Oh Corbenator. We hardly knew ye and your well-muscled back.

Well that episode was boring.

Shelby! Great to see Shelby back. It's about damn time. Good to see that Clark was also taking care of Shelby the entire time.

That being said, I don't think the writers read the scripts from the previous episode. Last episode Chloe said there was nothing human about Clark, and this episode right away she calls Clark human. What the hell man? At least ask what happened in the previous episode. Don't go from Chloe saying there's nothing human about Clark, to saying "It's about as human as you can get".

The lack of Zod, sucked. But the glimpse of the future, and the symbols at the end were cool. In particular I loved the Superman cape flapping in the wind, which is a nice callback to Death of Superman.

Name an episode "Metallo" and give us a craptacular fight, that's got more talking than action. It's par for the course with Smallville, who needs a fight when you've got Clark and Lois pining for each other?

Serious structural problems in this ep. Minimal Clark in the first half is a problem for me. Metallo instead of boosting the show's adrenaline, stops it dead with his warehouse soliloquy. The role formerly played by Chloe (tech support, confidante) is now shared by Chloe and Emil, which leads to repetitiveness. And Tess's posse seemed to come out of nowhere and further slowed the pace of the episode.

Clark was also just written oddly in this ep. - some of his dialogue didn't sound like him at all.

The Lois/Tess scene was good. Brian Austin Green did well, even though his tiny role in "Savior" was much better, I thought.

Usually the Whitehead/Henderson scripts are better than this - there seemed to be some looped lines. Did they do some last minute script tinkering?

I also thought that Lois couldn't be anywhere near Shelby without going through sneezing fits and this eppie she never sneezed once in any scenes with Shelby.

Something has to be going on because this ep was just off. Everything about it seemed strange. Clark and Chloe's interactions, Clark's expressions, his wierd smiling at Lois all the time. It just feels like something is really wrong.

I miss Lana.

You know, I used to think that TPTB simply didn't care about Chlark/Chlarkers. Now I think it's beyond not caring, it's actual dislike. When nearly all of Chloe's dialogue this episode was dedicated to retconning Clark/Lois, that's when I think disrespect is involved.

But hey, at least this episode had Shelby....and Brian Austen Green is hot. So...there's that.

(pretty sad when my only pluses are a dog and a guest star)

Ugh. This was a culmination of alot of my suspicions (and fears) of what would happen--I am not surprised. I do think tptb tried to shove toooooo much lovey dovey and connectivity between Lois/Clark/Blur.

It's now "our phonebooth". OK I get it.
"So you really do care about me"...Again, I get it.
"You have feelings for her that are more..."...Smashed into my skull now...I get it (Way to go in using Chloe *again* as a pimper for everyone else ptb, thanks.)

And to put salt on the wound, Lois is now the self-designated "sidekick" to the Blur...because even heroes can't do it themselves and need help, right? Darn...that sounds so familiar. Where did I hear that before?????

Now, the sidekick is fantastic...before the sidekick held him back, held his hand too much, stopped him from being a man, or the man he could be. Oh, how the tables turn. Any problems with the superhero having a "sidekick" now?

I did enjoy Mr. Green's acting--much better than what I've seen before! LOL. I liked that Clark had tears in his eyes during his talk with Corbin. It emphasized that he deeply felt his pain and hurt.

My curiosity is piqued to find out who (or what) landed in the S though!

Otherwise:
1) Chloe, boo...I don't think you are going to have a real purpose this season but pimp Clois and die. Oh...and make sad faces to the camera everytime tptb hit it home that Lois is now his confidante, he can turn his back on all of humanity but Lois..and it's all Lois, Lois, Lois...because I didn't already have years, and years, and years of having the salt being rubbed in that wound.

2) More Clois sex scenes..yaye. I can't wait. *insert sarcasm emoticon*

This one felt kind of off for most of it, although BAG's performance did help to carry a lot of the episode. Speaking of, it was so nice to finally get another (somewhat) sympathetic meteor freak type character. How long has it been? And as with the vandalism thing last week, I love that he brought up issues like "How can Superman be held accountable for his actions?" and "What gives him the right to interfere?" Sure, these issues were largely glossed over, but still.

