Zap2it:

Just when I thought I couldn't love Tess any more. I'd talk about the other aspects, which were fun and I enjoyed, but I'm pretty much all about Tess right now.

Speedy's hot, much hotter without the wig obviously. That being said, Ollie better have worn protection. If he didn't, that may not end well for him.

Tess and the Kandorians makes for interesting television, so of course it has to be plot c. You've got to love Tess killing that Kandorian, and rubbing it in Zod's face. Don't screw with her. And I think we saw that building Tess unveiled in Lois' vision of the future.

As for the Clark and Lois stuff, it really shouldn't be the main focus when you've got Speedy and Tess and the Kandorians. It just can't match up with the rest of the plots going on. I will admit I did like Clark on his date, and before that "I bought a new tie". Welling is always good at the comedy.

I loved this episode!! I'm really starting to get a feel for season 9 now.

Liked the Lois and Clark stuff a lot (I see they're steal biting off of Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain's formula) although Lois' face is still funny looking to me.

Really great episode. All of the series regulars appeared, and they all got great things to do.

And that kiss...

EPIC.

I really enjoyed tonight's ep. Last week, when it was the Oliver Queen show, I was bored to death. But I liked what they did with all the characters tonight, from Zod to Mr. Campbell. I was actually interested in what was happening. Although Ollie's still carrying a torch for Lois seemed to come largely out of the blue. I'm relieved they didn't spend eps with Clark agonizing over the Clollie still being an item, etc.

I loved the Clois plot--I'd like to see more eps like this where they have the characters try something new and have fun with it.

If I can't have my Clex--and I know I can't--the Clois is fine by me. The kiss--magnifique! and I'm so glad Clark was the one to initiate it. I like the switch from Lois mooning for Clark in private to it's being largely mutual.

Let me get this straight: Chloe didn't annoy and she might have found her match. Ollie and Mia wasn't long and drawn out and fraught with angst. Cat was hilarious, Clark was jealous, Tess was bad ass, Zod is an actual villain and adults acting, well like adults and Clark manned up and went after what he wanted? Then, THE KISS??

Is this really Smallville?

Can't wait to watch this one over. It was indeed EPIC!

ETA: I forgot the Blur save! The grabbing of the bullet right next to Ollie's face. And then the glare. Oh man, that was good. Glad I started watching again.

There's nothing Epic about repeating something we've seen Nois do previously at work, with a different man, IMO. The CNois kiss was set up almost exactly as Nois/Grant, which I find quite amusing. Not in a complimentary way.

It was fine. Although for the second week in a row Clark was put in the B storyline and had very little to do again. I understand that next week appears to be his ep but I was unaware this somehow became an ensemble show.

Okay, so let me get this straight--Clark doesn't want to go after Lois because he knows that Oliver has a thing for her (random), and Oliver's been through a lot (what else is new), and it'd be selfish (have you met yourself, Clark?). And the person he tells this to is CHLOE?!

*head desk*

P: Well, it's sucks that Sam isn't coming back, because he had really great chemistry with Allison.
S: Yeah...and you know, that awesome connection she had with dorky Henry wasn't bad either.
W: So, if we take Sam's looks, and Henry's geek, and less time for me to be around Allison and remind everyone how much chemistry WE have--
PSW: STUART!

Fail. Altho with FFing through the Clois/Lollie/triangle angst + commercials, I watched this joint in about 8 minutes. Not bad. However, I did go back and look at the Clois kiss. Since it was the first, I felt like I shouldn't skip it altogether. But...no. No chemistry. I don't care that it's the ICONIC Lois and Clark. The names aren't enough. TW and ED just don't have romantic chemistry. Their snarky, brother/sister vibe works the best, and it's hard to see them kiss and feel anything special when Clark still acts like Lois annoys him. It's just weird. And it doesn't work for me.

Of course, I don't know that this is the REAL Clark anyway. So I can't see how any of this will stick regardless.

I didn't watch.
How many scenes Chloe had and what did she do?
Should I a Chloe fan watch this epi or not?

Yes, that's well put. I think also considering that Lois has fallen for a lot of men much in the same manner that she's fallen for Clark takes something away from it. I just kind of find her to be desperate and sort of used up or something. It's always fun watching TW make out with someone, because Clark has the hot/shy thing going, and when he gets aggressive, that's a killer combo. But with Lois, it's kind of like...eh. Nothing special about watching the town bicycle roll by, even if it's got brand new streamers.

