#8.8 “Bloodline” Review

NOTE: You know the drill. You read this, I’m going to spoil you. If you try to avoid learning key story elements ahead of time, I think you need to wait to peruse this review until after you’ve seen the episode.

Again, I knew next to nothing about this episode before seeing the trailer for it at the tail end of “Identity.” I was intrigued by that tease, which I suppose is the point of those trailers. I guess job well done for the trailer crew, whoever they are.

The episode was written by Caroline Dries (“Cyborg,” “Oracle,” “Nemesis,” “Gemini,” “Sleeper,” and “Toxic”) and I’m glad to say she’s back in top form following what I thought was a less than stellar outing for her a month or so back with “Toxic.” This episode had a few problems on the writing side, but nothing major. It was enjoyable, but also well structured since it had tied all the pesky subplots to the main plot, which had Clark and Lois getting stuck in the Phantom Zone.

And, again, what a wonderful tease that was! Clark and Lois getting inexplicably sent into the Phantom Zone was an exciting way to start an episode. However, that event also launched all the sub-plots too. Tying all the plots together in an episode isn’t something Smallville has always done well.

Just think about the inexplicable Zoner plot in “Static” that took Clark to Seattle while the A plot was completely unrelated to that because it dealt with Lex getting stuck in alternate frequency in his library. It was almost like they took two separate scripts and somehow turned them into one. That script was penned by what looked to be freelancers, James Morris & Shintaro Shimosawa, and it doesn’t look like they’ve worked much since… no small surprise.

Anyway, I’m glad Smallville has done it better this season. Caroline did a wonderful job with that particular aspect of it.

That crystal being turned into a Phantom Zone port key brings up a question of who would have had not only the motive, but who also had the opportunity and ability to corrupt Clark’s crystal? Who would have also taunted Tess with that email on top of everything else? The list of people capable of doing that would be pretty short. Martian Manhunter? Brainiac? Maybe the Brainiac-enhanced Chloe? Some unknown villain?

But given that the list of people who might be capable of altering Clark’s crystal is that short, the list of who would have a motive to do it is probably even shorter. Unless there is some as of yet unidentified villain, I’m thinking it’s probably Brainiac. I haven’t heard that James Marsters’ is going to return, however, so I guess we’ll see.

Perhaps the overly Brainiac influenced Chloe also might be a good suspect. However, even when she’s apparently channeling Brainiac, like when she killed Sebastian at the end of “Identity,” she acted to protect Clark. I’m not sure how sending Clark to the Phantom Zone would protect him, but if there were some other motive for her to do that it still might be her. However, I think both Chloe and John Jones are unlikely to be guilty of tampering with the stone, why would they want to send Clark to the Kryptonian Alcatraz? So, if it’s not Brainiac then I really have no idea who might have done it.

Unfortunately, none of the mysteries surrounding about how this was even possible, much less who did it, were addressed in this episode at all. I hope it will be soon. It’s perplexing, but I think Clark is right to not trust the crystal, at least for now.

I thought it was interesting that Chloe was so sure she would be able to “hack” into a Kryptonian crystal, which has been described as essentially a type of Kryptonian super-computer. Ollie was right in being a bit skeptical, as well as being a bit on the weirded out side. I would say that had anyone else said that, I might have been a bit doubtful myself, but this is a Brainiac-enhanced Chloe we’re talking about so I wasn’t all that surprised.

I’m not sure we’ve yet seen the full consequences of Brainiac’s attack on Chloe. She killed, or apparently killed, poor Sebastian in “Instinct” and then in this episode she “hacks” into Clark’s corrupted crystal with nothing more than Tess’ power source and her hand. Yeah, something big is going on with her and with the rate they’re going into this storyline in each successive episode it’s probably going to all hit the fan soon.

Despite the fact that Clark had apparently talked with Oliver about his origins in off-screenville, I like that the Emerald Archer is a bit weirded out by Clark’s secret. It sorta explains why it never came up before in the show, Oliver not liking to discuss it, although he’d made oblique references to Clark’s unique qualities before. I would like to see them discuss it like they sorta did at the end when Oliver warned Clark he needed to protect Chloe from herself, but I’m glad he knows more about Clark’s origins.

And what a way to amp up the Davis/Doomsday storyline!