I also was happy, as always, to see Shelby. Shelby! And I thought the picture of Jimmy in Watchtower was a nice touch. I was not such a fan of most of Lois' stuff. First, are they going to/did they REALLY ship Lois' reaction to Jimmy's death to Offscreenville? That is just wrong, seriously. And the Clark/Lois stuff...I actually don't think it's totally forced, but it would still work so, so much better if they didn't feel the need to bash us over the head with it.

I also didn't like Lois immediately getting her job back, but at least they went ahead and confirmed that Tess had her own agenda for it.

Oh, also: Dr. Hamilton! Oh, how I love recurring characters.

I loved this episode. BAG did a great job but the aftermath of the truck hitting him was beyond gross. So was that Jor-El in the house of EL symbol? Im also LOVING the Lois and Clark. I do not miss Lana and Im glad the days of Clark and Chloe Scoobying are over.

Not a bad episode, but nothing I got really gung ho about - aside from Clark showing on the job smarts in welding lead to Corben's chest. The rest was kind of meh. Mostly filler. The only plot that really got furthered was Zod's and he wasn't even in the episode. Tess was disappointing and Emil was wasted. I appreciated being given a reason for Tess keeping Lois around and Clark going back to the Planet, though.

On the good side, I liked that Clark still fed Shelby all this time. I liked it being confirmed that Lois and Chloe are still sharing the Talon apartment. I thought Lois throwing herself at Clark at the end was adorable, mostly because of his reaction.

On the bad side, I'm still not really feeling for Chloe. I was so on her side in the initial Chlark scene because she was making good points. And then she blew it by getting on her high "I know what's best so do what I tell you" horse again. The snooping in Lois' computer for no discernible reason - when she herself has freaked out over others doing the same to her - and blaming Clark for Lois being Lois didn't help. I'd also like to know what this supposed gesture of friendship she made to Clark was, because I certainly didn't see one. I did, however, see Clark approach her and apologize for not being there for her, only to have Chloe turn everything around to be about Lois. I'm trying to like her again, I am, but the show is really not making it easy. I wish they would.

Since when does Clark Kent refer to people as "meteor freak?" It felt off. But maybe it's just because it's been so long since that subject was dealt with.

I think I can actually see the footprint on Chloe's head at this point. The "sidekick" exchange at the DP with Lois was...just unnecessary and wrong. It feels exactly like what happened when Grant showed up and started insulting Chloe's work and propping Lois. I was so sure there would be retribution for Chloe. *looks at watch*

So...Clark can't do training without giving up his humanity. But he can't give up his humanity because he loves Lois (*sigh*). And he doesn't want to give up on training. At least they're not letting the hamster wheel collect dust.

Also, does Lois love Clark AND the Blur?

Up until the last Chlark scene, I was sure that Clark is a faux. But once he offered a half-assed apology...I realized it's not going to happen. This is what we get now. I honestly think I might be done. There's no longer one likable character on this canvas other than possibly Emil. And the jury's still out on him.

Oh, and a special Fuck You to whomever arranged that shot of Chloe with the Lois Lane nameplate. Really, guys? Really? We're still doing that?

It's called lightswitch, they flicked her allergies off.

Also another thing about that scene, is Chloe still living at the Talon? Cause that scene implied it.



Actually it makes sense. Chloe was making her point and I actually liked Chloe at least in this part of the episode putting Clark in his place. She was basically shoving the "I'm no longer human" back into his face if he's still going to call Lois/Feed Shelby.



I don't know what the fuck they're doing. They have Chloe clearly jealous of Lois and the Blur, and then every Chlark scene consists of Clark telling Chloe how right it feels. There was no resolution to their rift, just an acknowledgment at to where Clark stands now.

