Seriously, Chloe? Just kill yourself.

The Good: the opening teaser was completely fabulous, an action sequence right out of the grand old days of SV. If I was going to put words in Oliver's mouth, Toyman's speech would be exactly what I'd pick. Very cathartic. And it's great to see Toyman back: love the actor.

Best line goes to Lois: "I have internet on my phone!" Hee.

The bad: Oliver's emo-party of self pity; Clark apologizing to Oliver; Oliver not actually blowing up; the Clois scene at the end seemed to drag on forever; if Clark wants to go for dinner why do they end up going in separate directions to a truck rally?

The cheesy: SV's own private Mexico.

The unforgivable: Using a fake Lex again. STOP DOING THAT!!! It was a pretty good ep to that point and you WRECKED it.

Laura Vandervoort has competition for hottest female to be on this show, because Cassidy Freeman with a gun was all kinds of hot. When she first popped up in the bar, that was excellent. And at the end when she shot Toyman, that was even hotter. Yeah, I'm concentrating on the shallow. But this episode didn't have much else going for it, I blame the Clois for destroying what should have been a good episode.

I do like Toyman rebuilding Metallo, though. So we've got Toyman, Metallo, Zod, Zod's Army, and Tess as enemies for Clark. Please don't do what you usually do Smallville. You guys can do it, come through on this potential. Do it for the fans that have stuck with the show.

I'll give it an above average. Clark using his telepathy was good and it's always nice to see him actually being pro-active and smart. Oliver's storyline continues and I liked the end scenes with Oliver thinking he saw Lex and the Tess/Toyman stuff.

Toyman's still a fun villain.

I don't get the Ollie-emo thing. His actions as Green Arrow have proven he's not a selfish, spoiled playboy.



No argument there. Cassidy Freeman has looked great ever since she debuted on the show.

I love Smallville's version of Toyman so much. Granted, the only other versions I know are the member of the Legion Of Doom from The Superfriends cartoon, and George Jefferson.

I find it annoying that the Toyman being behind was played up to be a surprise, yet the promos were focused on the fact he was returning.

This could have been a very good episode, but Lois spoils it. She's just too hard to take. I agree that the last scene between Lois and Clark dragged on forever and was a waste of air time. There's no chemistry between them. I think more action is needed to make this season a success. The forcing of Lois as the new love interest is just not interesting and there are no sparks flying like there were between Clark and Lana.

Would love to see more Chloe and much less of Lois. Hope Oliver comes to his senses soon and the Green Arrow is back on the scene again. Why are these writers wasting Justin Hartley's talent? It's like they've got him sleepwalking through these episodes. Enough is enough - make Oliver become the Green Arrow again.

Considering the show will never be what it was, or what we'd hoped, I enjoyed tonight's ep reasonably well. I like Clois together in this new 'verse, and there were some good chuckles.

I find it unsettling that Oliver is assuming the position, both in the story and in relation to Clark, that used to be Lex's. What I hate is that he's given chances Lex never got. If only Clark could have seen his way clear to say some of the things to Lex that he said to Ollie tonight. I know we're supposed to accept Ollie as more of a "hero" than Lex was, but I just can't buy into that. About the only glimmer of redemption is that they actually went there (I didn't think they had the guts): he IS feeling some guilt about Lex's "death". Unless I interpreted that wrong; he is, right?

If Clark couldn't say those things to Lex, couldn't they at least let him express a sentence or two of regret that he wasn't able to save his other billionaire bud, or give him any support at times he needed it?

Lex, you may be gone, but you're sure not forgotten. By Clark, maybe, but not by us.

An okay episode that I think I'll like better on subsequent viewings. Some great lines, though, and I actually felt for Oliver. Also, crazy, evil, action star Tess rocks my socks.

I didn't watch.
How many scenes Chloe had, and what was she doing in them?
Should I, a Chloe fan watch the full epi, or just Chloe scenes on youtube?

Terrible.

Okay.

The Good:
Decent mind reading concept.
Toyman is an excellent character/actor.
Ollie finally saw every single thing I've thought of him for the past year or so.
I liked Tess from the beginning... And that's holding true. Don't know what it is... But CF rocks!

