#8.16 “Turbulence” Review

NOTE: I will spoil you rotten if you read this review before you view this episode. While not the worst episode ever, maybe if you do read this before viewing it might help you decide whether you want to go to the trouble…

First thing I thought when I saw this episode was: Yikes.

Just when I’d thought this show had gotten back on track after “Infamous” they come up with a scenario that is almost as ludicrous as the one for Sleeper, where Jimmy was a James Bond wannabe. Jimmy as a paranoid drug addict who’s become insanely, read that as crazy-as-a-loon, jealous of Davis is just as Out of Character for him.

I don’t even know where to start.

I had been looking forward to this episode, it had looked like it was going to be exciting. Maybe I was being a bit optimistic and perhaps unjustifiably so.

I don’t do spoilers, so all I had to go on was that terrific teaser trailer, which did tease mightily, as they tend to do. The promo had implied that Clark may finally get his act together and actually take flight. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, we’ve been teased about that before after all, but at least I thought the episode would be exciting. And parts of it were, but then we took a detour into weirdsville. While watching this episode, I found that I had trouble caring what happened to Jimmy. The thing is, I’m pretty sure the kids both felt the same way.

A good barometer of how engaging an episode is how I see my kids react. To be honest, they were so bored during most of the episode I had trouble keeping them from speaking during it. Granted, they don’t like the show nearly as much as I do; for shows from The CW my son prefers Reaper and my daughter prefers Supernatural. Given my nearly unconditional love of the show, I tend to give Smallville a pass on a lot of the little problems and try to find at least something nice to say for each episode (as everyone probably knows), but man… I’m not sure what I can say about this episode that was nice.

I suppose I could talk about Clark. His part was fine. In fact, it was more than fine, it was perfect. I loved every scene Clark was in, especially the ones he was in with Tess. However they were in what was the likely C story of the episode, Jimmy and Chloe were the likely B story, Davis’ story was probably the A story since his actions changed what Chloe and Jimmy did.

Just so you know: In TV series writing, they often distinguish between the different storylines in an episode alphabetically. The primary story is the ‘A’ story, the secondary one is the ‘B’ and so on… In Smallville, the different storylines very often intersect. In this the A story impacted Jimmy and Chloe over in the B story quite a bit and the two storylines intersected quite nicely, actually.
Al Septien and Turi Meyer are generally competent writers, more than that actually (they’ve written some of my favorite episodes), but they completely failed to make the two primary stories in the episode have any connection at all to Clark’s. It felt like Clark’s story and the other two had come from two different scripts. Unless I’m completely missing something (which is likely, I’m not always the sharpest tool in the box, even though I usually fake it pretty well), I don’t see how they fit in together at all, not even thematically. Too bad one of those three stories completely lost me.

I couldn’t care less about Jimmy now. I don’t think that I even know who he is anymore. He used to be likable and cute with Chloe, but now what is he? I guess Davis was at least partly right (even though he was just trying to cover his own butt when he pointed it out) when he said that previously cute and arguably bland Jimmy is acting crazy because he’s strung out on pain meds. I should point out that he was partly to blame for that, after all, since he stuck him with that needle filled with some sort of hallucinogen.

Whatever… Just count me as totally incapable of caring where they’re going with Jimmy. I can’t wait for him to find some other excuse to leave the show for another six episodes. However, since there are only six episodes left in this season after this one, unfortunately that’s unlikely. This storyline only interests me how it will affect Davis, Chloe and Clark.

Worse than almost anything else in this was that I didn’t like how mean normally nice people acted in the episode.

Yeah, Davis is a monster so I expect him to act badly and maybe erratically, but to make Chloe believe that Jimmy was going crazy in order to undermine her faith in Jimmy and push him out of her life? That’s intense… And then Jimmy to ambush and chain Davis up? What was he going to do? Brain him if he didn’t admit to Chloe what he’d done?

As much as I think Jimmy was right to try and make everyone realize that Davis is a bad guy, I’m not sure I completely buy the normally bland Jimmy as a crazed cuckolded husband apparently in the midst of a complete breakdown thanks to his new pain med addiction. Did Chloe hugging Davis justify this level of paranoia from Jimmy? Does his narcotic induced craziness later justify her zapping Jimmy with a tazer? Yikes…
It’s pretty dramatic, but her assault on Jimmy pretty much proves that Chloe believes Davis’ story over her own husband’s. Not that I’m in favor of a woman making herself a doormat to please her hubby or anything, but man… that’s taking things a bit far. She should have talked Jimmy down instead of knocking him out. She should have tried to listen to him instead of taking Davis’ word over Jimmy’s. I actually don’t blame Jimmy for leaving after that, but I’m not really sure I care where Chloe and Jimmy end up at this point.

