#5.4 “Aqua” Recap & Review

NOTE: Be aware that major twists are revealed in this review!

Brief recap:

At an end of summer beach party at Crater Lake, Clark admits to Chloe he still hasn’t told Lana his secret. Lois nearly drowns and Arthur “AC” Curry (guest Alan Ritchson) saves her a little too quickly, which disturbs Clark on more than one level. Brainiac, err… Professor Milton Fine (special guest James Marsters) busts Clark for being late to class. After Clark turns down the chance to be Fine’s research assistant for a book exposing Luthorcorp, Fine busts him again for not wanting to discover the truth of Lex’s nefarious schemes. AC takes Lois swimming but is incapacitated by something that kills the fish in Crater Lake. Lex reveals that the something is actually a weapons system called “Leviathan.” He wants to put one on every vessel in the US Navy fleet. However, evil Lex doesn’t care when his minion expresses concern about the all the fish that will die because of it.

Clark is suspicious of AC and follows him to Crater Lake, just in time to stop him from blowing up Leviathan in Luthorcorp’s secret lab. Clark then loses out to AC in a who’s-tougher-in-the-water contest. He later convinces the square jawed future King of the Sea that confronting Lex, instead of bombing the lab, is the way to go. It’s not, by the way. Meddling in Lex’s affairs can make him very angry.

Lex takes Arthur captive and tortures him. He wants to find out how he can breathe under water and who he’s working with. Clark rescues AC and together they destroy the weapon during the demonstration for the Navy. Lex tries to lie to Clark about what Leviathan did, but Clark’s not buying Lex’s lies anymore. Clark finally agrees to become Fine’s research assistant on that book, expressing a desire to help uncover the truth about Luthorcorp. After a tearful goodbye with Lois, AC swims off into the sunset. Lois confesses to Clark that she hopes she can meet another super someone like Arthur someday. Clark, stupidly, assures her that she will.

Review:

Arthur Curry, better known as Aquaman, is a member of the Justice League in the comics but he’s a superhero that doesn’t really get any respect. Aside from a few failed TV show pilots and a running storyline on the HBO series, Entourage, he’s never really been portrayed in live action before. (See Kryptonsite’s own The Many Faces of Aquaman to read more.) If the writers wanted to get the man in orange and green right for his live-action debut, they didn’t quite hit the mark on this one.

Alan Ritchson had a bit of a rough start, but once he warmed up I thought he was a fairly effective (if a somewhat two-dimensional) superhero-to-be. The story was somewhat on the thin side for Arthur so I’m not sure he really had much to work with, to be honest. He also didn’t spout the hip surfer dude lingo quite believably. Ritchson did far better in scenes he played with Tom Welling’s Clark and Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex. With them he was more intense and focused. He’s got a terrific look for the part so here’s hoping with a little more experience under his belt, he’ll hand in a more consistent performance should he ever return to Smallville.

While seeing Aquaman was fun, his first foray into the Smallville continuity was not as successful as the introduction of The Flash in last season’s Run. The ham-handed and often clumsy in-jokes and the nearly endless Superman references were laid on too thick. While some were humorous, the references to the Junior Lifeguard’s Association (JLA) and to Entourage were particularly funny; the nearly endless aquatic metaphors were a bit much.

As uneven as the treatment of Aquaman was, scribes Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin crafted a far better presentation for Professor Milton Fine; the other DC Comics character introduced in this episode. It was an introduction equal to the acting skill of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel vet, James Marsters. From his first lines, Fine is clearly a man… err…. super-computer who will be a force to be reckoned with this season.

The alter ego of comic super villain Brainiac, Fine initially seems innocuous as Clark’s Introduction to World History professor. But in an impressive performance by Marsters, and with better than average dialogue to deliver, he isn’t just lecturing the class. He’s really telling Clark why he’s there on Earth and what Clark can expect to learn from him. Fine isn’t just discussing history in general; he’s discussing Krypton’s history. Clark’s history.

