Lower Decks

I’m going to keep this short because there wasn’t a whole lot here that needs to be discussed.  Again, Smallville decides to do a romantic-based story, while trying to bring in another relatively-obscure Superman villain.  And, again, you really have to look to the B-story to find the good stuff.  But at least that stuff is really good.

I’m not sure why the show needs to treat Lois and Clark like such a big deal.  I realize that “Lois and Clark” are the ultimate “super-couple” – but the relationship was building for a while.  I’m not entirely sure it needs to have episode after episode devoted to it.  They’re together, yes, but do we need entire hours devoted to each step that they take?

At the same time, we get to experience Chloe and Oliver’s relationship for the first time.  And as much as I’ve wanted to see the two of them “hook up,” I think the way they’ve done it was just awkward.  I think they wanted to make allusions to it and then shock us with the revelation that they were at the bed and breakfast.  But, at the end of the day, it came out of nowhere.  And I just think it was handled poorly.

So, hopefully, this is the last time they’ll devote so much time to all of this, especially since there are only a few episodes left in the season.  Lois is with Clark, and they’re happy together.  Oliver and Chloe are together, and they’re both over their respective crushes on Lois and Clark.  Now let’s move on.

The real meat of the story dealt with Zod, who got his powers at the end of the last episode.  Now that he has what he wanted, he wants what Clark has – the respect of the entire world.  Because there’s no doubt that Zod feels that he’s now superior to Clark – it’s just a matter of taking the rest of what Clark has.

And I”m still unsure of what Zod’s true motivations are.  Does he want to rule the world?  Does he want the safety of his people?  Does he want revenge on Kal-El?  Because I really don’t think it’s been illustrated, and it seems like he’s indicated a desire for all of those things in the past.

Zod spends most of his time in the episode with Tess, who still seems like she wants to have her cake and eat it too.  She discovers that Zod has his powers, and she reveals the ability to weaken the powered Zod when he attacks her.

Intrigued by Tess’ ability, the two sleep together, but they still keep their distance.  Zod wants to know what makes Kal-El so special to the people of Earth, and Tess refuses to give anything that would hurt Clark.

It’s an interesting dynamic, especially since almost every member of the cast now knows Clark’s secret.  There was a day when no one knew it, and now the only person out of the loop is Lois.

So Tess is doing her best to save Clark, but she’s not doing a whole lot to stop Zod.  I really wonder what she’s trying to do, as well.  Because I’m not sure she can have it both ways – if she’s going to save Clark, Zod has to be stopped.

And at the end, it seems like Zod is going to imitate the Blur – at least via Lois.  He asks Lois to dig up stuff on Tess, which should make things interesting once things are all put into motion.

Before I finish, I should probably mention the DC guest star – the Silver Banshee.  I’m not very familiar with her character, and I think it could’ve been done a little better.  The little flashes that indicated that someone was possessed worked, but when they put Erica Durance in the full makeup, it looked a little silly.  Throw in Erica’s “decent” Scottish accent, and I thought it could’ve been a little better.

And I also wanted to mention the fact that the writers actually broached the “super-sex” subject.  I thought it was odd that they did that, but the explanation almost makes sense.  There are things that Clark has to do in his normal life that he has to control (shaking hands, for example), and it makes sense that he could do that in all aspects of his life (even the private ones).

Although it’s a little odd that such a thing would be part of Jor-El’s “training.”  I’m also find it a bit odd that Clark’s “training” hasn’t really been mentioned, outside of that line.  What the heck did Clark learn, other than how to have sex with Earth women?

All in all, it was just a decent episode.  The Zod stuff was easily the best part of the episode, and it was probably the C-story (after the “love square” stuff and the Silver Banshee subplot).

Although, as the season winds down, I’m sure Zod will take a bigger spot on the main stage.  As he should.