#8.10 “Bride” Review

NOTE: This review contains GINORMOUS spoilers. Don’t read any further if you like to avoid learning important plot points before you see the episode.

NOTE:

I know I’ve used the term ‘act’ before since I’ve talked about the act break cliff-hangers in a lot of my reviews (I love a good act break cliff-hanger), but I don’t remember ever explaining it. I’m going to talk about acts more than once in this review, so this is just an FYI.

Theatre acts are different (they usually have two), as are acts in feature films (they usually have three), but in TV the part of the show that falls in between two commercial breaks is an ‘act’.

Smallville has a tease plus five acts, which is typical for a one hour dramatic TV series. The ending of an act very often ends in a cliff-hanger. The cliffy is a surprising or shocking moment which, in Smallville, is almost always accompanied by a reaction shot which shows the cast ‘reacting’ to said shock or surprise. The cliff-hanger is intended to help encourage the more casual viewer to stay tuned through the commercials to see what happens in the next act.

REVIEW:

I’m not sure what I had expected with this episode, but it really wasn’t what I got. Not that what I got was a bad thing necessarily…

Although, I should probably point out that my first impression of this episode wasn’t good. Have I said that I hate flashback episodes?

*thinks for a moment*

Yeah, I have. I had talked about this before in my reviews for both “Combat” and “Spirit” since both episodes had happened in the ‘past’ from when the tease had started.

I knew from about only two seconds in this was going to be a flashback episode so I got a tad on the steamed side. Don’t get me wrong, overall I liked the episode a lot, it was very exciting and generally well written, and the flashback didn’t totally kill this episode for me, but man… I really, really hate flashback episodes.

Turi Meyer and Al Septien I don’t think did themselves any favors with this flashback either. I thought they’d done a better job with the flashback setup back in “Combat,” truth to be told.

I loved that episode, mostly because the flashback setup in the tease was done so well I actually didn’t mind it. The tease showed the lead up to and the start of the climactic fight between Clark and Titan, true, but it ended with Clark apparently about to get killed. Of course, we all knew that Clark wouldn’t die and would somehow manage to beat Titan, he’s Superman and Tom’s the first lead after all, but they didn’t spoil the most dramatic part of the episode by revealing how he would do that in the tease. If you’re going to have a flashback episode, that’s the way to do it: don’t show too much up front.

With all that said it might be hard to believe, but Smallville has actually used flashbacks in episodes that didn’t bother me in the least. However, their more successful outings with flashbacks were when they didn’t take up most of the episode.

Episodes like “Abyss,” “Fracture,” and “Memoria” used flashbacks very well. Even “Toxic” had used its flashbacks just fine. Those all had key flashback sequences which made the past explored in them major plot points, however with those the episode wasn’t primarily comprised of a flashback. Maybe that’s the difference…

So in “Bride,” we have Turi and Al back with another flashback episode where the first two-thirds of the episode happened before the events in the tease. I guess this is a bit of a trend with them, with “Combat” that makes two of the seven scripts they’ve been credited for flashback episodes.

Despite my issue with at least some flashbacks, I liked the device they used to set this one up: showing us a video tape of Chloe’s and Jimmy’s wedding. It looked like it was from Jimmy’s friend’s viewpoint as he had taped different parts of the day leading up to the nuptials.

That was very cool, especially given how the episode ended with Lex viewing the same tape later from his wheelchair or whatever. It gave the episode a circular structure since the episode ended the same way it had started: showing video tape from the wedding. Also, the Visual Effects folks at Entity F/X added static, glitches, abrupt cuts, and color shifts to the video. All that suggests that maybe the bits of the video that were played throughout the episode, not just in the tease, were from the damaged video Lex was viewing at the end. I really liked that part of this flashback episode.

Aside from that coolness, I don’t think I really get why they even had this as a flashback. What was the point?

Apart from the circular plot structure, maybe the point was to setup some tension. However, there was no suspense since all they did was show us what everyone not living under a rock already knew: that Chloe and Jimmy’s wedding was going to get crashed by Doomsday. But if they wanted to create suspense, why did they show probably the biggest act-break cliff-hanger all season when they showed Doomsday carrying off Chloe?

