"Homecoming" Review!

Written by C.M. Houghton ("Triplet")

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NOTE: I will reveal some particularly big spoilers in this review, and then there will be this SUPER BIG ONE.  I'm totally serious, read no further if you wish to remain unspoiled before viewing the episode.  Do yourself a favor, go see this awesome episode and come back when you're done.  I have a lot to talk about.

This was a terrific episode and almost every second had something awesome in it.  That is probably fitting given this is the 200th outing for the show (a milestone that few series get to).  The script was written by Executive Producers Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders and they pretty much threw everything into the story except for the kitchen sink.  I'm not sure how they seemed to have included so much, yet made the story still feel like it unfolded naturally.  Nothing felt contrived. 

Well, that's not entirely true.  There was one thing: I had thought that Greg Arkin hadn't survived his confrontation with Clark back in the season 1 episode 'Metamorphosis.'  If you don't remember, he had been crushed under a falling piece of heavy machinery in an abandoned foundry and thousands of bugs came out from under it.  When his body morphed into bugs I took that as Greg 'dying,' but in the Chloe Chronicles one of those bugs was at a Level 33.1 facility.  I guess the idea is that the scientists experimenting on that bug were able to 'cure' Greg... Weird, but I suppose it's possible (even if it's a stretch) in a show about an alien that can fly and shoot fire from his eyes.

However, about that: I'm not going to worry too much about it since the rest of the episode was so terrific.  I actually liked Greg being brought back for several reasons, which I'll go over a little later.  So, for me, it wasn't that big a deal. 

Probably the biggest thing I liked was the story structure.   Although Brainiac dragging Clark through his past, present and future made the Man of Steel a bit on the passive side, the story made sense given where Clark is now in the show.  He needed to address the issues that come from events in his past, how those were affecting the present, and come to understand, as bleak as it might seem, that there is hope for the future.  So, I adored the way the story was laid out.  It was like a Smallville version of "A Christmas Carol," only instead of Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley it was Clark Kent and Brainiac.  No ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Those Yet to Come, but Brainiac did a good job filling the combined roles.

It was an awesome way to show Clark the errors of his ways and to explain exactly what the darkness inside of Clark is.  I had been as confused as Clark by everyone saying he had such a dark side.  Yet, his guilt over his past actions being his 'inner darkness' makes so much sense for the show's version of Clark.  He's always been so mired in doubt and self-recrimination when he thought he had hurt others, always trying to bear the weight on his shoulders of what had happened even when whatever had happened clearly wasn't his fault.  That's been part of what makes him a great character, Clark has all these fantastic abilities and still is a truly caring and an empathetic person, but it's also been maddening.  Seeing Clark always blame himself is hard, mostly because he always seemed to be harder on himself than anyone else could have been.  I'm glad he's going to be moving away from that.

It was awesome that this idea continued along the same lines of the things Jonathan talked to Clark about back in 'Lazarus': it wasn't Clark's fault that his father had died.  How exactly Clark's actions affected his father's fate I suppose is hard to say, and is probably up to debate, but blaming Clark has always been something I never liked.  Jor-El shouldn't have laid all that at Clark's feet, but he has always been hard on Clark.  The Kryptonian tough-love has been at times inexplicable, but given that history, this idea of Clark's tendency to dwell on past sources of guilt being his 'dark side' was terrific. 

Maybe it wasn't an obvious choice, but the way this all played out it just worked.  It all made so much sense.  It couldn't explain away everything, even Clark has had inexplicable out-of-character darker moments, but it really helped wrap up at least part of Clark's past.  It's given him permission to forgive himself for a lot of things (especially his father's death) that he'd blamed himself for so he can move forward.
I've seen comments online from some people that hated this episode. Personally, I don't see hating this episode ever, but in essence the biggest problem for some people is they think Clark shouldn't need to be shown what he's doing wrong, or be shown the future in order to be positive about it.  He's not a coward and he shouldn't be frightened of the unknown.  They think he needs to be able to work this all out on his own, be contemplative, think his way through and figure things out without the help of a Jacob Marley-like robot from the future.

