Voice of Reason: Smallville: Season Seven: Fierce

Fierce

Overall

There are two main camps regarding this episode.

One camp believes that this episode was irredeemably, incomprehensibly bad. The other camp maintains that the charm of the episode's strengths by far outweigh the weaknesses.

I am somewhere in the middle.

There were a number of problems with the episode, but I'll start with the successes.

First, the episode successfully established a number of important relationships - some one-on-one, some corporate. (By corporate relationships, I mean the relationships that change in tone because of the addition of a third person. The changes may be positive, negative, or neutral.) We saw Kara-Clark, Kara-Lex, Kara-Lana-Clark, Kara-Jimmy, and the reestablished Lana-Clark and Lana-Lex. (Chloe still does not seem to have found her place in relation to Kara, unfortunately.) All these relationships had a distinct dynamic that played out consistently, through all scenes.*
Second, Lana's return was unexpectedly fulfilling, although not as poignant as some expected. Granted, it has been argued that her return was anticlimactic. But since Lana actually witnessed Clark's death in "Hidden," making his return later in the episode all the more emotionally powerful, I think they couldn't aim for the same level and type of emotion without the Law of Diminishing Returns taking effect. They needed something different. Moreover, there was a distinct tone of "reunion" in their conversations. Yes, they sounded more like long-lost friends or long-lost lovers than soulmates reuniting after one was thought to be dead. But this was the first time they had been able to speak openly in the course of their whole relationship. It was almost as if they were meeting again after a long absence, getting to know each other again. Feeling their way. I didn't mind this take on their reunion.
Third, Clark channeled his inner Jonathan. I never thought I'd see this on Smallville, and it was a fun surprise.
Fourth, we got to see Clark from a new perspective, and it gave hope for his future.
Fifth, the final scene with Lex and Kara. More on that in "Moments".

Unfortunately, the problems of the episode were significant and almost inescapable. Positioned between distasteful chunks of a freak-of-the-week A-plot that could have fit comfortably in failed Season Four, even the best elements of the show could not entirely escape the overtone of cheesiness.

Much as we love Clark’s parenting style playing off Kara’s preteen level of maturity, we have to roll our eyes when it takes place before and after an incredibly bad slow-motion shot of three vixens. Fascinating as it is to see Clark through Kara and Lana’s eyes – as a grown man – it loses impact when his big reconciliation scene comes directly after the defeat of the two sexy meteor freaks. Clark's emotional reunion with Lana, in fact, one of the highlights of the episode, cut straight to a shot of pretty pink shoes stalking down the sidewalk. The A-plot's distasteful flavor seeped into the edges of every good scene.

And then, even apart from the gimmicky A-plot, there were other specific problems.

Kara tries to come to grips with her powers and identity in her own way, something that Clark confesses is a good and proper thing. Except her way is by showing off her body to Smallville. The moral of her story boils down to, "If you’ve got it, flaunt it, girl."**
Although Kara manages to make Clark feel like a stranger on Earth, we learn that another Kryptonian landed years ago, and that Earth was a part of the mysterious plans of the House of El. And we already know that Jor-El sent the Martian Manhunter to save Clark from any trouble. Instead of feeling alone, Clark should be feeling stalked.
The episode loses credibility with a number of giant questions bound to go unanswered, like:

How exactly did Lana "siphon" ten million dollars away from Lex?
Kara is posing as a Kent cousin. She's even arrested under the name "Kara Kent". But surely it would only take an Internet check to reveal that there is no Kara Kent. Moreover, when she entered the contest, she did not have any ID. In case that wasn't enough, when she was arrested, she didn't have any ID. Finally, she broke out of jail. Were there any repercussions, legal or otherwise, for any of these huge issues?

The situations felt so contrived at times that the actors settled for mediocrity at several important points during the episode. Were they reluctant to deliver such lines as, "She saved me from drowning in the evil of my ways"? Did they feel, as we did, like they’d been transported into S4 Land, and simply begin to act accordingly? (Surely I wasn’t the only one who experienced déjà vu when Kara glided into frame in her bikini.) Whatever the case, this episode was slightly ashamed of itself.

Endearing in spots, but awkward all over.

Verdict: 5.