He’s actually the biologically engineered child of Zod and Faora that’s also Doomsday, destined to destroy Earth? Wow…

While not all that close to the original origin of Doomsday, it’s probably close enough and totally not what I had expected. I didn’t see that one coming.

It makes sense that he was intended to not only be Zod’s and Faora’s child, but also destroy Earth. It’s like a win-win for them. If they couldn’t get off of Krypton alive, or out of the Phantom Zone, they’d send along a destructive force to counteract Clark’s positive one.

That said, I guess I’m still confused by the details. How could some amorphous ‘genetic matter’ clinging to Clark’s ship become a child unquestionably normal-looking enough to be raised by humans?

Maybe they’ll eventually explain that, maybe not, but that’s the kind of fact that Smallville doesn’t spend too much time worrying about examining too closely. I love the show, but they skate over the finer details of their krypto-babble all the time. I won’t hold my breath they’ll ever explain it.

It’ll be just like how they’re probably not going to explain exactly how Faora could manifest Kryptonian-like powers while inside Lois when her hubby couldn’t do the same with Lex.

If you remember, Brainiac went through a whole bunch of preparation with Lex at the end of season 5, culminating in the appropriately titled “Vessel,” to prepare him to be Zod’s ‘vessel’. He gave Lex a shot of specially mutated viruses and also took him to his ship, where he did who knows what. The end result was that Lex developed Kryptonian-like abilities even before Zod had taken over management of his body.

If Brainiac did all that to prepare Lex, perhaps had to do all that, then why didn’t Faora need to prepare Lois the same way? Things certainly have changed in the Phantom Zone Wraith/Vessel preparation business since the end of season 5. I suppose we’ve hit upon another retcon…

Anyway, Faora’s reaction to Davis was fascinating. She was understandably a bit taken aback by her outwardly altruistic son. I would think so, especially since Zod was anything but a selfless person. His wife probably has the same feelings on things. Her ‘killing’ Davis with the words “that, which kills you, makes you stronger” was terrific.

That statement is essentially an explanation on why he could take his blood sample before, but probably won’t ever be able to again. That knife shattering on his stomach later underscored the fact visually, which was awesome.

It’s like the comics, but also not… It’s terrific how faithful it is to the comics in the broader sense, just having far different details.

Let me explain for the benefit of those not actually into reading comics: One of the things about the comic version of Doomsday is that when he was in his infancy in the lab he was killed over and over again, but was reborn each time like a phoenix rising from the ashes. However, he was engineered to evolve upon each rebirth so when he came back to life he couldn’t ever be killed that same way again. So each time he died, he’d come back not only stronger but he became even more difficult to kill.

They were creating an unstoppable, yet living, killing machine. In the comics it worked, he was almost indestructible and as he traveled through dozens of star systems, he left leaving bodies and destruction behind in a wide swath. Eventually, he ended up on Earth and killed Superman even as Clark killed him right back.

It looked like Davis’ bio-engineered physiology is just as tough as his comic counterpart’s… However, now that Davis knows this detail about himself, that he can’t be killed the same way twice, I wonder what he’ll do with that knowledge. To what extent will he go in order to test this new found ability? Will he, curious to see what will happen and try to kill himself over and over again like Claire has done in “Heroes”? I’m not sure, but no matter what I think it will be interesting to see where this is going.

It was a short scene, but the interaction between Oliver and Tess in the mansion was fascinating. I guess Regan (the Lex minion, played by Ari Cohen, who had disappeared at the end of the season opener) hadn’t filled Tess in on anything that he’d been doing with the 33.1 experiments or what he’d learned about the secret identities of Green Arrow, Aquaman and Black Canary. Otherwise, she might have known that Oliver is actually the Green Arrow. Yet it was clear that she didn’t know.
The tension that had been going on between Tess and Regan probably precluded him from sharing any of Lex’s dirty secrets with her. However, this episode makes me wonder if he’s ever going to come back. Regan’s return might be timely for Tess. Tess now knows that Clark is the person who left the footprint in the Arctic and now has heard of Kal-El and Krypton. Regan knew finding the Traveler and stopping him was Lex’s goal for heading up to the Arctic. If they were to combine forces to find Lex, they might compare notes. Together they’d figure out almost all of what Lex had learned about Clark by the end of last season. That, of course, would be very bad for Clark.

I hope Regan (and what he knows about Lex and his search for the Traveler) isn’t one of those dropped storylines that Smallville is known to do. I guess we’ll see if he will come back, but that is another thing I won’t hold my breath for.

