#9.12 “Warrior” Review

NOTE: If you read this review before viewing this episode, I will spoil you rotten.

A much needed lighter outing, this reminded me a lot of earlier season’s episodes: a guy who liked Chloe turned into a bad guy, there were lessons learned with Clark in the loft. Although, I guess he was the one teaching the lesson, instead of the person learning one, and now we have Chloe’s version of the ending loft scene with her and Oliver at Watchtower. Although there wasn’t really a villain, poor Alec was really just a scared kid, I loved this episode.

Written by Bryan Q. Miller, it’s another solid effort from him. There were twists and turns, and character arcs that had good payoffs in the final act. Added to that he writes cute Clark and Lois banter better than just about anyone.

I also really liked putting the start of the story in a comic book convention and the ideas in the episode, fantasy, dreaming, and whether heroism is a job, helped give Clark some real perspective. It showed him that his powers are really cool and life shouldn’t always be so serious. As for Chloe, I’m glad she tried to enjoy herself and have some fun, she’s been far too serious since losing Jimmy. It’s not that it’s easy to recover after your husband (or ex-husband) dies trying to protect you from a murderer, but there’s probably been enough time. She needs to move forward, but I was sorta surprised it was with Oliver after Stephen Swift had turned out so badly. I guess that makes sense for Oliver since the actress who played Dinah Lance (Black Canary, who is Oliver’s wife in the comics) is on another show now and unlikely to return. He needs a love interest less prickly than Tess and Chloe needs more to do than type into a keyboard. However, I’m worried this won’t work out well. That will be too bad for Chloe, but I’ll be interested to see where Chloe and Oliver’s romance will go.

I loved seeing Clark wrangle bad-guys even while he was trying to dealing with Lois over the phone. That was an awesome scene. I loved Clark calling subduing robbers (or whatever they were) ‘chores’… I laughed out loud at that, then him beaning the one that had almost gotten away with a can: that was fantastic. I LOVE when they manage to get in some of Clark good-deed-doing into the story, even as almost a footnote. If they can milk his crime-fighting for some humor, it is even better. It’s a win-win.

I also loved all of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) allusions to the comics Bryan put into this script. A couple of examples were the mentions of the ‘World’s Finest’ (although it’s a shame we’ll likely never see Batman, who’s usually the other half of that team, along with Superman) and Amazonian Princesses were funny. I adored that so many people were wearing versions of Clark’s red jacket at the convention and later even the little kid Stephen saved from the bullies was wearing one.

And I worship at Bryan’s script-writing altar when it comes to writing kids, as evidenced in this script. He did it perfectly. All too often in TV and film kids are written by people who don’t seem to know what kids are like. Being the mother of a couple, and being around them a lot, it drives me crazy when that happens. Films and movies usually have kids talk and act like adults. It works in some films, I can’t imagine “Juno” (an Oscar-winning script written by Diablo Cody) being nearly as good if the Juno had talked like a real teen, so it was nice to see Alec being so child-like. He was truly child-like even when he was the adult-sized Stephen. Kudos to the actor for playing Stephen as well, he did a marvelous job playing that, so that part of the story may not have worked as well if they’d not had Carlo Marks playing that part. (More about that later.)

Probably the only thing I didn’t like about the script was that Zatanna had forced Clark to kiss her with her magic. Maybe Clark needed to lighten up and get a wake-up call, maybe learn to have a little fun in his life, but I don’t see Zatanna manipulating a friend like that. Yeah, she was attracted to Clark, especially after she learned more about his powers, but would she really use magic to force Clark to kiss her against his will? I don’t know much about Zatanna in the comics, but I don’t think the version of her in the show would. She just doesn’t seem to be the type to use magic so capriciously, especially to manipulate someone she seems to genuinely admire. Add that to the fact that she had just been going around cleaning up her father’s magical messes. I mean, events in this episode seem to prove she knows that magic can be serious business, even if it also be fun, so her doing what she did doesn’t really make sense.

Although I guess there was one good thing about that bit: at least Clark proved that he has an undeniable connection to Lois. They’re soul mates in the comics, so that was a very nice aspect of the scene. Maybe Clark’s resistance to Zatanna’s magic, when it comes to his love-life (and Lois) anyway, was the point. It was sexy and romantic, but what Zatanna had done was probably not really in character for Zatanna.
In the grand scheme, even with the iffy decision to have Zatanna magically manipulate Clark into kissing her, I think this was pretty close to a perfect script. It was a lot of fun and I loved the Comic Book convention in the first part of the episode. Also, Alec and Stephen were both enjoyable characters and the stakes rose constantly, with a steady pace and strong act breaks, so it didn’t seem like it dragged at all. This was another excellent outing for Bryan.

Tom Welling was fantastic as Clark. He played Clark as adorably flustered by Lois, especially when he was looking through her closet, but I also liked when he was talking to Alec in the final act. I was a bit surprised he was out in the open with Alec, but maybe that makes sense. Alec needed a big brother in Clark and it was a great scene. Tom played Clark as so caring and sure of himself. However, possibly my favorite scene with him was his final scene with Lois when he was so cute trying to explain about had happened with Zatanna. He’s so cute and funny when he’s flustered. He really needs to do a romantic comedy once he finally moves on from “Smallville.”

