Episode # 2 has a name

Credit to K-Site

If Craig is right that this might have something to do with the fictional comic book villian, here's the Wikipedia description

I should not be giggling at the fact she's from Québec. It actually ties in perfectly, to be honest, for her to be a Lex-made 33.1 experiment. And frankly, I don't see what the title would have to do with if not that.

That character is a terrorist from Québec? Ugh! That sucks. Smallville should never attempt to go cultural because it's always a disaster.

I think they'll avoid anything too political. They can just make her a villian/terrorist without delving too deep into the why's.

In the Wiki description, apparently one of her plots was to blow up a newspaper, which if incoporated into SV, could be an excellent way to involve several cast members.

It's actually quite interesting.

In Final Crisis #2 there is an explosion at the Daily Planet that kills Perry White and Lois Lane, and it was caused by Clayface so it's somewhat similar.

Honestly this episode is a perfect one to bring Doomedic in. My guess there is an explosion at the DP, Lois is harmed, Doomedic saved her and boom the romance begins.

Ok maybe not...

However I wouldn't be surprised if we see Doomedic not only save lives, but kill Plastique in the end of the episode.

I do have to say it sticking sucks that when Lex is gone they finally give us, competent assistant and more villains.

That makes sense to me. It has to start somewhere.



I think that's a great way to introduce him.

Plastique? And the Wikipedia entry? I haven't had so much fun since the Action spoilers! ROFLMAO! Runs around exploding herself? Anachonistic even at the time eh? Quebec is officially an in joke.

PS3, I love you.

Hm, wonder if she's here to take vengance on Eddie's behalf by destroying all of Lex's buildings?

Yes Liv, I'm pretty sure she will be hoping to take down Lex Luthor, or maybe just Luthorcorp. I wonder if she's actually from Alberta on Smallville. -- I'm reaching too far aren't I? This is going to be like the bee thing.

Actually I wouldn't put it past it if she claims she works for the Green Arrow, and thus justifying Lex trying to brand him and his gang as terrorists. Which would lead to Chloe's "crime against Humanity" Article being published and possibly finding links that Plastique is a 33.1/DDS experiment.

Totally. Even though we've already had someone try to blow up the DP last year. (On the other hand she could if the 33.1 spec is right, try to blow up LuthorCorp which could also be fun.)



I do agree, but this makes me think she's got to blow up multiple things then. Which leads it back to the LuthorCorp stuff. Maybe she's working for Lex in a "Legion of Doom" sort of factor or similar to what Black Canary was last year.

So uh, could Tess be Plastique? But Tess is smart and Plastique appears to be an idiot? I am very confused now. Miss Tessmacher was kinda dumb, but not as dumb as she seemed? I'm going to hurt myself.

I don't think so. I'm getting more of a FotW vibe from Plastique, likely a result of whatever Lex had "going on" in Québec that he mentioned in Sleeper, I think, that was never followed up on. Tess sounds like a completely different character who will be around all season.

OK, was just a passing thought. I'll shelve that one with Plastique is Lois' meteor power.

My thoughts exactly. I think it's going to be an ep about Nois' boobies. Maybe one erupts and floods Metropolis?

I like the idea that a seemingly standalone, FOTW episode could be used to kick off the Doomedic arc. I remember back in season 5, where there was speculation that the never-introduced sheriff character could be MM in disguise. That is the thing that I am really missing in respect to Smallville: a coherent storyline where even stand-alone episodes are not entirely self-contained.

Granted we know next to nothing about what will actually happen, but that little bit of speculation made me a little bit optimistic about S8. The summer hiatus is, somewhat, the least frustrating time to be part of the Smallville audience.

I have nothing to say but... Quebec?? Really?! I'll be so impressed if they actually set something up competently.

It's probably just an in-joke though. But still. Quebec!

I'm a smidge let down. I was hoping that episode 2 would be sort of a part 2 to the season opener.

Attempting to blow up the Daily Planet has been done before, I don't recall any bomb threat for LutherCorp though. I guess i'm on board with that being the most likely target.

The last couple of seasons have had the second episodes focus on the big guest star, so yeah I'm expecting that again this time. I can see how medics would be needed if she's blowing up multiple buildings around Metropolis, but if he's just going around the city patching up the injured that can get old real fast. I don't see him being involved either with the rescuing of people or the capturing of the villian like Clark will be, but I hope they give him some good dialogue with the cast.