The Bad:
The Clois. All of it. It's forced IMO. There are no sparks. And the last scene in particular went on FOREVERRR.. Hypothetically, theoretically, supposively they, the people which are not me and you, would probably, maybe, most likely do things like this, in this manner, and not like this. Nothing against Tom and Erica, but this pairing isn't working. And I wanted to bash my head into a wall when she drove up in a monster truck. Really?

Jor-El character assassination. This bothers me all of this season and last. Am I the ONLY one that remembers Jor-El in S2-7? The one that threatened a 15 year old that he had to leave everyone now? The one that nearly killed Johnathan in the caves? The one that reprogrammed Clark because he couldn't get his own way? The one that stripped him of his powers just because he didn't return at an asinine time? And now these last two years he's suddenly "good"???? Jor-El was a threat. The change was NOT explained....

Too little Chloe... once again she was underused, and what she was used for was once again to show her being unhappy... When you show characters not getting what they want, it just makes me want to root for them more. And as I love Chloe as it is...

The depressed Ollie thing feels like it's been his story line for two years now.. Let's get back to S6 Ollie.

I wouldn't bother, she had less than 5 minutes of screen time. What a waste of her good talent.

Chloe was a sounding board for Clark to talk about the mind reading thing.
Chloe was told about Toyman being back.
Chloe got to make upset faces again as she found out Lois had a date with Clark
Chloe got to "save the day" again.

As a Chloe fan myself, it's not worth it.

Thanks, I'll wait for youtube clips!

The good:

-Toyman coming back. He's a good character, and I liked them setting up his future grudge against Clark/Superman.

-Even though she wasn't in as much of the episode as I would have liked, I liked Chloe once again helping Clark to save the day. I could have done without most of her scene at the DP, though.

-The Oliver storyline is still cruising along nicely, and he wasn't so obnoxious in this episode. Clark may have gotten through to him just a bit at the end.

-Tess was good with both the good side (trying to reach out to Oliver) and the not so good side (the scene with Toyman at the end).

-Minus the scenes with Nois, I liked Clark. He was at his most human this season, but still trying to be heroic. I'm not sure I like the whole "Jor-El giving him powers" plot point, but it was for a purpose this time. That said, I hope the writers don't make it a habit.

The bad:

-I could not stand Nois in this episode at all. She came across as a desperate, lovesick person, and that scene at the end was a major dose of WTF, clearly designed to prop her up. But then again, it was a BQM episode, and he just loves to try and make Nois to be better than she is. Not that it worked.

-The Cnois scenes were a snooze. Any relationship that makes both characters look bad is not one I care for at all.

I'll give this one a 5/10, with all 5 points going to the non-Cnois/Nois stuff. Better than zombies (I don't care for things like that), but not by much.



Actually, it kinda was. In Abyss last season, Clark put his foot down with Jor-El and basically told it to stop being such an asshole to him.



YouTube her scenes, all 4 of them.

I was actually going to cite that and I should have.
I know Clark says Jor-El needs to stop treating him like an enemy...
But I don't know. Jor-El's response is just that he's "grown so much", and he's all of a sudden understanding and sympathetic. It's from that moment on actually that the change bothers me... It just all seemed to come out of nowhere for me.

For some reason I was put off by the "Loose lips sink ships" line at the hospital.

I know it's not a proprietary line for Chloe or anything, but considering everything else...well, it brought me back to better times, and I was annoyed that it was used so..flippantly almost. Oh well.

Well I consider it another clue for the Clark is really The Eradicator enthusiasts.

Word, acampbell. I think this was the way the writers chose to emphasize Clark's new found maturity. When he was friends with Lex, he was very young and emotionally unprepared to deal with Lex's many insecurities. Not to mention that he was far more interested in Lana's many ordeals. Now Clark is all Superman-ish and, like many like to point out, pro-active and confident...

