Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for Smallville through the episode, “Prey,” originally broadcast October 23rd, 2008.

There’s a serial killer on the loose in Metropolis, and Chloe’s new friend Davis has been having blackouts? Coincidence? He’s in the clear as far as Chloe is concerned. At least for the moment.

Chloe has started a support group for the meteor infected of Metropolis. Soon after the support meeting ends one of the participants, Mary, is dragged off screaming into the darkness. Later, Clark embarks on an evening of small-time heroics, stopping a robbery and helping out a bullying victim, all at super speed. Eventually he ends up at the Ace of Clubs, which has been turned into a disaster area. Davis Bloom appears to be one of the victims, though he has no memory of arriving. Davis refuses medical attention and leaves. Clark then runs into J’onn at the scene, now de-powered and posing as detective John Jones.

Clark suspects one of Chloe’s support group may be the culprit, and provides a member list to John against Chloe’s wishes. Davis begins to suspect that he may be behind the killings when he discovers that none of the blood he’s covered in came from him. He gathers DNA from Mary’s body to compare to his own. He’s caught by Chloe in the process and confesses that he’s had blackouts since he was a child, and that he may be the killer. Chloe doesn’t believe he’s capable of such a thing.

Clark discovers that Davis has been one of the first responders to many of the recent murders and finds pictures of the bodies in Davis’s locker. Davis points out that Clark is in many of those pictures as well and cryptically suggests that Clark should stay closer to home. Clark and Chloe get access to Davis’s DNA tests and find out that the tissue under Mary’s nails is a match for Davis.

Jimmy, unaware that Davis is possibly connected to the murders, convinces Davis to let him ride along in the ambulance as part of a search for the mysterious do-gooder that’s been helping people in Metropolis. Davis responds to a call and leaves Jimmy in the ambulance to check out the scene. Soon Jimmy hears a struggle, sees a super-speeding shadowy figure, and calls the dispatcher for help before going to investigate.

Chloe and Clark overhear Jimmy’s call and Clark rushes off to help. He finds the ambulance but no sign of Jimmy. Clark sees the shadow creature attacking Davis. It then turns on Jimmy, and Clark knocks the creature out by hurtling a tire at it. The creature turns out to be Randy, another of Chloe’s support group members.

Davis’s tissue under Mary’s nails is explained away as her having grabbed him when he arrived on the scene. Davis thanks Chloe for believing in him and wonders whether there might be something more than a personal code of ethics behind her attitude towards him. Chloe assures him there isn’t, but doesn’t think they should see each other for a while regardless.

John warns Clark that he’s taking too many risks of being identified. Underscoring his point, Jimmy arrives and asks John what he knows about the city’s new good Samaritan. John all but gives him the brush off, but Jimmy is determined to learn more about this mystery man.

Randy is recruited by Tess to join her personal Legion of Doom. She tells Randy that she has video footage of him in an arcade near the site of one of the murders. The murdered girl’s crucifix was missing from her body. We see that the crucifix is currently hanging from the rear view mirror of Davis’s ambulance.

It looks like Randy is going to be the fall guy for the serial killings, but for how long? He apparently had the ability to turn himself into a super-speed shadow figure. The killer from the Ace of Clubs was described as having bony eyebrows. It doesn’t sound the same to me, and we know that Davis has the crucifix of one of the murdered girls. We’ve also seen him writhing, naked, on a sidewalk, presumably after changing back into his normal form. Yeah, those killings aren’t going to stop any time soon, and with Chloe knowing about Davis and his blackouts, she should be able to put those pieces together.

The Chloe-Davis relationship is an odd one. They actually have more chemistry than Chloe and Jimmy, but Chloe passed her lie detector test last week in “Committed,” so her feeling for Davis can’t be all that strong. Still, they’re strong enough that she doesn’t seem to trust herself to spend more time around him.

No Lois this week, so we don’t get any movement on that front. We do get an increasingly rare bit of time with Chloe and Clark. There’s definitely some strain showing in that relationship, with Clark going behind Chloe’s back to get the membership list. Chloe’s desire to help the meteor infected is admirable, but Clark is right that she should be a little more careful with bestowing her trust.

On a side note, how many of these apprehended criminals are going to vanish from custody before somebody notices? With Jimmy, Lois, Chloe and/or Clark being witnesses to so many of their acts, wouldn’t they eventually wonder why they never hear anything more about these people after they’re arrested?

Not a thrill a minute, but there was some intrigue surrounding whether Davis was going to be the only killer. This continues to be one of the more compelling story lines of the season.