NOTE: If you haven’t seen this episode, and don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading right now. This review reveals major plot twists. You’ve been warned.
Brief recap:
Lex gets Lionel locked up in Belle Reve. Three bad buys (guests Kenneth Johnson and twins Brad & Todd Mann) escape from Belle Reve. Clark is still without his powers and has taken the opportunity to get closer to Lana. The escaped lunatics take Lana and the Kents hostage. They want Clark to help get them the serum that they had been given in the Level 3 labs at Luthorcorp. It turns out that Lex was behind the whole thing and Clark confronts him about it. And Clark and Lana finally do it.
Review:
Last season the second episode of the year was, although good, not a particularly good follow up to the stellar season preem. Gone was disappointing, actually, given how good Crusade was. However this year the Smallvillian powers-that-be achieved a much better balance.
While not perfect, Mortal was a far better companion piece to Arrival than Gone was for Crusade… Possibly the best combination ever of season opener/follow-on was the third season combination of Exile/Phoenix. While not quite as good a combination as that one was, Arrival/Mortal was pretty darn close.
The story was well-paced and kept me on the edge of my seat. Stephen S. DeKnight did much better this time out with writing an engaging story that also developed character than in his last effort, Ageless.
The meteor mutants, although not the best ones ever (and the twins exhibited one of my biggest pet peeves), served an excellent purpose in the story: they helped advance the story of Lex’s growing duplicity when it comes to Clark.
Having the Freak of The Week storylines never really bothered me much, although a lot of people don’t like them.
When done well, like in this story, they actually can be very satisfying. Not only did these freaks help reveal Lex’s underhanded ways, but they gave Clark an excellent opportunity to be heroic and save the day even while still being “only human.” I think DeKnight struck the right tone with that part of the story, despite falling into the trap of using at least one very hackneyed plot point.
Most of you may not realize that my handle is “triplet” because I am one. I’m the youngest of triplet girls: two identical and one fraternal. I’m one of the identical ones
So, it may not surprise you that I really, really hate when stories like this depend on the stereotypical “identical twins” relationship. Like feeling each other’s pain, finishing each other’s sentences, being exactly identical in all things so much so that they aren’t clearly individual people.
It’s not at all like that, by the way. Sharing your mother’s womb with other people doesn’t imbue you with any special gifts or abilities and it certainly doesn’t make even your look-a-like act exactly like you. For example, my identical sister doesn’t like Smallville as nearly as much as I do. She even said I’m obsessed with it, which is probably true. But I’m ecstatic that I’m not obsessed with Angel like her so I guess we’re even. The third one doesn’t like Smallville at all.
So that was the worst thing about this episode for me. For most of you singletons out there, your mileage on that point may indeed vary.
Anyway, I absolutely loved Clark in this episode.
A happy Clark is a thing of pure joy to see. It was a lot of fun to see him happy and actually being playful with Lana. Their love scenes were sweet and romantic and they seemingly had a REAL relationship. They actually talked too. What a concept.
Clark deserves a solid, angst free relationship with Lana. She’s his teenage love so he should then actually have a relationship with her. That’s something he really hasn’t had. An extra added bonus is that Kristin Kruek’s Lana is less annoying now that she’s not so hung up on Clark’s lies, so this less conflicted relationship is a good thing.
Tom Welling, I must say, was looking very good in this episode and gave another excellent performance. Clark was very Supermanly, despite being super-ability free. Clark, with or without powers, is compelled to step in between others and danger. It’s just who he is. So he was still heroic and commanding.
It was odd to see him struggle to do things physically, however. He was out of breath and sweaty at several points throughout the episode. That was kind of strange since Clark doesn’t sweat and it’s rare for him to be out of breath.
Clark’s confrontation with Lex was intense and set the stage for them to finally have their rift. Tom was also extremely effective as the supremely in-denial Clark.
Clark’s finally gotten what he thought he wanted: to be just like everyone else. He doesn’t want to listen to Chloe’s advice on this. She tells him what we all know, that he’s meant for more than just being a farmboy in Kansas, but he doesn’t want to believe she’s right. He’s not willing to give up on what he’s always wanted.
It’s not until the end, after the danger is over and he’s discovered Lex’s deceit that Clark finally realized that being human isn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Maybe his need to gain that insight is the reason why Clark lost his powers to begin with.
Clark’s new, and completely guilt free, relationship with Chloe is great. The Scooby-gang adventure that Chloe and Clark went on to try and save the day was terrific. It was tons of fun watching Clark struggle with getting through the ventilation system while Chloe was giving him a good natured hard time about it. That whole scene in the Luthorcorp plant was wonderful, and the super whining line was hysterical.
Allison Mack seems to be having a great time playing with this new aspect of Chloe’s relationship with Clark. She was at her perky Chloe best in this episode.
And Lex is really stepping more and more into evil genius mode. The lengths he went through to get proof of Clark’s powers on tape were amazingly complex and involved. It shows how deeply committed he still is to his obsession with Clark. Michael Rosenbaum did an excellent job selling that too. The look on Lex’s face when he hit Clark back and cut his lip was priceless. That was a beautiful scene.
All in all this was an excellent episode so, despite my problems with some of the particulars, I give this episode 4 out of 5 stars.
Note: The views of Triplet don’t necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite. Send her feedback.
