Smallville 9x04: Echo
I wanted to watch this a second time before I reviewed, but I'm in the headspace to get this done now so that isn't going to happen. Suffer.
I finally felt for Oliver, but not until he started reading Toyman's speech and he realized it was true. And then to have Ollie actually verbalize that's exactly what happened was kind of nice. I know there are people who will be furious that Clark apologized when really it should have been the other way around, but it didn't bother me. Why? Because Clark has clearly moved on from what happened in Doomsday and doesn't blame anyone for it other than taking responsibility for his own part. And I'm okay with that. The apology here wasn't excusing Oliver for his past behaviour, but Clark basically saying - now that it's clear the whole 'abandon my humanity' thing didn't work out - that he feels badly for not being there to stop Oliver from falling as far as he did. It's Clark admitting he could have helped Oliver and he more or less willingly chose not to. And since Superman is supposed to have that mindset - save as many as you can, not just the people you like or who haven't literally shot you in the back lately - again, I'm okay with it. And I'm glad it seems this emo Oliie crap is now over.
Chloe wasn't annoying! Hooray! That doesn't mean I love her again, but it's a step in the right direction. I didn't even mind her little lecture to Clark about using information he read from Lois' mind to has advantage. I can handle those kind of moral "lessons" from this show. Also, Clark seemed to have the same reaction to it I do at this point (and like Ollie has for Clark): she'll help, but there will have to be some sort of lecture first and let's get that over with, shall we? Otherwise, she played her sidekick role just fine and I even liked the more collaborative feel she and Clark had in regard to how to handle this week's Dangerous Situation.
Have I mentioned how much I love Tess? No? Well. I LOVE CRAZY, EVIL, ACTION STAR TESS. Seriously, show, just let Cassidy wield a weapon every week and it'll be gold. And the final scene with Toyman? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Shades of the ending of Plastique, but better. And I'll stop there, because anything else I say will only be more incoherent gushing.
Okay, so, overall this episode wasn't great, but it wasn't horrific. But the one big, main problem I did have? Was Lois. More specifically, Lois now being Totally Into Clark. Yes, I know she was last season. but then there as that whole second half in which she moved on and went Blur-crazy. And if they wanted to change their minds, that's fine. But both at the same time realllllly doesn't work for me. "But they're the same guy!!!" I know. Not good enough anymore. Having Lois whine and complain that the Blur doesn't talk to her anymore and then be (inwardly, mind you but it still counts!) fawning over Clark makes Lois look bad. It makes her look flighty and cheap, like she only cares about the Blur because Clark didn't want her and now that the Blur is ignoring her, she wants to go back to Clark. And dammit, I've been defending against this up-to-now misconception of Lois, so stop feeding into it. That aside, I loved the Clois banter when Clark wasn't reading her mind and I thought the final scene was actually kind of cute.
Clark was kind of all over the place here. I wasn't a big fan of the concept when I first heard about it, but I thought they played the 'reading people's minds' bit fairly well and temporarily enough that it didn't get old. I was a bit disappointed that Clark was just okay with it, though. I wanted him to have more concern for the fact that he was massively invading people's privacy on purpose, and not just to help them. He's careful enough with his hearing and x-ray vision that this should have been treated the same, but I suppose I can wank that since he knew it wasn't going to last, he was using it while he could.
It's also kind of sad when a big save doesn't impact me in any way. I mean the factory one at the beginning. I guess I'm so conditioned to Clark doing this that when he does, and there isn't much to it other than him blurring around, it falls a little flat. On the good side, however, a lot of his reactions, especially to Lois, were priceless and I loved that he did seem to actually learn from his experience, using it not only to stop Toyman but also to reconnect with Lois at the end. I also adored the confidence he exuded, taking charge of the Dangerous Situation, telling Chloe where her place is (Watchtower), making sure Lois didn't stick around at the party and then seeing to Oliver afterward. A few more baby steps closer.
