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Smallville: Persona

Brainiac: "You're not Kal-El."
Bizarro: "I'm the new and improved version."

Doubles, doubles, everywhere. Everyone is pretending to be somebody else these days. It's a new Smallville fad.

Chloe, of course, was the one to figure out that Something Was Wrong With Clark, and Lana had an interesting and rather fun reaction when she realized whom she had been sleeping with. Dan thought it would have been cool if Lana really had chosen Bizarro. After all, he made her happy; he gave her everything she wasn't getting from Clark. Bizarro said that Clark didn't love Lana any more. We can only hope.

I'm so pleased that they brought James Marsters back. Brainiac thought rings around Bizarro and managed to make him look like a lightweight. In fact, Bizarro seemed like much less of a threat than before; all he did was boink the female lead and avoid direct sunlight. (James Marsters must have thought that sounded familiar.) At first, Brainiac was pale and washed out and eating rats (something else James Marsters probably found familiar), but now he's destroyed his creator and is all revved up and ready to wreak havoc. Stay tuned.

To continue with our double theme, Grant/Julian the clone made the huge mistake of rejecting Lex and trying to create a relationship with Lionel, so Lex did some pre-emptive assassination. Wow, that was dark. I was starting to like Grant, too. (Poor Lois. Another boyfriend bites the dust.) Why didn't Lex go all the way and have Lionel killed, too, while he was at it? Probably because there's still a part of Lex that wants his father's love and approval, and will never, ever get it. That scene on the balcony was just so sad, like a darker version of Lex's grief over Julian in earlier episodes. It made me realize that I've lost the emotional connection I used to feel to Lex as a character. I think whatever remained of good in Lex is now completely gone.

Dax-Ur was possibly interesting, but gone too soon. You know, with Zor-El and Lara and Brainiac and Bizarro and Kara, we've just had superpeople all over the place this season. Except most of them are gone now, and we're down to three. Unless Bizarro isn't gone forever. Maybe there's still a chance for Bizarro and Lana. We can only hope.

Bits and pieces:

— Clark's "vacation" was explained. Jor-El had him trapped in the Fortress.

— Lana, who was obviously channeling Charlie Eppes from Numbers, was able to use mathematical triangulation to figure out where Brainiac was.

— Dax-Ur was played by Marc McClure, who was Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve Superman movies. I like how they keep bringing Superman alumni into this show. It's so much fun for the fans.

— Nobody noticed Dax-Ur's huge blue bracelet in backwater Arizona?

— Clark wore the more traditional Superman colors: blue shirt and a red jacket. Bizarro wore the reverse, red shirt and blue jacket.

— Chloe referred to Clark's "baby blues." I always find that jarring since Tom Welling's eyes are noticeably green.

Quotes:

Lana: "You have a lot of powers, Clark. But last I heard, flying wasn't one of them."
Yes, everyone can fly except Clark.

Brainiac: "Try a good sunscreen. Wide-brimmed hat, perhaps."

Bizarro: "Are you telling me the truth?"
Brainiac: "Lying to you would be like lying to a mollusk. There's no point."

Chloe: "Another Kryptonian? Geez, Clark. I'm starting to think that Earth was your home planet's top tourist destination."

Good one. Three out of four stars,

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.

2 comments:

  1. [A]ll he did was boink the female lead and avoid direct sunlight. (James Marsters must have thought that sounded familiar.)

    Many of your statements make me smile, but this one had me wiping tears. Absolutely hilarious.

    I know I should, but I haven't completely given up on Lex yet. The scene on the balcony was so sad -- the second time he has mourned the same brother the same way. But, he does seem to have hit the point of no return.

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  2. Bizarro: "Are you telling me the truth?"
    Brainiac: "Lying to you would be like lying to a mollusk. There's no point."
    Lmao, it's such a stupid (and stock, at this point) kind of rude remark for something that made me snicker a lot longer than it deserves. Maybe it's Bizarro's grinning in response.
    This was kind of a big episode since I incorrectly remembered these events having their own episodes. By which I mean Bizarro's return and Julian's assassination. For that reason it also seemed smaller because Brainiac was in this too. It was good but I wish they kept things simmering. I would've liked an entire episode of Bizarro trying to keep everyone in the dark and the enjoyable weirdness of apparently providing something for Lana that Clark can't. Which I don't get... isn't Clark giving himself over to her completely?
    Shout out to the episode-ending montage... such a cool song. But if it's still pretty what with all these leaves, we'll be fine, oh... and supervise.

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