And you know, it didn't have to be this way. But Lois has been with Arthur and Ollie and Grant that we've seen and there've been allusions to plenty of others. More evidence, IMO, that Goughlar did their part to soil Lois' image in reaction to their being forced to add the character in the first place. It's too late now.

Well in Lois and Clark (the television show) Clark in the first and maybe even the second season often felt annoyed by Lois, or more so, frustrated, but he really did feel for her.

Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if there's any romantic chemistry either. Than again, I'm comparing them based on Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain, so that might be unfair to them.

And just think she was telling Corban in Matello that HR frowns on Office Romance... glad to know Lois is still the hypocrite that she is.

To the person who asked about Chloe, she plays a real active part in this episode and she has exceptional screen time. I don't want to spoil it, but as a Chloe fan you should definitely tune in.



But they're sure trying really hard to make ED and TW have that kind of relationship.

Two scenes, maybe 3 minutes total, unless I blinked and missed one. She plays hacker girl and tells Clark to go after what he wants...which means snogging Nois.

What's up Strange Love?

Oh, absolutely. And therein lies the problem--this is SV, where Lois and Clark barely tolerated one another for over four years and firmly established relationships with other people. And even in the big S8 push, Clark never acted like he shared Lois' sudden feelings (even TW expressed confusion at where this sudden affection was coming from) and to some extent, he still doesn't seem like he really likes Lois. I understand how bickering and sexual tension can be play a part in the build up, but when the actors don't have chemistry, it doesn't work. Especially when they do have chemistry with other people. Shoving Lois/Ollie in our faces, while it's random, just further highlights for me how boring Clois is. I think that the brother/sister vibe they established long ago is organic and amusing and their bantering can be entertaining. But beyond that...it doesn't translate into more, IMO.

I'd go with "nausea-inducing," myself. Gah, let this be the season that ends it all.

Honestly, Smallville can do without Chloe fans contributing to the raitings, IMHO.

Trying to ship her off with Tess Mercer's tech guy? Cutting her Screentime in half compared to the past two episodes, this episode should make it crystal clear to Chloe fans that they are no longer wanted.

This is Erica's show now, no need to watch.

Don't watch.
Chloe hacks the entire episode, and tells Clark to go get Nois, after Clark whines to her about being in the same position he put her in for years. And at the end she meets some new hacker guy.
I doubt she cleared five minutes this episode.
And the Cnois will have you regretting watching this episode.

Why can't they just give us 42 mins of Tess and Zod? That would be tv worth watching, other than that, there was just way too much romance in this one...again. I do not watch Smallville to get my romance fix, that is what soap operas are for.


So true! I think anyone can see that this was pretty close to how that conversation went down in the writing room.

It's really too bad it's not working. AlMiles knew ED/Nois wouldn't work back in s4 after "Lucy". Why oh why do PSW have to learn the hard way?

Easy, Peterson probably had sex with his boss, so having Lois Lane get everything would put his mind at east, and same goes with Souders who probably had a moment with a family relative.

As for Tom, he is doing this purely for a Producing credit, so he can launch a Production company.

Exactly! I was actually REALLY interested in the Tess/Zod/Chloe plot...
But instead we make that like the D plot, and spend a half hour on online dating...

Online. Dating.

So did the Happy!Chloe at the DP with Clark scene live up to all the squeeing?

I just watched her scenes on YouTube. 5 min 7 sec. And, yeah...pretty much her just sitting around hacking and propping Clois.

Was it really that long? It did not seem like it at all. The Nois stuff just dragged out though so maybe it made it seem quicker.

Only 5 minutes? It seemed a lot longer than that to me when I was watching.

No, and in fact just like someone predicted she pimped Clois most of the time that she was even in that scene.

Yup, 5 minutes.

Yes, when I think Durance and Welling, I think of Hepburn and Tracy.

Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! Fuck you Smallville.

This was two episodes in one. The one with Tess & Zod, Ollie & Mia, Chloe & Stuart, a decent bad guy, and a Clark save thrown in, was entertaining and set up future events. The other one, with Clark and Lois, was contrived, juvenile, dull, and just wasn’t funny. The forward momentum of the show grinds to a halt whenever Lois is onscreen. She’s pretty (although I liked her S4-S6 face better) and hot and all that, but I just don’t get the appeal of her character.

