Smallville – Episode 8-6 Review

I’ve been raving about two things this season: The interactions between Clark and Lois, and Clark Kent in a suit. This episode lacked both. So how did it up hold?

Surprisingly well, to be honest.

We saw the return of Martian Manhunter, now acting as a detective now that he no longer possesses his abilities. By the way, I really, really appreciated the fact that they at least TRIED to explain how Martian Manhunter just magically arrived on the scene and became detective, even though the explanation they provided couldn’t have offered less information.

While I’m still not completely sold on this whole Davis/Doomsday thing (mostly because I fear that one season of build for what is supposed to be Superman’s greatest battle is rushing it a bit), I absolutely loved the interaction between Clark and Davis at the hospital. Absolutely wonderfully written, and excellently performed by both actors. It was just so multi-layered and fun. And even though you know – or at the very least sensed – that Davis was responsible for what had happened, you couldn’t help but see things from his perspective as well. Here he is, suddenly getting interrogated by some guy that he KNOWS is hiding something. And I really liked the fact that Davis recognized that Clark was at every crime scene before it was even reported by the police. It was one of those great, tense scenes in which neither character raises their voice. It was a great preview for their eventual rivalry.

I am concerned, though, that they’re making Davis just a bit TOO likeable. I mean, it took them, like, four years of subtle evil deeds in order to make the fans accept Lex as a diabolical fiend. This episode did a great job of establishing that Davis, in his conscious state, is a genuinely good guy who WANTS to help humanity. And he clearly feels terrible for the crimes he had committed, even if he wasn’t in control. As I noted above, they basically have a season to make Clark and Davis enemies, and make Davis into a character so deplorable that we believe he would brutally murder the man that becomes Superman. For all intents and purposes, we have 20 somewhat episodes to absolutely despise Davis.

In just a bit of a segue, I can’t help but wonder why they even bothered having Chloe and Jimmy get engaged. The two rarely share any scenes together. Chloe spends virtually every scene either working alongside Clark or building a flirtatious relationship with Davis, while Jimmy spends most of his time with Lois (an awesome pairing, by the way). At this point, their engagement hasn’t really added to either character or the show as a whole, so – again, at this point – I can’t help but scratch my head.

And speaking of Chloe, I’m happy they finally did something with the Isis Foundation. Since it began, it’s basically just become a new place for them to meet and investigate in private, since most of the show now takes place in Metropolis. It was nice to actually see – instead of simply hearing about – what services the foundation actually offers. It was one of those little touches that really goes a long way.

By the way, I must commend the writers for some wonderful, well, writing. They did a great job of foreshadowing when Clark used his speed reading talents to memorize the list of people who had attended Chloe’s meeting. He then used those same skills to get information from Davis’ medical records. A lot of shows lack that sort of attention to detail.

And, finally, perhaps my favorite part of the episode was one of the final scenes, when Martian Manhunter alerted Clark that he needs to begin to be a bit more discrete about his abilities and constantly coming to people’s rescue. This actually alludes to a point I had brought up in an old Smallville column from a few years ago. In the early seasons of the series, Clark would be exceptionally cautious about making sure that people wouldn’t see him use his powers, like by looking both ways before using his super speed. Around season four or so, he wasn’t even trying to hide it, as he’d blatantly use his heat vision in plain sight. This, I hope, is bringing Clark one step closer to donning the classic eye glasses.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, Heroes, Prison Break, and Smallville. You can visit his blog at A Case of the Blog.

Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into various popular television shows. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.