The thing is, while Clark working things out on his own would probably be the perfect way for him to solve the problems in a book, or even in a comic, introspection is really hard to film.  Mostly it's because it can be very, very boring.  To facilitate his working things out without talking to himself, or making unending visits to his father's grave or up the arctic to talk to his dead fathers about things, which would grind any forward motion on the show to a near complete stand-still, along comes a character like Brainiac who brings up the issues for him.   Brainiac confronting Clark and forcing him to face those demons of the past is wonderful.  For one, it isn't boring; it's dynamic, engaging and dramatic.  It helps that Tom and James seem to play well off of each other.  I adored every second James was on screen.

And it's important to keep in mind that conflict of some kind is the only way that plot progression and character revelation arises.   It only gets better if at the same time the plot moves forward, we also learn more about the show's characters.

That's writing 101: a scene needs to either push the story along or reveal character or it's not worth filming.  To me, when an episode can do that in each and every scene is when it moves above and beyond the normal.  For me, this episode had that.
Maybe for some people this solution isn't good enough and maybe it's not what others might have chosen to do with Clark's story.  Yet, given where the show started this season and where it appears to be going, this was an excellent way to progress Clark's story arc as we move toward him finally pulling on tights.

The best part of all this is that every episode so far this season had built up this.  We're only four episodes in, but the cohesiveness of the story structure of the season as a whole seems to be getting off to a far better start than normal.  I can't think of first four episodes in previous seasons being this strongly tied to each other.  Each episode has built upon the previous ones and already there's been a pay-off for several storylines so far.  That, in and of itself, is awesome.

This is exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for when I had learned that this was going to be the final season.  The writers and producers have known from the start that this is it and that foreknowledge has allowed them to craft the entire season building up to the final episode of the show. 

And it started wonderfully from the very first frame.  This episode started out so great, showing us that as far down as Clark had gotten in 'Supergirl,' he had gone down even further here.  With taking time off from saving people and even putting his new jacket into that trunk, Clark had clearly given up…  Had he even tried to use that jacket in a save?  Here he doubted himself seriously enough that he literally packed the jacket up and quit.  It was perfect that Lois was the one who showed up to try and pull him out of his funk.  I loved the humor of their brief scene and her unwavering belief in Clark as her hero. 

Then, at the end of the tease, there was menace when Brainiac apparently rewired the guidance counselor's brain so that he could have Clark Kent all to himself.  That was chilling and it's always good to have James Marsters on the show, so I was happy to see him back. That first scene of him in the tease was awesome actually, the guidance counselor's planned revenge on Clark seemed like a storyline from earlier seasons when many of the show's stories had taken place in and around Smallville High.   Someone with a previously unknown grudge against Clark is the same sort of villain who had come completely out-of-the-blue like the show used to have.  Yet, it was then that Brainiac showed up and presented a far more serious menace.  He really ratcheted up the stakes for Clark before the credits even rolled.  I adored the tease.  It was perfect.

If it was possible, the rest of the episode was just as good.  Once back at school, it's so like Lois to think that five years later everyone would remember the five days she attended Smallville High.  It's cute and very in character.  I love how bemused and befuddled that made Clark, also completely in character and it added humor to the story.  The awkwardness was funny.  It was also touching that he saw reminders of absent characters like Chloe and Lana.  They had been such a big part of Clark's life while he was in high school. 

I liked the memories that Clark had of the two girls.  In the memory of Lana, the show took us back to what seems to be one theme of the season: Nietzsche's Superman theory.  That had been first been brought up only two episodes before, back in 'Shield,' so we see Lana say that line to Clark from the Pilot, 'So, what are you? Man or Superman?'  It's something that Clark will need to figure out by the end of the season, and the series, and this episode certainly helped him move further along that path.

The memory of Chloe was also very nice, since it acted to remind us about the freaks-of-the-week that used to be so prevalent in the show, ones that Clark used to blame himself for.  Her path took her away from journalism toward whatever (or wherever) she is now.  It was nice for the show to bring her back in, even if only by other characters talking about her.  The kids who follow her were a terrific detail to include. Then the teens getting a text from her at the end gives a little bit of a hint, I think, of what she might be up to now, but I guess we'll see how that plays out when Chloe comes back.

