#9.18 “Charade” Review

NOTE: I will spoil you rotten if you read this before viewing the episode. I reveal important plot details below, so proceed at your own risk.

This episode starts how I hate episodes to start: with a flash-forward. You know, something shocking happens and the beginning of the first act they throw up a title that says something like ’36 Hours Ago’ (this case it was ‘Yesterday’) and a good chunk of the episode builds up to that gotcha moment in the tease.

It’s a tired device mostly because it is usually used poorly and can be a crutch, but I hadn’t minded it too much in this episode. In fact, as these sorts of things go, writers Don Whitehead and Holly Henderson probably did it right. I mean, the end of the tease was really teasing and knowing that Clark and Lois get fired didn’t really ruin any later reveals in the episode, so it was okay. I do like that they didn’t show us the firing scene again too. All too often in this sort of plot structure they will show us stuff multiple times, “Smallville” has been really guilty of that in the past. So much so sometimes it seems like they ended up with a very light show and couldn’t fill in all the time between the commercial breaks. Well, not here. I think the little bit of Clark and Lois talking on the steps as they carried their belongings out of the building was all we needed to see to remind us they’d just gotten fired so it was a nice touch.

Also, it’s nice that they didn’t get their jobs back right away. Things like that shouldn’t just go away like magic pixie dust made the problem disappear. No Deus Ex Machina save of their jobs so they could go back to where they were the week before with no consequences felt. I’ll be looking forward to seeing where that part of the story goes.

I thought it was interesting that they had Clark and Lois do separate investigations to try and get back into the new editor’s good graces with, of course, disastrous results. Clark was at the club for different reasons than Lois, which made him running into her at the jazz club more interesting.

Although, isn’t having a ‘jazz club’ a bit dated? Are there a lot of clubs like that anymore? It seemed very old fashioned, especially having Lois jump out of a cake to wild applause. Do people find that engaging or at all entertaining?

Yet, the episode served as a pretty good introduction for Maxwell Lord. He’s a comic villain that started out as a member of the Justice League. He had started out as a good guy. He had even helped set up the Justice League, but later he turned out to be very bad. He has mental powers where he can mind-control people or make them see what he wants them to see. There was a major storyline for him in the comics where Maxwell Lord was part of Checkmate. He was the Black King and was battling members of the Justice League to hunt them down and decimate them. Sound familiar?

He seriously had it in for Superman and was controlling Clark’s mind to make him think his friends were his enemies. It ended only when Wonder Woman killed Maxwell to free Superman from his control. It was a very exciting story and has huge ramifications for all involved. It was such a good storyline that it was actually going to be the basis of a movie that ended up never getting made. If you’ve never heard of the film, it was going to be directed by George Miller and was going to be filmed in Australia. But the plug got pulled before a single frame was shot, despite the fact that the cast was allegedly in Sydney training and sets were supposedly almost completely built. I wasn’t wild about some of the casting choices, which may or may not be surprising, but I had been looking forward to seeing that film. So, I find it interesting they’re bringing Maxwell Lord into Smallville.

I wonder if Maxwell finds out that the Blur is Clark whether they’ll do anything like that. I think maybe not. I mostly think that because I don’t see how well that would fit into the current Checkmate storyline, but I am still very interested in where the storyline will be going.

I thought it was touching that Lois wanted help from the Blur because she was trying to protect Clark. It’s ironic, actually, that in trying to protect Clark she’s lying to him. It’s a lot like he’s been forced to lie to Lois in order to protect her.

I’m glad that Clark seemed to have second thoughts about Zod and being his BFF. So while that was good and the investigation and Maxwell Lord parts were good, I did have some issues with the thrashing about Clark and Lois did about her keeping her calls from the Blur secret.

Clark clearly understands she had been put into danger a few times because of her interaction with the Blur, especially with her being kidnapped by Maxwell Lord to try and learn Clark’s identity, so it’s understandable that he would want to protect her from that. No, he doesn’t like being lied to, but it’s the age-old problem for any Superhero: they have enemies that will try to hurt those around them since they can’t easily hurt the hero. It comes up time and time again in the comics and in the movies and has even come up before in “Smallville.”

So, I understand the hurt that both Clark and Lois displayed, it hurts to find out that someone you love is lying to you about something, and I understand their reasoning for the lying. The thing is, I’m not sure how well motivated the whole thing is. They both have the best interests of the other person at heart. So, for some reason it just seemed forced and uncomfortable. I didn’t like those parts because of it. I’m not sure that all that had been setup sufficiently. I know that Clark had shown concern over the secrets that Lois had been keeping from him, and the reverse is certainly true, but somehow the fights they’d had hadn’t felt sincere.