Good/Bad Moments

The camera pans over an eyeful of bright yellow and red balloons, signs, and clothing. This felt distinctly reminiscent of Season Four, when they brightened the high school colors and found ways to overwhelm us with them.
Kara complains that she is sick of watching Bravo and CW shows. Funny.
Kara complains that, after weeks of Clark keeping her indoors, she only gets to go to a corn festival. She and Clark then have a discussion about using her abilities to find the crystal, right smack in the middle of a crowded booth. Wouldn’t they have had this conversation long before they got there? This was a MOCE (Moment Of Contrived Exposition).
Kara catches sight of Jimmy, and her eyes start to light up. Clark notices it. “Hey. Cool down.” He looks very awkward. “It’s okay. Used to happen to me all the time.” He’s so clearly embarrassed by the situation that we have to laugh. But when Clark started developing this ability, he started fires at two locations. This fun moment could have been better if Clark had put his hand in front of Kara’s eyes to absorb the blaze. Since Kryptonians can hurt each other, he would be burnt before he healed. That way Kara’s development would be a little more in line with the Smallville mythos, and Clark’s hyperprotectiveness would feel more justified.
Clark tells her about the time capsule story. Kara replies, “What I don’t get is why everyone is so excited to open up a bunch of old junk.” “How did you…” First, Kara’s comment doesn’t reveal that she looked in the capsule, so Clark has no reason to react with surprise. Second, considering that she did look in the capsule, it would have been more realistic if she’d said, shrugging, “It’s just a bunch of old junk.” Either that, or she could have made a comment about the map being there since, after all, that’s why everyone was excited. Third, nobody can tell if they use X-ray vision. Clark has used it in the mansion and in plain sight plenty of times himself. (He’s also used heat vision in plain sight, although those with him were usually distracted.) So Clark has no reason to be annoyed. Perhaps the whole point was that his annoyance here was unnecessary, but it would have been more believable if they’d both instinctively X-rayed it together.
The trio of evil, immature, and incomprehensibly shallow vixens stalks through the crowd in slow motion, rock music playing in the background. This was the point where viewers truly felt as if they’d been transported to Season Four. One Weather girl: “Out of our way. The new Miss Sweet Corn has arrived.” The camp of this moment was unspeakable.
“Hey, buddy. Kara throw you out of the house too? That’s all right, you can hang out here with me.” I liked this moment, both because it showed Clark’s gentle side, and because it implied that Kara at least had the decency to secure some privacy before she glided around in her bikini.
Lana enters the barn. Hauntingly beautiful piano music plays. She enters and pauses, looking at Clark. Sees Clark kneeling with his back turned, fixing something at normal speed. And there’s something about the picture that appeals to Lana. I liked this moment. We saw Clark through Lana’s eyes in this episode…Lana’s and Kara’s. And it served to make him a lot more like the Clark we’ve wanted him to be. More responsible. More Supermanish. Suddenly he’s a grown man running a farm and raising a cousin. Wow.
“Uh oh, looks like she found us. Kara, I’m almost done here, would you grab me the Phillips head screwdriver over there in the toolbox?” I loved this moment. It was completely unlike the reunion we expected, and yet there was something that seemed so right about it. I think part of what carried this scene was the excellent music, which conveyed their emotions as they wordlessly reunited.
It is a crime that the touching reunion scene segued into a jarring shot of bright pink shoes. This is why the episode felt almost irredeemably cheesy. It was impossible to escape the A-plot, even for a momentous scene in the barn.
“I never wanted to hurt you.” “But you didn’t trust me anough to let me help.” I appreciated it that Clark raised this objection, and that Lana promptly turned it around on him. This conversation definitely needed to happen.
“But I have to warn you, my life has become a little more…” Long pause so that we get a good look at Kara. “…Complicated.” Lana turns toward him. We’re afraid that the drama queen will make a reappearance. That she will condemn him for his secrets and lies. Instead she says, without batting an eye, “That might be an understatement.” The way Lana rolled with the punches here was magnificent. I can like this Lana.
Clark introduces Kara as his cousin, and before he’s even finished, Lana is smiling. When she discovers Kara’s identity, she beams. I’m not sure why the writers are so much more successful at establishing Lana-Kryptonian relationships than Chloe-Kryptonian relationships, but this is an excellent example of that pattern. Lana’s delighted to meet Kara, and Kara easily accepts Lana. It’s also just a fun moment, as clearly the Lana from the trailer (who is not the same when she comes back) is just like the old Lana.
“Ha ha, um, listen. When I talked about fitting in, I was thinking something with a little more clothes.” Clark’s earnest, awkward moment here was endearing.
It’s fascinating to see this side to Clark – Clark the head of the family. I had expected something more along the lines of a mature friendship, but the writers seem to have assigned Kara the maturity of a twelve-year-old, so this works. However, it will be difficult to maintain what they’ve established. Kara can’t leap back and forth from preteen to peer, and Clark can’t leap back and forth between parent and peer mentor. It remains to be seen whether their relationship and maturity levels can remain consistent.
“I guess I don’t have to ask which side of the family you come from.” Lana gives Clark a smile. She’s surprisingly relaxed here, considering her recent intense encounter with Lex. Significant, or something that the viewer is just supposed to accept?
“Right. Kinda like being the captain of a football team.” Score one for Kara. I suspect that if there were any Kara-haters, this line melted them.
“If you’re anything like me, you’re going to do this whether I want you to or not.” Clark sounded so much like Jonathan here. His head and eyebrow movement as he said, “But not until you learn to control your abilities” was spot-on. It was nice to see everything come full circle.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re a little uptight? You definitely get that from your father.” Clark was such a perfect image of Jonathan that at first I thought she meant Jonathan instead of Jor-El, and wondered how she came to see Jonathan in action.
“Let’s see you put a mug on this melon.” Over the past few seasons, Clark has lost his sense of humor. This dry line came as a surprise.
“That’s it. You’re not ready, and out there on that stage, there’s too many things that can go wrong!” My word, he’s exactly like Jonathan. Incidentally, I always hated it when Jonathan did that. He was much more patient (and hilariously proud) in “Heat”. Still, this moment felt like the writers were making lemons out of lemonade…making a funny and meaningful homage to Jonathan’s stubbornness.
“Now why would the government be interested?” I’m so accustomed to hearing that sentence finished with “…in the schedule of a small-town farmboy?” or something similar that this sentence felt cut off. I expected the government to be interested “in…” something. I rejoice at the originality of changing the usual sentence structure, but chopping off the end was only part of the answer. Lex should have said something like, “It’s a homemade drawing. I fail to see what the government finds so provocative.”
Jimmy, affectionately: “Not just ‘back’. But bearing gifts.” He hands her a picture of a frozen corpse. Sometimes Jimmy is dead weight, but other times he’s a stitch. This moment tickled me.
Chloe brushes off the frozen corpse story. First, Chloe has gotten better at covering her emotions. I liked this very subtle discomfort. Second, I liked the angle that the girl in the picture – at least once frozen – looked like Chloe. The way Chloe nervously looked at the photograph showed that she saw herself there. Nicely done.
Grant enters, shouting into his cellphone and broadcasting his half of the conversation to the entire basement of the Daily Planet. (Note: I stole this observation from Otto Berkeley. Hope you don’t mind, Otto.) So not only is he pompous and self-conscious and disruptive, he’s also just plain rude.
“Frosted beauty queen! Not bad, Sullivan!” The delivery of this line made me feel as if I had slowly sunk my teeth into an icy popsicle. Grant sets me on edge every time.
Grant eagerly encourages Chloe. Although it was a relief that he was no longer forcibly shoving her down, his utter inability to listen to her reply was still gratingly condescending.
“And you might just get to follow in your cousin’s footsteps.” Although I know that this phrasing was very intentional and was simply meant to make Chloe feel competitive, the weird look which accompanied it – an elfish raised eyebrow and a crooked smile – pushed this over the line into “repulsive” territory.
“Show ‘em what you got, Chloester.” I have to admit, Jimmy has a funny sense of humor sometimes. I still don’t know why he and Chloe are together, but he has the makings of a decent character.
I believe they used a new establishing shot of the Kent home. Nice.
“Remind me to thank my mom. Before Kara, I had no idea what she and my dad went through.” Again, this attitude is distinctly parental. I like it that he is now the parent having this conversation in the kitchen, but I hope that this angle won’t disappear and reappear from episode to episode.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on Kara?” “ Clark, your parents trusted you to live your life and find that balance on your own. Don’t you think Kara deserves that same chance?” Although their deliveries in the first part of this conversation sounded more like actors doing a practice run than an actual conversation, I liked it that Lana and Clark were talking about Kara as if she was their child. Cute.
“This is how you’ve had to live your whole life, isn’t it?” Lana is getting a glimpse into Clark’s life, and it’s really, really good for her. This was payoff for all the resentful accusations over the years.
“Of all the conversations I imagined having with you about my powers, this was not one of them. I can’t believe I ever worried that you wouldn’t understand.” Actually, Lana’s lack of understanding hasn’t been the problem, especially after “Reckoning” – the big obstacle was the danger her knowing posed. As I’ve noted before, the writers seem to have abandoned the idea of Clark’s secret being dangerous: virtually everyone significant in the Smallville world knows. Even Lex is well aware of the secret, although he never secures any absolute proof.
