Perry and Relic were great stand-alone. One introduced us to a key character and the other, played the retro special card, to tell a compelling story, and bridge the gap between generations. Magnetic was a decent filler where Lana gets wild, again. And Shattered was just keeping you at the edge of your seat, waiting to see this closing scene. With Johnny Cash's chilling cover of that NIN song « hurt ». When Lionel watched Lex in his straitjacket, and Clark lied by Lana's hospital bed. Asylum starts with Massive Attack « future proof », when Lex is at the asylum, before Clark makes a visit, and reunites with his former one time enemies. A young Ian Somerhalder joins the cast, as one guy in Lana's physiotherapy class. But he's clearly more than that. And the rest try to keep their secrets hidden. It's a very good episode that delivers what the Winter finale promised, and suggested the season might become the most addictive to date. There seems to be a big reduction in the music department this season, with less « expensive » songs each episodes. Which probably was a way to prevent all the cuts and changes shows with less restraint encountered on the DVDS and streaming. But to be honest, it changes nothing. Like this episode proves, less is more. And those songs have more impact like that.
