Spoilers.
Smallville Official Site
The Time: Thursdays, 8:00 PM, The CW
The Show:
Having
grown up in Smallville under the protective eye of Jonathan and Martha
Kent, Clark Kent, the future Superman, is finally setting out into the
world to pursue his destiny. Ever wary of protecting his
secret, Clark nonetheless secretly uses his Kryptonian superpowers to
help people and save lives. He’s now colleagues with Lois
Lane at the Daily Planet and still friends with Chloe Sullivan, his
childhood pal who knows his secret. Lex Luthor has
mysteriously vanished after destroying the Fortress and learning his
secret. Lex’s hand-picked successor, Tess Mercer, is
nevertheless a dangerous individual who is obsessed with learning Lex’s
fate and the secret he was pursuing. And a dangerous enemy,
in the form of paramedic Davis Bloom is growing ever a bigger threat.
The Stars:
• Tom Welling – Clark Kent
• Allison Mack – Chloe Sullivan
• Erica Durance – Lois Lane
• Aaron Ashmore – Jimmy Olsen
• Justin Hartley – Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
• Cassidy Freeman – Tess Mercer
• Sam Witwer – Davis Bloom
The Episode: “Turbulence”
The Chloe / Jimmy / Davis love triangle approaches Clark / Lana / Lex proportions as Jimmy, who is still recovering from his wedding day tussle with Doomsday, see Davis murder a man in the hospital. Turns out Davis is keeping the big bony guy under wraps by engaging in some lethal patrolling of Metropolis’ underbelly, snuffing out evildoers in the night. When Jimmy sees him kill a drunk driver, Davis tries t explain it away that Jimmy was overmedicated on prescription painkillers. Meanwhile, Clark and Tess discuss each other’s most personal secrets – or in Clark’s case – ducking it as usual on a plane ride to L.A. When they’re caught in a mid-air explosion, Clark has to find a way to save Tess without revealing his secret.
The Lowdown:
Introducing, probably the worst episode of the season. This episode has everything that I don’t like about the show since it began. Finally this season, the Clark / Lana / Lex love triangle was essentially history. So what do we get now? A Chloe / Jimmy / Davis one to replace it. Wonderful. Davis / Doomsday is the big bad this season. That’s been obvious since Davis was introduced. Working in Superman’s killer into the show’s mythology for a season-long arc couldn’t have been an easy thing, so I can respect how they’ve done it, though others might not agree. But the absolute way that I wouldn’t – and didn’t – want to see him used was as another love triangle participant. I got sick of the main characters’ three-sided lovefest. So what makes the show runners think I want one for the B-story crew?
I’d like to get one thing out there: I hate Jimmy Olsen as a character. Have for years now. He’s like Aunt May or Rick Jones, characters that long ago outlived their appeal or their use. Jimmy and Rick, were the de facto junior partners to the big guys they supported and had long ago become relics from a bygone era. I simply don’t care about Jimmy’s love live, or aspirations, his problems or his existence period.. Aaron Ashmore does a good job portraying him, but I really just don’t want to see him fighting with some guy – in this case Davis – over Chloe…or anyone else for that matter. I think the days of being “Superman’s pal” or “Golly gee, Superman!” went the way of the Edsel. I especially don’t want to see Jimmy struggle with a drug addiction, which is where the show is heading. If Doomsday had shredded him like an Enron document at his and Chloe’s wedding, I would have rather enjoyed that.
The other thing that I didn’t like about the episode was that Clark has to go back to doing his lying routine (actually he never left it, but Tess was directly hinting at it) to protect his secret from a nefarious type, in this case Tess. She lets the bombshell slip that Lex kept a journal and she’s read it. Which is Smallville-speak for she knows his secret, but won’t just come out and say it. And Clark is such a bad liar, it’s surprising that everyone doesn’t know his secret by now. Tess rigs the mid-air explosion in an attempt to make him reveal his abilities, but Clark finds a way around it when she passes out due to lack of oxygen. Clark playing that game with Lex for seven years got old less than half-way through that span, and now we’re right back at it again with Tess.
What I’d like to see is more of Clark and Lois. More of her obsession of discovering who the Red-Blue Blur is and the exploration of their relationship. That’s where the show has progressed to, and that’s one of the main appeals it still has. But even with new show runners this year, the show still tries to hold on to too much of the old shtick. There are so many of Superman’s villains that could still be introduced and new avenues for the show to explore. This reliance on old material, even if it’s in new forms with new players is..well…old. Did like seeing Clark pulling the phone booth switcheroo, though. The rest, not so much.