A person who wasn’t a joy to watch every minute was Allison Mack. Normally I love her performances, but there were several times her performance felt flat. That said, there were parts that I loved. I ADORED Chloe in the early part of the episode, like when she was with Lois at the Comic Con and then with Stephen when he was still cute and child-like. She was adorable and it was good to see Chloe finally have a reason to smile. She also did well in the scene with the young Alec on the roof after the curse had been reversed, but then after that, I don’t know, I think she had other things on her mind. Probably the most glaring bit in the episode, in my mind, was the final scene with Oliver. I like how it was staged, the camera work and Allison NOT standing on a box. It surprised me, actually. Either Allison is really short or Justin is far taller than I’d thought. But I’m not sure I bought Chloe’s ennui when she walked in and poured herself a drink. It seemed too practiced maybe and I didn’t buy Chloe being seductive in that scene either. When she put down the glass in slow motion, which was nice shot by the way, it seemed forced and uncomfortable, not sexy.

Her directing work had improved a lot over the last time she’d worked on ‘Power’ so it seems she let her acting slide a bit. I have next to no complaints about the directing, unlike her freshman effort, so I think I’ll take that as a reasonable trade-off. It took Tom a few times before he could do both well. If Allison comes back next season and directs again, she’ll be probably in much better shape acting-wise.

Erica Durance did a marvelous job as Lois. She was positively adorable in the Storm Trooper armor and really sold that ‘Amazonian’ costume. I really liked how flustered she had Lois get in that last scene with Clark. Being vulnerable and admitting she’s insecure was hard for Lois and the way that Erica played that, kissing that random guy to get back at Clark, I completely bought it.

Justin Hartley didn’t have much screen time, but I really liked what he did here with Oliver. I liked his scene with Chloe a lot. Oliver has a joie de vivre that I’m glad is back full force and even though I had problems with Allison in that final scene between then, I hadn’t had the same problem with him. It was another good outing from Justin.
Serinda Swan was terrific as Zatanna. I’m not sure anyone else could speak those backward spells as well as she does and she does give Zatanna a bit of needed mystery. I like it when she guest stars, hopefully she can back later on.

Carlo Marks was completely awesome as Stephen Swift. He played him as so child-like, earnest and innocent. I loved how Carlo played Stephen when he didn’t suspect the real reason Chloe invited him up to her apartment. He didn’t deliver the lines tongue in cheek. The way that Carlo portrayed him it was clear that Stephen honestly thought that Chloe had wanted to just have a more innocent type of fun. The only thing I had a problem with was the fact that once Stephen had become a ‘lethal enforcer’, that wasn’t played quite as well, but overall I really enjoyed what he brought to the character.

Owen Best was adorable as the Alec. Young kids don’t usually do a good job at acting so he was amazing. I loved the scene with Alec and Chloe on the roof. He seemed so upset. I also loved the scene in the loft with Clark. Owen was terrific.

Allison Mack helmed this episode. It marked her second outing sitting in the director’s chair and I think she’s learned a great deal since her last episode. I’m sure those of you that read my reviews regularly will remember what I thought of her freshman effort, ‘Power’. I was a bit worried with this one based on how poorly I’d thought ‘Power’ had gone, but I had very little to complain about here. She proved she learned and worked to improve her craft. There was a greater sense of visual style here and the more dialogue-heavy scenes didn’t linger like they did with ‘Power.’ Unfortunately, I think maybe she forgot to pay attention to her own acting, even as she got excellent performances from the rest of the cast. Like I said back in the acting section, I think that will come with time and experience. Hopefully she’ll come back next season and give directing another go.

Glen Winter shot another beautiful episode. I love the mobility of his camera work and how the different magical scenes were shot, dark yet somehow still colorful.
James Philpott did an outstanding job. I loved the comic book convention. I’ve never been to San Diego’s Comic Con, but I’ve been to other Cons and it felt and looked right. The different costumes and booths seemed very authentic. I also loved Melanie Williams’ costume for Lois’ ‘Amazonian Princess,’ it was exactly like what I think Wonder Woman’s costume might look like in Smallville.

Product Placement is something that Smallville hasn’t always done well. Just remember the travesty that was “Hero” a few seasons ago, but I actually haven’t had many problems with their insertion of Windows 7 and the upcoming motion detection technology that Microsoft will have for their Xbox 360 gaming consoles. The development name for the controller-free controller is ‘Project Natal’, I think the final name will be different, and it looks way cool. (The technology is set to be released for sale by Christmas 2010.) I loved the way the motion capture interface worked and how nicely it fit into this story, although I must admit that I had to ask around about it. I had never heard of it before the show and I wasn’t sure exactly what Chloe and Stephen were doing. However, Project Natal and the Xbox 360 were far more seamlessly integrated than is normal for the show in terms of product placement.

While this was not a perfect episode, it was an extremely enjoyable one. I give this episode 4.5 cursed Warrior Angel Comics 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.