Lower Decks

It’s nightmare time on Smallville, as Lois wakes up in a dark future where everything looks pretty bad for all of our favorite characters.  Clark is powerless and alone, Chloe is ruthless, Oliver is broken, and the Earth is under the control of hundreds of super-powered Kandorians.  And since this finally explains one of the season eight finale cliffhangers, you have to wonder if this is the writers’ way of apologizing for what happened last May.

I’ll be honest – I’m usually a sucker for this type of episode.  I’m typically drawn in by these alternate futures where people are allowed to take on different roles than we’re used to.  Because, for the most part, the writers aren’t afraid to take risks and do stuff that wouldn’t be allowed otherwise.

It’s like ”Course Oblivion” from Star Trek : Voyager, where we’re shown an alternate version of the Voyager crew on a doomed mission to save themselves.  Slowly but surely, each member of the crew is wiped out until nothing is left.

It’s the same thing here.  Over the course of the episode: Chloe kills Tess, a Kandorian kills Chloe, Zod kills Clark, and a swarm of Kandorians (probably) kills Oliver.  Metropolis is mostly destroyed, and the only hope in saving the world is changing the past.

None of those things would be possible in a regular episode, but in this type of show, you can see the consequences of certain actions.  It’s a bit cheesy because the audience knows that the “reset button” is coming, but it’s still a lot of fun to watch extraordinary plot lines unfold.

As far as this episode goes, I really liked the way things went.  The episode begins with Tess kidnapping Lois to access her memories of the future.  It’s finally revealed that Lois travelled one year into the future with the Legion ring, and she sees a world where Zod has regained his super powers, taking away Clark’s in the process.

I’m not really sure how the towers are supposed to give powerless Kryptonians their powers back, but I guess it doesn’t really matter in the long run.    All that matters is that the world is being run by Zod, and Clark is powerless to do anything about it.

It seems that, without Lois, Clark was forced to take on Zod by himself.  And, for whatever reason, Clark wasn’t able to defeat the general before it was too late.

I’m not really sure I understand what was supposed to have happened there.  Before the tower was built, Clark would’ve had all the advantages over the Kandorians, and he should’ve been able to physically dominate Zod in any kind of fight.  Clark never really elaborates on anything, other than the fact that “he made a lot of mistakes.”  I’m guessing there really isn’t an explanation, but it’s the whole reasoning behind his decision to reveal himself to Zod…so I wish we knew what all he did wrong.

Zod captures Lois and Clark, and he’s about to execute them both when Chloe and Oliver show up to save the day.

And that was a really cool part of the episode, as a group of soldiers attacks the Luthor mansion with kryptonite-based weapons.  And I have to admit, as ruthless as Chloe was, she was a total badass.  I’m guessing that Allison Mack had a lot of fun with this episode.

Lois and Clark bond a bit more in the future, possibly explaining why Lois has grown more attracted to Clark this season.  Future-Clark is more outwardly heroic (but also more vulnerable), and I’m sure it shows Lois a side to Clark that he usually tries to hide.

The funny thing is that, despite everything, Clark still tries to keep his secret from Lois.  I suppose Clark wants to make sure that Lois is kept in the dark, just in case the plan succeeds, but it just seemed odd that everyone agreed to keep the secret.  Because, at that point, the world was destroyed – why would it even matter that Clark’s an alien?

By the end of the episode, all the major characters are sacrificed in an attempt to get the Legion ring back to Lois so that she could return to the past and save the world.  I have to admit that I was pretty surprised when Zod stabbed Clark with the Kryptonite dagger.  I really didn’t see that coming, although I probably should have.

Although it brings up the question – if Clark is stabbed with a Kryptonite weapon, doesn’t he simply need to remove it?  Because we’ve seen Clark shot with a Kryptonite bullet, and as soon as he removed it, his super-healing kicked in.  I suppose he could still die if a vital organ was hit, but it just seemed like something that shouldn’t really work.

And, in the end, Clark decides that the best way to deal with Zod is to come at him as a friend.  Using his knowledge of the alternate future and his father’s wish for him to save Zod from himself, Clark shows up to Zod’s command post.  But instead of being angry, Major Zod orders his troops to kneel before Kal-El.

That was a really cool scene.  Just the sight of a legion of Kryptonians kneeling before Superman is an awesome sight, and I’m really glad it was included in the episode.

That being said, I’m not really sure how a Clark/Zod friendship will work.  Obviously, Zod is going to try to continue to build his tower, and I wonder how Clark will react to that.  Is there a chance that Zod could actually be a good guy, or will they go down the same road as Lex?  I guess we’ll find out when the show gets back in a few weeks.

Before I go, I wanted to point out a cool continuity nugget.  The equipment that Tess uses to hack into Lois’ memories came from the Summerholt Institute that was featured in Smallville’s first few seasons.  It’s just a throw-away line, but it was nice to see a connection to the early years of the show.

That’s it for now.  Smallville has reached its winter break, and I will see you all when it returns in January.