I think it's funny that the second episode in we have Clark cave going "I don't think I can be a hero anymore" geeze grow a pair! But in the end it's Chloe who brought Clark Kent back, and the reason why they brought him back was so they can use Clark Kent to find out what Lois knows from the future... so I dunno is Clois now just Chlark using Lois for information?


I can't believe I'm saying this but the Blur/Metallo fight made the Supes/Dooms fight seem action packed.

Indeed it seems to be what is implied.

Alas! It's the ICONIC love triangle of DENSITY..come back to bite me in the butt.

That makes me depressed because it's true.

She does love both, it's more like, Lois may use the Blur to impress Clark/ make him jealous.

I think there's an amazing lack of subtlety this year in the writing. Instead of showing us or letting things develop naturally, they're beating everything over our heads. Case in point is the majority of the dialogue in tonight's episode.

I want to love this show! I do. But they're making it hard. More and more it's a love/hate thing, and tonight was definitely on the side of hate.

Maybe next week....

With the Zombies?

I watched this show earlier in its run, but it eventually got bizarre and kind of overwrought so I stopped watching, and I started again a little bit halfway through last season, and now the first two episodes of this season. The whole Clark and Chloe bit is still wonky to me, but I really liked Brian Austin Green. I don't know much about the Superman mythos, but he rocked as Corben/Metallo. Someone phoned and I missed the last few minutes of audio, is Corben dead or did Tess save him or what?

Okay fine, maybe the week after that.

=D

As is SV's wont, they left it ambiguous in case they want to bring him back at some point.

Pros:
Brian Austin Green is hot

Cons:
Everything else

If this was a new show, it might work for me (despite the fact that ED sucks) but last I checked this was still Smallville and throwing away 8 years of show history to revamp into a Lois & Clark rip-off is pathetic, cheap writing. And this is coming from someone who watches daytime soaps on a regular basis and should thereby be used to this sort of crap. But not even daytime soaps come close to this level of terrible (and that's including everything from devil possession to cloning to back from the dead).

Who the hell are these people??!! I don't recognize a single person on this show anymore. They've been gutted and destroyed so utterly all to prop up Lois into The Bestest Reporter EVAH! Did she seriously blackmail her way back into the Planet by using her contacts at the Inquisitor?! A tabloid?! So if Lois tells the Inquisitor that Tess is planning an alien invasion and they print it (without proof, of course, since that's how Lois rolls), people are actually going to look into it rather than assume that Lois is a completely insane, disgruntled ex-employee? If that's the case, then I guess Brad and Jen are totally getting back together because Star Magazine says so!

I'm so tired of the over the top "Clois 4EVAH" stuff. He'd be with Lana this very frickin' second if it wasn't for her being toxic to him and now I'm supposed to believe that Lois is his everything? Oh, I forgot. I'm supposed to forget that the last 8 years of the show ever happened. Last year, bad as it was, didn't even reach the level of horrible that these two episodes have managed. What is this show and what happened to my Smallville?


Seconding this!

I quoted this just to agree with you. I can't figure out what they're trying to do with Chloe. She's making the sad face again, like it's season 2 and Lana just got to run the Torch! Are we supposed to sympathize with her, or not? Is it a sad thing that Clark is "in love" with Lois? Is it a sad thing that she's been displaced as Clark's sidekick? And by the way, if she's been displaced as Clark's sidekick, why did he whoosh to the Watchtower as soon as he needed some Chloogling; and why did he and Chloe work out a strategy about how he has to find the truth about Lois' experience in the visions?

At times, tonight, I found myself thinking that they were (finally) committing to the reboot. I hate the reboot, but it isn't impossible that they could make a decent, if completely different, show based on ICONIC and MYTHOS and the rest of it. But then they would zoom in on Chloe's sad face and I'd get all confused again. At the end of the episode, I turned to my long-suffering wife (forced to watch with me) and said, "It's like they suck, but somehow they SUCK AT IT!"

Next week has zombies?

