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Smallville: Tempest

Lex: "You just fired twenty-five hundred people and blamed it on me."

So what was this? A triple cliffhanger? Actually, I think it was a quadruple cliffhanger. This is about as cliffhangery as you can get.

1. They left Lionel trapped beneath a jagged post. Will Lex save him, or let him die? Letting him die would (conveniently) solve all of Lex's problems, but Lex may not be ready to do that.

2. Jonathan was chasing evil reporter Roger Nixon right into the storm. Nixon knows Clark's secret, and he was holding out for the highest bidder, of course, because you know that an evil character who knows Clark's secret is going to die a premature death or conveniently lose his memory. I'm betting on an early demise. Maybe Jonathan will accidentally knock him into a tractor prong or something.

3. Martha was alone in the storm cellar with the newly glowing and possibly dangerous space ship, after the octagonal key zapped itself right into the ship all by itself. Will she live? Will she die? Will she take a trip to Pluto? Will she start glowing in the dark?

4. Lana was actually airborne as well as trapped inside a truck, which was in turn trapped inside a tornado. Shades of The Wizard of Oz. Will Clark and his tux save her in time?

This was also a Whitney-heavy episode, which was fine because they finally wrote him out. I never cared about Whitney as a character, probably since they started him out stringing Clark up in a field. Now that Clark has (to some extent) committed to Chloe – and he was wonderfully romantic with her – Lana may finally be free of Whitney. Except that after Whitney apologized to Clark for being a perennial jerk, he had the nerve to ask Clark to "look after Lana" (translated, don't date Lana while I'm gone). Once a jerk, always a jerk. This will probably serve as a good plot device to keep Clark away from Lana awhile longer.

Bits and pieces:

— Remy Zero, who did the "Somebody Save Me" theme song, were playing at the formal.

— A little symbolism. Whitney left, and took Lana's K necklace with him. Two barriers to Clark getting close to Lana gone at the same time.

— More symbolism. The blood that obscured half of Lex's face made him look almost like an evil supervillain wearing a mask.

— Major slashbunny alert: Lex tied Clark's bow tie for him.

— For the spring formal, Clark went with all black. I think this was the first time we saw Clark in something other than red or blue.

— Clark's truck blew up, with Clark in it. That's one point. (And no bruises on Clark this time; he's getting stronger as he matures.) Lana crashed her truck in the storm, that's two points. Two trucks destroyed in one episode. I again wonder about car insurance rates in Smallville.

Quotes:

Lana: "One day he's worried about his English paper. And the next, he's putting on a uniform and saving the world."

Lana: "Do you have everything?"
Whitney: "You're only allowed one bag."
Lana: "I'd never make it as a Marine."

Lionel: "You're not my enemy. You're my son."
Lex: "I never saw the distinction."

Three stars? Three and a half?

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. Always thought that this was a good way to end the first season. As you point out, Billie, lots of unresolved plot points to carry us into next year.

    But, for me personally, any episode in which we get Tom Welling not only in a tux, but shirtless? It's hard to care that he hardly looks sixteen. For these details alone, three and half. :-)

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  2. While not as much fun as Buffy's prom in Season 3, it was an enjoyable final episode. Kind of lukewarm on the series as a whole at this point. Lex and Lionel are great, but the Clark family is a bit insipid and predictable, and the teenage unrequited love stories are a bit limp. Maybe they could have made the story a little spicier by having Whitney in love with Pete to complete the Pete likes Chloe who likes Clark who likes Lana who likes Whitney circle. Not sad to see the end of Whitney (though he was actually nice to Lana at times in the last couple of episodes), but is Chloe going to go away?

    The visuals with Lana and the tornado were fun, though tornadoes don't combine like that. Must be another kryptonite thing.

    An oddity of the series for me is its curiously dark view of human nature other than the Kents. Clark is selfless to the point of irritating. I don't even think helping keep Lana and Whitney's relationship going is the right thing to do objectively, given that he's such a jerk. But it seems like virtually anybody else who gets superhuman powers turns homicidal. I guess it's consistent with superman mythology though.

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