Mostly that’s because this whole situation seems so contrived. Yeah, I know Davis is manipulating the situation, giving Jimmy who knows what out in his ambulance, but Chloe had shown very strong convictions to stick by a person in just the previous episode when the world believed Linda Lake’s lies about Clark. She fought for him and even died for him, as she took time to try and warn him before Doomsday had apparently killed her. She almost literally defended Clark to her last breath.

A woman with such strong convictions to fight for who she believes in would certainly fight for her husband too, wouldn’t she? Why couldn’t she at least listen to what Jimmy had to say instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to believe Davis over him? Given what Chloe is usually like, that makes this situation apparently manufactured solely to get them from point A to point B…

I hope it all makes sense in time, because right now I think the only reason I really care at all about this thrashing about with Chloe’s and Jimmy’s failed relationship is how it will affect Chloe, Clark and Davis. I am not holding much hope out for Chloe’s and Jimmy’s marriage at this point, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

Okay, just so you know, I didn’t think this episode was ALL bad. There were parts that I actually loved, in fact. I did love the Clark/Tess stuff tons and tons and tons.

I absolutely adored the little story she told about dreaming of being the Little Mermaid who was waiting for her Prince to rescue her. It was like she was talking about Clark. Later when she talked about Clark making her feel safe that reinforced the idea… It’s like she’s still holding out hope that he’s her white knight that will rescue her from the evil people in the world who want to do her harm…

And then I liked Clark trying to get the upper hand on Tess’ scheming to learn more about his secrets, and Tess trying to trick Clark into showing his abilities was a scheme worthy of a Luthor, even though that just wasn’t going to work. Not that she confessed that she even had specific information about Clark except by her actions. She clearly knows something about Clark, maybe even suspects him of being the Red-Blue Blur. I also liked that he still was able to save her, while managing to hide his abilities, when her plan to trap him into showing off his powers back-fired and nearly got her killed.

As much as I loved that bit, I am not sure that I buy that Clark just fell out of that plane, like he’d said. If he had ‘just fallen’ then the impact when they hit the desert floor likely would have killed Tess. It’d be like she was in a car that crashed going over a couple of a hundred miles an hour: her body would have been slammed against Clark’s body hard. She wouldn’t have survived the impact after going into terminal velocity. The landing had to have been flight assisted at least a little bit, or Tess might have died. Maybe that’s why Clark said they ‘sorta fell’ out of the plane.

And Clark was adorable as he showed off his quick change skills for Chloe. It was funny when he didn’t get it quite right and his blue t-shirt was showing under his shirt and tie, the ‘wardrobe malfunction’ was so cute. I loved Chloe’s reaction to all of that too, perfect. Also I loved the quick change he did in the phone booth!

I really liked the touch that Chloe gave Davis that ‘saved’ him. It was a nice moment. It made Davis see that killing bad people isn’t the only way to side-step his descent to the dark side. The Beauty being the key to saving the Beast from his inner monster is a nice touch… Although sometimes the episode got a little heavy handed: for example, the foreshadowing they sprinkled throughout the episode for Chloe and Jimmy not staying together had been laid on a bit thick. It was a bit clumsily referred to over and over. How many times do we need to hear how beautiful life is going to be for Chloe and Jimmy now that he’s better to guess that it probably won’t be?

But I loved the continuity, Tess referring to all that stuff still in that room last seen in Season 3’s Covenant and which Lex claimed to have destroyed back in 4th Season’s Devoted was a nice touch. Of course, he wouldn’t have destroyed it. It makes sense for Lex, and seeing that, it also makes sense that Tess would be intrigued by why Lex had obsessed over Clark even if she didn’t know the details.

The act breaks were all strong, the pacing was also good. The humor they added into this was effective and lightened up an otherwise fairly dark episode. There was some good among the bad, so this was ultimately an okay episode, but I think it’s safe to say that it probably wasn’t the best thing Turi and Al have ever written.

Tom Welling was originally supposed to direct the next episode after this one, Hex, but was reportedly sick during the filming of this episode so it kept him from doing the necessary prep work for directing. So his assignment got moved to later in the season, he instead directed episode 8.21, Injustice (I believe that they have finished filming that as I’m writing this). Although, I couldn’t tell he that was sick during the filming of Turbulence, aside from his eyes looking a bit blood-shot in a couple scenes.

I loved how cute Tom made Clark be when he was showing off his superspeed costume changing to Chloe. I also liked all the scenes Clark had with Tess. He had portrayed Clark as resolved to try and find out what, exactly, Lex had told Tess about him, despite the danger. Tom played it just right, a hint of hesitancy with his determination, as Clark tried to outmaneuver Tess. It was a perfect episode for Tom, acting with a cold or not.

