So I had myself ready to watch Smallville Friday night so that I could actually have this review posted over the weekend and what happens? The episode is pre-empted for the baseball game. I am just not destined to have this thing shelled out in a reasonable amount of time. I know….excuses, excuses.
This past episode of Smallville continued an interesting trend that has appeared throughout this season that I’m beginning to take notice of. There have been several recent episodes in which a character brings Chloe’s dehumanization to light, resulting in her having a moment of reflection. But then by the next episode or so, she’s right back to where she was. I mean, there was the Absolute Justice special. The bed and breakfast episode. They need to have her deny these allegations (like she initially did with Clark when she would deflect his comments by reminding him how helpful her methods are), or she needs to begin to change her ways. And let’s be honest, after seeing the extreme measures it takes for her to even enter her home, I think she’s long passed the point of denial.
That being said, it was a fun episode that placed some of the attention on the supporting characters in Clark’s life. Let’s start with the primary pair, Chloe and Tess. As I noted in my last review, I think this tandem make better, more logical adversaries than Tess and Lois. Along with their personalities and skills fitting a bit better, I think both of these characters can see themselves in the other, and that began to show in this latest episode. I think it’s fair to say that Tess looks at Chloe and sees what her life could have been if circumstances were a bit different. They possess the same skills, and they’re both working behind the scenes so that people more powerful than themselves can save the world. Yet Chloe works directly alongside these heroes, and they willingly trust her with their lives and identities.
At the same time, I think Chloe views Tess as somebody she may very well become if things don’t change. She’s alone, without any personal connections, and is completely consumed with her work and hidden life. The only time she experiences anything close to a relationship is when she uses her body to sexually appease the men in her life. Ironically, this is the relationship Chloe has with Oliver. A relationship he would willingly take to a more personal, loving level. Yet she is the one who insists that this remains an emotionless, friends with benefits deal.
So, yes, locking these two in a room together worked really well. Although I did have a really tough time believing that Chloe could honestly kill Tess. I mean, I understand that she’s untrustworthy, but has she done anything so awful that she deserves to be killed? She’s known Clark’s secret for quite some time, yet her decisions have been questionable at worse. I’m not opposed to the dehumanization of Chloe – as long as it’s going someplace – but I have a tough time buying that she could murder somebody because they might potentially be a threat. And if I could nitpick, I didn’t much care for her tough girl routine either. Tess is supposed to be a trained agent, yet I’m to believe she was intimidated by a computer geek? It used to be that Lois was the only female that could take care of herself. Now they’re all Rambo.
Oliver also got a bit of the spotlight this episode, interacting mostly with the Kryptonians (and that includes Clark). I actually quite enjoyed his interaction with Clark, and his assurances that Zod and the Kryptonians aren’t his only family. And I also really appreciated the way Clark stood strong in his sympathetic position with the Kryptonians. He really has come a long way. But in the end, while Oliver may not have played a very time consuming role in this episode, his portion of the story was the catalyst to making Clark realize that Zod is the villain of this particular story. The straw that broke the camel’s back, obviously, was when Zod killed the mother of his unborn child (and honestly, the scene where Zod listened to his baby’s beating heart slowly fade away was surprisingly heartbreaking).
So we are inching closer and closer to the finale of this great season, but there are more than a few things I’m hoping for as this season comes to a close. First off, enough of this “no tights, no flight” BS. The series has LONG outgrown these “commandments” that were initiated when the show premiered. Who could have possibly guessed that Smallville would be on the air for a decade? At this point, refusing to allow Clark to fly is a detriment to the series and the story. Secondly, I hope that Clark begins to revert back to the red/blue look. Don’t get me wrong, his black costume is pretty bad ass – and I’m not sure a bright red trench coat would work – but his current motif just doesn’t fit his character. When the season began, Clark was in a dark place, so it made sense for his wardrobe to match that. But at this point, he’s virtually the only well adjusted, level headed character on the show. As such, his costume should reflect that. Besides which, Superman always represented hope, not fear. And finally, between Zod’s official turn as a villain and all these visits to the Fortress, we’re just begging to hear the voice of Jor-El. I actually wouldn’t mind hearing a verbal smackdown between these one-time friends.
Anyway, I always talk about how much I hate when people nonchalantly drop things that I would consider a spoiler, so here’s a fair warning. Typically speaking, my philosophy is that if it’s in the preview for next week, its fair game. But some people take their spoiler-avoidance even further than I do, and they choose not to watch previews either. So the rant below is going to reveal things that were seen in the preview for this coming week’s episode. Stop reading if you don’t want to be spoiled.
So my fears were seemingly confirmed and it appears that Martha Kent is the Red Queen. As I mentioned in a previous column, I really don’t like this idea. Granted, it may play out better than I expect, but the appeal of characters like Martha and Jonathan Kent was that they kept Clark grounded. In the midst of developing me, extraordinary abilities, and saving the world, and tangling with evil doers, Clark still came home to a father who worked with his hands and a mother who baked pies. Fittingly, it really humanized the character of Clark Kent. In the past few years, we’ve seen virtually every original character on Smallville become completely dehumanized. For better or worse, Lana and Chloe barely resemble the characters they played in the early years. And this goes beyond character development. Lana was once a misunderstood, surprisingly complex beautiful girl who everybody thought had it all. But when we last saw her, so was consumed with revenge and literally had herself transformed into a super powerful entity with inhuman strength and speed. And Chloe – she was once a bright eyed, exuberant bright girl who cared about her friends, was a little dorky, and was too inquisitive for her own good. Now….well, now she barely even speaks like a human being, and her entire life is consumed with living behind a computer screen as she watches others live their lives.
So I guess I’m just a bit disappointed that sweet, motherly Martha Kent is being transformed from a flannel and jeans wearing farmer’s wife to a woman wearing expensive suits, driving around in a limo, and leading an interplanetary battle. Don’t get me wrong, I think this season has been fantastic – and I hate judging something before seeing how it plays out – but this only seems to dehumanize the series even more.
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, 24, Heroes, and Smallville. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