“I got your message.” Lex makes an awkward gesture with his hands. His head is tilted sideways at an uncomfortable angle. “I guess it would have been a little awkward for you to come to the mansion.” Another awkward hand gesture. “I understand.” Another awkward hand gesture. “This isn’t a conversation I’ve been looking forward to having.” Another awkward hand gesture. Sigh. “I guess I just wasn’t ready.” Another awkward hand gesture. Then he stuffs his hands into his pockets. Was this an expert portrayal of the intense awkwardness that Lex feels, meeting Lana in Clark’s home? Or was it simply as out of place as it felt? What has always set the Lex-Lana relationship apart was their intimacy, the comfort and familiarity with which they addressed each other even in their coldest fights, even when she held a gun to his chest. This abruptly changed that dynamic. Is it because the meeting is taking place in the Kent home? Whatever the justification one could find for this moment, it made me shift uncomfortably. It felt like the acting quality suddenly took a plunge.
“Well, with a little persuasion…” Lex’s hands come out and he makes another awkward hand gesture. “…the DA has decided not to press charges.” “…the felon my father sent to prison…” Another awkward hand gesture. “You’re a free woman.” Another awkward hand gesture. I’m certain by now that they’re intentional, but they’re making me squirm. The camera angle contributed to my discomfort; while Lana is permitted to fill a significant portion of the frame, Lex is only shown from a fairly wide shot, the camera below his head, so that we are at a distance looking up at him. The scene might have flowed better if he had gotten the same closeup shots that Lana did.
Lex gets his first close camera shot. “I don’t suppose I can ask you to somehow see that every horrible thing I did…was because I truly do love you.” Although this wasn’t as compelling as his “Kara” scene last week, I still believed him here. Nobody in Smallville will ever believe him – that’s his curse – but here we were meant to believe him.
“I don’t want your money.” For the first time, Lex seems to smile. “Should I assume that includes the ten million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?” This was a nice moment, bringing the old level of intimacy back into the conversation.
“It’s not every day someone’s clever enough to manage a coup like that. Although I’m not sure Clark would see it that way.” The deep, musing music rises. The music for Lex-Lana scenes is always gorgeous and stirring. It emphasizes the tragic tension between them.
“I understand he has a cousin visiting.” The music becomes cold. The camera slowly circles Lana. It’s a challenge. Lana turns around and answers with a hint of a defiant smile. “From Minnesota.” Lex turns and smiles, inscrutable. “I look forward to meeting her.” He leaves. The unspoken threat behind this moment, and the fact that it remained unspoken – marvelous.
Chloe: “Hey. Thank you so much for calling us.” Kara, awkwardly: “No problem.” The writers still haven’t found the Chloe-Kara dynamic yet. Although Kara’s reply was deliberately awkward, there’s a haltingness to the scenes between them that doesn’t feel intentional. (Chloe doesn’t say another word until Kara has departed, making their relationship feel even more undefined.)
“The doctors said that Jimmy’s suffering from hypothermia, but he’ll be fine.” Chloe and Clark came in together, and seemed to have traveled to the hospital together, as signified by Chloe’s “thank you for calling us”. (Otherwise, Clark would have arrived at Jimmy’s room far sooner than Chloe.) This means that Chloe would have known about Jimmy’s hypothermia. This was another MOCE.
Chloe takes the opportunity to give Clark the scoop on the Weather girls, but, again, they seemed to have been together for a while. Another MOCE.
Clark stands in the back of the Talon like a parent, embarrassed to be there but showing up for Kara, not in the least interested by the “vapid eye candy”. He doesn’t have a hint of a smile. I appreciated that they didn’t sugarcoat the absurdity of this moment by having Clark sit down and enjoy himself.
“She saved me from drowning in the evil of my ways.” This was so uncharacteristically trite. I have to believe that there was a private hint of facetiousness here. Lex is trying to phrase it in such a way that the government agent will dismiss it…right?
“I mean, we are on the same side, aren’t we?” Intriguing moment.
“Kara Kent, you’re under arrest.” Kara looks helplessly at Clark. It was a relief that her foolish exploits didn’t lead to a happy ending, that she found herself looking to Clark for help. But considering the way the prison plot was dropped, perhaps there isn’t much to celebrate in this moment.
“Your patronizing watermelon tutorials, your reprimands, or your general disinterest in everything I’ve done since I showed up?” I understand the second objection. The first, however, didn't refer to anything genuinely problematic …it wasn’t really any different from Clark’s scarecrow and candle experiments in “Heat,” and she should have kept at it longer than she did. And the third…I thought the problem was that he was too interested and involved in her every move.
“There was some freak gust of wind that blew it away.” Clark groans. Chloe, intervening, “Okay, it’s all right, it’s all right. Sounds like one of the Weather girls.” I thought Clark’s reaction to the map and its disappearance was a little extreme. His insistence that she stay in jail until Chloe got her out legally, his exasperation with her secrecy, I could believe; but the groans and the “Why not?” were too much.
“Well, there better be something good in this box.” This is possibly one of the most stilted lines I’ve ever heard on Smallville. It isn’t colossally bad, but even by the greatest stretches of the imagination, I can’t see anyone, in any tone, of any age, in any situation, ever saying it.
Weather girl: “You’re not as tough as you talk.” Kara’s voice: “But I am.” I wanted to bury my face in my hands here.
Kara rushes up and hugs him. “ Clark, I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you,” she says. This simply didn’t ring true. First, she hasn’t had any problem going against his wishes before. Second, since she just defeated the Weather girls and saved Clark, her first words would more likely be, “What did I tell you?”
“Does that mean you’re going to stop trying to tell me what to do?” “Probably not. Isn’t that what family’s for?” They exchange huge smiles. It so happened that someone walked into the room during this moment, stared, then looked at me with raised eyebrows. This “What are you watching?” look may have colored my reaction to this moment, but I think that even without it, this moment was cringe-inducing.
“What about in fifty years? Look, I’m sorry, but we both know what’s going to happen to everyone you love. And if you think you can just spend your life here hiding on the farm…growing old with Lana…you’re fooling yourself.” I appreciated it that the writers tried to restore the “You are alone” theme here, even if it meant less coming after a conversation about a third Kryptonian on Earth.
“We found her. Just where you said she would be.” Presumably this is the Kent farm, not jail or the Miss Sweet Corn Pageant. (I'm not even going into the joke that begs to be made here.) Nice that Lex recognized the Kryptonian touch in his second mysterious savior.
“Congratulations. You just delivered a front-page freak story.” I certainly hope this wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. If Chloe truly made the front page of the Daily Planet – or the front page of any section, for that matter – we needed to be told in a more meaningful way than a MOCE. And if this is just speculation, and they were simply informing us that she turned in her story, they could have conveyed the point more believably. It just needed a flirtatious touch: “We will be reading your story on the front page tomorrow.” “You think so?” “Well, day after tomorrow.” (Cutesy? Yes. But that’s the Chloe-Jimmy relationship.)
“You know, when we first got together, I thought you were pretty prejudiced. Quick to jump to the conclusion that some meteor-infected murderer was behind every bad thing that happened in Smallville.” That’s a tongue twister. Jimmy needed a less awkward, more heartfelt line here. Like, “You know, when we first got together, I thought you were pretty prejudiced. Everything that went wrong, you were pretty quick to blame it on some meteor-infected murderer.” That would make Chloe feel guilty about her prejudices and sound more believable coming from Jimmy.
“Well, you’re right. I’ve seen enough now to know that, sooner or later, they all…snap. So from now on, it’s open season on the infected.” This was a good concept, tagging Chloe with a stereotype of her own making.
Just when I was starting to feel somewhat reconciled to Jimmy and Chloe dating, Jimmy gazed longingly at Kara. Ouch. It remains to be seen whether this development is really necessary, but as it stands, it feels very, very wrong.
I liked the choice of music as Clark and Lana strolled through the festival/carnival atmosphere. No idea what the lyrics said, but the music and imagery conveyed freedom, with the music bringing a little sadness.
“I know exactly what I’m getting into. Clark, I came back here for you. For us. I never want to let the past come between us again. I want us to wake up every morning and be there for each other. I want to grow old together.” This was a good moment. Lana needed to make it clear where she stood, since from Season Four she has been the one throwing obstacles in the way of their relationship. And the ominous significance of the last line – the impossibility of their truly growing old together – was the perfect bittersweet ending to their story here.
The cat and mouse game between Kara and Lex was probably Holly Harold’s best work on the show so far. “You must have been through a terrible ordeal.” “You were there.” Lex is desperate for honesty in a town that holds so many dark secrets. His quest is hopeless, and he’s already starting to realize it, but he keeps trying. That’s the tragedy of Lex.
Lex tells Kara everything that he’s wanted to tell Clark, all in one long speech. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Your secret’s safe with me. I’ve already protected you.” This was compelling. One felt as if Lex must have been bursting to say it for years, and now he’s unloading it all at once on Kara.
“Like I would have protected others close to me, if they would have told me the truth. This time I’m hoping to change all that.” We honestly believe him. But he’s just met Kara. Can he really ask that she tell him her secret the first time they exchange words? His unrealistic expectations here were a hint that he’s still not balanced.
“I just need you to be honest with me.” Here Lex essentially puts responsibility for his actions on her. Tell me the truth, and I’ll do the right thing by you. It’s a mixture of opportunity and ultimatum. It would really, really be interesting if Kara did what Clark did not, showing us the flipside of Lex.
“Sooner or later, I’ll find out the truth. Are you a savior? Or are you a warning?” I’m still trying to figure out what this meant. It sounded profound, but it’s baffling.

