#9.14 “Conspiracy” Review

NOTE: You know the routine disclaimer about what you’re about to read contains spoilers? Well, just keep that in mind since that this applies doubly so to this review. If you try to avoid learning important plot details prior to seeing the episode, don’t say I didn’t warn you. There’s one huge spoiler in here that spoiler-phobes probably don’t want to read ahead of time.

I wasn’t sure what we were going to get with this episode, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. Writers Turi Meyer and Al Septien did a good job with it, although this episode wasn’t exactly a perfect outing for them.
I didn’t have any problems with the main story, Zod and Clark trying to figure out who took Vala was like a criminal procedural. In fact I really liked that part. They were both investigating and getting to the same information in different ways, which explored parts of their characters we either hadn’t seen before (in Zod’s case) or don’t see enough of (for Clark), so that part of the episode was excellent.

I especially adored Zod’s and Clark’s initial confrontation in the book store. It brought out Zod’s fear that the Kandorians will be hunted that he brought up several times in earlier episodes. I’m glad they figured out a way to make that fear a reality since it brought so much underlying tension to the surface. It also forced Clark to recognize that Zod was right about one thing: the xenophobia that humans have could manifest as the Kandorians being hunted for extermination. What happened was proof that Zod was correct to have been worried about that.

I loved that this story also allowed them to bring up the things that had happened to John Corben and let us know what exactly the Kandorian scientists had been doing and how they had done it. Not only did it explain to Clark what Tess already knew, that the Kandorians were to blame for John’s condition, but it also explained why John had woken up alone way back at the beginning of ‘Metallo’: he’d been left for dead. I really liked the fact that all of this will act as a reminder of those important past events when John comes back in a few episodes, so that was awesome.
As he investigated, trying to find Vala and the others, I loved seeing more of Zod and how he thinks. His tactic of using glasses to make him be more like the woman who could give him the information he wanted was a terrific choice. He was completely charming and won her over. The way he worked his way into her good graces showed more of Zod’s ‘Kryptonian intuition’ and the ability was used very, very well.

I liked that Clark was still able to find out the information about the villain doing the investigation himself instead of depending on Chloe, or someone else, to give him the information. His investigation with Faora was excellent. I liked how Clark handled the interview with the medical examiner, he played a bit on the man’s very human fears and got the information he needed with no permanent harm done. Sometimes it seems the “Smallville” writers forget Clark’s an extremely talented investigative reporter in the comics, so I like it when he uses those skills in the show.

I don’t know why Clark decided to try his blood on Zod’s wound, but maybe that also showed a part of his Kryptonian intuition. It’s an interesting twist. I wondered how they were going to get their powers back after Clark had destroyed the towers in the last episode. So, through helping Zod and keeping his promise to his father, Clark has unwittingly given Zod his powers back. It has also likely made it a near certainty that Zod will do something very un-Clark-like with his newfound powers and put Clark (and the rest of the planet) into danger.

I also liked the ratcheting up of the Checkmate storyline. Amanda Waller wasn’t seen in this episode, but her presence was still felt. It’s probably not good news for Clark and Zod and the rest that she now has a Kandorian blood sample.
I liked Tess turning on Oliver and trying to figure out what he and Chloe are up to. Maybe that tied into her only recently discovered connection to Checkmate and Amanda Waller, or maybe it doesn’t. We’ll just have to wait to see how this plays out later.

The thing I didn’t like much was the even darker turn for Chloe. Her embezzling from Oliver, lying to him and then stockpiling kryptonite-based weapons was a decidedly depressing turn of events for her. And I thought she got unlikable in ‘Persuasion’, what she did in that episode has nothing on this one in terms of Chloe being unlikable. Her manner was harsh and I guess the ends are starting to justify the means. I could sort of see some of the stuff she’d done in the past being in the gray areas, hacking into government and corporate databases and doing it for the best interests of the world or Clark, but now? Chloe’s gone too far: she’s stealing from Oliver and lying to everyone about what she’s been up to. She’s even started to pay for kryptonite-based weapons, which could endanger Clark. She’s Clark’s friend, I don’t see her doing something so drastic that could (even if unintentionally) end up hurting him.
Really, they’d been building up to this all season, she’d been spying on her friends and had gone overboard in ‘Roulette’ to give Oliver an intervention, so I guess that storyline has been around all season, but is heading toward its climax. Chloe’s embezzling from Oliver and stockpiling a secret cache of kryptonite weapons. Maybe isn’t that far of a stretch for her, given what has happened in her past, but I hope this doesn’t end poorly for Chloe. Yet, it seems like it’s just another contrivance to build Chloe’s character up to whatever denouement they plan for this part of her story.