Oh, and Tess’ and Clark’s interaction in the Daily Planet offices was terrific! Wow. What a great scene. She basically told him she knows he knows a lot more than he’s saying. He stayed his ground and didn’t give her anything more to go on. He’s definitely not the scared teen he used to be.

I have seen people in the past who had said Clark hasn’t changed since the first season, I say they haven’t been watching the same show I have. However, if anyone is still saying that this season, I say they need to pay better attention.

First season Clark, or even fourth season or fifth season Clark would have folded like a cheap beach chair in a similar high stakes interview like he had with Tess. He would have stammered out some lame excuse that was clearly a lie. Not this Clark.

Clark’s showing some backbone, just like Superman. The Man of Steel doesn’t back down or give up. He wouldn’t let someone like Tess rattle him. He’s essentially Superman now, all he’s missing is the flight and the tights.

I’m not sure what they’ve got cooked up for Clark this season since his metaphorical ‘island’ no doubt is still coming (if what Oliver had said in “Toxic” was the foreshadowing it seemed to be). So, there will be more drama and suspense before the series finale, but I’m glad to see that he didn’t back down or come up with some tall tale she’d see through.

Chloe’s the one with the lame lies now. Tess saw through that “it was a large bird” lie pretty easily, so it was good Clark has learned flimsy excuses aren’t the way to go with her.

Clark was right to not tell her what he knows about Lex’s disappearance, of course (she knows too much already). Clark didn’t lie, but he didn’t give her any new information either. Not only did he not let her ruffle his feathers, but he wasn’t afraid to stand up to her, telling her to go ahead and fire him. She didn’t because she knows there is a lot he’s not telling her, and she is trying to get on his good side. Of course, firing him would be a hindrance to her goal. It’s also probably why she gave Lois the raise, thinking she might know something about Kryptonians since it’s come up twice now and they seem to have a connection with the crystal.

It’s interesting that she wants him to trust her. It’s smart since Clark obviously knows more than he’s saying and he might be the key to Tess finding Lex. Of course, she has no idea that Clark is completely clueless on what happened to Lex, but it’s not like Clark is going to tell her anything more than he has. Her promising Clark that in time the truth will reveal itself was chilling, and maybe a touch of foreshadowing…

I LOVED that whole scene, if you couldn’t tell. Good job. Caroline is very good with this kind of thing, her Lex/Clark scenes were some of the best the last few seasons, in my opinion. I’m glad Tess has become a worthy successor for Lex Luthor.

As for the much looked for return of Kara, I think this episode was a success for the character.

Kara didn’t have much screen time, but it was dignified, even if it doesn’t look like she’ll ever be coming back. At least Laura Vandervoort wasn’t brought in for an episode long product placement opportunity like poor Sam Jones III was last season. I don’t think we ever need to see anything as shameful as that ever again.

One problem I had with the script, was that Caroline’s dialogue wasn’t as spot-on as I know she can do. Think of the skillful dialogue in the Clark/Lex scenes in “Oracle” or “Nemesis.” In this episode, some of the dialogue was so heavy handed and on-the-nose (that’s the character explaining the obvious in a way that no one ever really would speak) that it was actually painful to hear.

For example of this was the line that Lois said to Clark when they were stuck in the Phantom Zone, “We’re standing on our graves!”

*shudders*

I’m amazed more than one person thought that was a good line. A whole group must have thought it was a good line for it to make as far as making the aired episode. I wished someone would have said something to make them cut the line…

I don’t know, maybe it read better on paper than it did when Erica was screaming it out on some huge sand pile in British Columbia. It was over-the-top and seemed out of character for her. Lois doesn’t get scared easy, and I’m not sure I totally bought her panic while she was in Phantom Zone. It did play better on subsequent viewings, but it really didn’t the first time out.

While this episode had a few “what the….???” moments, the episode was certainly exciting from the FADE IN: to the FADE TO BLACK. The show has, in general, also gotten tons better at tying the sub-plots to the main story in an episode. This was no different. The mystery of who had altered the crystal to transport Clark to the PZ still hasn’t been answered. However, everything else that had happened the rest of the episode arose from that moment, including freeing Kara, Davis finding out more about his origins, Clark learning that someone is there who is meant to destroy and Chloe’s Brainiac-enhanced mental powers taking on a more menacing turn.

