#7.4 “Cure” 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 I feel your pain, but you will need to give this review a pass. Just come on back to read this once you’ve seen the episode.

You know, I hated this episode the first time I saw it. I hated it so much that I don’t think that the word “loathe” would have been totally inappropriate. Not so with subsequent viewings.

At the face of it, this episode is good so I couldn’t figure out why I hated it so much at first. I mean there Dean Cain playing a bad guy that was pretty well written. Immortal, yet obsessed with time. What a fantastic choice! And Curtis Knox was truly villainous, but because he was immortal he had outlived everyone he’s ever loved. Now he’s willing to kill to make sure that didn’t happen again. It’s an interesting situation since Clark will likely have the same problem to some extent, so that particular problem had some resonance for him.

Also the episode had some terrific continuity! I mean they reached all the way back into Season One’s less than stellar “Drone” to get villain Sasha Woodman to guest on this episode, although they recast the part. In addition, they had some great nods to the comic mythos, having Kara refer to Martian Manhunter as his title although no one’s mentioned his Americanized name of John Jones yet oddly enough.

In watching it several times, I think the problem with this on first viewing was how dark it was compared to last week’s episode. “Fierce” had its own share of problems, continuity errors up the wazoo for one, lame freak-of-the-week storyline for another, but it was largely a more innocent story than this. It was a throw-back to Season One in more ways than one: it was light and almost frothy.

This episode, on the other hand, was so gloomy it almost seemed a bit of a shock after last week’s far less complicated Season One-like freak-of-the-week storyline. This week writers Al Septien and Turi Meyer produced a far darker story where everyone’s roles have been reversed and everyone, except Clark and maybe Martian Manhunter, lied about almost everything.

The normally straight forward Clark conspired with Martian Manhunter behind Kara’s back. Was Martian Manhunter telling the truth about the danger Kara poses to Clark or is she as sweet and innocent as she would have her cousin believe?

And Kara, who last week was so shallow she had thought joining a beauty pageant was a good idea, manipulated Jimmy into helping her all while she lied to, and then turned on, Clark.

Lana’s playing house with Clark, fixing him fairly extravagant breakfasts and arranging flowers for his house, and yet she lied to his face about the money she stole from Lex. Lex had tried to help the meteor infected he had once victimized but it was through Dr. Knox lobotomizing them. That, as Dr. Knox pointed out, also had the extra added benefit of making them forget Lex’s culpability in their captivity and torture.

Chloe showed how much she loved Jimmy and then forgot her own previous very wise advice to Clark and didn’t tell the love of her life her secret. She loves him, yet she let Jimmy walk away. That was a heartbreaking scene, actually. It was very well written and brought tears to my eyes to see Chloe’s turmoil and Jimmy’s anger and frustration at her obviously hiding something pretty profound from him.

Clark, of course, saw through Lana’s lies like she’d likely seen through his in the past and I think the shine has been rubbed off of that romance. Nice way to handle that, by the way. (Please note the sarcasm.)

Last week I could buy Clark realizing that Lana’s expectations of a lifelong love might not come true but now she’s lying to him? Is that how they’re going to explain why Clark and Lana’s relationship eventually doesn’t work out? Something is wrong about that… The reasons it doesn’t work out vary a bit in canon, not that I’m a comic-book-canon purist by any means, but I don’t believe Lana becoming manipulative and lying to Clark was ever in any of them.

Something more is up with Lana than just lying to Clark, however. She now has an elaborate secret hideout in Metropolis where she’s been keeping tabs on Lex electronically. All funded, no doubt, by the ten million dollars she stole from Lex. I won’t try speculating on what this strange of hers behavior means but I hope they clear everything up sooner rather than later. I’m not sure what Lana has become but I know I don’t like it. I hope when they do explain Lana’s seemingly inexplicable behavior that there will be some twist that will explain it all without turning her into some sort of villain. I know a lot of people online don’t like Lana but I thought Al & Miles at least did, so I hope they don’t go there.

All in all, this was probably a better than average episode writing-wise ever but I’m not sure I loved all of their choices here. Of course, Lex got knocked out and needed to be hospitalized again. That’s par for the course, but one big question I would have for the writers is why hasn’t Clark kissed Lana yet? They are, for all intents and purposes, shacked up together yet the most intimate they get is Lana in her pajamas making Clark pancakes. If Lana and Clark are back together, I want some romance. Otherwise, what’s the point?

It’s not that I want to see saccharine sweet cuddling underneath some oak tree, but six seasons of Clark not being able to be himself with her is finally over. So why aren’t they given the chance to be loving and intimate? They’re going to break up eventually anyway, so why not let them have their romance now? I’m confused by that. Hopefully they explain that when they explain why Lana’s acting so inexplicably.

I don’t usually talk about the guest stars first, but this episode was awesome for Dean Cain. His villain was truly evil, not caring about the lives of people as long as their deaths could help further his goals. Dean played his callous disregard for the lives of others perfectly all the while making it clear that Curtis Knox did indeed still love his Sophia deeply. He was a truly villainous yet a flawed character. At his heart, he was simply scared of being alone. Dean did a terrific job of playing both sides of a more-complicated-than-usual villain. His ending scene, crying over Sophia’s body, was fantastic. I’m glad he’s immortal and couldn’t be killed since maybe it means that Dean Cain might come back.