Another thing I didn’t like was that I’m confused by something: Aren’t the Kryptonians that were reanimated by that orb (or whatever it was that had happened) all former soldiers (well, except for Jor-El)? At least all of the ones we’d seen before, except for Jor-El, had all been Zod’s soldiers. Yet, Vala was way too passive and incapable of doing anything more than scream in fear when there was danger to be believable as a soldier. Faora said she was a cybernetic engineer, maybe being a scientist makes sense since she’s working at a book store, but if she’d been why hadn’t she recognized one of the humans she’d supposedly worked on. Bernard had recognized her, why hadn’t she recognized him? Is she just some sort of engineer and not a soldier?

So, her part of the story was a bit confusing, but the way it played out I didn’t really care that much about her well-being and I hope we never see her again. She was far too much like a horror movie scream queen, good at screaming in terror, but not showing much that was interesting or engaging. Doesn’t Clark have enough women in his life to rescue without them feeling the need to add one more that also happens to be boring, useless addition to the show?
And couldn’t they have figured out another way to kill off Chisholm? Bernard offing himself as he tried to bring his saw to bear seemed a tad too convenient. Or maybe it should have been staged differently to make it more believable, but that’s probably a criticism better left for later in the review.

So, while this wasn’t perfect, overall it was still an enjoyable episode. For the most part, the story was engaging and suspenseful, as a criminal procedural should be, and there was some humor to provide much needed levity. So, I suppose Al and Turi did a good job, despite some lapses.

Tom Welling was terrific as Clark. I really like it when Clark is out investigating things. Tom makes it more interesting than regular procedurals would otherwise have scenes like. He’s completely engaged physically in the scene, Clark looks like he’s really listening. Most characters on criminal procedurals are hard, bitter, world-weary people so maybe it makes sense for actors to play them as stoic, but Clark is different. I don’t know if the scenes were written that way, but I think Tom’s choices in the episode were spot on. Clark wouldn’t be cold or dispassionate in trying to find clues to what happened. He cares deeply for everyone and as he’s investigating Tom has Clark display an intense earnestness that feels so perfect.

I’m not sure I could use the term ‘perfect’ in talking about the performance that Allison Mack gave. There were a few off moments, but to be honest I think those were because of the directing not because of choices Allison had made. So for the large part I thought she’d done well with what Chloe was doing in this episode, even though I don’t like her story arc much.

Erica Durance was very good as Lois. This was another solid episode from her. I really liked her scenes with Zod in the villain’s garage, or wherever that was. She had Lois try to act heroic even though she was scared too, so she had played that with the right mix of fear and resolve. I also liked the scenes with Clark a lot.

Cassidy Freeman was fantastic as Tess Mercer. I loved her scene with Oliver the most. She gives Tess an edge that I really enjoy and is perfect for the part.

Callum Blue was terrific as Zod. I loved how he showed this new side of Zod, as he tried to find out what had happened to his people. I loved the scene in the book shop with Clark. He was so angry at being completely incapable of stopping Clark. So, the final scene with Clark on the roof was perfect. I loved the way that Zod played Clark and the smug look Zod had only once Clark was gone. When the sirens started to wail, Zod acted so badly like he was still hurt and then straightened and had a look of almost disgust on his face. I loved how Callum played that scene.

Justin Hartley did an excellent job. And it’s good to see that he’s keeping up his figure since they keep having Oliver take off his shirt. Does a CEO really need to take so many showers at work? Justin played both sides of Oliver perfectly, the hard-edged man who takes charge and the cute and inoffensive Ollie, playboy and CEO. His parts of the episode were all terrific.

Sharon Taylor did another wonderful job as Faora, so I hope we get to see more of her. She did a remarkable job, especially in that first scene in the hospital when Faora was telling Clark about Zod saving her life when she was a cadet. It was intense and very effective and the passion she had Faora show helps in understanding the character’s support of Zod. It was perfect.

On the flip side, and to be perfectly honest, I hope we don’t get to see more of Crystal Lowe as Vala. I’m sure she’s a fine actress, but I didn’t buy her in this part at all. Vala was a scream queen, not a tough, battle-hardened soldier (if that is what all the Kandorians are supposed to be), and as I’ve said I didn’t like how the character was written as so passive so it’s probably not Crystal’s fault. If she does come back, hopefully the writers will give her something more interesting to play.

J.R. Bourne as Bernard Chisholm had just the right touch of creepiness and paranoia. He was terrific in the role.
Although Producer/Writer Turi Meyer has directed before for other shows, this was his first time directing for “Smallville.” So he’s no directing noob, but I’m not sure how well he’d done here. There a lot of little things that seemed off, mostly due to what I thought might be poor choices on the director’s part.