That could be awesome. Key word is could.
It's a nice bit of continuity, she got the job at the Daily Planet by talking about a U.F.O.

Given Clark's clear negative reaction to Lois getting involved over her head and not in any way agreeing that she was his "sidekick", I'm not sure why we're supposed to think she actually is. Lois jumped in when he didn't want her to and she overinflated what she was doing to Chloe, both because she's infatuated. People do that. It doesn't mean she's right.

Lackluster would be the best word to describe this episode.

The good:

-BAG as Metallo. He perfectly played Corben's deteriorating emotional state throughout the entire episode. I liked the twist of Zod's people being the ones behind Metallo.

-Chloe was great once again, seeing right through Clark's hypocrisy.

-The WT set looks great, minus the picture of Jimmy the Lying, Treacherous Jerk.

-Emil was great, as was Tess and her technogeek minion.

The bad:

-Nois, everything about her. Her ego has gotten way out of control, and the way she got her job back was very despicable. Blackmail? Really? At this point, though, I've given up hope of this character showing one shred of integrity or self-awareness.

-Clark being a complete hypocrite.

-The lack of action in the confrontation between Clark and Metallo.

-Not enough Chloe screentime.

I totally disagree that we're not supposed to think of Lois as the Blur's new sidekick. IMO, that's exactly the point--this episode introduced the new Scoobying team. I think we'll be seeing a helluva lot of Lois and the Blur interacting this way. I mean, how many times over the years did Clark freak out about Chloe being in danger? Yet she has been his sidekick for ages.

I can't understand how the writers can think that Lois is likable. She's nasty to random people, including coworkers, for absolutely no reason other than because she's socially inept. She's a little too eager with the Blur, and that whole phonebooth incident was just sort of pathetic. And the "you think of it as 'our' phonebooth too?" line was just...I don't know. So desperate. I realize that the producers are probably watching the clock and trying to hammer through as much solid Clois precedent as possibly, but it's so hamfisted. There was just WAY too much Lois in this episode--it felt worse than in "Savior." I'll be eager to see the screentime breakdowns. It felt the entirety of the episode was just Lois bumbling around like a kid with ADD.


I'm with you. I agree that this is beginning to look like S2 all over again, what with the producers trying to tarnish Chloe's popularity via constant bouts of tears and jealousy. I will always be a Chlarker, but I have absolutely zero interest in watching Chloe's sad puppy eyes react to Clark's sudden boner for Lois or Lois' mouthing off about being the new sidekick. I would almost think that this is setting the stage for Chloe to pull a Palin (*snort*) and go rogue, but I don't give the show that much credit. I think it's just a regurgitated attempt to make Chloe look like the bad guy, like the ugly friend who the pretty girl won't betray in order to date the guy they both like. The only person that ends up looking like a peesh is the ugly friend.

It's not even about Chloe vs. Lois--the writers have given the latter virtually all of the former's qualities, while the former is just floating around, assuming whatever role is needed in a given episode. It's clear that the playing field is not level, that there is no longer any competition--Lois has the career AND the guy. So why do we keep returning to this stupid angsty issue, this unrequited love arc for Chloe and now the "you've been replaced" suggestions? It's so boring, and tired, and it doesn't make anyone look good. If they want to bury the Chlark friendship, FINE, then bury it and let Chloe just move onto something else. I mean, jeez, one minute she's piss and vinnegar with Clark (understandably, as he is basically telling her that compared to Lois, she means nothing to him despite all of the years of loyalty and devotion) and the next minute it's almost as if she's kissing his ass, turning on the hero worship. I know it's not in Chloe's nature to hold a grudge but at some point you have to have some self-respect and go where you're appreciated.

Fuck Clark. What a douche. He wants nothing to do with Chloe, yet as soon as Lois is in danger, he shows up demanding help. Because, you know, it just feels to right to have her as his confidante. Do what?! Are you really saying that to Chloe??