This is exactly why I hate most flashbacks that are setup like this one, where most of the episode is spent getting back to where they started it in the tease. Not only do they tend to be repetitive, which actually this episode avoided being for the most part, they tend to spoil key plot points from later on in the episode. Granted “Combat” hadn’t had that problem, but the writers spoiling a later major act break cliff-hanger had been my major beef with “Spirit.” It’s hard enough to be spoiler free without the writers doing stuff like this.

I don’t think people realize how hard it is for a former spoiler-addict to go spoiler free. There is no twelve step program so I had to go cold turkey. And let me tell you that it hasn’t always been easy. I’ve even slipped a time or two. So, for the writers to spoil probably the biggest fourth act break cliff-hanger in the tease really, really annoys me. Worse, I don’t really see the point.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. Most people probably had no problems with the flashback aspects of this episode, but it’s been a pet peeve of mine for a very, very long time so I had to mention it.

Another pet peeve of mine is horrible computer techno-babble. This show hasn’t never really done that kind of stuff all that well, but still I hate it when they make it sound so horrible.

I know large portions of America are functionally computer illiterate and unfortunately I know that from experience. I work as a technical support agent in one of the least computer savvy industries in the country, some of the customers who call can barely turn on their own computers. Imagine trying to explain to them how to surf to my company’s site over the phone when they don’t know how to. I know time wasted explaining stuff is time better spent elsewhere, but is it really necessary for the writers to completely make crap up?

I can kinda see why they fudge some stuff. It would take longer to explain something more realistic than it would to just make up something. It’s not laziness on the part of the writers; it’s a time saver. They can’t waste too much time on explaining arcane technology. They only got 42 minutes or so to tell a story, so I understand. I really do, but is it that hard to make computing techno-babble sound at least a bit believable, even if what they need to have happen isn’t technically possible?

For example, I have no idea how that guy in Oliver’s plane, whoever he was, was able to download info from that unpowered router in Clark’s hands. That isn’t at all believable since it’s not possible. Maybe that would have made at least some sense if Victor Stone, aka Cyborg (played by Lee Thompson Young) had been in the episode. The man is a living computer. If he’d spoken the line, like I’d understood had originally been intended, it would have at least been understandable given the context of who he is instead of making no sense at all.

Then it got worse. I mean, what the hell was Lana talking about when she said to Oliver, “We both know that two hours ago more than four hundred and thirty thousand megagigs of Luthorcorp RAM and Ethernet cables were running through this place.”

What is that supposed to even mean? Megagigs isn’t even a real word (I was surprised it actually got some hits when I googled it), and you don’t generally talk about data traffic volume in terms of how much RAM is being used in any case. I really hope that line had been mangled by Kristin and it hadn’t been written that way.

I guess sometimes you gotta just shrug. There are things in Smallville that will never make sense, no matter how hard you try to justify it.

Despite all the ranting, however, I generally liked this episode.

The action built really well from that initial tease, the stakes increased for all characters even as we got closer to the wedding and Davis’ crashing it. Despite the spoiled fourth act reveal, I thought that the act break cliff-hangers were also all terrific.

I did really, really like how romantic this episode was. I liked the teasing they did with Clark and Lois’ relationship. Although I wish they’d stop saying ‘Lois and Clark’ so often. It’s stopped being cute with them making yet another reference to the Teri Hatcher/Dean Cain show, enough already.

I liked how Lois’ growing infatuation of Clark was explored a bit more. She’d hidden that well from just about everyone, except for Jimmy, which I find a bit out of character for him. Jimmy seems like he’s more clueless than that, so I didn’t exactly buy that from him. Mostly I had a problem with is since I don’t think that Clark is quite to that point yet.

I really liked the banter Clark and Lois had before Jimmy’s friend had taped them. And then Lois being so floored by how good Clark looked and him being surprised by how good Lois looked was awesome. I think her growing affection for Clark really does sneak up on Lois like it was unexpected, like she told Oliver, but maybe the same could be said of Clark too. He is fond of Lois, but doesn’t really see her as the ‘one’ yet, so I’m glad they’re not playing him as head over heels. I like that it will take time for him to see her like that.