Details

“I can’t wait to see the look on Chloe’s face when she finds out you’re alive.” “She can’t. Not yet.” It’s official, apparently – Chloe wasn’t involved in Lana’s escape. I had hopes that Lana’s superhuman feats could be made plausible by Chloe’s involvement, thus helping Chloe to escape the Clark’s Little Helper label. This was a disappointing development.
Kara walks in, casually unclad. Because this is exactly what Smallville needs, another half-naked chick. Does this mean that Lois can keep her clothes on now? (Sorry. Small rant.)
The editing was a bit sloppy as Clark said, “Can you just go change, please?” and Kara made her face of protest. Kara’s look should have been cut off sooner, and Clark’s firm “Now” should have come in sooner.
“It’s all about control, which you don’t have.” As Clark straightens the melon, he keeps staring beyond the melon off-camera, as if aligning the melon with something. Since I’m not sure what on earth he would align the melon with, my guess is that this was simply to give Tom Welling something to do. It looks slightly ridiculous.
“I was wondering…yours looks so good.” Her what? I was honestly at a loss to figure out Kara’s reference the first time around. Possibly this was because I started to shut down during every pageant scene, but still, a specific noun would have been helpful here.
It was unclear why Kara went over to the two Weather girls and asked for help. Did she honestly want help, or was she motivated by overhearing their vague conversation about a “problem”? Considering her hurt reaction, her approach didn’t appear to have anything to do with their conversation; but in that case, why was a point made of showing her overhearing it first?
Jimmy’s eyes were red this episode.
Jimmy, a Daily Planet photographer, takes a picture of the two remaining Weather girls. They promptly decide to murder him. The motivation here wasn’t clear at all.
“I have got a major lead on our ice queen.” Again, why? He overheard the sheriff asking questions about the two new girls?
Right after saying, “I have got a major lead on our ice queen,” freezing air spews into the car. Jimmy’s reaction is to reach for the air conditioner. When this is ineffective and the windows start to ice over and frost appears on his face, it takes him six full seconds (“one mississipi, two mississipi…”) to reach for the door handle. This was bad.
Jimmy never tried using the door handle to break the window, which would have been brittle from the freezing.
As Lex enters the Kent home, we see that the house is filled with flowers. I always thought that the floral decorations were Martha’s touch. Since Kara has barely been let out of the house, please don’t tell me that Clark has gone flower-gathering.
“Should I assume that includes the ten million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?” How exactly did this take place?
I disliked the concept of kryptonite being disintegrated by heat vision. First, if Kara discovered it during her first real encounter with kryptonite, then Clark looks exceptionally slow. Second, this gives Clark an easy answer to every kryptonite predicament, as long as the kryptonite is in a solid form and he’s a certain distance away.
“I know that you need to figure out how to use your abilities your own way.” Peaceful smiles. Neither of them appears to be concerned that Kara just broke out of jail and could be arrested any minute. Is Chloe left trying to fend the sheriff away from the empty jail cell? Does Clark sneak Kara back into jail and search for a way to vindicate her? And that vindication surely couldn’t come from pointing out the unconscious Weather girls trying to uncover the treasure, since Kara knocked the girls out and he took the treasure.

