"Siren" Review!
Written by C.M. Houghton ("Triplet")

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WARNING: There are spoilers ahead! Read further at your own risk...

Writers Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders wrote an awesome script. And they started out with a terrific teaser. I think the beauty of a good teaser isn't as appreciated by people as it should be.

A good teaser needs to do a lot: setup the episode, introduce the main complication, set the tone, and also make sure that people want to stay tuned in until after the ad break. Here, the teaser did all that and more, also acting as an awesome introduction for a new character, The Black Canary. I love it when the teaser is all sorts of wonderful like this one...

The rest of the script kept up to the promise of the tease. It had a little bit of everything, some action (even some of the girl-on-girl kind which I'm sure made a lot of fanboys very happy), Ollie with his shirt off (which made a lot of fangirls happy, including this one – okay, I can be shallow at times, I admit it)... So with all that, what wasn't there to like in this episode? It had action, sex appeal, heart and didn't ever drag. I'm not sure that's an easy balancing act for the writers to carry out, and Smallville doesn't always handle a mix like this well, so kudos go to the Brian and Kelly.

And I loved Smallville's take on Dinah Lance (Black Canary). I don't know much about Dinah from the comics, so I'm not sure how faithful the Smallville Dinah is to her comic book counter-part. However, I do like Smallville's Black Canary a lot.

She's honest, brash, to the point, and can more than hold her own, no matter whom she's facing. She even beat Clark, although busting his ear drums wasn't a very nice thing to do. Because of her honesty and integrity, she has some appeal for Oliver. Its good Smallville had them show some attraction for each other in the show, even if only a little bit. Not only will a new love interest help him recover from the break-up with Lois it's keeping with canon, considering Green Arrow and Black Canary just got married in the comics.

Lana's revelation to Clark that yes, it had been easier with the Phantom, was a painful one for Clark to hear. The scene was heart breaking for both of them. Clark's revelation,
"I don't think it's me you can't face," was truer than I think Lana would have thought.

Despite what Clark had said in the last scene, I’m not sure Lana had the "right reasons" to do some of the things that she has done. However, how she explained herself to Clark and to Lionel helped me understand (at least in retrospect) some of the seemingly inexplicable things she'd done earlier in the season that had frustrated me.

That said, it is concerning what the reasons were that she gave Lionel for why she's reformed. Changing what she does to please Clark isn't the same as changing. The fact that she's trying hard to be good so she can again be the person that Clark will love doesn't sound completely sincere. That's not the best way for her to handle the situation. Her "goodness" then becomes a façade that will not likely stand up to close examination.

I don't like the idea of a bad-girl Lana. I've said that before, but I think it bears repeating. Her having some grays that Clark won't understand I think I can understand, however. I mean, Clark has to have a reason to pull away. In a literary sense, he needs to have a reason to be willing to leave her behind in Smallville. And no, it isn't good enough that it's the "right" thing to do, he doesn't know that. And it isn't good enough that he's meant to do it either.

In a real world, does anyone really know things like that about themselves? Clark said himself that he doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future. Personally, I think the writers are getting frustrated by the complaints about Clark's lack of progress toward his "destiny." So, they slipped that in to remind people that even though WE know what will happen, Clark doesn't know. That's the dramatic irony of Smallville.

We all know who he's going to be and who he's going to marry and we even know who his arch nemesis and superpowered friends will be. He doesn't know and, for very good reasons, can't know because once he accepts his destiny the show is over. It looks like they'll probably get one more season out of this series, so they will have to drag it all on a bit longer than some would have liked.

I know waiting for the final act of this series is frustrating some Superman fans out there. I can even see the complainers' point about Clark needing to move on already. The romantic angst can sometimes be laid on too thick even for me. However, Clark needs to come to that decision on his own, not have it foisted on him.

Others (like Oliver or Chloe or even Lana) can tell him he's not doing the right thing 24/7, that he's meant for bigger things, but until he learns that truth himself his decision to leave her Lana, and Smallville, behind won't make sense. You can't just have a guy decide out of the blue to leave his comfort zone, to leave his childhood home and sweetheart. He has to have a reason to do it. Otherwise, it'll be contrived so I understand why they're dragging it out even if I don't like the way they've decided to do it.

But Clark is trying to live in the moment and live his life in the way that makes him happy. What guy wouldn't want to live a happy life on the farm with a beautiful girl he's loved his whole life? Yes, even a guy who can bench press a locomotive and who will someday fly just wants to be happy. He doesn't know he'll be happier in the future without Lana once he finds Lois. Clark doesn't have the foresight that we do about his life since he hasn't lived it yet.

