They started with the shower scene from Psycho and worked their way through several other horror cliches, like the crazy serial killer who thinks he's "saving" his victims, and a ghost possessing the living in order to expose her killer. Mixing genres can occasionally be fun, and a lot of the horror stuff was cartoon-like, which was appropriate for Smallville. But Dan and I actually started MSTying this episode, and that's never a good sign.
There was some fun stuff. I wanted Clark to believe Chloe and take her out of the hospital, and son of a gun, he did. I liked Chloe and Lois both showing their love for each other by trying to draw the attention of Michael the Maniac Orderly. I also liked what Lois did with the knife; that took nerve. There was a nice resolution with Chloe finally going to see her mother in the end, too.
As usual, my favorite scenes were with Lex and Lionel. And as usual, Lex had ulterior motives; he wanted Chloe in Belle Reve in order to get Clark's secret out of her. (Has everyone in the cast done a stint in Belle Reve by now?) Chloe/Gretchen hitting Lex with the stun gun was fun. And Lionel again "checked up" on Martha. He acted completely pleasant, concerned, and benign, but still managed to give me the shudders. I adore John Glover. He's soooo good.
Bits and pieces:
— John Schneider did not appear, being dead and all, but he was still in the credits. Contractual issues? Jonathan's not returning from the dead, is he?
— We got a "Parental discretion is advised" warning. That usually doesn't happen on Smallville.
— This episode featured both Lois and Lana for a change.
— Martha is considering taking the senate seat. Are they writing her out?
— Clark is getting comfortable doing research at the Daily Planet. Shades of future Clark.
— Lana and Clark do not appear to be mending their fences. That's a good thing.
— We never saw the face of Chloe's mother. I'm spacing. Was she in an early episode? I've seen all of Smallville, but the early episodes only once.
— We got a fairly close look at Chloe's stun gun license.
— Loved Lois's do-it-yourself exorcism, or whatever she was doing with the aura-cleansing and the sage.
— The new sheriff was mentioned, but not seen.
Quotes:
Chloe: "Clark, I'm a writer. If I was going to kill myself, I'd leave one helluva suicide note."
Lex: "How hard can it be to find one college professor from a dirt state?"
I hope this means that James Marsters is returning soon.
Lois: "If it makes her feel better, I don't care if Daffy Duck whacks her with a mallet."
This one didn't thrill me. Two 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.
I think because the main cast was contracted for 5 seasons, including Mr. Schneider, they are contractually obligated to credit him for the full season, even if he didn't make a physical appearance. The same goes for Erica Durance, not even in a handful of episodes this season but she's credited for every one of them.
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