*Thanks to vantheman77 for inspiring this breakdown of relationships.
**Thanks to Eric_Draven for summing up the point of Kara's plot.




Fierce Overall There are two main camps regarding this episode. One camp believes that this episode was irredeemably, incomprehensibly bad. The other camp maintains that the charm of the episode's strengths by far outweigh the weaknesses. I am somewhere in the middle. There were a number of problems with the episode, but I'll start with the successes. First, the episode successfully established a number of important relationships - some one-on-one, some corporate. (By corporate relationships, I mean the relationships that change in tone because of the addition of a third person. The changes may be positive, negative, or neutral.) We saw Kara-Clark, Kara-Lex, Kara-Lana-Clark, Kara-Jimmy, and the reestablished Lana-Clark and Lana-Lex. (Chloe still does not seem to have found her place in relation to Kara, unfortunately.) All these relationships had a distinct dynamic that played out consistently, through all scenes.* Second, Lana's return was unexpectedly fulfilling, although not as poignant as some expected. Granted, it has been argued that her return was anticlimactic. But since Lana actually witnessed Clark's death in "Hidden," making his return later in the episode all the more emotionally powerful, I think they couldn't aim for the same level and type of emotion without the Law of Diminishing Returns taking effect. They needed something different. Moreover, there was a distinct tone of "reunion" in their conversations. Yes, they sounded more like long-lost friends or long-lost lovers than soulmates reuniting after one was thought to be dead. But this was the first time they had been able to speak openly in the course of their whole relationship. It was almost as if they were meeting again after a long absence, getting to know each other again. Feeling their way. I didn't mind this take on their reunion. Third, Clark channeled his inner Jonathan. I never thought I'd see this on Smallville, and it was a fun surprise. Fourth, we got to see Clark from a new perspective, and it gave hope for his future. Fifth, the final scene with Lex and Kara. More on that in "Moments". Unfortunately, the problems of the episode were significant and almost inescapable. Positioned between distasteful chunks of a freak-of-the-week A-plot that could have fit comfortably in failed Season Four, even the best elements of the show could not entirely escape the overtone of cheesiness. Much as we love Clark’s parenting style playing off Kara’s preteen level of maturity, we have to roll our eyes when it takes place before and after an incredibly bad slow-motion shot of three vixens. Fascinating as it is to see Clark through Kara and Lana’s eyes – as a grown man – it loses impact when his big reconciliation scene comes directly after the defeat of the two sexy meteor freaks. Clark's emotional reunion with Lana, in fact, one of the highlights of the episode, cut straight to a shot of pretty pink shoes stalking down the sidewalk. The A-plot's distasteful flavor seeped into the edges of every good scene. And then, even apart from the gimmicky A-plot, there were other specific problems. Kara tries to come to grips with her powers and identity in her own way, something that Clark confesses is a good and proper thing. Except her way is by showing off her body to Smallville. The moral of her story boils down to, "If you’ve got it, flaunt it, girl."** Although Kara manages to make Clark feel like a stranger on Earth, we learn that another Kryptonian landed years ago, and that Earth was a part of the mysterious plans of the House of El. And we already know that Jor-El sent the Martian Manhunter to save Clark from any trouble. Instead of feeling alone, Clark should be feeling stalked. The episode loses credibility with a number of giant questions bound to go unanswered, like: How exactly did Lana "siphon" ten million dollars away from Lex? Kara is posing as a Kent cousin. She's even arrested under the name "Kara Kent". But surely it would only take an Internet check to reveal that there is no Kara Kent. Moreover, when she entered the contest, she did not have any ID. In case that wasn't enough, when she was arrested, she didn't have any ID. Finally, she broke out of jail. Were there any repercussions, legal or otherwise, for any of these huge issues? The situations felt so contrived at times that the actors settled for mediocrity at several important points during the episode. Were they reluctant to deliver such lines as, "She saved me from drowning in the evil of my ways"? Did they feel, as we did, like they’d been transported into S4 Land, and simply begin to act accordingly? (Surely I wasn’t the only one who experienced déjà vu when Kara glided into frame in her bikini.) Whatever the case, this episode was slightly ashamed of itself. Endearing in spots, but awkward all over. Verdict: 5. Good/Bad Moments The camera pans over an eyeful of bright yellow and red balloons, signs, and clothing. This felt distinctly reminiscent of Season Four, when they brightened the high school colors and found ways to overwhelm us with them. Kara complains that she is sick of watching Bravo and CW shows. Funny. Kara complains that, after weeks of Clark keeping her indoors, she only gets to go to a corn festival. She and Clark then have a discussion about using her abilities to find the crystal, right smack in the middle of a crowded booth. Wouldn’t they have had this conversation long before they got there? This was a MOCE (Moment Of Contrived Exposition). Kara catches sight of Jimmy, and her eyes start to light up. Clark notices it. “Hey. Cool down.” He looks very awkward. “It’s okay. Used to happen to me all the time.” He’s so clearly embarrassed by the situation that we have to laugh. But when Clark started developing this ability, he started fires at two locations. This fun moment could have been better if Clark had put his hand in front of Kara’s eyes to absorb the blaze. Since Kryptonians can hurt each other, he would be burnt before he healed. That way Kara’s development would be a little more in line with the Smallville mythos, and Clark’s hyperprotectiveness would feel more justified. Clark tells her about the time capsule story. Kara replies, “What I don’t get is why everyone is so excited to open up a bunch of old junk.” “How did you…” First, Kara’s comment doesn’t reveal that she looked in the capsule, so Clark has no reason to react with surprise. Second, considering that she did look in the capsule, it would have been more realistic if she’d said, shrugging, “It’s just a bunch of old junk.” Either that, or she could have made a comment about the map being there since, after all, that’s why everyone was excited. Third, nobody can tell if they use X-ray vision. Clark has used it in the mansion and in plain sight plenty of times himself. (He’s also used heat vision in plain sight, although those with him were usually distracted.) So Clark has no reason to be annoyed. Perhaps the whole point was that his annoyance here was unnecessary, but it would have been more believable if they’d both instinctively X-rayed it together. The trio of evil, immature, and incomprehensibly shallow vixens stalks through the crowd in slow motion, rock music playing in the background. This was the point where viewers truly felt as if they’d been transported to Season Four. One Weather girl: “Out of our way. The new Miss Sweet Corn has arrived.” The camp of this moment was unspeakable. “Hey, buddy. Kara throw you out of the house too? That’s all right, you can hang out here with me.” I liked this moment, both because it showed Clark’s gentle side, and because it implied that Kara at least had the decency to secure some privacy