For example, the scene in Chloe’s apartment opened with Chloe at her laptop then she looked up because a door opened. Yet, we didn’t see who had entered right away. We just saw Chloe’s reaction to it. It’s not like it should be a surprise to us who she’d be happy to see. I assumed it was Oliver even before seeing him, so if that was meant to build some suspense about who was visiting, it didn’t work.

But something similar happened at the end of the third act when Zod tried to come to Vala’s rescue. When Chisholm shot Zod, there was a reaction shot from Zod, Lois and Bernard, but not from Vala. Why not? She was conscious and Zod was cut down right in front of her as he was trying to save her life. Why not show her reaction?

Then at the beginning of the next act, when Lois tried to keep Zod from bleeding out, it had happened again. Zod and Lois talked about Vala, he even looked in her direction, but we never got a shot of her until Lois went to try and pull her from the whatever-it-was-deep-freeze contraption that Bernard had put her in. I had wanted to see what her reaction was to the little drama happening in front of her with Zod bleeding out and him being all noble as Lois tried to help him. Vala was conscious. So, a quick reaction shot of her when Zod told Lois to save her would have been nice. Zod even looked in her direction and we didn’t see what he was seeing, it just seemed… off, for lack of a better word.

I’m just curious whether those choices were because the director wanted it that way or whether we ended up with them because he just didn’t get good ‘shot coverage’ for whatever reason and those shots were never filmed. If they were choices, I think they were poor ones. I don’t necessarily need to see a classic master scene approach (opening wide shot, then the other shots, going back and forth between close-ups and mid-shots or whatever), but I’m not sure what I would have wanted him to have done differently. I think he needed to do something since it seemed like something was missing.

Once we got on a bit in the episode, something seemed off almost the entire time we spent in the garage, or wherever that was that Bernard was keeping Lois and Vala. I’m not sure I ever had a clear sense of where the characters were in the scene in relation to each other and to the set pieces.

As Bernard moved around in the first few scenes there, it wasn’t too bad. I had no problems understanding where the people and set pieces were in relation to each other.

But when people started to get added to the scene and things got more involved in terms of blocking and people moving around, things became a lot less clear. Like when Lois was knocked out, I got completely confused on which way was which. I lost a sense of where Lois was in relation to the rest of the elements in the scene. At one point the table that Lois knocked over could be seen laying behind her as you could see Bernard standing next to Vala in that contraption. Yet, when we saw Lois on the floor behind Bernard later in the scene, she wasn’t facing the way I’d expected. The table was in line with Bernard’s POV shot as he stood next to Vala, yet previously the table had been perpendicular to his line of site. So, that completely confused me and I lost track of where she was supposed to be in the scene compared to Vala, Zod, the set pieces and Bernard.

I don’t think I’ve ever really lost that sense of where people are located in a scene in “Smallville” before, even when they have the camera moving all over the set. Do they use the 180° rule (axis of action or 180° line) anymore? That’s pulling a memory from a distant part of my past, way back in the dark ages when I was in film school, but basically it’s a rule that helps keep visual continuity in terms of maintaining consistent spatial relationships inside a scene. The show usually doesn’t have this sort of problem, I never get confused on where people are in a scene in relation to each other, yet the entire scene lost me in that sense. So, something seemed really wrong there.
Again, I have to say that I’m not sure this was a good outing for Turi in his first time on the director’s chair for “Smallville.”

Barry Donlevy did a terrific job shooting this episode. There were some great setups, nice visuals, and some very fluid camera work so, despite me losing track of visual continuity for most of the scenes in the garage, for the most part I loved how this episode was shot. There was very good use of slow-motion too. I thought the final scene, with Zod standing in the golden light of the late afternoon sunshine, was beautiful.

What I didn’t love was James Philpott’s work on this episode. I actually hated the little plastic container that Vala was kept in. I know she was locked up and couldn’t move, but Bernard rotating her around made the way that scene was setup seemed so staged and it probably didn’t help the loss of visual continuity, so I didn’t like the design of that at all. It was just too complicated. Something simpler would have been nice.

Louis Febre did an outstanding job with the score. I loved the more discordant tones during Bernard Chisholm’s scenes. The man is crazy, so discordance as a theme for him makes sense. It also sounds similar to the theme Louis had used with Metallo, so it was nice that had tied in aurally to John Corben since they basically had the same experiences with Kandorians experimenting on them.

Well, not sure what to say now. I really did enjoy this episode. The shortcomings I’ve written about here only really became apparent upon repeated viewings, upon first viewing things only a bit out of kilter. While this episode was really enjoyable for the most part, I will have to count down for some of the story choices and the confusion I felt at points. I give this episode 4 Kryptonite brain implants 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.