Lower Decks

Another Smallville, another DC crossover.  This time, it’s the Wonder Twins that show up to meet Clark.  But just like what happened with Speedy a couple of episodes, it’s the Lois and Clark show that takes over.  And, in the end, that might just be what this show has become.

For the most part, I’ve always thought of the Wonder Twins as a bit of a joke.  I mean, think about it.  One of them can turn into an animal and one of them can turn into different forms of water.  What are they really going to offer to someone like Superman.

Smallville, however, makes them almost cool.  Their version of Zan and Jayna are a pair of siblings that are obsessed with the Red-Blue Blur.  And with their powers combined, they fight the good fight in the name of their hero.

The only problem is that…they kinda suck at it, and it’s giving Clark’s super-persona a bad name.

I thought it was a pretty interesting way to do it.  In today’s world obsessed with facebook, twitter, and celebrities, you know that the Blur would have a following.  And while they never really state how the Twins got their abilities, you’d think that super-powered fans would try to lend help in their own way.

But the best part of the episode, at least for me, was how much Clark and Chloe have grown up.  Chloe’s done a great job of growing into her own, and I’m firmly convinced that Tom Welling would make a fantastic Man of Steel.

Let’s start with Chloe.  This season, she’s really taken charge of her life.  No longer restricted by a crush on Clark, a meteor power, or a love triangle with Doomsday and the fake Jimmy Olsen, she’s simply able to use her hacker skills to help her best friend.  And, in this case, she’s able to use a lot of the lessons she used with Clark to help Zan and Jayna.

In the end, I hope to see the two of them again.  And what’s funny is that, along with the hacker she stole from Tess, Chloe seems to be putting together her own little B-team Justice League.

And I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but there’s still a bit of a dark side to Chloe.  Even here, she threatens the Wonder Twins with virtual death in order to convince them to stay away.  It will be interesting to see if that continues the rest of the season.

As far as Clark goes, I thought he was very Superman-esque.  The final scene with the Wonder Twins plays exactly the way I imagine it would in a Superman series.  Tom Welling has a very powerful on-screen presence, and I completely believed him as the type of personality that could command other superheroes.  It’s too bad that Welling seems to be against the idea of being Superman because I know he’d be fantastic at it – either on this show, a spinoff, or a movie.

As far as the rest of the episode went, we learn that Lois’ apocalyptic dreams have led her to therapy.  In her dream, she and Clark are very sexual, there’s a giant red sun in the sky, and Clark has a very noticeable scar.

From what we’ve seen of her dreams, it seems like Zod’s plan will be to turn Earth’s yellow sun into a red sun.  It would even the playing field between Clark and the Kandorians, allowing for the former to get hurt and the latter to take over the world.  We should learn more about her visions soon, but that seems to be the big picture so far.

After a blunder by the Twins that is blamed on the Blur, Lois is assigned to write a story about it.  Mad that he hasn’t called in a while (Clark claims it is to protect her since Metallo attacked her), Lois decides to investigate the superhero’s recent sloppiness.  However, when Clark finally calls her as the Blur, his voice-altering equipment briefly fails and Lois hears his real voice.

It’s the second time that Lois has learned the secret (once in an alternate reality), but it’s funny how quickly she’s accepted it both times.  It’s almost like she has seen it coming but couldn’t really put the pieces together.  For some reason, I’ve always thought that it should come to a surprise to Lois that Clark is Superman, but they haven’t gone that angle yet so far.

I thought the subplot with the district attorney was a bit strange.  The whole thing kinda smelled of Harvey Dent, and I’m not really sure it was played off very well.  We’ve never seen or heard of this character before, and he didn’t seem all that menacing.  Lois’ little speech was nice, but I find it hard to believe that people would turn against the Blur so quickly.  This isn’t Batman we’re talking about…no matter how much it seems the CW wants him to be.

And in the end, after the fake Harvey Dent tries to kill her, Lois is convinced (with the help of her therapist) that she’s simply combining her infatuation with the Blur with her feelings for Clark. 

The end, however, was a strange nod to the comics.  In an effort to make himself look different, Clark pulls out the old glasses and shows them to Lois.  And instead of finally embracing the classic Clark Kent look, Lois takes them off and the pair kiss.

And it seemed like the writers’ way of telling us that this is their own story.  That their Clark Kent doesn’t need to wear glasses because their Superman isn’t going to come out publicly.

And, honestly, I think it’s okay.  Clark’s been working in this manner for the entirety of the show, and honestly, I don’t think the glasses would work at this point.  People would be able to put Clark Kent and Superman together, and it just wouldn’t work.  So maybe the glasses (an odd disguise in the first place) are outdated, and that’s what the writers are telling us.

That being said, it would’ve been nice to see them incorporated into the show.  I don’t think the glasses make Tom Welling horribly ugly, and I think people would like it if they moved in that direction a bit more.  But this is their show, and they’re doing things their own way.

And in a lot of ways, Smallville is putting its unique stamp on the Superman legacy.  And if that’s what’s happening, I think they’re doing a solid job.