User Reviews

SMALLVILLE has become a favorite show of mine and I'm one of those fans that was very distraught of the final decisions made in regards the infamous (pun intended!) "Lana arc" that interrupted mid-season 8 of the show. I actually think the first 3 eps of the arc (BRIDE, LEGION, BULLETPROOF) deftly handled the impending ending of the Clana relationship of the show and was going to send Lana Lang off on a high note. Lana's return in BRIDE included what I think is the most mature, soul-searching scene that Clark and Lana have had on the show for it's entire run! It was so authentic and a symbol of their ultimate incompatibility. Then LEGION and BULLETPROOF continued the trend. Sadly, the final 2 eps of the arc POWER and REQUIEM are essentially a poorly done retcon to (A) turn Lana Lang unnecessarily into an undeserved martyr figure and (B) satisfy the hardcore Clana fanbase of the show.

Thankfully, the follow-up episode to the Lana arc, INFAMOUS, redeemed the character of Clark Kent and set him back on track to become the hero he was meant to be and on pace to end up with his true SOULMATE Lois Lane, a character much more worthy of the title! One reason I don't fault Clark's character so much for the arc is that early Season 8 really showed that he hadn't matured enough quite yet to superhero status and had issues he had to deal with or overcome, Lana being one of them. Clark, up until INFAMOUS, always saw Lois as a good friend and on a different path than him. The irony is that he saw Lana as being on the same path as him for years, but she repeatedly treated him like crap and used her wiles to reel him back in, not truly seeing the real Clark Kent; her agenda was never really the same as his and she could never deal with his secret. With Lana gone for good, he HAD to grow up and carry on with his life.

In the plot of INFAMOUS, Clark is compelled by meteor freak Linda Lake (who was also in the Season 6 ep HYDRO) to reveal his secret before she does and he asks Lois to tell his story. Lois is totally amazed that she didn't see what Clark could do before; she was completely oblivious; the scene of Clark telling Lois is classic Clois on SMALLVILLE, sprinkled with just the right doses of light humor; this is the first of 3 key Clois scenes. Initially seen as a hero, Linda manages to turn her disadvantage into an advantage and turns the world against Clark as a vigilante instead of a hero. A fugitive Clark then decides to use the time-travelling Legion ring (that he got in LEGION) to go back 2 days to before Linda could expose him and handle things differently.

In the second key scene, before Clark goes back in time, Lois professes her deep feelings for him that Clark was totally oblivious to before. Not only did Clark realize from Lois' confession that she cared deeply for him, but it had absolutely NOTHING to do with his abilities! CLARK was Lois hero, not KAL-EL! Clark tells Lois that he won't reveal his secret in the time re-set because she is special to him and vows to protect her from ever knowing it; I think the reasons are twofold (1) Lois was the first on the government hitlist of people knowing his secret and (2) he finally found a woman who could love him for HIM. In the 3rd and last key scene, we see Lois in an outdoor cafe waiting for Clark while he stands across the street painfully deciding that it is too soon to pursue a relationship. This is the scene that jumpstarts the epic, iconic Clois romance!...Clark Kent is on his way to becoming Superman!

CK never really loved Lois, He only needed her.. In fact this is what he answers her in S9E21., when she asked him to come clean: "Look, my whole life has been full of relationships that have ended too soon. And then when I went away last fall, I... Lois, I felt so lost. But when I came back to the bullpen... you were there waiting for me. You jumped out of your seat... you threw your arms around me, and the way that your eyes sparkled when you smiled, I just... I knew. I just knew that you were the one that I've always needed. And I needed you to know that". Also in. S9E9- Pandora- Ck shows his affection to Lois only after he sees their love scenes on the futurem in an apocalyptic world. The same In "Homecoming"= S10E4. He let her alone at the party, but asks her to dance at home, because he saw her protecting and loving him in the future,

From the moment Clark's face was plastered as the 'Alien' all over the press, I am sure fans figured out that Clark was finding some way to go back in time or that he was having a very bad dream.

Finally we have Lois back with an exploding entrance, with her suitcases spiraling out on the floor, in the rain, possessing the traditional Lois qualities.

Even in the midst of her bashing him upon entrance for leaving her stranded, there was still a tension between them from their last unresolved-almost-kiss.

All of the Lois and Clark (Clois) fans would be at a set back from this episode. Clark finally admits to Lois his secret and goes back in time promising not to ever tell Lois again. That regurgitates Clark's insecurities from previous seasons as he dreadfully left Lois stranded at the altar in the end. I actually shared her grief, the excitement of waiting for someone or something to happen and in this case Clark didn't show up. Or at least he didn't have the nerve to make that approach to Lois and finally face his feelings. Anyway, that just means another prolonged evasion of feelings and an unsure relationship between Lois and Clark.

The Doomsday scenes were exceptional and really added to the show's real development. Samuel Witwer and Allison Mack (Davis and Chloe) have such on screen presence. Any scene between them or separately always pans out.

Still there were unfilled gaps in this sequence. The fact that they used Linda Lake as a reason for Clark to tell his story was a given that things were to spiral out of control and all the elements being predictable. Clark tells his story, Clark is a hero, a pitiful widow wondering where Clark was when her husband died which lead to Clark becoming the bad guy, the entire population hunts Clarke like an animal and Clark has no choice but to turn back time an destroy the one ring that was supposed to be used for another purpose; Legion.

*Linda Lake only now bringing Clark's story to surface.

*Linda Lake ability to turn into water when Clark goes to choke her and not when Lois is beating her up.

*Clark's zooming out before Lois was able to tell him about Doomsday.

The way in which everything was done seemed too convenient. Obviously Clark couldn't know about Doomsday and Davis before he went in time, it would be more interesting for him to find out in his own way.

There were many ambiguities in the plot which made it a bit too confusing. Clark had this ring to turn back time, then didn't he think to use it to get Lana back. Not that I want that to be the case, I just want that to be clarified.

Smallville still comes of good no matter what risks they attempt to pull off, I just really hope this on-off relationship between Lois and Clark isn't prolonged, they are actually another reason why I remain tuned into Smallville.

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Two and a half out of Five Stars

Grade C+

I won't repeat too much of what the other two reviewers have said, other than to agree that from the moment that you saw Clark's face on the front page, it was obvious that it was going to be a dream/time travel episode, which made watching the rest of it pretty tedious.

As usual, the build up to Doomsday is nice, but the idea of Lake happening to come across his secret somehow and not even mention it during the first run of the episode (before the time traveling) is very suspect. Nothing about the episode seemed real, except for the angsty scenes between Lois & Clark. Considering that the greatest thing about Smallville is that it takes the Superman story and makes it realistic, this is a major downside.

Oh, and I can't agree more that it is so very dubious that, just one episode after Clark loses the then-love of his life Lana due to kryptonite irradiation - an incident that could have been easily avoided - he suddenly remembers that he has this ring that will take him anywhere in time he wants to go to correct an even larger mistake. Even if he had forgotten about the ring until just then, why wouldn't he have gone back to "save" Lois from the krypto-bomb? I love Smallville, but this episode was garbage.