I know I wouldn't have chosen this path for Lana to justify the eventual end of Clark's and Lana's relationship. I'm not sure how it would have worked. I am not a professional writer (I only play one on the internet), but I would think that a clingy-afraid-to-be-left-alone Lana might have made more sense with how Lana had started out than this version of Lana we've ended up with.

Like I'd said in my review for "Persona," we all know their relationship isn't meant to last. We all know where this story ends, but still it makes me sad to see their failure to save the relationship may be coming up sooner rather than later. Angst is good because drama arises from conflict and without conflict there is no story to tell. The hero's journey shouldn't be an easy one (that'd be too boring), so bring on the drama and heart ache, but I like romance too… I only hope they can have some true happiness before it's finally over for good.

Anyway, I love it when the A story ties in so well with the B story, like it did here. An added benefit is that we got more Clark than I had expected from the official description. He’s the star, he should always be involved in more than just one of the episode's storylines, but I’m a Tom Welling fan so the more of him I get to see each week, the happier I am.

It was good that Lois' break up with Ollie provided some needed perspective for Clark when it came to trying to figure out where to go next with Lana. Because Lois couldn't handle Ollie's dual identities, her failure to deal with what was so relevant to Clark's life had made him appreciate Lana's acceptance of both sides of him a whole lot more. Love her or hate her, and despite some of the mistakes she's made, Lana is handling that aspect of Clark's life a lot better than Lois would right now.

And Lois' scene with Clark where she explained why she'd broken it off with Oliver was touching. Actually, it was so much so that my eyes actually welled up with tears each time I’ve viewed the episode. More about the acting in that scene later, but I love that Lois confided the truth to Clark even when she didn't tell Ollie.

It's a nice touch that she trusts Clark to tell him the truth, it shows the growing friendship between them that will eventually grow into love, but her reasons make it odd that she'll fall in love with him later. I mean, she said that she couldn't share Ollie with the world when it's Clark who, in the future, will be an even bigger figure in the grand scheme of things. Maybe it's because she will love Clark more than she ever loved Oliver, so from that viewpoint it probably makes sense. I absolutely loved that they showed how supportive Clark is of Lois and that she was truly comforted by him. It's wonderful when they give us hints of the future soul-mates they will be.

I also loved some of the anvils they'd tossed into the show. The line that Clark said about Lois someday being better about the "whole dual identity thing" and Oliver says, "Yeah, like when? When the earth cracks open and time ticks backwards?" That was a humorous reference to the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie when Lois got killed when a crevasse had opened up during an earthquake and Superman made time move backwards to save her life.

Also, I loved Lana's reply to Lionel when he complained about no one answering when he calls the farm and that it was like it had been abandoned. She said, "Or we have caller ID." That was funny and so true. I don't blame her for that, I wouldn’t want to take Lionel’s calls either…

Also, I was glad to see Green Arrow back. I love it when he’s on the show mainly because I love how witty he is. Lois' and Oliver's banter was a real treat. I'm glad now that they've finally broken up that Dinah's and Ollie's banter is just as good.

There were only a couple of problems I had with the script. I hated that they didn’t reveal the content of that image file, or "photo file" (who the hell calls it that anyway?), that Chloe had failed to steal... Maybe we'll find out later, but that seemed to be an important piece of information since Chloe's thwarted theft of that was the incident that launched the episode.

Also, what the heck was Lana talking about when she referred to herself as being like a “two-headed hydra”? That reference made no sense.

In Greek myth, killing the hydra was one of Hercules’ twelve Labors because no one else could. The reason no one could kill it was because when you cut off one head, two new ones grow to replace it… The multiple heads sprouting up anytime you manage to cut one off makes it far easier for the Hydra to eat you, I suppose. But exactly how is that reference even relevant to Lana? I really hope that was Kristin misspeaking her line and that wasn’t in the script that way.

If it was scripted, maybe they shouldn’t have Lana use mythological references in her lines. It just came across as phony. Lana might have become more Luthorian the longer she was around Lex, but few actors can carry off that sort of thing as easily as Michael Rosenbaum or John Glover do.

Oh, and how, exactly, does hacking into Dinah’s work computer at the Planet allow Chloe to stop a bank transfer? Wouldn’t she have needed to hack into the bank’s servers? That didn’t make sense, but sometimes with the Smallville version of techno-babble you just have to let it be what it is. The technical explanations they give a lot of times doesn’t bear up to close scrutiny and they’ve never shown good knowledge of computer technology, so why would they start now?

Anyway, aside from those rather nit-picky things, this was a wonderful script. Brian & Kelly really did a marvelous job.

