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Smallville: Zod

Clark: "My father sends his regards."

I wanted another Lex/Clark superfight, and I sure got one. And I have to say, it was big, big fun seeing Lex flying. Clark and Lex barreling through the air in each other's arms was oddly romantic. They held hands, too.

The level of sexual threat between Zod and Lana was intense. I have so enjoyed Lana since they paired her with Lex, and she came off very strong here, very femme fatale. (Mata Lana.) Her quiet tears as she was making out with Zod strongly implied that she loved Lex. I do want Lana to love Lex, and I hope this little incident won't put a cramp in their relationship. I also want Lex to turn out to be a good guy in the end, but I know I'm not getting my wish.

(I had a thought. Zod wanted Lana to have his children, which was mildly shuddery. Wouldn't they be Lex's children, though, not Zod's?)

Definite romantic vibes for Clark in two brand new directions. In the hospital scene, he took Lois's hand. And was it me, or did Clark look disappointed when Chloe brushed him off for the brand new Jimmy Olsen, whom we have already learned was the one who relieved her of her virginity a couple of seasons ago? I'll have a hard time seeing Jimmy as positive, because even with sparkling eyes and winning smile I look at him and see the character he played on Veronica Mars.

I do have to bitch a little, because the long arm of coincidence was a bit too long. The jet containing Martha and Lois crashed right next to Clark's Fortress of Solitude? Yeah, I know, Jor-El pulled it there. But how convenient was it that the first person Clark ran into in the Phantom Zone was his father's gorgeous young office assistant, waiting to make certain Clark found the way out? Come on. Plus they stole the "let's create Krypton on Earth" plot from Superman Returns.

But other than that, this was a spectacular episode, and definitely one of my favorites in the entire series.

Bits and pieces:

— The cast is nearly the same, minus one. John Schneider is now gone, and John Glover got a "with," before Annette O'Toole. The credit sequence had some cool new snippets.

— I want Martha and Lionel together, nearly as much as I want Lex and Lana together, and that heartfelt hug implied I might get my wish. Those Luthors. Gotta love those bad boys. (Sorry about that, Jonathan Kent.) Will a Jor-El-less Lionel still be a good Lionel, though?

— The Phantom Zone looked like Iceland on acid. I bet we'll be seeing it again. We're certainly going to be seeing those Bad Kryptonian phantoms (were there three of them?) that just escaped. More fun than meteor freaks, and most likely a lot scarier.

— Lois thought the Fortress was heaven. The Fortress of Solitude is now dead, and Jor-El appears to be gone forever. At least he saved the world before he left.

— When Clark arrived back on Earth, ragged, bloody, and angry, I thought, "Jesus is back and is he pissed." (Superman has always been a Jesus symbol.) More Jesus imagery, too, when Zod nailed Lana's hand to the wall.

— Loved Lex's long, black leather coat. Shades of Spike. Jor-El said that all copies of Milton Fine were dead. Does that mean no James Marsters this season?

— Clark met Jimmy Olsen for the first time. And Jimmy called him "CK."

— Raya was pretty cool. Did she really die? She said that some were disembodied spirits, and others had their bodies. So can people die in the Phantom Zone?

— The construct that came out of Lex looked quite a bit like a cartoon version of Zod played by Terence Stamp.

— Lex now has a burned Kryptonian hard drive to obsess about. Lex had the Superman symbol burned into his hand, too, although that might have been temporary. Wouldn't it be cool if the Superman symbol was permanently burned into Lex's hand? Sounds familiar, too. And that was one big hole in Lana's hand. Watch it be gone in the next episode.

— Zod threw Lana across the study. Clark and Zod went through one of Lex's stained glass windows together. Is that one point or two? Zod threw Clark into a tree, and then across a field. It was a busy episode, and I probably missed stuff, but five points.

— And the Kent farm was destroyed again. It gets destroyed pretty much every season, though.

— Chloe: "You're Jor-El's oracle. I mean, don't you have access to some sort of Kryptonian-English dictionary?"

Absolutely spectacular. Four 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.

3 comments:

  1. And was it me, or did Clark look disappointed when Chloe brushed him off for the brand new Jimmy Olsen...

    Not just you! I just stared at the screen thinking, really? Now? I love the fact that just as he might become interested, she's off with someone else. Besides, I want them to just stay friends.

    What a great episode. The Clark/Lex fight is my favourite of all time. And, the Lana/Lex romance just keeps heating up.

    Agree that it will be much better if Clark fights phantoms this year instead of meteor freaks. Fingers crossed...

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  2. "Superman has always been a Jesus symbol."

    That is actually a recent characterization that has only been around the last 40 years. Superman was originally an amalgama of Samson, Moses, Hercules, with his origin closely resembling that of Moses. He was rocketed away from certain death by his parents, much like how Moses was sent via a wicker basket down the nile river away from certain death. Moses was a champion of the oppressed, fighting for the freedoms and safety of his countrymen when others ignored or failed them, the same goes for Superman fighting for those who couldn't fend or stand for themselves. That was his characterization for a good 40 years before Mario Puzo introduced the Christian elements in the first Superman film.

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  3. Ahh this is the first version of the new opening credits style I really like. Lionel's segment now involves him narrowing escaping danger and looking harried heh heh heh which is exactly the kind of undignified spot he deserves. And they used that shot of Lana being cute in the Fortress, which feels very at odds with where her character is for this season, but maybe that's intentional. I also like them using the shot of Lex seeing Clark superspeed up ahead of him in that fateful car crash. And, though this isn't a new addition, I only now notice that nobody gives bedroom eyes like Lois does to the viewer in her spot LOL

    ReplyDelete

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