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Smallville: Prototype

Lex: "If you ever betrayed me, I don't know what I'd do."
Lana: "I'd never hurt the man I love."

She's spying, and he's lying. Okay, she's lying, too.

The Lex/Lana marriage is on the skids. I think they're even setting up the possibility that he might kill her. (Maybe because I keep fantasizing that they're going to write her out.) Lex told Lana that he didn't know what he'd do if she betrayed him, and of course, she already has. And Lex was absolutely diabolical, experimenting on people and taking out hits on senators while still apparently convinced he's doing it all to save humanity from meteor freaks. He even has a satellite, like Oliver Queen. Dueling satellites. Cue the banjos.

Strong episode for Lois, whom I've missed these last few weeks. Wes Keenan, the not-at-all-Frankensteiny supersoldier, was played by Tahmoh Penikett, one of my favorite guys from Battlestar Galactica. He did big and scary real good, but in truth, he's a very good actor, and I think he gave Wes as much depth as he could. I wish they'd given him more than one episode. I wanted more Clark vs. Wes. Their clash was over too soon.

Clark told Lionel, "If I find out that you had anything to do with Lana marrying Lex, the gloves will come off." Recommending Martha for the Senate seat may have defused that one. Did Martha Kent ever become a U.S. senator in the comics? I haven't a clue. But Lionel is still acting like a future stepfather. In the opening scene, Lionel was watching the vid of the Patagonian Zoner and making notes in Kryptonian. Is Lionel channeling Jor-El again, or did he just remember his Kryptonian language immersion?

I'm sure we'll hear more about this one in next week's season finale, when absolutely everything is going to hit the fan.

Bits and pieces:

— Lex spent three years and a billion dollars on this project. The billion dollar man. That final shot of all of the waiting supersoldier guinea pigs reminded me of the money shot in the old medical thriller, Coma.

— Lana has nearly recovered from her gunshot wound, and is using it as an excuse to avoid sleeping with Lex. I'm sure he's realized that the gunshot wound isn't the reason.

— Lois was in love with Wes when they were in junior high, and now she's out for Lex's blood.

— The English words Lionel scribbled under the Kryptonian symbols were "Power, corruption, mirror."

— The corrupt Senator Burke that Martha is replacing reminded me of Fred Thompson.

— We got a little touch of the Superman movies when Clark talked about leasing the back forty to Ben Hubbard.

— "Justice and Doom, Part four." I am so totally uninterested.

— There was much body tossing. I spaced out and didn't keep count.

Quotes:

Lionel: "You should try picking up the phone occasionally. Might be quicker. Or maybe not."
Clark: "What do you know about Lana?"
Lionel: "Letting go. Never been one of your strong points, has it?"

Lois: "Distance is good for the relationship. That is what all the guys who have moved away from me have said."

Chloe: "Don't you think that's a hero-to-hero phone call?"

Chloe: "What? You think the king of ulterior motives may have something up his Armani sleeve?"

The standard good Smallville episode. 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.

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