Plastique and Oliver have something in common. Both like to blow up buildings that they don't like. Maybe there will be a connection, maybe Oliver could question his methods after seeing her in action. Thats assuming he's in the episode.

If that happens, I'll die. Just die. It would make me so insanely happy that it would be like I was watching another show.

ITA. It could also set up a meeting between Bloomesday and Lois, if she's investigating and he's at the scene. I can see it now... They argue, then banter later (at the Ace of Clubs? assuming they're not dismantling it), then end up dating. Why does that sound oh so familiar?

Perhaps Plastique is the DarkChloe! arc. They undermined Lana, Chloe is next. See, the theory is that the offscreenville torture she suffers at the hands of the Lex (now Tess) pawns in the government or 33.1 lab unhinged her mind. She becomes a villain and now Lois is the only smart and wonderful person for Clark to like. Chloe loses her marbles (check), Chloe is firmly unloveable (check), Chloe is a tragic figure (check). Yep, it's the trifecta of character assassination.

I wish I was joking.

They have been undermining Lana since the pilot. Chloe they have been elevating. There is another possibility. Who else do they like to undermine? Who fits "Bette Sans Souci" aka Betty without care. "anachronistically-depicted" with a career that was "not especially distinguished" that might be viewed as having a death wish?

Oooh Sue, tell me more.

Ok, just had an idea for the episode, maybe its cheezy but I'm bored.

*Assuming that Ollie isn't in it*

Thinking about it, we already got sort of a plastique story. The wife of Wes in Nemesis who kept gawking at MR's chest. Wife of a soilder who Lex experimented on, bomb expert, and she had a legit reason for wanting revenge on Lex. Wouldn't it be cool if she survived that explosion in Nemesis and then became a villian hellbent on destroying every business owned by Lex? She could target some lower businesses to draw Tess back into Metropolis, then finally target LuthorCorp.

I'm thinking.. She could hold Tess captive demanding that she tell her where Lex is hiding. Tess can play dumb (or maybe she really doesn't know where Lex is), and Plastique can explode the various Luthorcorp businesses around the city until Tess confesses. Clark can be shown having to continuously run to and save all the people in said buildings before they explode, keeping him busy. This will piss Plastique off and also make Tess more curious of him seeing how he keeps showing up at the scene of the explosions (There are camera crews around and they keep getting shots of Clark standing in the crowd after the explosions are done.)

Chloe is also around at scenes, not neccesarily for helping Clark, but doing her part to help people that are nicked up. I'm thinking that in the premier the scientists will be testing on her for her powers and she would have learned a lot about them from having to keep using them. Maybe in this episode she starts using them on a grander scale. Whenever Davis and the paramedics arrive they'll see that everyone is basically ok and that could make him suspicious of Chloe.

Meanwhile Lois and Jimmy could get a scoop that there is a hostage situation involving Tess at Luthorcorp and they can work on trying to get to the truth of things for most of the episode; such as who Plastique is and why is she holding Tess and the city of Metropolis hostage like this, and what Tess really knows about Lex's disapearence. Lois eventually finds out she was Wes' wife, and stays to talk her out of everything because she wants her to be a source for her expose of Lex and his 33.1 exploits, but Plastique is too far gone to care.

And the grand finale- with all the news crews and civilians gathered around outside LuthorCorp, Plastique deciding that she doesn't like the answers Tess is giving and decides to blowup LuthorCorp with herself and everyone in it. Everyone inside the room with her- Tess, Lois and Jimmy jump down, Clark comes flying (I mean running) through the room, wraps his arm around Plastique, grabs the bomb jacket thats wrapped around her, pulls it off and jumps through the window as it explodes. The crowd sees a red and blue blur, followed by an explosion in the air. Everyone wonders what the heck happened.

Now freed from her threats, Tess kicks Plastique's ass and knocks her out. Plastique gets put into Belle Reeve, Lois and Jimmy get their story (which Tess squashes), Clark saves the day, Chloe and Davis get aquainted, Tess gets even more suspicious of Clark, and Lex continues to stay part of the story.

Oh well, just a thought.

Well, I would have thought her dead, but sure. I like the idea.

What's also good about it is I see the potential for you and I to watch the same TV episode and see complely different things.


Chlark investigates.


