"Static"
Review!
Written
by Triplet
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NOTE:
You know the drill: Read no further if you don't wish to be
spoiled.
Well, this
episode was very good in some ways and complete dreck in most
others.
As much
as I dreaded seeing Batista, I was surprised. With what little
he had to work with, he seemed to be a fairly competent actor.
It was too bad his part was little better than a cameo.
Another
actor making a cameo appearance was Tom Welling.
I suppose
I can understand that to an extent, the next episode that was
filmed after "Static" was Tom's sophomore directorial
effort on "Hydro." (The next episode to air, "Subterranean,"
is being shown out of order. It was originally supposed to be
the 5th episode.) Tom no doubt needed to do director type-stuff
while "Hydro" was in pre-production so maybe he couldn't
do more than he did for this episode, but I still feel let down.
This season for the most part has been very Clark-light and
seeing Clark being relegated to a sub-plot was very disappointing
for me.
Of course
Smallville is almost as much about Lex's path to evil as much
as it is about Clark's path to Superhero-hood, but it's frustrating
that the series' star has been relegated to secondary storylines
several more often this season than in previous seasons. Clark
is the main reason I watch so hopefully that will be changing
soon.
The scribes
for this episode, James Morris and Shintaro Shimosawa, are new
to Smallville. They previously wrote for both The Dead Zone
and Crossing Jordan. I'm not sure they're a good addition to
the writing team.
What the
heck did they do to Lana?
I'm not
the biggest Lana fan, but this episode even had me scratching
my head. Where did this passionate deep love for Lex come from?
I certainly haven't seen much of an indication that she's felt
that way in the previous 7 episodes this season. If that was
where they were going with Lana this season, the entire writing
staff has done a very poor job foreshadowing it.
She certainly showed little love for Lex in that cold and very
distant Thanksgiving dinner at the end of "Rage."
Why did his getting kidnapped, again, give her such a profound
epiphany about her love for him? It wasn't even like he was
obviously going to die. He was stuck in a different "frequency"
and was only gone for maybe a day or so yet she completely falls
apart? Lana's realization about loving Lex so desperately came
off completely contrived because it wasn't at all supported
by what has gone on in the season so far.
Another
problem I have with this script is that they had the previously
saintly Lana, who only last week wanted nothing more than to
do charitable deeds with ex-cons, decide by the end of this
episode that Lex's unethical experimentation on kidnapped kryptofreaks
was actually a good idea.
What the....
?
Maybe it
makes sense in a way. Over the length of the series, Lana has
been nearly killed by dozens of different krypto freaks. She
knows how nasty they can get and she is probably justified in
hating them. However, is Lana really ready to completely chuck
her well-established kind-heartedness for Lex?
Maybe the
writers forgot, but Lana has done a lot of good deeds. They
used her altruism as a plot point numerous times over the years.
She has spent time with the needy elderly, ran blood donation
drives, helped out with disaster relief fund raisers, and helped
rebuild Smallville after the last meteor shower... Would a caring
person like that really endorse Lex kidnapping and torturing
people? I don't think so, but she's done it. Maybe it's only
because the writers needed her to.
It seems
every week she is completely different than the previous week.
She even changed in the space of this episode. She correctly
sensed that Lionel was lying about not knowing what "code
142" was. He knew and moved the 33.1 project because of
it.
Yet Lana
didn't realize when Lex lied to her face about Level 33.1? Is
she blinded by love? If so, why has she been so cautious with
him the last few episodes? Why has she spoken time and time
again about maybe not trusting him? Why is she living with her
distrust of Lex now when trust has been so important to her
for so long? They need to make up their minds.
Either she's
head over heels in love with Lex or she isn't. Either she's
good or she's evil. Either she's trusting or she's not.
I have no
idea who she is anymore and, what's worse, I don't think anyone
in the writer's room does either. They're making Lana be whoever
it is they need her to be each week, without worrying about
whether or not it makes sense.
Probably
the only bright spot in the script was the excellent introduction
of Martian Manhunter. He was enigmatic and mysterious, which
suits his character very well. I'm not really sure what he's
like in the comics, but I like him so far on Smallville.
Despite
the less than successful writing, the actors did wonderful jobs.
Tom did well with what little he had to work with. He was very
Superman-ly in this episode and did a good job showing Clark's
awe at Martian Manhunter taking off into the darkened Seattle
sky.
Kristin
Kreuk did extremely well. The inexplicable nature of her profound
passion for Lex notwithstanding, she did an excellent job during
the scene where she was talking to Lex while he was still in
the alternate frequency. She played Lana's devastation and desperation
expertly.
Michael
Rosenbaum was terrific. Lex's love clearly showed on his face
when he talked with Lana after she joined him in the alternate
frequency in the library. He had such joy on his face then and
later when he told Lana about being happy with her being pregnant.
It's nice to see the usually restrained Lex have a reason to
smile.
Allison
Mack did a wonderful job. She and Aaron Ashmore have a very
nice chemistry and it's a joy to watch them work together. Jimmy
was so cute in this episode. Oh, and Allison's hair has never
looked better. I don't know what they're doing different, but
I hope they keep it up.
Almost a
complete waste of time, this episode still had a few bright
spots which pulled it out of being complete dreck.
2 bone munching
aliens out of a possible 5.
Note:
The views of Triplet don't necessarily represent the thoughts
and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send
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