle or he's looking more mature. Or both. Yes, I know he's a good bit older than his character, although the difference is less glaring now that he's not in high school any more.
Quotes:
Chloe: "That's funny. I thought I had the market on resurrections today."
Clark: "You just died and came back to life. Don't you think you should at least have your blood pressure taken?"
Lex: "I'd never help you kill Clark."
Bizarro: "Lex. Redemption doesn't suit you."
Chloe: "I guess you deserve a little bit of peace and quiet after sending the evil Bobbsey twin to the sunny side of Mars."
Lois: "If you ever grab my ass again, I will be taking your head with me when I go."
I'm sort of torn between three and four stars. It was probably four out of four. Very good premiere,
Billie
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Billie Doux had a love-hate relationship with Smallville, which is why some of her reviews are briefer than they should be.
Turned out to be one of my favourite season premieres of the show. I can't really give a cohesive answer as to why, it's too subtle, too many little things. There isn't actually anything particularly spectacular about it.
ReplyDeleteBut I liked the bit with the dam overflow and Clark superheating all of it till the water exploded safely into evaporation, as unrealistic as it is. Dams are cool, and its destruction was even cooler to me than the 2nd meteor shower event. Must be the water element... I remember thinking Lana's zombie childhood friend being defeated by trying to swim through the water was really cool, even with the weaker effects work. And I liked the Bizarro and Clark fight, because usually Clark's sexiest expressions are when he's on Red L, but this time he was a good boy and still had IMO the hottest looks of anticipation and then satisfaction he's ever worn >_> lol. And this time I correctly noticed that it's MM who carries Bizarro up into the Sun, not Clark. I mean it's such an unequivocally clean win, which is why I found it so funny that the scene immediately after is Clark just being sad again about Lana.