Sure, it takes away from the specialness of Clark and Lex's bond, but honestly, it doesn't seem the writers care about that. What Clark and Lex shared was supposed to be unique, possibly the most important relationship he had in his entire life, but... Smallville's motto has always been "Out of sight, out of mind".

They did the same thing with Clana. I always hated Clana (big surprise there), but I the 'closure' they gave to this pairing in last week's episode was laughable. This was the woman Clark had been obsessing over for many years. He was willing to murder for her, for Christ's sake! Where did all these feelings go? What if the kryptonite Lana absorbed is dangerous for her health and life? Did Clark even try to help her find a cure? Does Clark remember that Lana was as far from a saint as it was possible to be? Does he remember that she was a cheater, a liar, a thief? That she slept with two of his enemies? That she had no problem leaving her husband to die? Did Clark ever come to terms with all this?

These are all unresolved issues (and there are more) that I honestly don't think are going to be addressed in the show. "Out of sight, out of mind".


From what I've seen of Smallville (and I'm pretty new to it, BTW), its writers are notoriously good at completely ignoring the previous canon. Apparently it's been happening for years, so the fact that the show doesn't remember that Lex used to be a good guy (and yes, quite heroic and altruistic at times) doesn't really surprise me.

Unlike Lex, Ollie doesn't have this Damocles' sword of impending villainy hanging over his head, so he may flirt with the dark side all he wants, he'll still come out of all this unscathed, no matter how much shit he's going to do. So I won't be surprised if by the end of this season he and Clark will be BFFs, despite the fact that last season Olliver betrayed Clark and murdered Lex. I have yet to see Oliver apologizing to Clark for shooting him in the back with a Kryptonite dart, BTW.



I interpret the whole thing as Oliver not wanting to become Lex. I don't think it's Lex's death that devastates him; if the deed had been done by someone else (not a member of the Justice League), Ollie would have been okay with that. It's the fact that he, the supposed hero, is a murderer that haunts him.

It's quite boring, actually, because we've seen it all before. First we saw Lex fearing that he would turn into Lionel one day; now we have Oliie not wanting to become Lex... How about something original, for a change?



I remember only one episode (Nemesis) in which Clark expressed regret that he had lost his best friend. So again I can say that I am dissapointed and bitter, but not surprised at all.

Also, after watching season 6-8 I had an impression that Clark honestly believes that he did all he could to help and support Lex, and it did nothing good because Lex had already been tainted too much when he came to Smallville.



Again, word.

There's only one reason I watch Smallville now: I want Chlark to break up, Chloe to send Clark to hell and leave Metropolis to find her true destiny. The writers made Clark forget about all of his previous attachments, and Chloe is the only one who still connects him to his previous life. I hope she will simply leave him, and then he will be quite happy with his new set of friends. Yes, I'm bitter.)




No, Chlark10, you're not the only one. Jor-El was a sadistic monster, and as far as I'm concerned, his change remained unexplained. But then again, they did exactly the same thing with another sadist, Lionel...

Don't even get me started there.
With Jor-El I never really liked him to start with...
Lionel was excellent. And they ruined him.

I'm pissed that Ollie's betrayal of Clark in Doomsday is treated as something insignificant. And I'm also pissed that Lois is so cheerful, even though her friend Jimmy died only several weeks ago. Do the writers understand that all this reflects really poorly on the characters?

Definitely my least favorite of the season so far. Tess was by far the best thing about the episode. That said, Tess was absolutely badass and awesome, in every single scene she was in.

I was also actually okay with Oliver in this one. I'm really glad that they're playing up his downward spiral as being related to his guilt over killing Lex as opposed to just being because he's sad Jimmy died. I actually really liked the bit at the end when he saw the reflection of Lex in the window. Best use of Fake!Lex yet.

I also liked that they brought back the kryptonite heart. As for Toyman, I like the character and the actor a lot, but I didn't enjoy him as much this time around, possibly because it seemed like he got less screentime, which is possibly because...

They were trying way too hard with Clark and Lois in this one. I actually thought they had chemistry last week, probably more than I've ever thought before. But this week it was forced. Thank you, Bryan Q. Miller.

I did like "I have internet on my phone!" though. Heh.