Caroline also had excellent act break cliff-hangers, a good pace, touching drama, and chilling complications. Even with all that, she still managed to include some much needed humor. While not a perfect script, I think overall it was a terrific episode for Caroline.

Okay, I’ve slipped back into a bit of a rut. I wrote the beginning bits on the script like in one day. I wrote the directing and designing bits in probably less than that. The acting bits? Just not coming, I watched the episode too many times and I still couldn’t find anything really insightful to say. So, for most everyone – even Tom (yeah, I know… I’m really in a funk), I’m not going to worry about going into any detail.

Anyway, Tom Welling not only looked gorgeous, his hair looked great, and he played Clark perfectly. I think my favorite part for him in this episode were the bits in the Phantom Zone. He played Clark so heroic and sure of himself. It was heart breaking when he had to beg his cousin to let him save her life. I also thought the scene with Kara in the barn was touching and well played.

Erica Durance was, for the most part, marvelous in this episode. I’m not totally in love with how she played Lois in the PZ, I didn’t get a good sense of the panic I think Lois was supposed to be feeling, for example, but I thought she was perfect as Faora. She played evil really well, but I liked the touches of motherly affection she had for Davis.

Allison Mack was terrific. My favorite line of hers was asking Oliver if she ever told him how to shoot his arrows. That was funny. I loved the look on her face then too. She looked like she was a bit weirded out too along with Chloe’s determination to have Oliver let her just do her job.

Justin Hartley was his normal charming self as Oliver. I think he did the best in this episode when Oliver was dealing with the alien weirdness with Clark and the Brainiac-infected Chloe. I liked the last scene with Clark quite a bit.

Sam Witwer was terrific as Davis. He showed a bit of getting weirded out by Faora inside of Lois, but I thought he played that beautifully. Davis was freaked out and skeptical, but he still tried to help Lois as best he could. The surprise on his face as Lois ripped the side rail off of the bed and killed him with it. Wow. The ending moment after the knife had shattered on his skin was awesome. He looked troubled and confused.

Cassidy Freeman was terrific. She had her own freak out moments, with Lois in the Planet offices, and then later with Green Arrow in the library. Then, like I said, the scene with Clark was awesome.

As for Laura Vandervoort, I’m glad they brought her back to finish out her storyline and I’m happy that they managed to do it in a dignified way. Part of me is sad to see her go, but part of me thinks that it is probably for the best. She had shown some promise in the part, but once it became clear last season that her storyline had basically run its course, she’d basically done the same thing she did here: she seemed to be just going through the motions.

I don’t think the part not working out for her had particularly been her fault, either. She seems like a competent actress, I just don’t think that she was right for this part.

I read once, I wish I could remember where so I could have looked it up and give the person credit, but I couldn’t find it. Anyway, I read an article where the writer said it’s a fallacy that a good actor is able to play any part.

The article writer thought that the key to getting a terrific performance out of an actor isn’t just getting a good actor; the key is getting the right actor.

And I think it’s true that if not even a great actor could be good in any part (think of Russell Crowe’s last few movies aside from American Gangster), then it must certainly be true for Laura too. Laura had shown some promise in a lot of the episodes she’d been in, but I simply don’t think that she was the right actress for this part.

It’s a shame since Laura looked great for the part and on paper she’s probably perfect for it. She even resembles Tom in several ways. She has similar features: a square jaw, high cheek bones, large, deeply set eyes, and a terrific smile… She is also an athletic, beautiful blonde, which was great for Supergirl.

Not every actor is right for every part, and I think her being cast as Kara unfortunately proved it. She seems like a nice girl. Despite her time on Smallville not working out the way everyone had originally thought, I hope she finds success.

All that said, I think the way she and Tom performed that ending scene in the barn was perfect. It was a touching moment and a good send off for both Kara and Laura. That scene I think shows that she has promise as an actress. I hope she finds success now that it looks like she’s going to have to leave Smallville behind.

Director Michael Rohl had previously directed “Hypnotic,” “Bizarro,” “Trespass,” “Arrow,” “Hero,” and “Fanatic.” That resume hasn’t improved much by his most recent outing of “Prey,” which you might recall I wasn’t completely fond of. While not a perfect episode, I think in general this was a more successful outing for him than “Prey” had been.

