#7.2 “Kara” Review

WARNING: I warn you that this review is spoilery. So, if reading anything that will spoil you is something that you try to avoid, believe me; I feel your pain, but you will need to give this review a pass.

Despite staying mostly spoiler-free, I didn’t find too much here surprising because the few spoilers I knew about this episode were right in here.

However, and this is probably the biggest reason why I think I’m right about trying to avoid spoilers, they really were subject to interpretation. You find out a thing or two and fannish minds go spinning off into space and you’d be surprised at some of the theories people can come up with.

To provide examples of wild theories for this review, and to validate my decision to go spoiler-free, I decided to go back and troll through some spoiler threads for both Bizarro and Kara. There were some valid spoilers for both in addition to some pretty wild theories. Thankfully, the wild theories never came to pass.

Like, for example, Kara defeating Bizarro in the Season Premiere. Bizarro and Chloe hooking up, was another… And can you believe it? A cloned Lana was another spoiler that had gotten mentioned…

Oh, wait…

They did do that one, didn’t they?

A clone of Lana? Weird, but I guess anything goes in a Comic book based show, even if it is mostly realistic.

That little tidbit that Lex and Lana talked about certainly answers what that Model 503 was that Lex thought he’d lost in the dam collapse. That was an interesting scene, by the way. Is Lex maybe back to his manipulative ways? Or did he truly want Lana to shoot him? (More about that later…)

Anyway, I’m not sure this was as good as the season premiere, but it’s probably pretty close. Writers Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin did a very good job weaving in the storylines already established thus far in the series and introducing more without making it feel rushed and choppy. I wasn’t sure about the introduction of Supergirl, err, Kara but I thought they had just the right balance for her introduction.

They had a little bit of humor, some pathos, some action and some excellent interaction with her cousin. Clark helped her with one of her less obvious powers and she rubbed it in his face about the one he can’t control yet.

There was the contrivance of there being a self-destruct sequence on Kara’s ship. That was a bit on the ham-handed (and very trite) side, but it did give Kara a chance to save the day when Clark couldn’t. I hope Kara knowing how to fly and Clark not (but knowing he physically has the ability to), while not an ideal situation for him learning, might push him to finally “get on that,” as Chloe said last week.

Oh, and I LOVED that Clark was the one who had thought of the alarm maybe being the source of the AM/FM black out in Granville… He was also the one who helped Kara to figure out that by using her Super-hearing that it’d be far easier to find the ship. She did the “saving” of the day at the end, but she couldn’t have done it without Clark’s help. Clark is often passive and lets other people do the thinking (all the deus-ex-Chloe that I’ve complained about before), so it’s good the writers had given Clark chances to figure stuff out here.

I also liked the introduction of Grant Gabriel. He’s abrasive and to the point. Some might find him annoying because of that, but I felt endeared to him. Yes; he’s harsh and manipulative, throwing Lois and Chloe at each other like that, but somehow I liked him anyway. Maybe that was the acting, more than the writing, but I’m looking forward to seeing where the writers take his character.

Another spoiler that had been bandied about before I stopped seeking out spoilers was that Grant had hired Lois because they were an item. Glad to see that didn’t happen and I’m happy it happened the way it did.

One thing I was confused on was the conversation about the crystal at the end. No other mention of that had been made until then, but Kara had mentioned she’d been looking for it. When was she looking for it? Were previous mentions deleted from the episode or was it as tacked on as it felt? I also liked Kara’s mention of Kandor, a Kryptonian city in the comics, the writers put in there almost as a throwaway line.

Overall, I think it was a solid episode from the writers so cheers to them. It was a better follow-on to “Bizarro” than “Sneeze” was for “Zod” last year. I was very happy about that. However, what makes me even happier is that I’m almost completely spoiler free from now on. I know next to nothing about the episodes after Kara, aside from the official episode descriptions.

Tom Welling, of course, was amazing. His shorter hair cut is growing on me and it’s clear he’s been working out. He looked very good in this episode in addition to being just plain adorable when he got frustrated with Kara. She’s really going to push his buttons, its clear, but I liked the chemistry between the two of them. He did really give a big-brother-type vibe in his scenes with her once he found out the relationship they have. I loved the scene where he helped her with the super-hearing. Tom played Clark as caring, yet firm, with her and I loved the end when he learned a little about his home and his mother from Kara. It’s the best reason she’s in the series and it was a poignant scene for both of them and Tom played it perfectly.