before she glided around in her bikini. Lana enters the barn. Hauntingly beautiful piano music plays. She enters and pauses, looking at Clark. Sees Clark kneeling with his back turned, fixing something at normal speed. And there’s something about the picture that appeals to Lana. I liked this moment. We saw Clark through Lana’s eyes in this episode…Lana’s and Kara’s. And it served to make him a lot more like the Clark we’ve wanted him to be. More responsible. More Supermanish. Suddenly he’s a grown man running a farm and raising a cousin. Wow. “Uh oh, looks like she found us. Kara, I’m almost done here, would you grab me the Phillips head screwdriver over there in the toolbox?” I loved this moment. It was completely unlike the reunion we expected, and yet there was something that seemed so right about it. I think part of what carried this scene was the excellent music, which conveyed their emotions as they wordlessly reunited. It is a crime that the touching reunion scene segued into a jarring shot of bright pink shoes. This is why the episode felt almost irredeemably cheesy. It was impossible to escape the A-plot, even for a momentous scene in the barn. “I never wanted to hurt you.” “But you didn’t trust me anough to let me help.” I appreciated it that Clark raised this objection, and that Lana promptly turned it around on him. This conversation definitely needed to happen. “But I have to warn you, my life has become a little more…” Long pause so that we get a good look at Kara. “…Complicated.” Lana turns toward him. We’re afraid that the drama queen will make a reappearance. That she will condemn him for his secrets and lies. Instead she says, without batting an eye, “That might be an understatement.” The way Lana rolled with the punches here was magnificent. I can like this Lana. Clark introduces Kara as his cousin, and before he’s even finished, Lana is smiling. When she discovers Kara’s identity, she beams. I’m not sure why the writers are so much more successful at establishing Lana-Kryptonian relationships than Chloe-Kryptonian relationships, but this is an excellent example of that pattern. Lana’s delighted to meet Kara, and Kara easily accepts Lana. It’s also just a fun moment, as clearly the Lana from the trailer (who is not the same when she comes back) is just like the old Lana. “Ha ha, um, listen. When I talked about fitting in, I was thinking something with a little more clothes.” Clark’s earnest, awkward moment here was endearing. It’s fascinating to see this side to Clark – Clark the head of the family. I had expected something more along the lines of a mature friendship, but the writers seem to have assigned Kara the maturity of a twelve-year-old, so this works. However, it will be difficult to maintain what they’ve established. Kara can’t leap back and forth from preteen to peer, and Clark can’t leap back and forth between parent and peer mentor. It remains to be seen whether their relationship and maturity levels can remain consistent. “I guess I don’t have to ask which side of the family you come from.” Lana gives Clark a smile. She’s surprisingly relaxed here, considering her recent intense encounter with Lex. Significant, or something that the viewer is just supposed to accept? “Right. Kinda like being the captain of a football team.” Score one for Kara. I suspect that if there were any Kara-haters, this line melted them. “If you’re anything like me, you’re going to do this whether I want you to or not.” Clark sounded so much like Jonathan here. His head and eyebrow movement as he said, “But not until you learn to control your abilities” was spot-on. It was nice to see everything come full circle. “Has anyone ever told you you’re a little uptight? You definitely get that from your father.” Clark was such a perfect image of Jonathan that at first I thought she meant Jonathan instead of Jor-El, and wondered how she came to see Jonathan in action. “Let’s see you put a mug on this melon.” Over the past few seasons, Clark has lost his sense of humor. This dry line came as a surprise. “That’s it. You’re not ready, and out there on that stage, there’s too many things that can go wrong!” My word, he’s exactly like Jonathan. Incidentally, I always hated it when Jonathan did that. He was much more patient (and hilariously proud) in “Heat”. Still, this moment felt like the writers were making lemons out of lemonade…making a funny and meaningful homage to Jonathan’s stubbornness. “Now why would the government be interested?” I’m so accustomed to hearing that sentence finished with “…in the schedule of a small-town farmboy?” or something similar that this sentence felt cut off. I expected the government to be interested “in…” something. I rejoice at the originality of changing the usual sentence structure, but chopping off the end was only part of the answer. Lex should have said something like, “It’s a homemade drawing. I fail to see what the government finds so provocative.” Jimmy, affectionately: “Not just ‘back’. But bearing gifts.” He hands her a picture of a frozen corpse. Sometimes Jimmy is dead weight, but other times he’s a stitch. This moment tickled me. Chloe brushes off the frozen corpse story. First, Chloe has gotten better at covering her emotions. I liked this very subtle discomfort. Second, I liked the angle that the girl in the picture – at least once frozen – looked like Chloe. The way Chloe nervously looked at the photograph showed that she saw herself there. Nicely done. Grant enters, shouting into his cellphone and broadcasting his half of the conversation to the entire basement of the Daily Planet. (Note: I stole this observation from Otto Berkeley. Hope you don’t mind, Otto.) So not only is he pompous and self-conscious and disruptive, he’s also just plain rude. “Frosted beauty queen! Not bad, Sullivan!” The delivery of this line made me feel as if I had slowly sunk my teeth into an icy popsicle. Grant sets me on edge every time. Grant eagerly encourages Chloe. Although it was a relief that he was no longer forcibly shoving her down, his utter inability to listen to her reply was still gratingly condescending. “And you might just get to follow in your cousin’s footsteps.” Although I know that this phrasing was very intentional and was simply meant to make Chloe feel competitive, the weird look which accompanied it – an elfish raised eyebrow and a crooked smile – pushed this over the line into “repulsive” territory. “Show ‘em what you got, Chloester.” I have to admit, Jimmy has a funny sense of humor sometimes. I still don’t know why he and Chloe are together, but he has the makings of a decent character. I believe they used a new establishing shot of the Kent home. Nice. “Remind me to thank my mom. Before Kara, I had no idea what she and my dad went through.” Again, this attitude is distinctly parental. I like it that he is now the parent having this conversation in the kitchen, but I hope that this angle won’t disappear and reappear from episode to episode. “Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on Kara?” “ Clark, your parents trusted you to live your life and find that balance on your own. Don’t you think Kara deserves that same chance?” Although their deliveries in the first part of this conversation sounded more like actors doing a practice run than an actual conversation, I liked it that Lana and Clark were talking about Kara as if she was their child. Cute. “This is how you’ve had to live your whole life, isn’t it?” Lana is getting a glimpse into Clark’s life, and it’s really, really good for her. This was payoff for all the resentful accusations over the years. “Of all the conversations I imagined having with you about my powers, this was not one of them. I can’t believe I ever worried that you wouldn’t understand.” Actually, Lana’s lack