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Smallville: Lara

Chloe: "You and Kara are from different worlds. Just be careful, okay?"
Jimmy: "Chloe, Kara's from Minnesota. It's not like she's from another planet."

What was wrong with this episode? It felt too much like a poorly written comic book. The whole melodramatic Zor-El/Lara thing felt like Lex and Lana, only less fun and with Kryptonians. And the Lara/Kara tour of the Kent farm just felt odd. The direct portal from Krypton to the caves explained where Jor-El came from in that episode set in the 1950s, but even though they carefully told us that the portals were destroyed by Zod, it still felt like a cheap writing trick to me. Yes, just popping over to Earth for the day. No big deal.

Or maybe I just didn't want another entire episode about Kara. I want to like Kara. Really, I do. I like how she's so out there with her powers; she throws them around like a drunken superhero. But I keep getting impatient with the focus on her. I miss episodes centered around the characters I know and love – i.e., Clark, Chloe, Lois, Lex, and Lionel. I also think I'm subconsciously bothered that Kara's existence makes Clark less special. And I've always wanted to see Clark fly. Seeing Kara doing it all the time when Clark still can't just feels wrong.

At least we got a lot of Lionel, who has already recovered from his horrendous ordeal. (Except he kept his right hand in a glove, or in his pocket.) My jaw dropped when he and Clark actually hugged. Clark lied to him about which side of the family Kara was from, but Lionel rescued both Kryptonian cousins from the evil Kryptonite IV drip so that secret is already out of the bag. That was a fun scene.

In other news, Lana started a charitable foundation for meteor freaks... after being constantly victimized by them for six years. I'm sure it's part of her evil plan, whatever it is. At least she still helped Clark find Kara – without telling him about the mondo surveillance equipment. And how about Lex charging to Kara's rescue? Was he sincere? The same guy who experimented on meteor freaks as a hobby?

Bits and pieces:

— Helen Slater, the original movie Supergirl, played Lara. What is Clark going to do with Lara's DNA? Clone her? And can aliens even have DNA?

— We know now that you don't trust Jimmy with a secret.

— Kryptonite handcuffs. Nice touch.

— The Dept. of Homeland Security Nazis used the Summerholt technology that makes people relive memories. The same thing they used on Lex. A little nice continuity there.

— Lovely photo of Annette O'Toole. I miss her. Lara's photo hidden behind Martha's nicely symbolized their relationship.

— Zor-El seemed abusive toward Kara. And he never let her leave Kandor, wherever that is. Was. Is he still alive, too? Are they setting him up as this season's big villain?

— The 1986 Kents must have come home from church and found the door blown off the hinges. With not a cloud in the sky.

— At the Daily Planet, one of the staff was pasting up a headline: "Lindbergh baby kidnapped." I think that was supposed to be a joke.

Lex: "You spend as much time protecting Clark as you do pushing me away. Exactly whose father are you?"
Lex has a point. It's like Lionel has given up on Lex.

Dan liked this one and thought it should get three stars. I'm leaning more toward two,

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.

1 comment:

  1. I do not remember the Kara-Lex white knight thing at all and I find it pretty funny, and fairly interesting. I also like the current Clark-Lana situation. Without the constant pining for what can't be it actually works as a background setting and it makes the Kent home feel at least less lonely than when Martha was the only remaining parent and it's easy enough for me to ignore the undercurrent of Lana keeping Clark in the dark.

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