Tom Welling again (is this a big surprise that I think this) did a spectacular job! Clark had a lot to deal with this episode and Tom performed it all so perfectly. Clark had to deal with uncomfortable silences, conversations with Lana that were entirely too honest, lingering bitterness about Bizarro taking over his place in his life (and Lana's heart), concern about Chloe's safety, dealing with a vigilante that had Oliver in her sights…. It’s a lot that Clark went through and Tom portrayed all those varied emotions perfectly.

There was no flashy acting here from Tom, it was subtle at time and other times his performance was touching. The scenes with Lana, however, were probably his best. In the first parts of the episode, Clark seemed to hate to be in the same room as Lana. His lingering bitterness over her affection for Bizarro was completely clear with how detached he was around her at the beginning, barely even looking at her unless he had to. His detachment put Lana into the position of trying to force him to engage in conversation. She gave up in frustration the first scene in the kitchen, instead choosing to leave. But in the later scene at the Isis Foundation she managed to get his attention, but only by essentially picking a fight.

Later, Clark reconnected with her by admitting that he wasn't perfect and Tom's delivery of his confession was perfectly done. It was a painful truth he probably would have preferred to have never revealed to her. Tom dealt with Clark's roller coaster of emotions throughout this episode flawlessly.

Kristin Kreuk acted in this episode the way I wished she would have acted in the last. Her confrontation with Clark in the Isis Foundation office was awesome. She was upset with him and maybe justifiably so, but this time I feel like Kristin did a lot better job at selling it. Lana was confused, angry and frustrated and in that scene (and in the later one in the kitchen), she really did a beautiful job portraying all of those emotions. I would have to think that this week's director, Kevin Fair, might have had something to do with the difference. Kristin isn't a different person this episode than she was in the last, so I my hat's off to him for helping her put in a much improved performance.

Kevin, by the way, is a first time helmer for Smallville, but I hope he comes back if he can help Kristin do so much better like she did in this episode.

Erica Durance was totally awesome in this episode. Lois went through an emotional ringer in this episode and she delivered a nearly flawless performance. I think her Canadian accent was showing a bit when Lois was tied up with Oliver, but aside from that I have absolutely no complaints. She has a great chemistry with everyone she played with, even having the rival-thing going with Dinah, so she was a pleasure to watch every single second. However, it was her last scene with Clark where she really shone.

It was an emotionally hard scene for Lois, revealing her vulnerable side to Clark, letting him on her secret fears about the future. It was a heart breaking scene and Erica delivered every beat perfectly. I teared up each and every time I saw it. What an excellent, excellent performance.

Justin Hartley was awesome as Oliver. I love his wit and passion. He has a wonderful chemistry with both Erica and Alaina Huffman and I would love to see more of him as Green Arrow. (I’m with Craig on this one: they really need to give Green Arrow his own show!)

I absolutely adored Alaina Huffman as Dinah Lance. She had the whole husky-voiced-Kathleen-Turner-esque thing going for her. She was fit and could carry off the barely there leather outfit and fishnets. She also did wonderfully with the wire work as well. I liked her a lot. I hope she can come back, maybe in another episode with Justin.

The women looked awesome and I loved Lana with the glasses. Costume designer Caroline Crastoun really designed a beautiful episode. Lois, Lana, Chloe and Dinah were all dressed perfectly.

One thing that wasn't perfect, however, was the wig they put onto Alaina Huffman into. I know it shouldn't look real, it had to be believable that Chloe would suspect it was fake, but I would think they shouldn't have forgotten it should still look good.

I know it's hard to wig someone in TV or film and make it look good. However, they should have tried harder to find one with a more flattering cut for Alaina’s face. Also, I wasn't wild about the make-up mask for Black Canary. I liked the idea, the feathering along the edges was nice, referencing her alias name's avian roots, but I thought it was too big. It overwhelmed her face.

I loved the music written for this episode by show composer Louis Febre. The undercurrent of the deep, deep bass sound of tubas and big kettle drums was underneath the music every moment Dinah used her sonic powers. It fit in with her abilities perfectly. The use of low brass and the kettle drums seemed to add to the idea of things breaking.

I especially liked it when Dinah used her power in Ollie's penthouse. The sound was deep and rich, as all the glass broke in the penthouse, then the sound abruptly changed when Lois saw Oliver's secret Green Arrow closet. The sound become light, it built into a higher pitch, and the chorus came in, rising in tone like the dawning realization that had finally hit Lois. I never mention the score but this time I loved it so much that I had to say something. When the scene is made better with the music than without, I'd say that's a job well done for the composer. Louis' music was awesome.

This episode was almost perfect, but since I don't grade on quarter points I will have to round up and give this episode 5 shrill canary calls out of a possible 5.

Note: The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback

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