He tells Clark about how history isn’t about just facts, but that it’s also about who is telling the story and why. That could be an important distinction later when in time Brainiac relates his own facts of Krypton’s history; especially if (or when) his version of the truth about the destruction of Clark’s home world differs from Jor-El’s.

Making Brainiac Clark’s mentor and a man who takes joy in challenging the teen of steel’s preconceptions is brilliant. It’s deliciously evil. Brainiac is a smooth as silk, multi-faceted villain. I imagine that Marsters will handle his role as teacher and corrupter of Clark with style and skill. And you’ve got to like a villain that quotes Groucho Marx as easily as Lex quotes Plutarch. He’s a beautiful addition to the series.

As Fine, Marsters didn’t have much screen time. He was in only three scenes but he made excellent use of what little time he was given. In that lecture hall, he proved himself already at ease with this complex character and he gave that speech so many layers. He did a beautiful job in this episode and his Brainiac will be a joy to watch.

Tom Welling, as gorgeous as ever, did an admirable job as a more pro-active Clark. He is getting more and more Supermanly each episode. He was especially effective in playing Clark’s confrontations with Lex and Arthur. And Fine’s testing of Clark isn’t something he’s used to, so Clark being kept off balance by Brainiac should add an interesting angle for Tom to play.

The only complaint I have about Tom’s performance this week is the false note at the end of the episode. When he told Lois she would find someone else someday, an unnecessary reference to their future lives together, the moment fell totally flat. The endless references were getting old by Erica Durance’s second appearance as Lois in Gone last season. Enough already, we get it.

Actually, Erica turned in a very uneven performance in Aqua. The main problem seemed to be her nearly complete lack of on-screen chemistry with Alan Ritchson. The scenes with him were at times charming while at other times almost painful to watch, yet she was supposed to be falling in love with him. Not her best episode as Lois.

Michael Rosenbaum, on the other hand, was in top form. His Lex is getting more wonderfully evil with each passing episode and Michael plays him with a terrific subtlety. The moment just after Clark admitted to defending him after Lex’s lame joke about a pitch fork was amazing. Michael perfectly expressed Lex’s conflicting emotions and inner turmoil. His torture of the helpless and suffering Arthur was not only vindictive, it bordered on evil.

I can’t wait to see how Michael will play this new much more evil Lex against Marsters’ Brainiac. Fine will make Lex look a rank amateur when it comes to evil-doing and having two such consummate actors in the same scene together should be pure joy to behold.

This episode was beautifully shot by DP Barry Donlevy. I wish my college had classrooms as well lit as Fine’s lecture hall; it would have made for a far more aesthetically pleasing university experience. I also loved the way he lit the secret lab set. Only in Smallville would a hidden evil lair be so beautiful. Kudos go to production designer David Willson for that.

Less successful was Bradford May’s first helming effort for Smallville. The veteran television director, alum of JAG and The Twilight Zone (the 1980’s version), had made some less than ideal choices especially when it came to editing this episode. He seemed overly enamored of Ritchson’s pearly whites and had long takes of him just smiling on more than one occasion. More perplexing was the end of the third act with a longer than necessary take of the dart stuck into Arthur’s neck. What was the purpose of that? The episode’s pacing was also wildly uneven. The interactions between the characters at times became oddly stilted. There were at times uncomfortable pauses in conversations that weren’t cut.

Although I didn’t love this episode, it had a lot of things in it that I did love; most particularly the brilliant introduction of new villain Brainiac and James Marsters’ entry into the Smallville Universe.

That was enough to grade this one on a curve… 4 laps around Crater Lake out of a possible 5.

Of Special Note:

Although she didn’t appear in the episode, Annette O’Toole did present a public service announcement for the Christopher Reeve Foundation. It’s been a year since his loss. She said that in honor of Reeve, the CRF has made available special metal Superman tags.

I have a set and I highly recommend them. Not only are they handsome, high quality keepsakes to honor Reeve but your purchase will help support the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

Please visit ChristopherReeve.org to order your own set today. Go forward.

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