of understanding hasn’t been the problem, especially after “Reckoning” – the big obstacle was the danger her knowing posed. As I’ve noted before, the writers seem to have abandoned the idea of Clark’s secret being dangerous: virtually everyone significant in the Smallville world knows. Even Lex is well aware of the secret, although he never secures any absolute proof. “I got your message.” Lex makes an awkward gesture with his hands. His head is tilted sideways at an uncomfortable angle. “I guess it would have been a little awkward for you to come to the mansion.” Another awkward hand gesture. “I understand.” Another awkward hand gesture. “This isn’t a conversation I’ve been looking forward to having.” Another awkward hand gesture. Sigh. “I guess I just wasn’t ready.” Another awkward hand gesture. Then he stuffs his hands into his pockets. Was this an expert portrayal of the intense awkwardness that Lex feels, meeting Lana in Clark’s home? Or was it simply as out of place as it felt? What has always set the Lex-Lana relationship apart was their intimacy, the comfort and familiarity with which they addressed each other even in their coldest fights, even when she held a gun to his chest. This abruptly changed that dynamic. Is it because the meeting is taking place in the Kent home? Whatever the justification one could find for this moment, it made me shift uncomfortably. It felt like the acting quality suddenly took a plunge. “Well, with a little persuasion…” Lex’s hands come out and he makes another awkward hand gesture. “…the DA has decided not to press charges.” “…the felon my father sent to prison…” Another awkward hand gesture. “You’re a free woman.” Another awkward hand gesture. I’m certain by now that they’re intentional, but they’re making me squirm. The camera angle contributed to my discomfort; while Lana is permitted to fill a significant portion of the frame, Lex is only shown from a fairly wide shot, the camera below his head, so that we are at a distance looking up at him. The scene might have flowed better if he had gotten the same closeup shots that Lana did. Lex gets his first close camera shot. “I don’t suppose I can ask you to somehow see that every horrible thing I did…was because I truly do love you.” Although this wasn’t as compelling as his “Kara” scene last week, I still believed him here. Nobody in Smallville will ever believe him – that’s his curse – but here we were meant to believe him. “I don’t want your money.” For the first time, Lex seems to smile. “Should I assume that includes the ten million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?” This was a nice moment, bringing the old level of intimacy back into the conversation. “It’s not every day someone’s clever enough to manage a coup like that. Although I’m not sure Clark would see it that way.” The deep, musing music rises. The music for Lex-Lana scenes is always gorgeous and stirring. It emphasizes the tragic tension between them. “I understand he has a cousin visiting.” The music becomes cold. The camera slowly circles Lana. It’s a challenge. Lana turns around and answers with a hint of a defiant smile. “From Minnesota.” Lex turns and smiles, inscrutable. “I look forward to meeting her.” He leaves. The unspoken threat behind this moment, and the fact that it remained unspoken – marvelous. Chloe: “Hey. Thank you so much for calling us.” Kara, awkwardly: “No problem.” The writers still haven’t found the Chloe-Kara dynamic yet. Although Kara’s reply was deliberately awkward, there’s a haltingness to the scenes between them that doesn’t feel intentional. (Chloe doesn’t say another word until Kara has departed, making their relationship feel even more undefined.) “The doctors said that Jimmy’s suffering from hypothermia, but he’ll be fine.” Chloe and Clark came in together, and seemed to have traveled to the hospital together, as signified by Chloe’s “thank you for calling us”. (Otherwise, Clark would have arrived at Jimmy’s room far sooner than Chloe.) This means that Chloe would have known about Jimmy’s hypothermia. This was another MOCE. Chloe takes the opportunity to give Clark the scoop on the Weather girls, but, again, they seemed to have been together for a while. Another MOCE. Clark stands in the back of the Talon like a parent, embarrassed to be there but showing up for Kara, not in the least interested by the “vapid eye candy”. He doesn’t have a hint of a smile. I appreciated that they didn’t sugarcoat the absurdity of this moment by having Clark sit down and enjoy himself. “She saved me from drowning in the evil of my ways.” This was so uncharacteristically trite. I have to believe that there was a private hint of facetiousness here. Lex is trying to phrase it in such a way that the government agent will dismiss it…right? “I mean, we are on the same side, aren’t we?” Intriguing moment. “Kara Kent, you’re under arrest.” Kara looks helplessly at Clark. It was a relief that her foolish exploits didn’t lead to a happy ending, that she found herself looking to Clark for help. But considering the way the prison plot was dropped, perhaps there isn’t much to celebrate in this moment. “Your patronizing watermelon tutorials, your reprimands, or your general disinterest in everything I’ve done since I showed up?” I understand the second objection. The first, however, didn't refer to anything genuinely problematic …it wasn’t really any different from Clark’s scarecrow and candle experiments in “Heat,” and she should have kept at it longer than she did. And the third…I thought the problem was that he was too interested and involved in her every move. “There was some freak gust of wind that blew it away.” Clark groans. Chloe, intervening, “Okay, it’s all right, it’s all right. Sounds like one of the Weather girls.” I thought Clark’s reaction to the map and its disappearance was a little extreme. His insistence that she stay in jail until Chloe got her out legally, his exasperation with her secrecy, I could believe; but the groans and the “Why not?” were too much. “Well, there better be something good in this box.” This is possibly one of the most stilted lines I’ve ever heard on Smallville. It isn’t colossally bad, but even by the greatest stretches of the imagination, I can’t see anyone, in any tone, of any age, in any situation, ever saying it. Weather girl: “You’re not as tough as you talk.” Kara’s voice: “But I am.” I wanted to bury my face in my hands here. Kara rushes up and hugs him. “ Clark, I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you,” she says. This simply didn’t ring true. First, she hasn’t had any problem going against his wishes before. Second, since she just defeated the Weather girls and saved Clark, her first words would more likely be, “What did I tell you?” “Does that mean you’re going to stop trying to tell me what to do?” “Probably not. Isn’t that what family’s for?” They exchange huge smiles. It so happened that someone walked into the room during this moment, stared, then looked at me with raised eyebrows. This “What are you watching?” look may have colored my reaction to this moment, but I think that even without it, this moment was cringe-inducing. “What about in fifty years? Look, I’m sorry, but we both know what’s going to happen to everyone you love. And if you think you can just spend your life here hiding on the farm…growing old with Lana…you’re fooling yourself.” I appreciated it that the writers tried to restore the “You are alone” theme here, even if it meant less coming after a conversation about a third Kryptonian on Earth. “We found her. Just where you said she would be.” Presumably this is the Kent farm, not jail or the Miss Sweet Corn Pageant. (I'm not even going into the joke that begs to be made here.) Nice that Lex recognized the Kryptonian touch in his second