Smallville – Darkseid is defined

Well, there was a lot crammed into this week’s Smallville, but for all of this brouhaha over the Vigilante Registration Act and its true purpose, nothing really came into focus until the last five minutes of the episode. The show was heavy on dialog, but most of it was either over-the-top or so heavy-handed that I just zoned out for most of the show. I mean, after last week’s superb episode and the shocking revelation of Tess’s true identity, you’d think there might be a mention of it at some point. Nope, she’s just back to work at the Daily Planet and Watchtower like nothing ever happened. I also wasn’t too thrilled with the whole “Lois is upset at Clark for keeping her out of the loop” storyline, but at least the resolution was to finally allow her to know about – and become a part of – Watchtower, and I’m good with that. Oh, and nice product placement with the Windows Phone and Bing.

The big news to the comic book faithful this week is the introduction of General Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, from the comics. From what I’ve been able to gather, he doesn’t have any ties to Darkseid in the comics, but he is definitely affected, or infected, by the darkness. And that is where all of this episode’s real interest came from. Once Clark saw the brand upon Wilson’s skull, they figured out that this darkness Clark let loose upon earth has the potential to infect each and every one of us because we all have weaknesses that can be preyed upon, particularly by the media. There were definite comparisons made between Godfrey and real life radio and TV personalities who use the airwaves to spread fear and mistrust amongst their listeners and viewers, so it should be interesting to see how the show’s more conservative viewers react to these portrayals of the media.

Another thing that really bugged me about this episode took place when Mera, AC’s wife, showed up at the VRA holding area. First, she comes in and sees AC and Oliver imprisoned while Wilson is standing at a control panel. Neither of them does anything, and she finally uses her powers to break the glass of the tank Oliver is in which splashes water on a dehydrating Aquaman. Everyone seemed to just stand around and stare at each other before Wilson finally flipped a switch to drop a cage over Mera, but the whole scene was very awkward. I was yelling at the TV for someone to do something.

But now we know that Darkseid is like an infection that will prey on anyone but those with a pure heart. I liked the use of the Omega symbol (which is part of the comic lore) and how Tess compared it to the Biblical Mark of the Beast. I also liked seeing Battlestar Galactica‘s Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh) and Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeta) on the episode, but it would have been great to see them in at least one scene together. Speaking of Galactica, I almost had a Senor Chang snarf moment at that last image of Wilson with the patch over his eye. I know it wasn’t meant to be funny, but the familiarity of that image will not be lost on any Galactica fan. That almost made the whole episode!

“Despite what they say, I think the VRA is going a little less above board and a lot more waterboard.” – Lois

Clacked by Chuck Duncan
on Nov 20, 2010 @ 00:12 EST5EDT