As to the particulars of this one, that these two amateurs could get a job hosting a small town morning TV show is ridiculous, that they are hired in a major media market is just stupid. Then one night the producer unveils the promo poster and mentions how she has high expectations for them, and they are fired the next morning. Huh? Do they do the hiring for a TV show based on still photos only? Cat Grant was pretty, but she was even more inarticulate than Clark was for his audition.

Taken out of context, the Clois romance and the kiss would have been fine, had I not been watching for the previous five years. Would anyone who watched the show through the first seven seasons, and who had no knowledge of the superman legend outside of SV, have predicted that the direction was Clois? But because the mythos says so, we get this forced pairing, and it does not work for me. Plus they had to destroy Chlark to do it. If the plot defects are kept to a minimum, I could still enjoy the show without a Chlark romance, but I cannot enjoy the show with Clois.

The only thing Nois did this episode I liked... was her line, "I guess blondes test better with the morning viewers"...
I really wish I could still believe they were trying to make a point with that line.

I'm not sure about this one. I will say that I saw actually very surprised by the Clark/Lois kiss at the end. I didn't think the writers would go there so early in the season.

But overall I felt like the episode totally lacked a feeling of cohesiveness. Maybe it's the vast disconnect between the "TV dating" scenes and the Kandor-related scenes, but it didn't feel like anything really flowed.

I am not at all surprised that Speedy had no mention of prostitution (right?) let alone AIDS. I guess the fight club stuff ties into Ollie in the premiere, at least.

Oh, also, from the recent interviews, I figured they were matching up Chloe and Emil. But now it looks like Stuart is going to be the one defragging Chloe's hard drive. (Sorry)

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I've definitely seen better.

The good:

-The Chloe/Stuart tech-off. It looks like Chloe finally met her match, so what better way to win the game than by obtaining his services? He may have fought her to a standstill in that battle, but it looks like Chloe won the war. Let's just hope he doesn't disappear to the Land of the Lost like so many others have before.

-Tess/Zod. Another potentially interesting storyline that needs to be fleshed out a little.

-Speedy! Minus the flashbacks I got to Bette, I thought the character was handled well.

The bad:

-Everything else. My eyes are scarred from that awful kiss. The barf bag got a good workout during all of Nois' scenes.

I gave it a 5, with all 5 points going to Chloe, Tess, Zod, and Speedy.



I think the producers may have left out any mention of Speedy being HIV-positive to keep fans from pre-judging her harshly. Either that or the network wouldn't let them say anything.

Mia was shown hooking on the streets several times. While the words 'prostitution' or 'hooker' were never used, it was pretty damn obvious. As for the HIV, it didn't come up but TPTB have said it is part of her story, so chances are it will come up at some point in the future.

Word, down to the curse.

Whats the word I'm looking for the reference... let me see... presumptuous! Hepburn and Tracy?!?

But it was nice to see Chloe out of her new prison, aka watchtower headquarters. On a shallow note, AM is looking beautiful and she conveyed more in the 3 scenes she appeared than... I'm not even going to go on.

My wife, who usually likes to watch TW make out with everyone, thought it was one of the more awkward kisses she's seen on the show. She likened it to the kisses that Clark and Lana were starting to have by the end..Like Tom was just over it.

I may not like Nois, but if there was heat and passion in that kiss I would admit it.

The episode was okay. It was a very disjointed episode. Nothing flowed. One minute they were giving us a fun comic moment and the next we have Ollie picking up a hooker, while Tess gives nasty eyes to ZOD. One of these stories just didn't belong..

And, I kept waiting for Clark to realize that putting his face on the damn TV isn't really all that bright.

Better than last weeks, but not as EPIC with Iconisity as they were shouting.

Great save by Clark. One of the coolest scenes they've done in a while.

S9E6: Crossfire 10-30-09 Writers: Holly Henderson & Don Whitehead, Director: Michael Rohl. Hubby and I both enjoyed the show (as usual), but I did notice one or two eyerolls from him during the Lois scenes, ha! Don't worry, that last shootout in which Clark saved Oliver and Lois from being gunned down made up for it; he just prefers action.

Clark & Lois-I chuckled all the way through their scenes together, right up until that KISS! Oh My.

Oliver & Mia-I'm glad the Writers are showing us how Oliver has returned to seeking out and befriending people with special abilities/talent. I guess Mia is human, not superhuman, but she already has a good foundation in fighting skills. I guess she can learn to shoot a bow.