Speaking of Kara, Laura Vandervoort had an uneven introduction. I liked a lot of her scenes, but many others seemed forced. The “No one touches my stuff” line was played too flat. Also, finding out she’d lost her entire race, not just her home and family, didn’t particularly seem all that traumatic for her. I think she should have played it as Kara being more devastated, but it was interesting how Kara claimed her memories of Krypton were hazy. Laura was good enough to make it clear that Kara was probably hiding something by not remembering… That fact, combined with Jor-El’s warning to Clark about watching her, makes me think that maybe she’s not going to be just Clark’s annoying younger cousin. There will be more to her than that.

In general, I like Laura and I liked her chemistry with the other actors, especially Tom. I think Laura shows enough promise she’ll probably be fine once she warms up.

Erica Durance did an awesome job! Although Lois doesn’t openly show affection for Clark, I thought it was sweet how she was obviously affected by the possibility of him leaving. Erica played that moment perfectly, a little heartfelt emotion hidden under some of Lois’ more usual snark. And I loved how tenacious her Lois is. She wanted to try and protect her cousin, but she didn’t let that get in the way of getting her story. Her scene at the end with Chloe was a little strange, somehow. I’m not sure I can put a finger on exactly why, but other than that her performance was terrific.

This was another less than stellar episode for Allison Mack. Maybe it’s the fact that Chloe is acting out of character and is obsessed with her newly manifested, full-on meteor-freak status. She’s feeling sorry for herself and she has never, even in the depth of her despair over her many failed tries to get Clark into a relationship, ever done that before. Granted, maybe she should be worried. After all she was looking at Belle Reve case files from meteor freaks transferred to Luthorcorp for “further testing” the first time we see her in this episode. (I paused my recording to read those pages as she leafed through them. Didn’t you? No? Well. Okay, I guess it’s not a surprise I’m a Smallville Super-geek…)

Anyway, maybe her obsessing over the plight of these nameless others was a touch of foreshadowing for an upcoming episode, but it’s also a downer. It’s almost like Allison’s not sure how to act with Chloe being so uncharacteristically broody. Well, I hope the writers can help Chloe snap out of it because this storyline is dragging Allison down.
Michael was also still a bit on the off side himself, although I think he did better this week than last. He was a bit flat in the earlier scenes in the jail and at the mansion, but he hit the ball out of the park in the scene with Lana in Shanghai. Wow. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, really. On the first viewing I was convinced by Michael’s performance that Lex really wanted Lana to pull that trigger. He was so right when he said the world would be a better place if he were to die.

That’s almost exactly what Clark said about him back in “Crimson” so maybe Lex does listen to Clark some of the time. His pain was evident, but did he really think that Lana would be brave enough to kill him?

In subsequent viewings, I’m not so sure Lex really wanted to die. I think he manipulated her, maybe trying to convince her that he really is sorry so he might get her back. There is little he could do, really, to compete with Clark now that he can’t throw the “I never lied to you, unlike Clark” line at Lana anymore. Anyway, I hope we’ll see as the season progresses what exactly Lex was thinking at that moment. Whatever it was, Michael played it beautifully and I’m glad he’s (finally) back in the game, as it were.

Oh, and Kristin Kreuk. She was beautiful and bad-ass and yet so vulnerable at the same time. She was only in the one scene between Lex and Lana, but what a scene! Kristin did a wonderful job! I can’t wait to see more of this harder, tougher, yet still more vulnerable Lana. It should make for an interesting reunion with Clark, anyway.
I loved Michael Cassidy as Grant Gabriel. He’s not only cute, but he’s got an intensity that I totally buy into for a wunderkind/hotshot editor. It might have been easy to turn Grant into a caricature, but Michael gave him some depth as well. I liked him. As prickly as he was, and with his almost non-existent screen-time, I think that’s a pretty neat trick. Grant is hard edged and cynical. Essentially, he’s an ersatz Perry White from the comics and might be just what Lois, and I hope Chloe, both need to get their butts into gear. Also, I hope his storyline can somehow sidestep the problems Whitney Fordman, Adam Knight and Jason Teague all had with theirs. However, I’m not sure that’s possible because none of the previous attempts at introducing original-to-Smallville boyfriend characters into the show had really worked out. I like Grant enough, I hope his stay on Smallville is more satisfying but I believe he’s only around for 6 episodes so I guess we’ll see.

The photography was gorgeous. The uncharacteristically dark fortress scene at the end was perfect for Clark’s frame of mind at the time. Barry Donleavy did a beautiful job but, not having worked on Smallville since Season 5’s “Fade,” I’m curious why he left and why he’s back.

I hadn’t been sure about Kara’s introduction into the series, but I thought they way they handled it was well done and I found myself about enjoying the episode more than I had thought I would. It had some problems but overall was highly entertaining. I’m giving this episode 4 flying Kryptonian girls 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.