I liked that Brainiac's danger for Clark was more a mental one, instead of being a physical threat.  I'm happy that Brainiac has been reprogrammed in the future and is helpful instead of harmful.  That was a nice reversal, he comes in like he's after Clark, but then it turns out he wasn't out to hurt Clark after all.  He was there to help him. 
I liked the little hint of danger that came from Greg Arkin (nicely played by returning Chad Donella).  Although Greg surviving the events of 'Metamorphosis' was a bit of a retcon like I'd mentioned earlier, it was nice to bring him back in since Greg's menace as a villain didn't threaten Clark, it threatened someone he loved, last time it was Lana.  So, when Greg approached Lois, Clark immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought Lois was in danger.  That forced him to take action and threw him forward to the future.  Of course, we found out later that Greg wasn't a threat at all to Lois.  It was a bait-and-switch, but that reversal of him actually being thankful to Clark was nice.  It showed Clark that not all of the ghosts from his past were going to be out to get him.

The beautiful and painful glimpses of Oliver and Lois in the present allowed Brainiac to show Clark how dwelling on the past can have a real effect on the people around him now.  Ignoring Oliver's pain and not returning his calls hurts Oliver more than Clark realized.   Oliver looks to him for support.

And Clark withdrawing from Lois, which puts their relationship on a very tenuous footing, hurts her more than he thought it would. It was nice to have him observe the effect his caution has on her.  He loves her, but if this were to keep up their relationship would end.   He needed to be shown that has to move forward with her on their relationship.

And I absolutely adored the scenes in the future.  Tom played Clark so cute and befuddled and Erica played Lois as so besotted and adorable with all her little reminders for Clark to put on the glasses.  It was awesome, but I also liked the glimpse of what a future Clark will be like.  The slicked back hair I think is a bit much. Will that really be a valid style-choice in 2017? Probably not, but maybe that's the point. 

However, I did like his demeanor and his confidence and the contrast between the Clark of now and the Clark of the future.  I think Tom played both parts of that that scene, as short as it was, beautifully. 

It was terrific to see how in love Lois still is with Clark seven years in the future, and I liked how the producers of the show had decided to portray how Clark will be in the future.  He was confident and sure of himself, resolved and certain of what needed to be done.

I also liked that it seems like Lois will help him work the disguise all out.  I loved how tough, yet loving, she was with him even though he was acting in a completely unexpected way.  I loved how affirmed he was at the end of that sequence of events when she helped to cover up his misstep (making a huge save out in the open) and then kissing him like that.  He's gotten confirmation she's the one for him in more than one way.  It was nice for him to see she's strong enough to handle his secrets and even help him cover them up.

Back in the now, Clark saw all he needed to see.  Greg wasn't the threat he'd thought and Lois really needed him to be more to her.  She's defenseless without him, but it is far more than a physical vulnerability.  She needs to be emotionally supported by Clark, even as strong a woman as she is. 

I adored the scene in the graveyard.  Clark's talking out the lessons of the episode with his father took me back to earlier seasons, just this time he was talking to an absent father in a graveyard instead of a real flesh and blood one in the barn's hay loft.  And it was perfectly played by Tom and beautifully shot by Director of Photography Glen Winter. 

I'm glad that Oliver was affirmed by Clark's arrival at his interview, that scene was perfectly played by Justin Hartley.  It was terrific that Clark gave Oliver support when he needed it.

Man, and that final scene: what a hit-it-out-of-the-park that was. Not only was it romantic, but it showed us a glimpse of Clark definitively flying.  Clark was literally floating out of joy, so deeply in love with Lois, and that was possibly one of the best moments of the entire series.  Not only was it romantic and touching, but it was Clark flying when he wasn't altered or dreaming.  I thought the choice of Kim Taylor's "Baby I Need You" for the music was perfect.  I liked the quiet, almost laconically romantic music.