And yeah, maybe the barn is sort of a dubious choice for the wedding, but I suppose from a production standpoint that it made sense. I mean, if Davis was going to literally crash a wedding, then that would be the place to do it. The barn set is largely made of wood planks, so I think it would be relatively easy (and cheaper) to fake destroying…

However, I think it fit Chloe too. Going from “Abyss,” her first kiss with Clark in the barn was one of her happiest memories. So, it does make some sense, even though November in a Kansas barn would be far colder than I think a bride would wish her wedding venue to be…

I liked how romantic Jimmy was being, the beautiful vows, saying he wasn’t nervous because Chloe’s the person for him, trying to fight for her even against impossible odds at the end… It was just so sweet.
But, then I liked the hints that maybe things weren’t going to go well for the bride and groom: Jimmy seeing Chloe the morning of the wedding, the calls from Davis to spoil Chloe’s good mood, the missing thing for Chloe to borrow…

However, going from the tease already spoiling that things weren’t going to go well, I doubt we needed the foreshadowing. We don’t need to be reminded of what had happened the first two minutes of the episode, did we? Isn’t that a bit repetitive? Maybe creating dramatic irony was the point of that, but I dunno… I thought that was redundant given we already saw the wedding was going to end badly.

Anyway, but then Clark coming to Chloe’s rescue even a small thing when he brought out the boutonnière that Chloe had given him freshman year, was so sweet. The thing is that Chloe wasn’t the only one who was touched. It was like Lois had seen a side of Clark she hadn’t seen before, his sentimental side.

Although, I must point out that they’ve forgotten just when Chloe had given that flower to Clark. It wasn’t at the Homecoming dance, like Clark had said. That happens in the fall. The flower was given to Clark at what they’d called the ‘spring formal’ in “Tempest.”

Ooops.

The thing that surprised me most in this episode was that Oliver was apparently ready to use lethal force against Lex. I had never really thought that he had gotten over finding out his parents had been murdered by Lionel, but I hadn’t expected to see Oliver try to murder Lex. If that dummy had been Lex, instead of a mannequin, he probably would have been killed by that arrow.

I’m not really that happy with that turn of events… I like Oliver when he’s cute and charming so I find this murderous, self-righteous rage he’s been going through more than a bit on the annoying side and I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because I’m not sure how well it’s been motivated. Currently, I’m not really seeing the point of that except to give Ollie a story arc to portray throughout the season.

I think I’m having a problem with it mostly since I’m not seeing Oliver’s motivations progress naturally. It’s not really making sense because Oliver’s wildly ranging changes in intent (first he’s good, then he’s bad, then he’s good again, then he tries to kill Lex) don’t seem to be because of events in the show. The swings in his character arc seem more like the contrivances that the writers had put poor Lana through before she left the show. I’m pretty sure I had complained about it at the time because her motivations had at times appeared more driven by the needs of the plot of any given episode and hadn’t seemed to occur because of any real (or consistent) character development.

This season had been going along so well, but if they continue going this way with Oliver, I’m afraid it might very well mean that the best part of Justin Hartley joining the cast is how willing he is to take off his shirt. That would be a shame, because I really like both Justin and his character. Oliver should be better served than turning Justin into a nice looking set piece. Hopefully his storyline is going somewhere that will make all this worth it.

Well, since I mentioned Lana, I had heard that this was the episode that Lana was coming back on, but I hadn’t heard where we first see her again. I’m perplexed by Lana being where Oliver had expected to find Lex.

But what had she really been up to? I’m not sure she was there to protect Clark, despite what she had told Oliver. I don’t think she’s going against Clark, but her saying that she was there to protect him just seemed like too quick and too pat an answer.

It makes her being in Cuba a bit suspect, especially when combined with the text message she got later. The message had said, ‘Did the archer believe you?’

Believe what? Was it her story of being in Cuba to protect Clark? That doesn’t seem likely… Or was it her telling Oliver that Lex probably wasn’t alive? If it was that, it makes it look like she’s working with Lex, but that wouldn’t make sense. She hates Lex, or she had, so I hope this gets explained satisfactorily and soon.

I was worried her meeting with Clark would be awkward or seemed forced, but her explanations of why she stayed away made some sense. That scene wasn’t what maybe what I would have hoped, but I thought it was suitable and well played by both actors.