I actually didn't watch the episode itself, but I just saw people on Kryptonsite discussing Oliver's age. Apparently he said that he was 5 when his parents were murdered. Did he really say that? Because that just blows continuity all to hell.

You have Chlo-Lo in a scene together. Lois is going on and on to Chloe how connected she and Clark has been, how close they've gotten, what great partners they are.... Are we supposed to get all that Chloe and Clark have done together? I mean come on.


Yeah he said that he was only five and didn't really know them.

No.. I don't think we're supposed to... because throughout the entire scene we have Chloe acting fake happy, and then visibly upset... But I have zero faith that this will ever actually be paid off in a satisfactory way. All common sense says it will be... but I've learned not to rely on that with this show.

So, 16-year-old Lex was bullied by 12-year-old Ollie. Heh. Turns out the poor guy was even more of a loser than I thought.

Well, given the fact that they changed Chloe's personal history several times, I shouldn't be so surprised, but damn it. It is once again confirmed that the writers simply don't respect their viewers.

Skimmed because I'm not really in the mood to watch this crap if it's going to suck as much as I expect from the last three episodes. This is all I needed to read:



But I gather Chloe as no screen time and the Clois is excruciating as expected. So, maybe next week peeps.

Wait, Clark missed his deadline at a daily in a major metro area and they're just going to run it later, and no other outlet has picked up the scent, and instead of rushing to get it up on the website they're talking about their relationship? Oh, show. Why do you hate journalism so?

I paused the video at Clark's story just because I love that aspect of Smallville.... Oh, show. Oh, show, show, show. I will forever miss Omar's jokes about the copy of Smallville.

And Clark, Lois is a terrible editor!

Lois: Still unable to find out anything, or interview a witness, or essentially carry out any basic journalistic task. Still unlikeable and shrill. Great job getting me behind your new romance, writers! Say, next week, maybe you should have another intergalactic visitor talk about her "bond" with Clark. I'm sure it will convince me this time.

Chloe: It's funny. You know how many people have often said that Chloe's role was to be the audience's eyes, since she is the character viewers could most identify with? This season, they've gone meta with it. Chloe's entire role this season appears to be that she remembers the show's continuity, even if none of the other characters do. Maybe it's Allison Mack's private rebellion, but in every scene she's in it seems clear that Chloe, at least, understands how much bullshit the current storyline and characterization are, even if everybody else is pretending it all makes sense.

Tess: Still awesome. I await the day when she just starts gunning down every other character, then stands triumphant amid the smoking bodies.

Me: Wondering why I still subject myself to this damn show.

Edited because UBB is not HTML.

The look on her face kind of killed me. Lois has all she wanted and you can just feel the pain. Ugh. I don't know if I appreciate the character detail or would rather her just be numb, like I want to be.

Which makes absolutely zero sense, because Ollie was nine or ten. We've seen him in two kid flashbacks when he was at least as old (if not older) than Lex. Stupid, stupid writers. It's mentioned in the pilot, you idiots!

Lois got the best line of the episode though. "You can't lose me. I have the internet on my phone." Ha! :D I loved her for one brief moment.

And then it went away again.

I really can't take all the Cnois. It's forced, it's too saccharine and ridiculous, and I don't find it convincing at all.

I found some of the Oliver stuff compelling; some of it made me want to scream. I like that he feels guilty, I like that he's struggling... But there's no way I wasn't behind Toyman's CONFESS! scheme. Like Durq said upthread, I loved that speech. (On a side note, I also loved the "MURDERER," followed by "Don't forget you're standing on a bomb.")

I feel the same way about Oliver taking on Lex's position (including the desire for suicide, and lemme say, Clark, you handled it MUCH better this time *is bitter*), and I do get that the writer's are showing Clark's newfound maturity. I would love any textual acknowledgement of that, but of course it will never come. The fact that Clark reaches out more to Oliver, destined for goodness, than he did to Lex, destined for EVOL, just stings a lot. I'll never find Oliver, bully and industrial terrorist and lately, murderer, as/more compelling than I did Lex, who we saw struggle through so much.