It just seemed more like the secrets and lies merry-go-round that used to go on between Clark and Lana and Clark and Lex. There were even some of that which had gone on between Tess and Clark before she had learned definitively of his alien origins. Clark said in the beginning of the episode that secrets are bad for a relationship, yet the events of the episodes seemed to prove that his reasons for lying were valid: if Lois gets too close to the Blur, she puts her life at risk. But it was somehow just more of the same old secret and lies dance we’d seen in the show so many times before.

Yet, I did like the aftermath. I liked the final scenes between Clark and Lois. I liked both the one on the phone and the later one on the roof. The Blur leaving Lois behind was a big change. Clark’s painful decision to not include Lois in that part of his life became an important step for them both. It forced Lois to take a closer look at her feelings for both Clark and the Blur. It also forced Clark to make a choice, whether or not he’s satisfied to carry on like they were and still have Lois be in danger. Clearly Lois’ life isn’t something he’s willing to risk at any cost, so I think him stepping away is in character for him. I’m sorry she didn’t answer Clark’s question at the end, ‘Am I enough?’ However, both scenes were well written and beautifully acted and directed.

Maybe this wasn’t a perfect outing for Don Whitehead and Holly Henderson, but I did enjoy it for the most part. There were some questions answered, others posed, and the events in the episode should help the show build up to the season finale. I’m curious who the Red Queen is since she’s managed to co-opt Maxwell Lord, so that should be an interesting storyline to follow. I’m also curious how Clark and Lois will get their jobs back and what answer Lois will have for Clark’s question. So this was another enjoyable outing for the writing pair.

Tom Welling did a terrific job. Probably my favorite parts were the scenes that Clark had with Lois, like the phone booth scene and the scene on The Daily Planet rooftop. However, probably my favorite scenes were when he didn’t speak. The two scenes where Lois was talking to him but he couldn’t speak were terrific. Tom has such a wonderfully expressive face, he made it clear what Clark was thinking even though he didn’t speak a word.

And does he seriously bring on the cute. I absolutely adored the way Tom played the cuter scenes with Lois. He really does need to get hired to work in a romantic comedy sometime in the future. I can’t wait.

Allison Mack did a terrific job, she wasn’t really in this episode much, but she did well with what she had to work with. I liked her scene with Tess probably the best. Chloe was trying to protect Oliver to an extent, so I thought the edge that Allison gave that scene perfect.

Erica Durance was terrific as Lois Lane. I always like the way that she plays Lois as she investigates things, so single-minded, but probably my favorite scene was the end of the lab scene with Clark. She was playing off of another actor that she couldn’t even see, yet her emotions were so intense. I don’t think that’s an easy thing to do so I thought that she did a great job in that scene.

Was Cassidy Freeman in only one scene? It seemed like more than that, but as brief as her appearance was, it was a terrific scene for her. I liked how she played Tess trying to figure out where Chloe fits into Oliver’s life, she seemed to have figured out it was more likely his life as Green Arrow which is where the connection comes from. Cassidy makes Tess seem so complicated even when there didn’t seem to be much there to work with, so I’m always glad to see her even if she’s not in the episode much.

Dylan Neal was very good as the disgraced DA Raymond Sacks. He was sort of creepy and had a hint of menace. I’m not sure he’ll be back given that he’d ended up on the floor in a heap at the end of his last scene, but I’d like seeing him again.
Gil Bellows was terrific as Maxwell Lord. He has an intriguing screen presence and I liked his speaking voice a lot. Going from his last scene, it looks like we haven’t seen the last of him so I’ll be interested to see more of Gil.

Brian Peterson has been a producer and writer for “Smallville” for years, he was even promoted to Executive Producer a few years ago, but this looks to be the show runner’s directorial debut. While not a perfect outing, I don’t think Brian has anything to be ashamed of. The acting was uniformly capable, even the minor characters, which is something not all directors can boast. The comedic moments were all well done, with a needed light touch, and despite the much darker parts the episode didn’t seem to have an uneven tone, also something not all directors of the show can boast.

While not perfect, there were a few scenes that seemed awkward, but I think Brian overall did an excellent job and I look forward to seeing him direct again.

Glen Winter shot a beautiful episode. It was very dark, but still had some nice depth to the scenes.

James Philpott’s redesign of the Talon coffee shop wasn’t completely successful. The redressing didn’t totally hide the fact that the Talon coffee shop was underneath it.

Not my favorite episode of the season, but it was very enjoyable and had some nice acting from everyone. I give this episode 4.25 black knight chess pieces out of a possible 5.

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