I seem to suffer because I don't ever read any comics, so I don't know who all these characters are. So when Corbin wakes up with a glowing green light in his chest, all I could think of was "Kryptonite Iron Man".

I think Lois called him a heartless bastard, which didn't really seem fair since it wasn't his fault he was heartless.

I thought it was interesting that last week Chloe was self-righteously trying to guilt clark into going back in time and saving Henry-Jimmy, and this week we had Corbin wanting to make Clark pay for changing history and killing his sister (or was it his wife, I can't remember). Of course in the 2nd case Clark just took an action which effected what would happen next, but it's interesting to see it equated to "changing history" or "changing the future".

Because certainly everything we do changes the future. And it could be the difference between life and death.

ON the bad side, I know that my camcorder doesn't do a good job of catching faces when they are backlit, but the human eye is very good at it, and there's no way Clark was well-lit enough from behind that Lois shouldn't have been able to recognize his face.

Of course, since he was just leaning over her trying to wake her up, he certainly doesn't mind taking chances with that whole identity thing -- what if she had been pretending to be asleep?

I think we are back to Clark using Chloe as his side-kick, because he's seen Lois is incapable of performing that task without getting in trouble. But isn't that kind of like original Lois from the old TV series (which yes, I watched when I was a child, because I'm old).

You know I'm thinking of sueing TPTB for using the heartless bastard line. (I'm just joking but...) I mean I wrote a fanfic a year or two ago where the nickname for my villain was "The Heartless Bastard" Sigh they are even tarnishing my own fanfics :(
I disagree, I see Clark using Chloe for any "information" gathering Clark needs since it was Chloe who once again connected all the dots.

Funny that Lois says Corbin had some obsession for the Blur but Chloe was the one who found out that it was because of his sister who was murdered. And where he is. I mean if they are trying to make Lois the BEST REPORTER EVA! Why is it Chloe gathering the most helpful information?

Lois getting in over her head and Clark having to save her? More than likely. That doesn't scream "sidekick" to me, however, unless they're going to have the bad guy be a DP employee every week. Chloe was clearly the "sidekick" in this episode, imo, just like always and just like I expect she'll continue to be.

And season 6. I mean kryptonian crests appear all over the world...doesn't that sound awfully similar to the phantom zone craters?


It screams ICONIC MYTHOS!

OMG, yes! I've stuck with this show all 8 years, (only ever missed one episode), and I can't understand how we've arrived HERE! I mean, when only two of your original cast members are left, don't you sort of have to call your show something else? A spin off? Something? This is NOT Smallville. I loved that show.

It's too bad really, I might have enjoyed Nois & Clark if they had come to their relationship organically. But having to see Chloe's face fall everytime Clark mentions Nois? Epic fail, show.

BAG was good in his role, but really, who cares? Freak of the week, brought on and dispensed with and forgotten by next week. It's like there's not a light bulb in all of Metropolis (or the Kent Farm for that matter). Too damn dark.

Oh yeah, YAY Shelby!!

Good
BAG is a decent actor. I found Corbin and his horror at becoming Metallo relatively sympathetic. I appreciated that the show remembered meteor rocks drive you nuts.

They tried to make Emile and Chloe seem smart this week. I liked that Chloe was quick on the uptake with Metallo and with Tess’s bugs (I had issues with execution though). I remember thinking Clark did something halfway intelligent too, but I’ve since forgotten what.

I get the sense the show isn’t going to milk the dark arc too long. It’s lame and the sooner they dispense with it the better. I do half appreciate that it’s all about Clark feeling the Chlark break. I do half appreciate seeing her call him on his crap. I do appreciate him appologizing.

I kind of like Tess’s eager sidekick.

Bad
I kept wondering what Metallo's meteor power was. Somehow Metallo as a freak of the week is a little anti-climactic, as I felt cheated of a power that was a metaphore for his psyche. If you are going to Smallvillize the villian, don't go half ass.

Do the writers have any sense of how tedious and dull kick the Chloe has gotten? They must think this dramatic. It’s just annoying.