ITA, Raelis. It's maddening, IMO, but it's true. This flirtation with depression and darkness will only lead to Ollie being a hero again, which could be an interesting and meaningful arc if it were on any other show. On this one, it just means that he has the right name, and that's why he overcomes his issues.

Oh, yes, and I feel it imperative to say that Tess? Was awesome. I could have done without her whole "must save Ollie" softness, but she's pretty freakin' awesome even though I don't quite *get* her all the time. CF just rocks the heck out of the role.

Also... I am still very uncomfortable that the most powerful being on Earth lets a psycho A.I. rifle through his head, flipping switches. I need more than a couple lines in one episode to redeem Hal 2.0 for me.

I didn't hate this one. I didn't like it, but the parts that weren't forced Cnois were entertaining at least, and Toyman rocks.

Good to know I didn't miss much.

It's really, really blatant in "Echo" more than any other episode and I think that something's got to be going on here. It seems like every single scene that Chloe's in somehow involves Clark or Lois making some sort of insensitive comment followed by Chloe's painful expression. Lois wearing what looks like Clark's shirt, talking about their date, the whole "Lois and Clark against the world" comment, etc. Before that was Clark's comment about how he could only hear Lois' thoughts and no one else's, and Chloe's annoyed response...it's just so S2, only much more heavy handed. And S2 ended with Chloe betraying Clark. Goughlar's backpedaling in response to fan outrage was probably the best decision they ever made, because the Chlark friendship became the anchor of the series, but at this point it's clear to me that Chlark is the biggest roadblock to Clois and I believe now that Chloe is probably going to go dark before the character departs the canvas.

It's sad, it's frustrating, and to be honest, while watching tonight I felt almost like I was being bullied by the powerful clique at school. True, I might not have a ton else going on Friday nights with a sleeping 4-year-old upstairs, but I could watch something else completely and I choose to hang in as a LT viewer who can't seem to let go. I get that Clois is happening and whatever, fine, but the Kick Chloe routine has now become more like a Kick the Fan routine and it's really fucking uncool.

Also, WHO on earth thought it was a good idea to have Lois show up to press conference in a fucking monster truck? I mean, seriously? It was almost a cartoonish moment. The stupid "Clark catches Lois" moment, like a million others of the same variety, when they arrive on the scene of the explosion is SO fucking tired already. Are these two 12? Half the time they act like they still can't stand one another and then suddenly they're fucking Clana-level angsting. Except Clana had marginal chemistry and Clois have, IMO, NONE. And yes, it's subjective, fine, but maybe it wouldn't be such a big point of contention for me if every episode wasn't just an excuse to pimp Clois and every character didn't exist to give them a reason to make googly eyes at one another. Maybe one of the reasons that, though it was an intolerable ship by S4, Clana didn't completely drive fans away was because Clark was allowed to have meaningful relationships with other people and had other things to do.

Ollie's age at the time of his parents' death might be the most ridiculous retcon since Henry. The Queens died in 1989, and Oliver was about 10-year-old. That would make him about 30 now, which is pretty much in the general ballpark considering that Lex was around 22/23 in S1 and he and Lex are the same age. Making Ollie 5 in 1989 puts him at 25 presently. And, NO. An entire web series was devoted to the GA backstory for christ's sake. These assholes will shit on anything.

Am I giving too much credit to the show and the writers in reasoning that Tess saved Oliver, just to get him to come back, because she knew it would draw out Toyman. And with him drawn out and captured, she could make the deal with him to get him to re-build or build an army of Metallo's to counter Zod and his army?

This show...it just....jeezus!

So toyman went into the factory, tied up everyone in it (were those child laborers I saw some of them looked kind of young?), dressed up the guy, and snuck out without anyone seeing him. Okay....

Donut thievery was not cute...you have freaking super speed. Go buy a new donut asshat! Not only was it wrong to steal, but god knows what germs that guy had in his mouth that Clark then gave to Lois. And heck what was the guy going to think when the donut in his hand/mouth was suddenly gone...discreet much. What if he were to say something about his missing donut...how dumb do you think Lois really is? (Well....)

