Smallville – Tales from the Darkseid

After a second week slump, Smallville bounced back in a big way this week with a fairly Lois-centric episode that also laid the groundwork for more danger courtesy of Darkseid, more development for Clark and hopefully more appearances by Kara. That Laura Vandervoort is making a career out of playing aliens on TV, but she’s charming enough to be either the co-savior of Earth here, or possibly an agent of its destruction on V.

This episode really did what some of the best science fiction and fantasy shows from the past have done, and that is take something current, fictionalize it and make it very thought-provoking. With the appearance of radio talk show host Gordon Godfrey, we got a character that was obviously a mix of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and their ilk. A mix of people who started life on the fringe but became media sensations with their outrageous radio and television personae, tapping into fears and concerns of a populace that is bombarded on a daily basis with supposed threats from the people who have vowed to protect us. I don’t want to turn this into a political forum, but I couldn’t avoid seeing Godfrey’s calls to expose the vigilantes as akin to the Becks and Limbaughs of the world, making their wild claims about President Obama’s birthplace, religious beliefs, hatred of America, etc., and how easy it is to whip a crowd of frightened people into an angry mob. If anything, this episode really held a mirror up to our society and showed how powerful the media really is. I find that to be very frightening.

But back to the show. I was really happy to see Kara return, but her message to Kal-El certainly wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Being told daddy doesn’t have faith in you so he sends your cousin to do what you were meant to do has to hurt. But Kara saw that and really tried to push Kal-El to take control of his powers, and wouldn’t you know it, we got to witness Kal-El’s first flight this week! Pretty awesome, however he still needs to work on that landing. More was revealed about the darkness that lurks within Kal-El as Darkseid could only possess those that were not pure of heart, which explains why Godfrey was such an easy target. Pure as snow Kara managed to save the day before Kal-El became the monster he feared, and now we know that even Lois Lane has a pure heart (not to mention being a mistress of disguise). Awwww.

The references to Superman lore were nice touches, and Kara appearing in a dark wig and horn-rimmed glasses was cute. But her intervention with Darkseid and Kal-El was apparently only temporary, so Clark still has that to worry about. And thanks to Godfrey, Oliver has done the unthinkable, revealing his identity to the press. How will the world react to this news? Will other heroes come out? How many more times will Lois get hit in the head before she completely forgets everything she knows about Clark? Only time will tell and as long as they can make the rest of the season this action-packed and thought-provoking, I’ll keep watching.

“Break out the marshmallows, Clark.  I’m gonna roast this turkey.” – Lois referring to Gordon Godfrey

“”Bye bye, Barbie Dream Desk.” – Lois clearing Cat’s stuff from her desk

“We are so different. Not a bad different, I just don’t know how his chocolate and my peanut butter are going to mix.” – Lois to Oliver about her relationship with Clark

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Oct 09, 2010 @ 08:51 EST5EDT