Jimmy gets lead and background info on Plastique, Lois rushes in to confront mad bomber lady to try to get her to explain her evil plan. Check, I'm on-board.


Check, Chlark investigations yeild fruit, Clark rushes to the scene independantly to save the day. Lois is injured and goes to hospital, meeting Davis...


Because Lois and Jimmy don't have any solid evidence. Chlark meanwhile have discovered that Plastique is not just a chick with a bomb, but a freak or rogue supersoldier. And now in the hospital, Lois has a great excuse to not appear on screen at the Planet or be involved in anything but snuggling with Doomsday in the B plots for quite some time.

Heh. It would be amazing.



A rogue supersoldier would be awesome.



Wasn't BizarroPhantom also from Quebec?

Yeah. Or well... Lex and Co. went to Quebec to try to get the BizPhantom, but it escaped, and was later recovered in that child. They mention Quebec a lot, but the specific set-up I was referencing was Lex on the phone asking about his project in Quebec or something.

I second that.

It did look like she was done for, but if I were to explain it: a lot of meteor rocks were around in the tunnel (and you know what that does to people), and she had a detonator in her hand. Maybe she got turned into a MF with pyscho bombing tendencies, or me after a Clana barn scene in other words.

You and I see eye to eye on just about all of this, for example:



Exactly. Clark, on his first day as the new intern for the DP, is in the basement with Lois and Jimmy. Clark looks at Chloe's old desk and comments how things have changed. Lois tells him to buck up and that before he knows it they'll be out of the basement and will no longer have to see Chloe's desk and be saddened. There's a noise heard from across the street as a lot of LuthorCorp employees rush out of the building. Jimmy takes out a police scanner and hears of a hostage situation involving the DP CEO, Lois walks to his desk to listen. Clark uses X-ray vision to scan LutherCorp where he sees Tess being held by someone with a bomb strapped to her chest. Clark tells Lois and Jimmy he'll be right back and superspeeds away, they turn away from Jimmy's desk to see that he's already gone. They both then decide to go over to LuthorCorp to investigate.



Totally. After leaving the DP, Clark superspeeds to Luthorcorp to superhears whats being said. Plastique names the buildings about to be bombed if Tess doesn't tell her where Lex is. Clark calls Chloe, whose at the Isis building, to get her help him find out the building locations but she reminds him that she can't do this anymore with him, like she told him in the Premier, that she needs some time away from the danger before she jumps back into things with him. Clark accepts, but before he hangs up Chloe reminds him that the first target most likely won't be the one that causes the most damage, and they hang up. Clark gets an idea and superspeeds from the scene.

Chloe, then decides to go out to go out to the scenes- alone, where Clark won't bother her about using her powers, helping in the shadows where no one can target her. Davis catches a glimspe of her though, and he takes to her mysterious nature, and she to him.



Absolutely. Because of just that one comment Chloe told him, Clark superspeeds to the DP archives where he quickly finds the architectural plans for the 3 buildings he heard and the surrounding maps. Using his super-intelligent Kryptonian mind, he calculates the destruction that a bomb would cause by looking at a map of the surrounding areas plus the amount of stories each building has. Then he rushes into action, lastly saving LuthorCorp from being exploded. Before Clark gets there though, Lois bravely tries to stop Plastique from detonating the bomb, getting knocked out. She ends up at the hospital where she and Jimmy speak of their next headline: "LuthorCorp terrorist a creation of Lex Luthor".

Davis bandages Lois while speaking weirdly of feeling that he's always around so much blood, freaking Lois and Jimmy out. He mentions of a blonde woman he suspects has some meteor ability, Jimmy suspects that he's interested in Chloe but keeps it to himself, setting up a triangle for the rest of the season.

Dude, I'm sorry, but that there makes waaaaay too much sense for this show. That requires continuity! ;)

I think I missed why the mad bomber lady was Lex's creation though... Unless he found her mutating body and had her transferred to a 33.1 facility (perhaps in Quebec), which she then escaped from?

She was Wes's wife, in Fallen One's original post. Didn't die in Nemisis.

So she lived through kryptonite exposure, then Luthorcorp found her, yadda yadda yadda. Became Plastique, an exploding meteor freak.

All this speculation about Plastique referencing a comic book character is reminding me of how so many of us were hoping "Subteranean" would be about mole men. Everyone's bound to be disappointed. However, after reading the Wikipedia page, if they do use the character, I hope Gerry Conway gets a paycheck out of it.