Am I missing something or did Clark's using what he learned while having mind reading powers have absoultely jack shit with stopping the bomb or saving anyone? He needed the mind reading experience to tell Oliver was in distress? (Nervous sweaty guy, making a confession he doesn't seem to want to do. Really?) After that all he did was use his X-Ray vision and saw the bomb...Seriously wtf!

Speaking of Clark's X-Ray vision...if we're seeing what Clark sees, then how the hell did he not see the timer clear as day under Oliver ticking down, why does it take talking with RoboToyman to realize the bomb (that he just saw) was on a timer. Aaaaaargh. They seriously aren't even trying at all are they?

So even though Clark can read Lois' mind, he still manages to blows her off in the way that makes him seem the most like a major tool? Wow.

Then there was the end...and the promise of another Clois not date...why exactly? For whatever assinine contrived reason, he is in love with her, and having read her thoughts he knows she has feelings for him...so wtf is with all the coy bullshit. It makes no sense,,,and don't give me protecting her...if he was protecting her he wouldn't be around her period. There isn't any significant danger difference that we've seen between close friend/coworker & love interst. (Not that I want Clois...but at this point I think couple Clois would be better than moon eyed flirtatious bullshit Clois)

Everyone who's complained about the Cnois: I'm pretty sure that was the point. A lot of people say that Bryan Q. Miller's scripts are Cnois friendly. However, if you really look at them, they really aren't. Hex shows that deep down, Clark doesn't really respect her. This episode shows that he's weirded out about her attraction to him and that the supposed "date" amounted to just being a pity date. When Chloe tells him that Nois thinks it's a date, he's confused. Plus, both Hex and this episode treat Clark and Chloe as partners, not Clark and Nois.


Durq:



And it happened in the presence of that wonderous thing daylight! There's been little of that lately.


Last Time Lord:



And it looks like the episode had a small shout out to the Toyman from Superman: The Animated Series with the mask that Toyman made the guy wear. In the series, Toyman wore a mask and in it's first appearance his original was damaged. And the mask in this episode has some cracks on its face.

I think he's learned that when in a pinch call Chloe and use her save the day. At least, that's what I got from that scene.

It was nice to finally see the sun and some outside shots in this episode. I was beginning that think they only flim when it is dark and gloomy.
Chloe standing outside with her coffee in her opening scene was probably about one of the most visual pleasing scenes I have seen on this show in a long time. She really is a very stunning young lady and it is really shameful that Clark doesn't even blink at that.
so, Clark can hear Lois thoughts and for the ENTIRE time all we hear are her love thoughts? It never occurred to him, or the writers, to begin to ask her about her missing three weeks so he can begin to uncover some answers that he is suppose to be looking for? geesh...

Hey guys..if you want to whole audience to be happy for Lois and Clark, let's not spend the entire Chlo-Lo moment with Chloe looking like she is going to throw up over this new "Lois and Clark against the world."

The monster truck..just wrong. I think that I could have come up with a million ways to spend the money for that scene and that was not one of them. Lois shows up in the truck basically adjusts Clarks tie and walks away. That whole scene I think was to just show Lois in a hot dress because they could have handle that entire conversation by phone.

Toyman was cool, Tess was GREAT

I wonder how many minutes in this eppie was devoted to Clois love thoughts? I would have rather seen another round of Toyman trying to blow things up than the Clois "it's a date, not a date" conversations.

Ah Lois... going on about how it's you and Clark against the world, about how you're tired of doing it alone.... because of course those are incredibly tactful things to say to your cousin who is actually doing it alone after a divorce and then death of Jimmenry. Lois, WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME DESPISE YOU SO MUCH! I can't watch this show anymore... it makes my blood pressure dangerously high.