While I’m not sure he’s the best actors’ director that Smallville has in their rotation of directors. I think he had some missteps on “Prey” mostly due to the actor’s business not flowing well. I think the same could be said here as well.

Erica is capable of some really smart acting, she can deliver so much more and has previously done so much better. So, why was she just not cutting it in the PZ scenes? I don’t know. She seemed off her game, somehow.

And the way she delivered that line I mentioned above, “We’re standing on our graves!” Uhm, not great.

Yet, Erica isn’t an awful actress. She had delivered a wonderful subtle and touching performance in “Committed,” but that had been directed by someone she probably knows a lot better: Glen Winter. So, I gotta (again) believe the director that isn’t on staff is at fault.

I don’t know, maybe that was just me, I do get bothered by things that other people love at times. However, I hated that part of the episode mostly because I didn’t completely buy it. I didn’t see that Lois was really panicked enough to freak out and say something like that.

Anyway, Director of Photography Glen Winter did a wonderful job on this episode. But didn’t he also shoot “Identity”?

*checks previous review*

Yeah, he did… he must be one busy guy.

It’s good he doesn’t let it affect the job he does. This was another beautifully shot episode. While I might have had some problems with writing and acting in the PZ scenes, I had zero problems with the photography. It’s great when they can make a sand pit in BC look like a different planet. The colors were done perfectly. Film school was a long time ago so I’m not sure if that was a digital process or something he did with lens filters or something like that, or a combination of multiple techniques, but it looked awesome!

I’m not sure what the physics might be for the way light looks on a planet in a binary blue star system, or even if it’s possible for stars so hot, huge and young to have planets with breathable atmospheres (okay, yeah – I looked blue stars up), but it looked fantastic. What a gorgeously shot episode.

Entity F/X also should be commended for the visual effects in this episode. (Their work was so much more successful than the cape in the last episode, maybe they just do better with more subtle effects.) I’m pretty sure they helped out Glen in the PZ scenes, which was terrific. I also loved the knife shattering; it was nicely meshed in with the ‘bullet time’ photography.

Production Designer James Philpott did an excellent job redressing the Fortress of Solitude set to make it look like a ‘temple’ in the Phantom Zone! That really didn’t look much like the Fortress set, but what else could it have been? It looked like a completely different place. Amazing what a little paint and carefully placed black spikes can do for you.

Although I think that James might want to micro-manage the props department. Like I’d said with “Prey,” the devil is in the details. (The props department is cursing me and the iTunes Pause Button, I think.)

This time there was a typo on one of the folders that Oliver was stuffing into his brief case before Chloe got on that plane. The page inside the folder listed test results from a patient (Farrell, Dustin) residing in a halfway house that had been mentioned on the show before (6th season’s “Rage”). It was the Second Chance Halfway House, and it was spelled correctly on the test results page. However, there was a typo on the folder’s label. They had instead spelled it, ‘Secound Chance Halfway House’.

It was onscreen for only a few seconds so if they did realize the problem, perhaps they discovered it too late and just figured that no one else would notice.

My kids are probably right in that no one else in the whole world had noticed. (They both said, ‘Only you would notice that, mom!’)

But I did notice, so I’m mentioning it. However, I am a bit on the anal side, if you haven’t noticed, so these kinds of things bug me when they probably bug few other people, so just take that for what it’s worth.

I again loved Melanie William’s costumes. I thought Kara’s outfit in the PZ was terrific and I loved the hint of the House of El chevron, you know, the S shield, on her breast plate. It also had this sort of a Lord of the Rings Ring Wraith feel to it.

The way they changed Erica from Lois to Faora was awesome. She looked like a politician’s wife, which I guess is what Faora was, although her costuming was more Lois than corporate wife-ish. The big hair and the heavy make-up, however, were both perfect. She looked awesome, so kudos go to Key Make-Up Artist, Natalie Cosco, and Key Hairstylist, Sarah Koppes for that.

Also, I LOVED Tom’s hair in this episode. Even when it was messed up in the PZ, it looked awesome. However, in the other scenes it just looked so good, so way to go Sarah. His costuming was also perfect. I loved that dark purple shirt he wore at the end of the episode. He does look good in darker colors, so I’m glad Melanie’s keeping The Hated Red Jacket (or THRJ) use down to a minimum this season.

I give this episode 4.5 blue Phantom Zone port keys 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.