"Fade" Review!
Written by Triplet

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NOTE: If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read any further. Consider yourself warned.

Recap:

A witness is taken into the courthouse under tight security while Graham watches closely. Clark accompanies Chloe on her way to cover the trial and she gives Clark a press badge. Graham nearly gets hit by a van but Clark saves his life. Graham kills the witness and disappears into thin air.

In their living room, Clark and Martha find Lois playing a game on a new huge flat screen TV. Clark thinks Lionel sent it, trying to get on his good side, but Martha doesn't agree. Clark returns it and has Chloe look into who sent the gifts but there was no record since it was paid in cash. Chloe thinks that Lex might have done it. Clark leaves to talk to Lex about it. Back at the Kent house, Graham surprises Lois when he pops up out of thin air. He is confused by Clark returning the gifts. Lois invites Graham to hang out to wait to talk with Clark. Lex tells Lana that he couldn't verify that Milton Fine even existed but the documents he had are legitimate. Lana tells Lex how much she missed him and they kiss. Clark sees them together and leaves without Lana and Lex realizing he was even there.

Clark confronts Chloe about not telling him about Lana and Lex. She tells him that Lana asked her to keep the relationship a secret. In the loft, Graham still insists on paying Clark back for saving his life. Clark says his thanks are all he needs. Graham is adamant on at least buying Clark dinner. Clark agrees and goes to Graham's apartment but there's a huge party. Clark is surprised that Lois is Graham's date. She gets irritated and tells Clark to pretend he doesn't know her. Graham hired a girl to show Clark a "good time," Clark is offended and wants to leave. Graham apologizes and says that instead maybe he can help Clark with Lana. Clark tells him that she's already seeing someone else and says he can't really compete with Lex. Graham said anything could happen. On the phone Lex gives Fine an update on the virus. Graham tries to kill Lex and Lana interrupts, saving Lex's life as Graham disappears into thin air.

Outside of Lex's room at the hospital, Lana tells Clark that she's just being there as a friend for Lex. She describes the assailant and Clark realizes it was Graham. Meanwhile, Graham offers to take Lois to a Coldplay concert in Chicago. Despite her initial concern at the expense, she agrees. Clark goes to confront Graham about trying to murder Lex. Graham tries to hit Clark with a statue but it breaks on his arm. Surprised, Graham disappears into thin air. Chloe tells Clark that Graham is probably the Chameleon assassin who can kill in locked rooms and that Lois had plans for a date with Graham. He wants to warn Lois but Chloe tells him to be careful. Since Graham knows about Clark's powers, he might also know about his weakness. Clark says there's no way he could know about the meteor rocks. However, Graham is invisible and hears them talking about it. Clark leaves to warn Lois.

Lois is taking a shower as Graham watches her. Clark shows up to warn Lois about Graham. She gets annoyed with Clark again interfering with her love life. Clark hears Graham's heartbeat and realizes he's there in the apartment. He follows him downstairs and out into the alley. No big surprise, Graham pulls kryptonite on Clark. Graham tells Clark that he will have to kill him, Lex and Lana and knocks Clark out.

In the hospital, Lex thanks Lana for being there for him. She tells Lex that Clark was there too. Lana confesses she hasn't told Clark yet about their relationship, Lex tells her that she should before he finds out from someone else. She says she'll tell him when she's ready. Chloe and Lois find an out cold Clark buried in a construction zone. Chloe gets rid of the kryptonite and Clark wakes. He tells them Graham is going after Lex and Lana. Lex gives Fine an update via IM just before Lana visits. Graham arrives while invisible but Lex manages to shoot him. Graham knocks him down and reappears, bleeding from a gunshot wound. He picks up Lex's gun and Lana and Lex make a run for it. Lana falls and Lex covers her just as Graham shoots. Clark catches the bullet as Graham collapses. Lana thanks Lex for saving her life as Clark watches, the bullet clutched in his fist.

Lois and Martha talk about Lois' less than ideal sense of who to date. Martha tells her that she had dated plenty of wrong men before she met the right one: Jonathan. Lois thinks it's unlikely that she'll ever have her own Jonathan. Clark congratulates Chloe on her first front page byline and apologizes for doubting Chloe's friendship. She tells him that he needs to move on. Back in the loft, Clark packs up the telescope as Lana comes in. She finally tells Clark about her and Lex. He warns her she can't trust Lex. Lana gets angry, says that it was his choice that it's over between them, and leaves.

Review:

Writers Al Septien & Turi Meyer in their sophomore effort (the pair had previously written "Vengeance") produced what is, more or less, pretty standard Freak-of-the-Week fare. That said, aside from some typical contrivances (Chloe being able to hack into any computer nearly instantaneously and Clark revealing his weakness in conversation just so the bad guy can overhear), it was a fairly solid episode. It was well paced and the dialogue was better than average and Graham's power was a tad more interesting way for invisibility than had been achieved before in Smallville. (In first season's "Shimmer," a kid used rose oil from kryptonite infected flowers to make a light reflecting lotion.) However, I wish they had explained his power a little more or why Graham wasn't found by Chloe in her usually spot-on google searches... Another misstep was that they laid the hints a bit thick on who Lois' future husband might be.

One thing the writers did do extremely well was to effortlessly advance several of the series' storylines. The Lex/Lana relationship has seriously picked up some steam and Lex's virus work with Fine is starting to get results. Another thing they did well was the way they inserted the AOL product placement into the story. It was more organic than the more ham-handed infomercials the show has had before for the car in "Solitude" and the contact lenses in "Vengeance," so kudos to them on that.

Acting-wise, guest star Alexander Scarlis's less than successful work aside, the cast did a very good job. Tom Welling had Clark being typically Superman-like and added some nice moments when Clark was so hurt by Lana and Lex's relationship. He especially did well when Clark watched from outside Lex's hospital room as Lana and Lex shared an intimate moment. Tears welled up in his eyes in a quiet moment that was also heartbreaking.

Michael Rosenbaum's was also in typical good form as Lex's machinations start to bear fruit. Michael is doing a good job playing the different sides of Lex: a man who is growing closer to Lana even while manipulating her; a man who fundamentally distrusts Fine, and yet continues to work with him in developing the super virus. The depths he is willing to stoop to is seemingly bottomless and will likely burn him in the end.

Erica Durance did especially well with this episode as Lois was being endearingly abrasive toward Clark even while she showed a great deal of concern for Clark's safety. I liked her tender moment with Annette O'Toole as they discussed Lois' less than ideal romantic choices.

Director of Photography Barry Donlevy again shot another beautiful episode. I especially loved the point of view shots for Graham when he was invisible... The soft focus, slightly overexposed, hand-held shots were a wonderfully effective way to indicate we were looking through Graham's eyes.

All in all "Fade" was an enjoyable, even if an average, episode. 3.5 stars 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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