The episode was really clumsy. The Emile exposition where he recognizes the kryptonite heart and what is going on with Metallo instantly was really clumsy. Chloe’s discovery of Corbin's video letter to his sister and instant apprehension of who he was and his motivations was equally abrupt. Characters figuring stuff out ought to make us cheer their capabilities, it deserves more attention in the writing so the moments can be cool.

There was meta here with giving Chloe the Lois Lane name plate and the “what if I was Lois” line. Clearly Chloe was meant to be the better investigator. But show, if you aren’t going to pay a damn thing off, screw off with the teases. If you are, well you are doing a poor job of making the build up enjoyable.

I disliked that they had Clark show some interest in Lois. They were overly heavy handed about how showing how this Blur sidekick crap was rubbing salt in Chloe’s wounds. This just made it more irritating. I feel like the show has nothing to offer so they just poke sticks at the audience and pretend it's meaningful conflict.

I really don’t have much sense of what Tess and Zod are up to. I’ve been wondering why they aren’t making more of an effort to build tension about that.

Credit goes to Badtoad at Ksite


I'm betting Lois will have the most next week. Probably the following one too.

Fuck you, Smallville. Just...fuck you. And you, too, Nois.

This wasn't the most egregiously awful episode ever, but it was the proverbial straw. I deleted my season pass for Smallville tonight. I'm done. They've degraded and abused Chloe for seasons and I kept watching. But I've had enough at long last of their hamfisted attempts to hammer Nois into an ICONIC place in the story that by all rights belongs to Chloe.

I'll miss Allison Mack & Chloe. But, you know, I miss her even when the show's on, so really--what's the point anymore?

QFT!

I only caught this episode because it was on at midnight here and I heard there would be gratuitous Shelby. Yay, Shelby! You are still the finest actor on this show, and the prettiest. Although BAG gave Shelby a run for his money tonight, what with the shirtlessness and the tears of manpain. Seriously, Brian Austin Green did his best to turn shit into gold, and mostly succeeded. Also, he is hot like burning, which is not something I ever thought I would say before seeing him on SCC. Weird.

I thought Chlo-Lo both looked pretty tonight, which is the only positive thing I can say about either of them. Clark was...I don't know what Clark was. He's not the Eradicator, clearly, but he's not anyone I can really imagine becoming Supes either. Still a spineless douche, basically. Shit or get off the pot, Clark. Train/Don't Train/Human/Not Human/Tell your not!girlfriend your secret/Don't tell her anything/Whatever - PICK SOMETHING and STICK WITH IT for once in your worthless life.

At least my love for Batman is untarnished. *sigh*


How many episodes in previous seasons did someone have more screentime than Clark? I think Lex, once or twice, and probably the stupid Mosquito Island flashback ep with Ollie, and maybe Chloe a couple of times? Does anyone know?

Couldn't agree more with you, Nostariel. Did he not learn anything from all those wasted years with Lana?

Does anyone care, anymore? One day later and the thread is barely breaking the third page. It's not looking good.

And those screentimes are an apology.

Nice to see Shelby again, thought it irks me to see that he's still being referred to as a 'she'. Anyway, the mistake came from Nois, so maybe that explains it.

BAG did a good job as Metallo, even if my first impression of him was Poor Man's Tony Stark.

I think the only times when TW got less screentime then another actor was because either it was the episode before he was Directing or he was filming a movie during SV.


Do we need anymore proof that they are sidelining AM for ED? And I'm really surprised at TW, he's the freaking star of the show and he's allowing ED to have more screentime then him?

Attaching a lead plate to Metallo's chest. Of course this was preceded an EMP being set off, Clark knowing he didn't have long after it was set off before the effects wore off and then casually standing over Lois trying to figure out just how much fucking Botox that woman can take(Seriously Erica).

Something tells me that even if this show gets a 10th season, that TWoP isn't going to give it a full forum next year. The interest has really fallen obviously.