From Dictionary.com


Let's hope that this isn't the definition of the word that they decide to go with...;-)

Ha! But then Summer Glau could guest star, and that would be awesome.

Ah, yes, I figured it was something like that.

Totally valid point, but we don't have a lot to work with yet, so I think we find our fun where we may. I expect to spend plenty of time in the bad prediction thread come fall.

That's where MM got gutted by him in the old man, and where Lex grabbed the little boy, yes. It's also where Edward Teague was hiding out in the church. And also where Lex said in one of the latter S7 episodes that he still had business going on. If this really is Plastique the villainess, I say kudos to PS3 for picking up on that little piece of continuity and continuing it.

This show can't let me be happy. From the TV Guide article Craig linked to.

The premiere has BC and MM!?!?! Sweet!! (And Aqua boy so yay, I guess).

Then, it has to be destroyed with

What's more of a normal life than being a farmer? He doesn't just get the internship, he gets the fucking desk? I mean, it's the Daily Planet! You don't just say "I want to get a double life, let me work at NY Times on a whim." It, UGH!!

Didn't they say last season was the season of double identities? Or was that just the board's general theory based on the amount of duality going on? Chlois? Maybe? Why do I even care anymore?

Clark Kent should not be at the Daily Planet before he is Superman. He just shouldn't. It would have made so much sense for this Clark Kent, who has done absolutely nothing noteworthy with his life that he could actually share with anyone on, say, a job interview, to get his job at the DP by breaking the Superman story.

I think that Clark being at the DP is great news for his character. It at least gives him some skills that he can use next season. Maybe he can come across as being more competent.

Clark doesn't belong at the DP because 1. it is being run by the bad guy and his lackeys, and 2. he has absolutely no education or recent relevant experience. It is utterly absurd to just drop him into the Planet, where he is not qualified to be, and have us expect to like it. It's also utterly absurd to hold Chloe out of journalism (was that part posted? I'll post it below in case) just so EDLois has no competition, and so the writers can play at "Lois and Clark." That makes it a whole different show, and not one I am interested in watching, personally.

From here:

But being at the DP shouldn't give him some skills. He should have the skills and experience already which lets the DP want him. I'm not saying working won't hone them but there's a big difference between having good skills already (and, for the DP you should be among the best) and being untrained, and unexperienced.

Do we know that for sure? I'm assuming that Lex won't control the DP next season since he will go missing.



I agree here, but this show has never taken education or work experience seriously on this show so I don't expect it to start now. YMMV.




No, but it does give him some resources and I'd have to assume that Clark would know how to use them.

Either it'll be run by Tess, the Lex stand-in, or Oliver who gives favoritism to highly unqualified friends. Not exactly the "return to integrity" we were hoping. (And no, giving Chloe a shot again isn't giving unfair favoritism because, as many as said she wasn't fired for job reasons.)

That's a weak excuse. He can get resources at any number of places including Oliver Queen, his bestest buddy, whose resources probably kick the ass of anything the DP has to offer.

I'm just going to assume that his cunning linguist skills got him the job. Who needs skills? Just be hot. You're a sucker if you think anything else matters in this SV!Verse. Maybe we can have Paris Hilton guest star as lead editor. She can look at an article by those two and say "That's hot!"

I agree, Elly. Sticking Clark at the DP with no qualifications, and not even any recent on-screen evidence that's he's interested in journalism at *all*, makes no more sense than EDLois' barn door of inspiration. (Maybe that's how TPTB will show us Clark 'n EDLo are Ment2B--"Look, see? They're both lightswitched, and they're both totally unqualified...they're made for each other!!") And as you pointed out, the *last* place the future Superman should be is working for the villain of the story.

IMO, if TPTB want to copy "Lois and Clark," they should do it with a new show, not Smallville. Chloe Sullivan is the character who's by far the most experienced and most qualified to work at the DP; pushing her out at this late date to make EDLois look better and to make room for insta-Clois pretty much kills everything I ever loved about Smallville. With Lex Luthor gone and with nothing but an ersatz version of "LnC" to look forward to, there isn't much reason for me to tune in next season. :(

For Chloisers that are still hanging on, this could potentially be an interesting statement, no? If the entire season is about double identities, then it makes sense that Clark wouldn't be the only character to embody this theme.

