So I FINALLY got my Kristin Kreuk/Laura Vandervoort scene together, and what does the director do? He uses a series of crazy ass low panning camera angles so that you can’t even see the both of them at the same time. Laaaaame!
Speaking of Kristin Kreuk, via her Girls By Design Facebook page, she is officially done filming this season of Smallville, and she’ll be doing a select few episodes next season. I think she is tremendously talented, but honestly, I think this is for the best. Her character really, really stunts the growth of the series, so having her leave is the best possible scenario. Again, I think she’s absolutely gorgeous, and very talented, but her character really hinders the show.
Case in point: During the aforementioned Lana/Kara scene, Lana chastises Kara for going through Clark’s things. Keep in mind that Kara’s intentions weren’t in the least bit malicious (and Lana knew this). She wasn’t trying to find out any dirt on Clark, she was just trying to understand herself (she’s suffering from amnesia). Then Lana arrives, saying, “I don’t think Clark would appreciate you going through his things.” Yes, the girl who has Lex’s entire mansion under surveillance (Hell, she’s got a whole secret room set up JUST so she can spy on him) is judging somebody else for violating somebody else’s privacy. Not to mention that just last season, when the Kent family was nice enough to take her in (even though she was treating Clark like crap and was engaged to his worst enemy), she immediately starts going through Clark’s dresser drawers. This is another reason why she needs to be removed from the show: Her character is quite simply poorly written.
With the “good” news comes the bad, unfortunately, and that’s that Michael Rosenbaum, who does a flawless, phenomenal job portraying Lex Luthor, may be leaving the show as well. Next to Clark (obviously), this has to be considered the most debilitating lost. While this show is at its surface about how Clark Kent becomes Superman, at its core it’s really just as much about how Lex Luthor develops into this diabolical mastermind. I honestly cannot imagine this show without Lex, so I certainly hope they can entice him to stick around for another year.
It’s almost too bad that they already screwed the pooch with the Zod storyline, because that may have been a suitable conclusion to the series. I’ve been yelling from the rooftop that for quite some time now that by the end of the season (at the latest), Clark must learn to fly. With that in mind, how perfect might it have been if, for the final season, fully empowered Clark and Kara had to save earth (not just Smallville or Metropolis) from Zod? It would really have worked because, theoretically, Zod would be stronger than Clark and Kara, so it’s not like these two super entities would be unstoppable, like they would with a human antagonist.
It would be a pipe dream, but imagine if they were able to nab Gene Hackman (who famously played Lex in the Superman movies) to portray Zod? I know that would never happen, but I’m really grasping at straws trying to think of who else they can take advantage of that has a legacy with the Superman mythos (and yes, I do know Terrence Stamp – who played Zod in the movies – provides the voice of Jor-El). I don’t think Michael Landes has anything else on his schedule, so maybe he’d do. Although I’m not so sure that the one-time Jimmy Olsen would be perceived as an intimidating super villain.
Speaking of Jimmy Olsen (geez, this column is flowing like a river), I really thought he was one of the MVP’s of last week’s episode. I’m glad he and Chloe are back together, because they seemed like such a natural fit. At the same time, his relationship with Kara seemed very manufactured and contrived. This episode did a nice job of righting that situation, without making anybody look like the “bad guy.”
And while I criticized the writers’ less than stellar portrayal of Lana, I thought they did an excellent job illustrating the dichotomy between Clark and Kara and Jimmy and Chloe (I especially appreciated the subtlety). With the former, Clark is keeping secrets from Kara to protect her. Yet with the latter relationship, Jimmy is eager to reveal Pete’s abilities in order to protect Chloe, in a roundabout way. If people understand that not all meteor-infected people are murderous lunatics, perhaps Chloe wouldn’t feel like she has to live in secret. For that matter, I also found Jimmy’s motives exceptionally interesting. In the past, the desire to “out” somebody’s ability has always been for less than noble reasons. With Jimmy, his intentions were entirely altruistic and not in the least bit mean spirited. Indeed, at the conclusion of the episode, when Pete reneged on revealing himself, Jimmy wasn’t the least bit resentful. Jimmy has really been a wonderful addition to the cast, and now that he and Chloe are back together, I’m hoping to see more Jimmy/Lois interactions. For that matter, this series as a whole could use a whole lot more Lois and a whole lot less (lot less?) Lana.
The big story of the episode, however, was Pete’s return. As a side note, I’m glad they provided some explanation as to why he seemingly fell off the face of the earth, because it really rubbed me the wrong way when he pretty coldly told Clark that his dad wouldn’t approve of his relationship with Lionel, when it didn’t even appear that Pete went to Jonathan’s funeral. I know that we’re supposed to recognize that it was the Kryptonite talking, but it was the type of comment that would be hard to forgive, especially if my best friend had previously dropped off the face of the earth. By offering that Pete cut off all ties to Clark because it became too difficult to maintain a friendship with him while keeping his secret makes Pete’s Kryptonite-laden actions at least somewhat excusable.
Another thing I’m glad they acknowledged is how much things have changed in Pete’s absence. I mean, when he left, Jonathan was alive, he and Lana weren’t together, nobody else knew Clark’s secret, Lionel was evil, Lex was good…. Upon his return, Chloe, Lana, and LIONEL all know Clark’s secret, Clark and Lex are no longer friends, and both of Clark’s parents are gone (his father to death, his mother to a government position). And while I immensely enjoy “good” Lionel, it does seem peculiar that people such as Lana and Chloe, who have had rather hostile and borderline dangerous relationships with Lionel, seem so chummy with him (I purposely excluded Clark from this argument, since Lionel at least provides him with information about his Kryptonian past). Pete’s brief appearance showed the viewers that not all of Lionel’s past sins have been forgiven.
Perhaps the coolest part of the entire episode was that an actual company (Stride gum) was used as the catalyst of the main story. I mean, it was obviously a very blatant episode-long commercial, but it was effective (and most importantly not distracting) at the same time. It reminded me a lot more of Fed Ex in Castaway than, say, Oreo cookies in 7th Heaven.
While I’m interested in seeing where Lex’s manipulation of Kara leads, I’m also hoping that they don’t draw it out for too long. With this season already shortened due to the writers’ strike, and Lex possibly being written out as a central character at the end of the season, I’d rather him not be tied down to this ultimately minor and insignificant story. I think this is the type of arc that can be adequately developed and resolved within a few episodes, so I’m holding out hope that the writers don’t over think it too much. As an aside, while I criticized the Kara/Lana scene earlier, I will admit that Lana’s lie about the symbols was pretty convincing, to the point that it seemed unnatural that Kara didn’t believe her.
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