I liked this episode, myself. I'm always a sucker for episodes that have a very DC heavy feel. Still can't stand Nois, and even though I try and think of Terri Hatcher during their scenes together, it's just not working. She is playing this love struck attitude towards the Blur WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY to over the top. There are ways to show infatuation without coming off like a 13 year old girl at a Twilight convention. Of course it could be all the Botox (seriously Erica) that makes her expression one of perpetual surprise because she can't blink.

It's been painful watching Smallville these last two eps and, hate to be a bitch, but I know why. It's ED's increased screen time. It's not just about the lightwitches and the resets and the terrible writing that I attribute to that character. It's the actress. She's not good and, after five years of her, I don't think she'll improve. I've actually tried to imagine her lines being said by someone better. I remember Wonderfalls got canceled a bit before ED arrived on Smallville. If I could go back in time, I'd drop Caroline Dhavernas' headshot into the right hands. The things that sound stupid coming from ED would have sounded endearingly obtuse from her. Plus, she knows how to come off intelligent and sarcastic and loveable at the same time. I might have left Chloe for Lois in the hands of a good actress. Really.

But it's all for nothing. It can't change. But, watching this ep, I tried to take off my Chlois goggles and stop hoping for it, tried to erase the last eight seasons from my mind (something PTB seem to want) and just watch and I still couldn't get past it. It's so hard to accept this actress as Lois Lane. She's no good, IMO.

I don't think I can watch much more of this.

No that wasn't it. That was pretty dumb. The comparison with Metallo being the grieving Clark and then having him rip his own heart out was really a low point. There was something almost clever earlier in the episode, I swear. I won't rewatch though, so I guess I need to drop it.

It's not just the overbotoxing, Erica Durance is a terrible actress. This isn't Smallville or Superman, it's some cheap, bad romance novel.

Another solid episode. For the first time in this show's run(!) I actually felt Clark's pain-- when he was talking about how cutting himself off from humanity had left him wondering what was the point of saving people. Without that connection, it all seemed pointless to him. And right then I understood-- I understood what an essentially social person Clark is. I began to understand, for the first time really, what kind of person this Clark Kent is. He's essentially gregarious. He can't cut himself off. He literally can't.

So it seemed more than a lightswitch to me, more than Clark bouncing between extremes yet again. He had to go there, he had to try isolating himself. It was necessary part of self-discovery. It's necessary to his becoming Superman.

It was nice that Chloe was Clark's sounding board in the scene containing this essential revelation. The character was owed that. I'm glad to see that Chloe and Clark's relationship-- although fundamentally changed-- continues strong.

I like what they're doing with Chloe. They did a great job of showing that while Chloe is amused at the signs of romantic sparks between Clark and her cousin, she is a little bit jealous of Lois' connection with the Blur side of Clark. Chloe seems to be unwilling to share the sidekick monniker. I'm not sure how much of her (very!) vocal opposition to Clark involving Lois in the business of the Blur was due to personal reasons. And she did get into full-blown lecture mode with Clark at least once in this episode-- I'm wondering how much of that had to do with her own residual anger. In any case, I love what they're doing with Chloe-- she continues to be a fascinating, complex, flawed and sympathetic character.

Other than that... Lois owned this episode! The fragility ED displayed in her scenes with maniac-Metallo was almost startling in its intensity. Lois' bravado is a cover for her inner vulnerability, and I have never felt that as much as I did during her furnace-room scenes. She was frightened, and I thought ED did a remarkable job making it real. She also brought much-needed balance to the episode, humor. Her comment about the rabbit foot keychain had me laughing out loud, and her epitaph to John Corben-- "heartless bastard"-- was a triumph! I still smile whenever I think about it..,

BAG's performance was full of twitchy greatness. He managed to overcome the somewhat silly-cheesy Metallo-man prosthesis and a role that reminded me a bit too much of BtVS's Adam. And I continue to love Doc Emil; he makes even exposition entertaining. And of course... Shelby!

