"Vengeance" Review!
Written by Triplet

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NOTE: Read no further if you don't want to be spoiled!

Recap:

Clark isn't dealing well with Jonathan's loss. He is aloof with his Mom and snaps at Lana. Martha gets mugged in Metropolis and one of the thugs steals Jonathan's watch from her wrist. A vigilante (guest star Denise Quinones) saves Martha's life.

Chloe tells Clark about a masked avenger who has been lurking in Suicide Slums. Clark wants Chloe's help to find her but the vigilante shows up and tells Chloe to stop searching. She ends up tossing Clark across the room when he tries to protect Chloe and then disappears. Clark comes up with a scheme to find her, with Chloe as the bait. The ruse works and the masked vigilante shows: it turns out to be the Daily Planet's new reporter, Andrea.

Lex and Lionel have a confrontation about Lionel's attempted hostile takeover of Luthorcorp.

Clark tells Andrea that he wants her help to find the men who mugged his mother. He just wants his dad's watch back. She tells him that her mom was killed by the same man that took Jonathan's watch so they agree to help one another. Andrea learns of Clark's weakness when she shows Clark the meteorite necklace that she wears.

Clark discovers where the bad guy is hiding out but Chloe tries to tell him that he shouldn't go after him. Clark doesn't listen. He comes close to killing the guy as Andrea eggs him on, but holds off. He tells her to leave him alone but she pulls kryptonite on Clark. He can do nothing to prevent Andrea from killing the bad guy, but before she does the mugger tells her that her mom's murder was actually a hit ordered by Lionel Luthor.

Lex threatens Lionel with telling Martha about Lionel's meeting with Jonathan just before he died in an effort to get Lionel to back off of the hostile take-over. Lex leaves just before Andrea jumps in through the window and attacks Lionel. Clark finally gets free from the kryptonite and prevents Andrea from killing Lionel outright but Clark has to speed over to save Lionel after Andrea pushes him out the window.

Lionel consoles Martha and reveals that he knows about the Governor offering her Jonathan's Senate Seat. He tells her that he won't accept her repayment of the loan he'd made to Jonathan's campaign.

Lana gives Clark Jonathan's watch. She found it in a pawn shop in Metropolis. Grateful, he puts the watch on and goes into the house to see his Mom watching a home movie of Clark and Jonathan driving around on the tractor. The episode ends with Martha hugging a sobbing Clark.

Review:

After last week's stellar episode I wasn't really expecting too much this week, but I was pleasantly surprised. With the less than convincing back story for Andrea's turn to vigilantism, and despite the heavy handed product placement, the episode was actually extremely touching.

Initially I wasn't sure what to write about this episode. It's not a perfect episode by any means. The "A" story, even as "A" krypto-freak-of-the-week stories go, wasn't a particularly strong one… The guest star could have been a better actress, even though she did have some very nice moments here and there. The back story for her abilities and the reason for her vigilantism weren't totally convincing mainly because Denise didn't really sell it. However, in watching the episode again I found it extremely moving and Andrea's story acted as a really good parallel for Clark's, so in the end I suppose I didn't mind it too much. The writers, Al Septien & Turi Meyer in their Smallville debuts, crafted a fairly tight story that dropped a ton of references to Clark's future role as Superman without it seeming too heavy handed. That's not something that is easy to do.

I was surprised that a lot of people hated the writing online mainly because of the "weak" "A" story. I disagree. The reason for Andrea's turn to vigilantism, poorly delivered as it was by the inexperienced Denise Quinones, isn't as important as it was an object lesson for Clark about how NOT to do things. Andrea even said it herself: it's time for Clark to be the real hero. She certainly wasn't a hero. Not really, even despite saving Martha's life.

As good as some of his work has been this season, I am convinced that Tom Welling's performance in this episode was probably his best work to date. "Vengeance" showed just how skilled an actor he has become. Here Tom delivered a far more subtle performance than in some of the flashier turns he delivered earlier this season in episodes like "Reckoning" and "Splinter." It was a complicated character arc for Tom to play and I loved the choices that he made. For example, when he was holding up the bad guy in the alley trying to get the watch back he said simply and quietly: "It was my dad's…."

That choice for the line reading wasn't an obvious one for him to make. He could have easily yelled that line out but instead he dropped his voice and made the moment a quiet one. Clark's anger was cold and menacing and yet much more frightening that way and his pain was still evident behind his fury. Brilliant. Tom had to take his character through so many different emotional states in this episode and he played all of Clark's denial, anger, and grief all to perfection.

The final scene with Jonathan's image paused on the TV was a masterstroke. Watching Clark sob in his mother's arms as he finally wore his father's watch and grieved his death was heart breaking. It was probably the best, and most heart wrenching, single moment in the series. This was a beautiful performance from Tom from start to finish.

Annette O'Toole's performance was amazing as well. She played Martha's concern and fear for Clark convincingly and my heart ached for her. Martha is at a real crossroads and there is no guide for her anymore. At times she appeared lost and confused, her soul mate now gone, and yet at other times the strength of her love for Clark shone through. She is a terrific actress and this episode was a wonderful one for her.

John Glover's Lionel was truly creepy in this episode. He's slowly wooing Martha and it's clear he has some sort of agenda for doing so. He even let Lex get the best of him in the hostile takeover bid in order to protect whatever it is he's got planned for Martha. John Glover was at his Magnificent Bastard best in this episode. I'm glad to see he's really back.

I thought it was interesting how the relationship between Lex and Lana appear to be playing out in parallel to Lionel's relationship to Martha. Both Luthors assured the objects of their desires that they are there to support them as friends. Yeah, right. Both men have agendas and will play them until the end.

I really enjoyed seeing Michael Rosenbaum get his evil Lex on. He's playing dirty with daddy even as he works his wiles on Lana. I thought that was nearly as creepy as Lionel trying to hook up with the newly widowed Martha. Lex even used Jonathan's corpse as a bargaining chip to get Lionel to stop the hostile take-over bid he was engineering… That was creepy and effective and Michael made Lex tons of fun to watch in this episode.

A lot people complained online about how dark this episode was but I loved how it was shot. It was a dark episode and was necessarily photographed in a visually darker manner to reflect that. DP Glen Winter did a wonderful job shooting such a darker than normal episode without it being just a bunch of blacks and grays. It was still colorful and had depth. Winter's work was helped by the beautiful designs of Production Designer David Willson and Costume Designer Caroline Cranstoun. For example, I loved how the scene between Clark and Andrea on the roof top was set up in front of that huge red sign as they both wore dark colors. I also loved the red lining Caroline added to Andrea's leather duster. The red satin foreshadowed the color scheme of Clark's future wardrobe as it flared out around her feet like a cape as she climbed up onto the roof. It was a beautifully realized scene from every department which was typical of this wonderfully designed episode.

While highly enjoyable and touching, this episode wasn't quite as successful as last week's "Reckoning," so I give it four and a half black vigilante masks out of a possible five.

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

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