I don't think that Clark is in much of a hurry to find out what Lois knows. If he comes to know it, he might actually have to act, and Clark is more of a shit-and-sit-in-it kind of guy. Plus, much as I hate it, much as Clois has no chemistry, much as TW isn't selling this great affection, I think that Clark really just wants to be around Lois. And sadly, I think his pledge to hang around her and tap into her memories was 25% sincerity and 75% bullshit for Chloe's benefit. Likewise, his "confusion" over Clois' date was not, I think, genuine and more just aloofness designed to spare Chloe's feelings. So again, we really are back in S2 mode. It's just so frustrating. I have GOT to really give myself a good talking to about kicking this shit once and for all.

Oh, and re: Clark not trying to find out about Lois' memories, remember--this is BQM, who wrote "Bulletproof," where Ollie was lecturing Clark on the value of human life and how it's wrong to kill in any circumstance. He's not in the loop at all and I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't even know about Lois' trip to the future. *pets the future*

You are not the only one...I wonder if we could sue Smallville and TPTB for bad writing related health problems?

I think the subtlety and understanding of human emotions (y'know, more than he got from actually being raised as a human child by two loving and very smart parents) was intended to pay off with Clark's realising that Toyman wouldn't have placed himself at the scene of the bomb. So certain was he that he risked melting a persons face off if he'd have been wrong, so good thing he'd learned his lesson well there, eh?

Like someone up thread, I didn't actually hate the episode. I even thought ED and TW were a (tiny) bit better at portraying a relationship: if I had actually started watching this season, I could probably even buy into it, but I actually have a eight year history of watching this show. Shame the same can't be said of the writers.

I don't know maybe it was the good mood I was in, maybe it was the fact that I missed Terrence Stamp's voice or maybe its the fact that I've totally given up on this show and my standards for "good" have dropped so low, but I really liked this episode.

Has Allison Mack been directing all of these eps so far because there is no reason for her to be missing from these shows.

Again I enjoyed it, it doesn't give me hope or anything but it didn't want to make me gauge my eyes out like normal eps.

I don't understand what they are doing with the Clark/Chloe relationship, they still help each other but they no longer are best friends. I don't get it.

Craggle Rock, I think that all he had to do was xray him to find out for sure if he had any doubt. I would have to rewatch to see if he squints like he does when he xrays before he blasted the robot with his heat vision.

Oh wow, I completely blanked on Smallville last night. I utterly forgot that it was on. I checked the "Smallville General Gabbery" page just now and saw that an episode called "Echo" was highlighted and felt betrayed by the site, because there was no new episode of Smallville on last ni- ... oh yeeeah... It sucks that I missed Tess being awesome. And that's all that I regret. Which is kind of surprising for me. I thought I liked Smallville more than that. Huh. Well, I loved Lois and Clark as a kid. That counts for something, right? I never really liked the Toyman the first time he showed up, so...

In between Tess with the sword last week and this new badass thing she's supposed to have done, she might be my new favorite character. But is she worth watching the show for?

More proof that BQM is writing Clark like a moron, since that is exactly what happened last fucking week! And at least a few times a season for years! Hell, Jor-El's entire training could just be teaching Clark to go ask Chloe what do do, since that works better than anything else he usually does!

How in the blue hell did BQM, a guy who only seems to watch his own episodes, get promoted to story editor? How is this asshat, who seems to have forgotten Lois is having the Plot Device Visions of Apocolyase Sex, write a script where Clark can read minds but does not look into the missing three weeks?Oh, yeah.

Speaking of the failsauce, four minutes for Chloe? Most of which were used for sad!Chloe and Clois playing Kick the Chloe? Really, PSW? Really? Are you now reduced to ripping off season two and bad Clois fanficts where EvolChloe dies at the end?

Thank goodness this crap is on Fridays - makes it that much easier to avoid.

I think the producers must know how bad this show sucks now, which is why they play the background music so loud you can't really hear what the actors are saying.

BTW, show, the "INS" has been gone for years now, it's "ICE". Maybe the writers were too lazy, or maybe they are just saying that Clark is so stupid he wouldn't know any better.