I also don't quite understand why Clark would choose to get romantically involved with Nois when it'll only cause him to take a few steps backward in hiding his real identity, lying yet again to a woman that he's involved with. I'd think the time he'll spend dealing with Nois at work and having to shuffle his duties there vs. his heroic ones would be the key to realizing how unpleasant a romantic entanglement with her or anyone else who isn't aware of his abilities would truly be.

I have to say, I'm pretty unhappy with the news that BC is returning. I was okay with Chlark not happening if we were possibly going to see some Chlollie interaction. Guess that's off of the table now as well.

But, again, it all comes back to this--ED is only going to be in half of the season's episodes. How, then, can the season's theme of double identities as they relate to Clark and Nois and Clois interaction be perpetuated when Nois isn't even there?

More importantly, how the fuck do they just leave out ANY mention of Chloe?! AM is the only returning character contracted for all episodes besides TW, and her Chloe has, again like Clark, been around since day 1. The media and fandoms went apeshit when it was thought AM might not be returning. Now she doesn't get a reference at ALL in the blurb about the premiere? Neat.

I see third billing in AM's future. I'm a little bit pissed off.

Amen, I really think this will be to Lois and Clark what Grois was to The Thomas Crown Affair. In other words, this will be us showing them NOT having the iconic relatioship and contrasting with Chlark. I'm am so tired of this sort of thing.

Don't shoot me, but why are we in the Spec w/o Spoiler thread? I know Tennison keeps directing us back here, but isn't Clark taking a job at the Planet an actual spoiler?

I think that because TV Guide is considered mainstream media, any spoilery info that it publishes is not considered as such on the board.

From the policy thread:

That's why I started posting about it in here. I thought things from EW, TVGuide, etc. are considered non-spoiler.

That normal life schtick annoys me too, but until KK gets back and Lana is taken care of, I expected that to come back. However, that normal life schtick also sounds like a great excuse to give Nois to accept that he's changed his mind about the DP after his very firm refusal last season. Without Chloe at the DP, there's no one to keep an eye on Tess, ie the Lex stand in. Chloe apparently isn't going to be able to walk in and out without a care, and I don't think Clark will either, not when Tess is suspcicious of him.



I think the double identities is great for Chlois. Tess, Doomie, Clark, Ollie all deal with that one some level, while the second string character like Jimmy and Nois merely react to the other character's as they deal with the theme.



I thought it was more that she was in a 33.1 facility...but if it's still a government facility, then she *can't* go back to the DP just yet - I think Ollie and the JL team are probably going to break her out, which means she'll have to fly under the radar - which is another Chloisy point, if they don't resolve her storylien quickly.



I vote Tess. I don't really what else she'll be able to do.



WORD, but when does the beginning ever turn out the way during the season?



Me either - Nois is at this stage a constant reminder of how his relationship with Clana failed. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to subject myself to the episode - just the Chloe and Doomie scenes on youtube probably. That whole thing is verry interesting to me.



It's the standard MO of pre-season publicity. It sucks to high heaven, but it's nothing knew. I expected more of this nearer to comic con, and voila.

nevermind

I guess I'm just confused. And disappointed. Even when so many fans are vocal on Chloe's popularity and importance to the show, the network chooses to ignore it. If they aren't going to even mention the character in pre-season publicity for a mainstream pub like TV Guide, why bother even going through all of that reported trouble to resign Allison? What the hell will Chloe be doing for 22 episodes when Clark is busy juggling his (totally preposterously obtained) position and his heroic obligations? How will Chlark ever have time to interact if Chloe isn't at the DP? When she worked there (*sniffle*), she was ALWAYS in the building so it stands to reason that Clark will be as well. Unless Chloe is going to be moving in with Clark after she's released from wherever she is and that's where they'll have their time together?

Also, this:


sounds like Chloe is indeed in the hands of the government, and not some 33.1-related minions. Or else this guy is just speculating.

Yeah, the theme of the season being double identities does hearten me even while Clark being just plopped into the DP makes me want to bash my head against my desk. Also building up Lois to be viewed as a semi-legitimate investigator with a closer connection to the hero makes the Action meta more likely to apply to her, so I take encouragement from that.

If Chloe is actually charged by the government due to her hacking instead of just a 33.1 thing, then her probation would very likely involve not being able to be around the internet or jobs that require an internet connection. Time will tell how that is resolved.