Allison Mack was awesome as Chloe. I loved how she brave she made Chloe as she tried to get through Jimmy’s illness. She believably had Chloe skating on very thin ice emotionally, like she was barely holding herself together. She was fine out in the hallway as she talked to Davis and then when she started to fall apart, it was heartbreaking. Then, she really hit it out of the park at the end when Jimmy walked away and she had Chloe emotionally crumble there and again later when she was looking out into the stormy night. It was a terrific performance from Allison.

Cassidy Freeman was again tremendous. Tess had a lot of different intents to play in her scenes with Clark and Cassidy did it so effortlessly. Cassidy has given Tess strength combined with vulnerability. I would think that would be a hard thing to play, but she makes acting that look easy and I know it probably isn’t. I’m almost always intrigued by her performances, so it’s a joy when she’s on the show. I love watching her do her thing.

Aaron Ashmore did pretty well, considering I hated his storyline. He was surprisingly effective as the increasingly unhinged Jimmy. I especially liked how Aaron had Jimmy react at the end. I could see how hurt Jimmy was by Chloe’s continuing to favor the other men in her life over her husband. He was clearly a destroyed man by the end as he popped those pills. Aaron did a very good job.

Sam Witwer was fantastic as Davis. His voice over in the tease was actually chilling. Wow. And then at the end when he stood in the rain looking up to Chloe falling apart, that was a great moment. I loved his pained look almost turning hopeful somehow as he stood out in that storm watching Chloe cry in her window. Like Cassidy, Sam gives his character a vulnerability that makes him far more intriguing a villain than he would have been otherwise. Sam was wonderful.

I usually love Melanie Williams’ costume design, but it wasn’t completely successful in this episode. While I adore the darker shirts that Clark is wearing, the very slim pants and tailored athletic cut shirts suit Tom very well. So I am confused why Chloe is all of a sudden wearing all of these double-breasted jackets and coats in Easter egg pastels. It looks like Allison’s slimmed down a bit and her figure has never looked better, not that we can really tell by her wardrobe. Why isn’t her wardrobe as complimentary to her figure as Tom’s is to his? She shouldn’t be covered up in bulky double-breasted coats. Allison’s wardrobe should show off her figure better. I don’t get it.

Director Kevin G. Fair got some good acting out of the cast and I think his choices were mostly pretty good. I didn’t like how long he lingered on Chloe at the end of that hospital corridor scene after Jimmy left, it seemed like it had dragged on a bit, but I think for the most part he proved himself a very capable director. I especially loved the montage at the end, and that in itself is a pretty neat trick. I hate it when music montages are used to replace exposition; they’re usually a drag on the episode rather than being informing of characterization.

I actually watched that montage more than any other single part of the episode. It was extremely well executed and was spotlessly shot by Barry Donlevy. The use of a very mobile camera was awesome and he perfectly used slow-motion photography at the end. Part of the credit for the successful montage at the end should probably also go to the editor for this episode, Andi Armaganian. (Thanks go to iTunes for letting me get credits I can actually read…)

I suppose some of the credit for editing that montage also should go to Kevin, the director, as well but I’m not sure what the exact process is in post for that kind of thing so I’m guessing. I do know the director was responsible for large parts of the production of the montage and it was a very well designed montage. The shot choices were spot on and there was an excellent use of moving shots, one shot flowed seamlessly into the next. Kevin, Barry and Andi all should be proud of it.

I especially liked the ending shot of Davis standing in the rain as he looked up at Chloe’s window. The shot craned down from distance and slowly moved in on Davis, standing in the rain. It got out of focus there for a bit as the camera closed in on Davis, but I’m not sure that was a mistake. It was like something was becoming clearer for Davis… So, it was nice that he was more in focus as the camera got closer. I really liked that shot and the slow motion photography that let that shot linger more on the screen as Davis’s face began to show a change, like he was becoming less confused and more sure and hopeful.

And using Apocalyptica’s “I Don’t Care” was perfect for that whole montage. The lyrics fit the episode almost exactly. Although overall the song’s pretty hard, as rock songs go, the strings and lyrical piano parts behind the other more typical rock-and-roll instruments with the angry, pain-filled lyrics gave the song a mournful quality that fit the ending of the episode flawlessly.

Louis Febre’s score helped bridge into that song, having the mournful strings that matched Apoloyptica’s so naturally that the song seemed to flow out of his score. So he should also be commended for a very successful ending to the episode.

All in all, this episode wasn’t a complete disaster. Although I didn’t like the Jimmy’s story at all, it’s not in the cellar because of the terrific Clark and Tess scenes, those were pure awesomeness. Allison hitting it out of the park acting wise helped too as well as the terrific ending. I give this episode 3.5 superfalls 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.