I quoted this whole paragraph, because it's exactly what I've been seeing, too. It's possible that Chloe's facial expressions aren't in the script, but assuming they are, it's not just a reboot. Chloe seems (FINALLY) to get how shabbily she's been treated by life. If they don't intend to do something with it, they should have stuck with PodChloe. Having her respond with this confused sadness to all the Lois-and-Clark-OMG-bestest-partners-ever! crap just reminds us how much crap it truly is.

The most likely explanation is that you're right. It's Season 2 all over again, and they're going to make Chloe evil. It's different than Season 2, though. Season 2 Chloe was crabby and jealous, but she had no right to be. Having a crush on somebody does not grant the right to tell him who he can and can't date. Chloe's position in Season 2 was therefore not sympathetic.

Chloe's situation now, though... It's not that Lois is getting everything Chloe ever wanted. Lois is getting everything Chloe used to have. She was fired from her dream job for helping Clark. After all the working together, all the saving Clark's life, all the "Brainiac should learn about humanity from you", all the "I'm your bomb squad", all the "You mean more than you know", she's been ditched as the best friend, for helping Clark. (Admittedly, it's only a partial ditching, since Lois is useless and Clark needs help to tie his shoes, but certainly the emotional closeness seems to be gone.) When Clark said, "I have to cut my ties to humanity to fulfill by destiny", what he seems to have meant was, "I need to cut my ties to you. Everything else I can keep."

Who could blame her for being pissed off at this point? Assuming, as I think is correct, that they're trying to make her the antagonist, they're not doing it in such a way that seems likely to make us see her that way.

I think they are going to make Chloe go evil(but not horribly evil..just bad for a bit) and Clark is going to be the one to bring her back just in time for Nois to shoot her in the back.

He figured out the "Toyman" at the party wasn't really Toyman, which led him to realize the bomb wasn't connected to the pressure plate and was on a timer. One assumes from there, either he or the police to disabled it without it actually blowing up. I don't really consider that Clark standing around and doing nothing.

Another solid episode. "Echo" again really focused on Clark, which is how I think it should be. Instead of complaining about his new power, instead of the show focusing on the downside (invasion of privacy, terrible burden, whatever) Clark learns about it and puts it to use. He even has a little fun with it. I love the expression on his face when he discovers how women... ahem... react to him. Loved the nurses' unvoiced comment about not caring if she gets fired. Six and a half feet of handsome, indeed!

When the power quits working at the critical moment, searching for the bomber at the AoC, I love Clark's sarcastic comment "thanking" Jor-El. Clark just seems so much more balanced this season, so much more mature. I'm finally convinced that he deserves to wear the S on his chest.

Clark's fun-loving, upbeat relationship with Lois pleases me greatly. These two have fun together. The donut scenes-- both of them-- were just priceless. Clark liberates a donut for her, explaining away the bite already taken out it... "I got hungry". She later brings him a donut in turn, taking a bite out of it before handing it over. That they both eat the shared donuts is, to me, as good as-- as intimate as-- a kiss. Symbolic, fun, and original way of doing it... much more fun, I'd say, than simply having them kiss. BQM is a genius.

I felt sympathy for Ollie. His scene in the Mexican cantina had great atmosphere, a bit of humor, and a kickass heroine. Tess wasn't in this episode much, but her every second counted. There wasn't much Toyman either, but again, every moment counted. I love this guy's sweaty unattractiveness... he's a great villain. And that scene with Tess in the interrogation room-- exceptional! Tess is really coming together for me as a character. I don't think she's evil. I just think she's too tough for her own good. Or the good of the world...

I really liked the Clark/Ollie interaction in the empty AoC, after the action was over. Clark's concern for his friend and colleague, Clark's responsible demeanor. He doesn't lecture. He listens and offers support. To me, that's Clark as a true hero. And then the great visual-- Ollie seeing Lex in his own reflection, then throwing his whiskey glass at it.

So many good things in this episode, virtually nothing I didn't like. Best of all though is I think Lois & Clark's journey together. Clark learning about Lois' likes and dislikes-- first because of his "Echo" power, but then able to do just fine without his training wheels. Clark understanding and believing in the attraction. Confident and smooth. Clark Kent... this Clark Kent... smooth? It seems so; Tom Welling really sold me on it.