mysterious savior. “Congratulations. You just delivered a front-page freak story.” I certainly hope this wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. If Chloe truly made the front page of the Daily Planet – or the front page of any section, for that matter – we needed to be told in a more meaningful way than a MOCE. And if this is just speculation, and they were simply informing us that she turned in her story, they could have conveyed the point more believably. It just needed a flirtatious touch: “We will be reading your story on the front page tomorrow.” “You think so?” “Well, day after tomorrow.” (Cutesy? Yes. But that’s the Chloe-Jimmy relationship.) “You know, when we first got together, I thought you were pretty prejudiced. Quick to jump to the conclusion that some meteor-infected murderer was behind every bad thing that happened in Smallville.” That’s a tongue twister. Jimmy needed a less awkward, more heartfelt line here. Like, “You know, when we first got together, I thought you were pretty prejudiced. Everything that went wrong, you were pretty quick to blame it on some meteor-infected murderer.” That would make Chloe feel guilty about her prejudices and sound more believable coming from Jimmy. “Well, you’re right. I’ve seen enough now to know that, sooner or later, they all…snap. So from now on, it’s open season on the infected.” This was a good concept, tagging Chloe with a stereotype of her own making. Just when I was starting to feel somewhat reconciled to Jimmy and Chloe dating, Jimmy gazed longingly at Kara. Ouch. It remains to be seen whether this development is really necessary, but as it stands, it feels very, very wrong. I liked the choice of music as Clark and Lana strolled through the festival/carnival atmosphere. No idea what the lyrics said, but the music and imagery conveyed freedom, with the music bringing a little sadness. “I know exactly what I’m getting into. Clark, I came back here for you. For us. I never want to let the past come between us again. I want us to wake up every morning and be there for each other. I want to grow old together.” This was a good moment. Lana needed to make it clear where she stood, since from Season Four she has been the one throwing obstacles in the way of their relationship. And the ominous significance of the last line – the impossibility of their truly growing old together – was the perfect bittersweet ending to their story here. The cat and mouse game between Kara and Lex was probably Holly Harold’s best work on the show so far. “You must have been through a terrible ordeal.” “You were there.” Lex is desperate for honesty in a town that holds so many dark secrets. His quest is hopeless, and he’s already starting to realize it, but he keeps trying. That’s the tragedy of Lex. Lex tells Kara everything that he’s wanted to tell Clark, all in one long speech. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Your secret’s safe with me. I’ve already protected you.” This was compelling. One felt as if Lex must have been bursting to say it for years, and now he’s unloading it all at once on Kara. “Like I would have protected others close to me, if they would have told me the truth. This time I’m hoping to change all that.” We honestly believe him. But he’s just met Kara. Can he really ask that she tell him her secret the first time they exchange words? His unrealistic expectations here were a hint that he’s still not balanced. “I just need you to be honest with me.” Here Lex essentially puts responsibility for his actions on her. Tell me the truth, and I’ll do the right thing by you. It’s a mixture of opportunity and ultimatum. It would really, really be interesting if Kara did what Clark did not, showing us the flipside of Lex. “Sooner or later, I’ll find out the truth. Are you a savior? Or are you a warning?” I’m still trying to figure out what this meant. It sounded profound, but it’s baffling. Details “I can’t wait to see the look on Chloe’s face when she finds out you’re alive.” “She can’t. Not yet.” It’s official, apparently – Chloe wasn’t involved in Lana’s escape. I had hopes that Lana’s superhuman feats could be made plausible by Chloe’s involvement, thus helping Chloe to escape the Clark’s Little Helper label. This was a disappointing development. Kara walks in, casually unclad. Because this is exactly what Smallville needs, another half-naked chick. Does this mean that Lois can keep her clothes on now? (Sorry. Small rant.) The editing was a bit sloppy as Clark said, “Can you just go change, please?” and Kara made her face of protest. Kara’s look should have been cut off sooner, and Clark’s firm “Now” should have come in sooner. “It’s all about control, which you don’t have.” As Clark straightens the melon, he keeps staring beyond the melon off-camera, as if aligning the melon with something. Since I’m not sure what on earth he would align the melon with, my guess is that this was simply to give Tom Welling something to do. It looks slightly ridiculous. “I was wondering…yours looks so good.” Her what? I was honestly at a loss to figure out Kara’s reference the first time around. Possibly this was because I started to shut down during every pageant scene, but still, a specific noun would have been helpful here. It was unclear why Kara went over to the two Weather girls and asked for help. Did she honestly want help, or was she motivated by overhearing their vague conversation about a “problem”? Considering her hurt reaction, her approach didn’t appear to have anything to do with their conversation; but in that case, why was a point made of showing her overhearing it first? Jimmy’s eyes were red this episode. Jimmy, a Daily Planet photographer, takes a picture of the two remaining Weather girls. They promptly decide to murder him. The motivation here wasn’t clear at all. “I have got a major lead on our ice queen.” Again, why? He overheard the sheriff asking questions about the two new girls? Right after saying, “I have got a major lead on our ice queen,” freezing air spews into the car. Jimmy’s reaction is to reach for the air conditioner. When this is ineffective and the windows start to ice over and frost appears on his face, it takes him six full seconds (“one mississipi, two mississipi…”) to reach for the door handle. This was bad. Jimmy never tried using the door handle to break the window, which would have been brittle from the freezing. As Lex enters the Kent home, we see that the house is filled with flowers. I always thought that the floral decorations were Martha’s touch. Since Kara has barely been let out of the house, please don’t tell me that Clark has gone flower-gathering. “Should I assume that includes the ten million you skillfully siphoned out from under me?” How exactly did this take place? I disliked the concept of kryptonite being disintegrated by heat vision. First, if Kara discovered it during her first real encounter with kryptonite, then Clark looks exceptionally slow. Second, this gives Clark an easy answer to every kryptonite predicament, as long as the kryptonite is in a solid form and he’s a certain distance away. “I know that you need to figure out how to use your abilities your own way.” Peaceful smiles. Neither of them appears to be concerned that Kara just broke out of jail and could be arrested any minute. Is Chloe left trying to fend the sheriff away from the empty jail cell? Does Clark sneak Kara back into jail and search for a way to vindicate her? And that vindication surely couldn’t come from pointing out the unconscious Weather girls trying to uncover the treasure, since Kara knocked the girls out and he took the treasure. Thanks to vantheman77 for inspiring this breakdown of relationships. *Thanks to Eric_Draven for summing up the point of Kara's plot. © Voice of Reason, 2007