Tom Welling was again excellent. Clark was caught in several situations he didn’t know how to deal with. He needed Chloe’s help and yet, for the first time, she wasn’t there for him. I think Tom played Clark’s confusion concern about Chloe’s behavior perfectly. When it came to Lana he did especially well and their scenes together were terrific. He knew she was hiding something, but didn’t press her about it. Clark’s uncertainty about her actions was clear without him saying a word. And Michael and Tom don’t have nearly enough scenes together. Every time they get together, sparks fly. The barely restrained animosity makes their scenes very dynamic. I’m glad they had more than one scene together here.

Kristin did a wonderful job. I’m not sure where Lana’s going in this storyline but Kristin is doing a wonderful job showing us a Lana that has more going on than her actions in the scene would otherwise indicate. From her look at Martian Manhunter when she found out he was from Mars, it was clear something else was going on than her confusion over learning the guy wasn’t from Krypton like Clark. I’m not sure what is really going on with her, but it seemed like it surprised her in some profound way that I don’t yet understand. Lana’s later scene with Clark (when he told her about Lex helping and that he knows about the money) was perfect. Just a hint of regret but she lied convincingly to Clark.

You know usually, although I love Chloe (and Allison) I more often than not end up hating Chloe-centric episodes. I’m not totally sure why that is, but it wasn’t so here…

In a lot of ways, this episode was Allison Mack’s to own and she did that. She’d seemed to be in a bit out of it in the previous episodes this season and I’m glad that she’s finally she’s finally shaken whatever had been causing the problem.

Chloe had come to a very sticky point in her Meteor-Freak story arc and she now sees how keeping secrets hurts people. This time she’s seeing it from Clark’s perspective and has learned how much it hurts.

It is a real burden having a secret that could forever change how people feel about you. She’d told Clark more than once that the love of his life, Lana, deserved to know his secret. Now, she has a secret that could forever change how Jimmy feels about her and she can’t tell him. From how Allison played it, it seemed obvious she’s worried he’ll turn away from him even though she didn’t say that.

Allison played the highs and lows of Chloe’s journey in this particular episode brilliantly. Her talk with Jimmy at the end was heart-breaking. Allison and Aaron Ashmore have a terrific chemistry and their break-up talk at the end was riveting.

Aaron Ashmore was fantastic as Jimmy here… He’s been perhaps underused in the show, there are so many other characters to service he hasn’t been seen a lot. So here’s hoping we see more of him now that he’s actually in the credits. I like Aaron’s Jimmy quite a bit. He’s a bit naïve and over-excited about things but he’s smart and loves deeply as well. Aaron’s created a Jimmy that isn’t a two-dimensional dork. He’s more complicated than the dorky photographer/cub reporter that he’s been so often portrayed as before, so kudos to him for that. Jimmy had some great scenes in this episode and Aaron delivered them all flawlessly. His hurt confusion when he found that note Chloe had left and he tried to get Clark to help him understand was perfectly played. Later, when Chloe came back and he tried to romance himself back into her good graces, the hurt he felt when he failed was so evident. Aaron did a wonderful job.

Michael Rosenbaum’s Lex is a joy to watch, as per usual. He’s gotten out from whatever funk it was that he seemed to be in at the beginning of the season so that’s a good thing. He and Tom are always good together so I’m glad they had more than a couple of scenes with one another. Lex is trying hard to be good, but he still knows how to cover his own ass. His good intentions in having Knox help the people he hurt was overshadowed by the fact the surgery also covers up Lex’s crimes. Michael did a great job making both intents clear, yet believable.

Laura Vandervoort’s Kara was a lot darker this episode. She has some House of El family secrets she’s keeping from Clark and with her push to try and find the ship, Kara is getting into darker territory. It might seem a bit forced, but it gives her storyline much needed conflict. I wouldn’t want her “family reunion” with Clark to be all rainbows and butterflies, that’d be boring, so I’m glad Laura is doing a good job motivating that.

It was nice to Phil Morris back as J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter. He’s awesome as the mysterious alien. Enigmatic yet commanding, he’s perfect and I always enjoy it whenever he shows up.

James Philpott’s production design was nearly perfect. Knox’s rooms at the Victorian Arms apartments were wonderful. They were filled with gruesome antique surgical instruments, ancient looking restraints, vacuum tube electronic gizmos and meteor rock infused specimen jars. It was the perfect touch to make his science seem to be more based in the past than from the future but still touch upon Clark’s weakness. Also, it was a bit of a nice nod to the horror films from the past. Boris Karloff, as Frankenstein’s monster, could have stepped out from the shadows and seemed perfectly at home.

In his Smallville bow, Director of Photography, Robert New, did an awesome job. The story’s darker tone was more than ably reflected in how shadowy the episode was shot.

Mark Snow’s music was creepier than normal and was just right for this darker episode. And the pop music at the end, Missy Higgins’ “Where I Stood,” was perfect for the scene with Lana in her lair and the ending scene between Chloe and Jimmy.

Not a perfect episode, I’m still confused by Lana’s behavior, but it’s probably pretty close. Despite my initial misgivings about this episode, I think this was terrific. 4.5 creepy looking ancient surgical implements 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.