Overall, I enjoyed most of the episode. I thought the ending scene where Clark sat there while Lois regaled him with the story was cute, because that’s a spin I like in the Clark-Lois relationship in other media: that he just enjoys being around her. I also thought BAG was compelling, and his speech about the Blur being an unfair arbiter of destiny and too removed from humanity was affecting, if misguided.

I did have a few issues with the episode, though, the main being that the acting is better than the writing. The story structure and dialogue feels a little stilted (agree with the criticism of the “our phone booth” exchange in particular), and this Kryptonian-vs-humanity theme is a little too blunt not subtle enough. Actaeon, I like your points on this, but I think the writing was more conveying that he could rather easily cut himself off (from Chloe, from his mother, from the other heroes), except for a rather murky connection to Lois. It might have been nice if Clark had returned to the Planet as a result of Corbin's speech about the Blur being too removed from the everyday struggles of humanity and his realizing that he does need to be among "them," fighting the good fight. I dunno, though, I'm no writer. And I also don’t like that Lois so freely spills the beans about every conversation she has with the Blur. I thought they were going to keep it on the down low (from the last ep). It makes it look as if Lois has no restraint, and Clark seemed unhappy (for 2 seconds) when he found out from Chloe that the the conversations had been divulged.

I’m not all that familiar with this show’s canon (as I just started watching late last season after not watching since Season 1), so I was confused about Dr. Hamilton being in the ER. Last week, I got the impression that he worked for Oliver, but now, he is an ER doc? That’s a little weird. Also, he diagnosed that Metallo’s heart was removed just by looking at him. I never saw that happen on ER. Then again, when you see a big metallic green glowy thing where the heart should be, I guess you can make inferences.

So, new additions to Nois' dream include Clark's S t-shirt, tattered and on a pole a la The Death of Superman; and Nois smiling as she has sex with Clark. I'm guessing the t-shirt symbolizes the death of Clark's supposed good side, since we see him quite alive in the dream, and since he's apparently running around with Zod's symbol on his chest in the future. But it's interesting-- they throw in yet more apocalyptic imagery, while Nois smiles.

The ONLY thing I can figure is that perhaps we're to assume that this is all some sort of misunderstanding Chloe thinks she's been replaced but the truth is that Clark still considers Chloe his go-to girl?


Ahh yes. If the show wants us to take her seriously and forget all the skeletons in her closet then they need to write her as someone that can be taken seriously.


IA. That screams 'damsel in distress'. I didn't consider Chloe Clark's sidekick while he was having to run around rescuing her because a sidekick can handle him/herself pretty well. Of course they might need a little help once in a while but typically they can get themselves out of whatever jam they have gotten themselves into. YMMV.

This is what I was trying to say when the Season Starter early reviews came out and where they praised SV "It's not Smallville it's Superman" and all that bullshit. Second episode in, Clark goes back to the same mantra. "I can't do this anymore!" Mope mope, mope... It's the same crap we get from SV from every freaking season. Nothing changes! This episode is evidence of that.

Metallo is an Iconic Character, don't you think, well I dunno, they'd have Lois coin the name Metallo? No we just get some Terminator reference (and yes I know why.) But in DC world makes no sense when Deathstroke was formerly known as the Terminator.

Also I loved how they took another swipe at Chloe fans with Corbin having a Wall of Weird of his own. I guess only obsessed villains have them?

Also please tell me what kind of reporting Lois did in this episode? She didn't write a story about Corbin/Matello, just sidekick to the blur when will the accusation starts that Lois isn't interested in reporting anymore? I mean we have to be fair right, no double standards?

Ok ok, off topic at least for this post but on for the thread when Tess was in that Lab looking at the blueprints of what they did to Corbin, anyone else thought the image was of a Boom tube?

Okay, am I missing something?? The episode aired last night? I had the MLB on both the CW and Channel 20 from 8-10pm.

NY Metro market? Mets game aired last night, the episode will air tonight at 8PM