Chloe & Stuart-Wow, I thought Allison looked so pretty in that green outfit as she came down the steps, and I liked her matching beads. We really liked her internet sparring with Stuart, and her ifIcan'tbeathimthenheshouldjoinus snap decision. I sorta like that Chloe will have another helper at the Watchtower. Between their shifts Chloe, Emil, and Stuart can chow down on their Asian take-out dinners together.

Tess & Zod-AWESOME. I wish I could go larger with these caps.

I agree with this so hard. It felt very odd, like three very different shows.

The Kandorian stuff was made of win. Tess, Tess, I love you, Tess, even if Lex is spinning in his grave because you are working with the same bunch of militant aliens he was trying to stop. I could watch Tess and Zod verbally spar all night, and I loved that jab/poke he dealt her. And man, I love his declaration of Kandorian superiority. Plus CB and CF have really good chemistry, IMO.

The playful B plot to the Tess and Zod show, aka Chloe vs. Stuart, was pretty fun also. They played off each other well, even through computers, and it was nice to see Chloe challenged instead of bored or merely expositing.

I really liked Mia and Ollie. It felt out of the blue to me, but that could be because I missed a couple episodes and some of Ollie's "dark" arc. They played off each other well, although it did kind of feel squicky that he was basically evaluating her and recruiting her for the JL, thus giving an ulterior motive to his heroic heroness, instead of, I dunno, helping someone who wasn't an easy recruit. But I enjoyed it.

The Clois just did not make sense with the rest of the episode. Online dating? Television hosts? Really, Clark the Alien-who-wants-to-hide-his-secret-identity? Their scenes to me felt forced, especially the first one. The first thing I thought of actually was the preview for next week's Supernatural, with Sam and Dean saying the cheesy, exaggurated sitcom lines. That, to me, was how TW and ED came off in that scene. Oddly enough, I thought the scenes wherein they weren't physically together (especially the Clark/Catherine scene) had the most actual humor and feeling to them.

Speaking of Catherine... It must be said: HUH?! Cat Grant is a PhD student who was in the Peace Corps? Well, at least she remains the anti-Lois, even in Smallville.

Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but then again, I'm ignoring the kiss, which made very little sense to me (at work? Really? This is your plan, Clark?) and I thought was rather awkward. For two people who were kissing, they sure looked odd together (It looked better in the promo pictures).

But see, that was kind of the irony though....it was a joke. This Lois & Clark aren't classic like those couples. This partnership ultimately failed. Moreover, Cat secured the job by herself without needing someone to carry her along, which I'm pretty sure was the entire point. Cat was very Chloe. Clark smiled around her and was a bit bumbling. She possessed all the traits that Clark has always admired in Chloe. She was a humanitarian that cared about people, and she was educated, and she worked A LOT and didn't get the chance to date much and so forth. She seemed a bit flattered just to be with Clark on this date. She was Chloe, imo. I see the lack of credentials to be THE Cat Grant and the dualing anvil implications to it.

I seriously doubt that's going to happen. They've taken Chloe and are now brushing her up against a Luthor minion. That = danger and poor judgment, and I think we'll see that come about as well. IMO, it shouldn't be assumed that Chloe is going to convert somebody from their wicked ways. Even if Chloe were to redeem him on some level, he's going to get "terminated". His orders are to defeat this unknown hacker...not join her. Tess will smoke him just as soon as she discovered what he was doing, imo

As they daytime television host plot unfolded I rolled my eyes and thought how has it come to this: Smallville as situation comedy. And the Tracy-Hepburn line had me smirking. But, heaven knows why, I liked this episode. Really. It was fun although we had to rely on Tess and Zod to carry the real dramatic weight.

I have never been much of a Tess Mercer fan. But her dynamic with Zod is intriguing. And that scene at the end where she toasted him from across the street after dropping off his henchman's dog tags was well done.

Oliver and Mia, well now, someone tell me where this is going and why? She is a pretty girl. Kind of looks like Mary Louise Parkers little sister. Or maybe her daughter. Anyway, I thought she might have been another Kandorian refugee at first but I guess her backstory is relatively mundane.

Chloe turning the tables on Stuart Campbell was well done. It turned the dreaded hacker versus hacker story and made me think that he is more than a throwaway character. Nice academic pedigree. And he likes snowboarding, skateboarding, and electric guitar. Sounds like he is something more than a Topher redux.

