I don’t know how others are going to feel about this week’s Smallville episode (I’ve already seen one comment that said it was boring), but I thought it was a very good, intense, dramatic and riveting episode that also had some touches of humor and nostalgia (Chloe flashback!).
Many major plot points occurred this week, first and foremost the engagement of Clark and Lois. Tom Welling and Erica Durance played this opening scene to perfection as Clark tries to corral Lois into a romantic dinner while she runs on and on about the VRA curfew and just wanting to go home and spend some time together without the realities of the government declaring vigilantes as terrorists now, after trumping up charges that Oliver blew up a government facility. Clark’s solution to shower the city with rose petals to get Lois to shut up for a minute was cute and romantic.
Col. Tigh … I mean John McCain … I mean Slade Wilson returned “from the dead” with the help of the government (and Darkseid?) to infect the minds of the masses by blaming Oliver for his injury all the while using his black-uniformed goons to round up friends of Metropolis’ Most Wanted under the authority of Project Icarus. Even under such extreme circumstances, it was nice to see that Tess, Dr. Hamilton and Lois would not crack and give up any names or whereabouts of the vigilantes. I think one of my favorite parts of the episode came when Kat caught Lois sneaking away from her captors and was about to turn her back in — yes, she was the one who reported the three conspirators in the first place — but Lois let her know that The Blur was responsible for saving her life twice without her ever knowing it. Amazingly enough, Kat finally realized that things aren’t as black and white as she thinks and seems to be opening her mind to the notion that vigilantes may not be the terrorists the government is making them out to be.
The biggest turn of events took place at Luthercorp as Lois was confronted by Wilson. Just as he put a gun to her head, Hawkman swooped in to save the day but he paid a price as Wilson stabbed him with a sword before an explosion sent Lois through a window, plummeting to her death. Okay, she didn’t die but it was close. Hawkman was able to swoop down, burning wings and all (Wilson loved the irony of the whole Icarus thing), and catch her before she hit the ground. Meanwhile, Clark confronted Wilson and managed to send him to the Phantom Zone! The final moments of the show, however, brought a tear to my eye as Clark, Lois, Oliver, Star Girl and Black Canary carried Carter Hall to his “final” resting place next to his beloved Shyera in Egypt. But what was that white object coming out of the sand that left our heroes unconscious until the end of January?
I thought this was a really good episode that sets up things to come after the hiatus. All of the intense moments with the interrogations were offset nicely by the humorous moment when Carter, Clark and Oliver all converged on Wilson’s office without the knowledge of the others, even though they were all supposed to be underground after Clark shut down Watchtower. But Carter had some very interesting information about the darkness — it’s been on earth before, using the Spanish Inquisition and the Third Reich as examples, and noted that every time the darkness was about to consume the planet, a bright light appeared to vanquish it — implying that these darkest moments led to his rebirth, perhaps (or he just happened to be in the area). I was worried that after last week’s excellent Lionel Luthor capper (which could have been a great winter cliffhanger itself) that this was going to be another down episode, but in the end it really left me eager for the show’s return on January 28.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Dec 11, 2010 @ 08:22 EST5EDT
Hmm, Chuck, I hate to disagree with you, especially since I only caught the final half, but this episode didn’t excite me as much as the rest. However, the final 5 minutes including Lois’ frozen window explosion, Carter’s fiery window dive, Carter opening his wings to show Clark his ‘gift,’ Carter telling Clark “it can’t always be” him, and the burial scene pre-wipeout were all touching and well done.
*POST AUTHOR*
It’s hard to judge something you only saw half of, I guess. Maybe I went in to it prepared to be let down, so my lowered expectations paid off nicely for me.
Michael Shanks, all that needs be said about this episode.
I missed this episode however if that’s all that needs to be said then it must be a really bad episode.