It was interesting that Davis seemed more aware of what he becomes now. He was cleaning up after one of his murders and knew enough to warn the cop to run, not that it would have saved him anyway if he had. However, Davis transforming into his monstrous comic-book persona almost more as a defense mechanism is a fascinating aspect to his character. Doomsday seems to become a monster as a mechanism to allow him to survive. So, he’s not like The Incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner transforms whenever he gets angry, no matter what the reason), which I’m glad of. He’s clearly tormented by his inability to control it.

Given that he transforms to protect himself, maybe his transformation before he took Chloe because he wanted to protect her; he wanted to shield her from what he’d seen as a mistake in marrying Jimmy.

It’s sweet, in its own way, romantic even, but also makes him sorta on the creepy side. Lois was right to call him, ‘tall, dark and scary,’ but Clark is going to have his work cut out for him getting Chloe back from Doomsday.

At this point, poor Clark has no one he can really turn to. He doesn’t know it yet, but the Fortress has been compromised by Brainiac, Kara is out of the picture and Martian Manhunter apparently has lost his powers. He will have few options to get help. That’s quite a dilemma they’ve given Clark to deal with.

I thought it was interesting that Jor-El’s memory-wipe of Chloe seemed to have had a positive affect on her outlook on life. She seemed more positive, upbeat and happy. She said it herself during her dance with Clark that she feels like a huge burden of some kind had been lifted from her shoulders. And maybe she’s right, knowing his secret was a burden, but in “Abyss” she had also said that knowing his secret had helped her to help others.

I still think it was a mistake for him to do that to her without her consent, yet Chloe saying that she feels freer only reinforced Clark’s idea that what he did was actually good for Chloe in the long run. Yet at this point Chloe isn’t working with all the facts. I don’t think she would have said that if she’d been aware of what Clark had done to her.

One thing I had wondered about was if she’d known ahead of time of the looming menace of Doomsday whether she might have helped Clark put the pieces together before her life had been put into danger. He didn’t have all the facts in front of him to figure out who Doomsday was ahead of time so there was no way he could have prevented Davis kidnapping Chloe (the convenient Kryptonite didn’t help matters either). Maybe she could have helped him figure it out, if she’d known his secret and had known about Jor-El’s warning about Doomsday. Never mind her anger at him when she finds out what he had Jor-El do to her, I think his decision is already costing both Clark and Chloe already.

However, once Davis had taken Chloe I was a bit confused. Had Brainiac never really left Chloe or had he re-infected her from the now corrupted fortress? I guess it really doesn’t matter, but that’s quite a twist. I wonder how that will affect Chloe. And that last look Chloe gave Doomsday before the end of that scene was chilling.

And Lex? Wow… What was the deal with him with all the life-support-type tubes? It was interesting he was watching the video from the crashed wedding. That makes it appear that he’s been keeping tabs on things back in Smallville since he’d left. I wonder if it had been him that had stolen the crystal from Tess, but why would he return it to Clark only to have it whisk Clark to the Phantom Zone?

Anyway, it clearly wasn’t a perfect outing from writers Al Septien and Turi Meyer. Yet once I got past the flashback thing and gritted my teeth through some of the worst of the techno-babble, overall it was a very exciting episode and I did enjoy it.

Tom Welling was marvelous in this episode. Maybe he wasn’t in it as much as I would have liked, but they had a lot of different storylines to service so his screen-time was probably appropriate.

I loved his scenes with the women of the show especially. Probably my favorite scene of his was the one in the hallway with Lois. Tom played Clark as so protective of Lois and determined to get Chloe back. He gave the scene real warmth and he made Clark seem like trying very hard to be supportive despite his own despair at letting Chloe get kidnapped.

Allison Mack was wonderful. Chloe had gone through a lot in this episode and Allison seemed to hit every note just right. Probably my favorite scene for her in this episode was when Chloe danced with Clark. It was tender and loving and Allison played Chloe’s intents just right.

Erica Durance was fantastic. She gave Lois a vulnerability that was awesome, but probably my favorite scenes of hers in this episode were the ones with Clark and Oliver. Erica had a lot of different parts of Lois to play, vulnerability, brashness, tender care, and love. She played Lois as clearly besotted with Clark and disappointed that it looked like she lost Clark to Lana. Her last scene with Clark was probably her best. It was a heartbreaking scene.