Nice point, SteveWright, on how heroes trying to maintain a secret identity should not be getting jobs on daytime TV. And I thought the rescue scene was awesome. It was really well done. The setup was rubbish but cool effects and I liked how they staged the man of steel standing in the background as Oliver and Lois sorted out what went down.

Finally, The Kiss: I do all my shipping via UPS and FedEx, but the great love affair just has to resolve to Lois and Clark. It was written to be so before many of us were born. I hope this puts all the angst and silly build up aside so we can just get on with it.

Where have I seen that wig before? Oh yeah...on LANA Lang Luthor! Heh.



Oh Absolutely! Nice shoutout to the most recent Superman movie with the bullet to the eyeball. Yes, Clark could have allowed his romantic rival to be murdered, but Clark's soul is too large for that. Welcome Back! :~)



I think that you should watch the show to see how lovely Chloe looked when she first appeared. To me she seemed the most relaxed since Jenry died, Lois disappeared then returned, Clark disappeared then returned, and Ollie became so overcome with guilt that she had to snap his sorry ass out of it. I think that she finally got some good rest. Chloe ATTEMPTED to be hacker girl. I suggest that you find out what happened.



I had to explain to Hubby that Kandor was a city on Krypton, and the Writers have to put money in the DC jar if they slip up and use the word "Kryptonian". When Tess realizes Zod is the big bad who should not have been released from the bottle, maybe then she'll go back to Lex. MAYBE he won't kill her (fingers crossed).

I wonder how much of the target audience knows who Tracy and Hepburn are.

Good episode, definitely a change of pace.

Digging Callum Blue as Zod and I thought the bit with Tess at the end was awesome. Speaking of which, though Chloe looked great tonight but Tess was absolutely flawless in that dress. Good bit too with Chloe blackmailing Stuart the hacker. Hope we see more of Ollie's new sidekick.

Speaking of Ollie, his life really has to suck if Lois is the best thing in it. Clark should have stuck with that blind date. Some fun interaction between Clark and Lois though. I've often said I think they have chemistry although I agree with the poster who said that Clark didn't even seem remotely interested in Lois last season. For more of Season 8, that was very, very true. It was a completely "one-sided" relationship with Lois pining over him and Clark just looking bored and disinterested in return. Why Clark would be interested in a rude, abrasive, uneducated, unethical women like Lois still puzzles me.

Also, is Stuart going to end up as Chloe's boyfriend or something? It's amazing...Lois has Clark after her, despite treating him like crap for five straight years and has a billionaire like Ollie throwing himself at her and Chloe is reduced to having to settle for criminals like Stuart, psychos like Davis (although I really did like the character) and geeks like Jimmy.

Terrible. Just terrible.

"You sound like my mother on prom night"? Didn't Lois' mother die when she was really young? And didn't she not go to her own prom? Even if we fanwank it and say she was just trying to be funny... Would she really joke about something as painful as her mother not getting to live to see her daughter go to prom? Terrible. Deeply, deeply, terrible.

And I guess Mia isn't HIV positive after all? Or are they saving that for later?

And now they've even taken the bullet-time time/contrails effect from me? The effect I loved more than any other on this show? Just about the only decent effect they had left?

Fuck you Smallville. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.



Her pimp did call her a street-walker however, which is just another name for prostitute. I guess that was the only euphemism they were allowed.

Loved the episode, didn't even wanna smack Chloe once. Lois and Clark were great, the kiss was smoking.

Clark saving Lois and Ollie on the roof was frakking phenomenal. That stare he gave Ollie was bad ass.

Speedy is a keeper, she kinda reminds me of a brunette Veronica Mars in her appearance.

Stuart and Chloe make a cute little couple, they can go hacking around the world next season when Chloe leaves.

Keep up the great work Smallville!

I assume Cat made all that up. Given how bimbo-ey she looked on that promotional poster, and the fact that even wanting to be the host of a morning show is completely incompatible with the personality she was putting on during her date with Clark it had to be a fake out right?

She just used her date as an audition piece.

That's what I'm going with anyway. Otherwise the Smallville version of Cat Grant may be their least faithful comic book translation and THAT is really saying something.

HA! That's what Hubby and I said, but this is how good culture is passed along, and we appreciate the Writers' efforts. For those who don't know, Tracy and Hepburn are certainly worth a Google.



I liked the bullets tonight, but I suspect they were a setup for the one bullet that nearly got away from Clark. We'll probably get the time contrails back.

I'd say more than got previous Nellie Bly and Edward R Murrow references.