NEXT WEEK: Eh. I don't really care, to be honest. I'm just waiting for this one to be over so we can get to the good stuff.
I finally felt for Oliver, but not until he started reading Toyman's speech and he realized it was true. And then to have Ollie actually verbalize that's exactly what happened was kind of nice. I know there are people who will be furious that Clark apologized when really it should have been the other way around, but it didn't bother me. Why? Because Clark has clearly moved on from what happened in Doomsday and doesn't blame anyone for it other than taking responsibility for his own part. And I'm okay with that. The apology here wasn't excusing Oliver for his past behaviour, but Clark basically saying - now that it's clear the whole 'abandon my humanity' thing didn't work out - that he feels badly for not being there to stop Oliver from falling as far as he did. It's Clark admitting he could have helped Oliver and he more or less willingly chose not to. And since Superman is supposed to have that mindset - save as many as you can, not just the people you like or who haven't literally shot you in the back lately - again, I'm okay with it. And I'm glad it seems this emo Oliie crap is now over.
Chloe wasn't annoying! Hooray! That doesn't mean I love her again, but it's a step in the right direction. I didn't even mind her little lecture to Clark about using information he read from Lois' mind to has advantage. I can handle those kind of moral "lessons" from this show. Also, Clark seemed to have the same reaction to it I do at this point (and like Ollie has for Clark): she'll help, but there will have to be some sort of lecture first and let's get that over with, shall we? Otherwise, she played her sidekick role just fine and I even liked the more collaborative feel she and Clark had in regard to how to handle this week's Dangerous Situation.
Have I mentioned how much I love Tess? No? Well. I LOVE CRAZY, EVIL, ACTION STAR TESS. Seriously, show, just let Cassidy wield a weapon every week and it'll be gold. And the final scene with Toyman? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Shades of the ending of Plastique, but better. And I'll stop there, because anything else I say will only be more incoherent gushing.
Okay, so, overall this episode wasn't great, but it wasn't horrific. But the one big, main problem I did have? Was Lois. More specifically, Lois now being Totally Into Clark. Yes, I know she was last season. but then there as that whole second half in which she moved on and went Blur-crazy. And if they wanted to change their minds, that's fine. But both at the same time realllllly doesn't work for me. "But they're the same guy!!!" I know. Not good enough anymore. Having Lois whine and complain that the Blur doesn't talk to her anymore and then be (inwardly, mind you but it still counts!) fawning over Clark makes Lois look bad. It makes her look flighty and cheap, like she only cares about the Blur because Clark didn't want her and now that the Blur is ignoring her, she wants to go back to Clark. And dammit, I've been defending against this up-to-now misconception of Lois, so stop feeding into it. That aside, I loved the Clois banter when Clark wasn't reading her mind and I thought the final scene was actually kind of cute.
Clark was kind of all over the place here. I wasn't a big fan of the concept when I first heard about it, but I thought they played the 'reading people's minds' bit fairly well and temporarily enough that it didn't get old. I was a bit disappointed that Clark was just okay with it, though. I wanted him to have more concern for the fact that he was massively invading people's privacy on purpose, and not just to help them. He's careful enough with his hearing and x-ray vision that this should have been treated the same, but I suppose I can wank that since he knew it wasn't going to last, he was using it while he could.
It's also kind of sad when a big save doesn't impact me in any way. I mean the factory one at the beginning. I guess I'm so conditioned to Clark doing this that when he does, and there isn't much to it other than him blurring around, it falls a little flat. On the good side, however, a lot of his reactions, especially to Lois, were priceless and I loved that he did seem to actually learn from his experience, using it not only to stop Toyman but also to reconnect with Lois at the end. I also adored the confidence he exuded, taking charge of the Dangerous Situation, telling Chloe where her place is (Watchtower), making sure Lois didn't stick around at the party and then seeing to Oliver afterward. A few more baby steps closer.
NEXT WEEK: Eh. I don't really care, to be honest. I'm just waiting for this one to be over so we can get to the good stuff.