Sam Witwer wasn’t in this episode much as Davis, but every second he was in this was played perfectly. I loved how tortured he played Davis as he cleaned up the mess he’d created when he’d apparently killed someone. It seemed like Davis was about to hurl. Not very monstrous of Doomsday, but it was wonderful choice of Sam’s.

Aaron Ashmore was awesome in this episode. I haven’t always been a fan of the Chloe/Jimmy relationship, but I thought how Aaron had played his scenes made Jimmy’s love clear. He did a terrific job.

Justin Hartley was a bit mystifying with Oliver’s more angry scenes, but I loved the scenes he had with Erica and Kristin. He played Oliver as supportive of both women. He was at his sarcastic best for most of the episode.

Kristin Kreuk hadn’t had much screen time, but she made good use of what she had. She had several very emotional scenes to play with Clark and Oliver. The scenes in Cuba were terrific. I especially liked how painful she’d played Lana asking Oliver about Clark. It was tough for her to ask that. Although, I’m not sure how much I bought some of what she’d told Clark in the loft. Somehow I think she’s not telling him something, but I really loved how well Kristin played that scene in the loft.

DP Barry Donlevy shot a beautiful episode, however probably his best bit was the slow motion section at the end. Slow-mo can sometimes be overused, or used in the wrong places, but I liked where and how he used it. It was at the end when VAST’s song was playing. It wasn’t too slow and it fit the song and the moment just right.

Production Designer James Philpott did a terrific job with the set. The Kent barn set was dressed perfectly as a venue for a wedding. He made the somewhat questionable choice of having a barn be a wedding chapel understandable. It was gorgeously done.

Melanie Williams did a terrific job with the costumes. Wedding scenes would probably be a treat for costume designers. A wedding dress can say so much about the bride and the designer can be far more romantic and fanciful than perhaps they’d get with any other dress.

Chloe’s wedding dress was not only gorgeous, but was just right for Chloe. It was romantic and had a touch whimsy with the satin ribbons tied in bows on the shoulder straps. Yet, it looked traditional with the lace appliqués on the bodice and the wide full skirt with a chapel length train. I loved the way the train was bustled too. It suited Allison’s figure flawlessly as well. I loved it.

Lois’ dress was striking. It not only was a good fit for Erica’s figure, but it also was a good fit for the character. Lois is brash and strong willed, but has a soft side too. The colors, orange and burnt sienna, also looked very good on her. I really liked the way the sash fit on Erica and the way that had been draped.

I loved Lana’s dress, it was darker than costumes she’d worn previously in the show yet wasn’t severe at all despite being not very romantic. It was form fitting, but not too much. It was perfect for Kristin’s figure and for Lana at this point in the series.

The men were all also dressed very handsomely. Clark’s suit was just right as was Jimmy’s. I loved the shiny silvery vest that Jimmy wore. Aaron’s very slim and it looked good on him.

Key Hair Stylist Sarah Koppes did a wonderful job with the hair. I had seen that Kristin had cut her hair really short after she’d filmed “Street Fighter” this past summer, so Sarah would have had to pull off some magic to give her those terrific curls. I couldn’t really tell if was a full wig or just a piece or extensions of some kind, but no matter what, Kristin’s hair looked awesome.

I wasn’t completely happy with the Visual Effects in the episode. The special effects make-up on Sam (or whoever) was probably better than I would have expected for a show on The CW, but the fight wasn’t as good as it could have been. One punch and Doomsday throws Clark thirty feet, but it looked far too obviously computer animated. They really need to work on this stuff to make it look more realistic…

VAST’s song “Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me” was a perfect song to end this episode with. They’ve used fewer songs lately, the budget cuts being no doubt at least partly to blame, but the few they’ve used have been perfect for the moments they’re used on. This was another terrific choice.

Aside from a few problems here and there that bothered me, none were bad enough to completely ruin things. I really enjoyed “Bride.” It was a terrific episode to use as the mid-season cliff-hanger and the things I loved about this episode far outweighed the things that irritated me, so I’ll give this episode 4.5 destroyed Kent barns 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.