I know that the flying wasn't likely a conscious act on his part since he was so wrapped up in affirmation and love from Lois to probably even notice, but was still thrilling to see.  I guess we'll see how that plays out in coming episodes, but it was awesome that it's the love of Lois, that power of that very human emotion, is what helped him fly.  Her love made him forget that people aren't supposed to fly long enough for him to just do it.  If Jor-El's previous pressure for Clark to accept his Kryptonian destiny, or whatever you want to call it, won't get him to fly, then it's great a very real human emotion is what gets him there.  Clark isn't only Kryptonian, he's also tied to Earth and the people on it; he's tied to all the people he loves.  If that is what gets him to fly when all of the lecturing and badgering from Kara and Jor-el didn't, I think that's perfect. 

And if Lois' purity of spirit comes from the love she feels for Clark and Oliver and the others in her life, then maybe Clark basking in the love of Lois will help him find that center for himself.  That was nice because all of the pain and confusion Clark had gone through up until now this season was pretty much completely paid off in this episode in that awesome ending.  It's episodes like this that make me glad I'm a fan.  I absolutely adored almost every second.

It was a solid script.  It was an example of fantastic story-telling: great dialogue, some humor, beautiful romance, epic mythic moments, some menace, great continuity, and fantastic character development.   Yet with all that included, the writers also had kept up a great pace that didn't feel rushed or hurried with constantly rising stakes for Clark, Lois and Oliver. 

I'm not sure where I would put this in my all-time-great-episodes list just yet, but it probably has hit pretty close to the top.  Kelly and Brian did an outstanding job with this episode.

Director Jeannot Szwarc did an awesome job.  He has a nice touch with more comedic scenes, though it probably was easy for him.  Tom and Erica have such a terrific sense of comedic timing, and Erica's probably never done a better job with physical humor (Lois' attempts to get Clark to put on his glasses were adorable.)  As funny as this episode was, the tone of the different parts were all perfectly balanced with each other, the humor not overshadowing the more touching or tense moments.   Clark's speech to his dad and Oliver's little interview were perfectly handled: sentimental, touching and poignant.   And like I said the final scene was perfectly blocked and acted.  This episode was a total joy for me from the acting and directing stand-points. Glen Winter shot the episode and I don't think Tom Welling has ever looked better. I adored the little flash back to the past when Clark visited his father's funeral and the night of his death.  The scene in the barn was slightly over-exposed in the lighter areas while the darks were inky black, yet it blended in well with how 'Reckoning' was shot. Things also looked terrific in that final scene in the barn.  I loved the mirror ball and the slow dancing, it was all flawlessly shot.

The costumes were all fantastic.  I adored the two dresses Lois wore and she had some great shoes too.  The suit she wore in the future scenes was awesome.  It fit her perfectly and suited her figure so well. 

Someone online had pointed out how closely that suit had matched one Lois wore in the graphic novel "Superman: Birthright."  She was saved in a helicopter while wearing it in that book, like she was here.  What a great reference to one of the best retellings of Superman's origin that I think I've read.  I loved that suit even more after I saw that panel.   Now, if the show can somehow sneak in references to "It's Superman" by Tom De Haven, a novel I absolutely adore (a literary take on Superman's origin), I would probably die happy.

The music was perfect, Louis Febre had created an evocative score, with the lighter moments being light and bubbly, the darker ones using strings and somber vocals.  It was gorgeous music.

I guess I do have a few nitpicks that I noticed: why did Lois talk to Clark about taking a car across town when she was going to catch a helicopter from the roof?
And why didn't Lois have wedding and engagement rings on her left hand like she had in the previous glimpse of the future we had back in 'Salvation?'  That flash forward was earlier than the one in this show, 2013 instead of 2017.  Was that an 'oops' or had something changed the future that makes Clark and Lois marry later in one possible future than he had in another? 

And did Clark really leave his letterman jacket 7 years in the future?  I hope it doesn't show up again this season unless a time-traveling member of the Legion of Superheroes brings it back to him from 2017.

While I had a few things that I had issues with, overall this was such a strong episode for everyone involved (and it looks like they had extra money to spend and all of it was up on the screen) that those things ultimately didn't affect my adoration of this fantastic episode.  I seriously think this is probably one of the best of the series, so I give them extra points because of its sheer awesomeness: I give this episode 7 romantic dances in the barn 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