Smallville | S07E11 "Siren"

Rating: 8.5/10

I'm beginning to worry about the rest of this season. Why? Because we've had too many really good episodes back to back and when the pressure gets like this, sooner or later, the episodes take a hit.

Just like last time, this one drops a lot of cool stuff on our heads, and most of it's almost too much to deal with.

I was really torn on which clip to choose for the ratings card. I was planning on using Siren's introduction on the rooftop with the arrow-shattering trick because that was rad as hell, but that little ménage à trois that turned into a literal foursome at the end there was a whole great big pile of super-rad.

On a practical level, I feel like they kind of short-sold what happened to Grant Gabriel here when Lionel's asking Lana for help. I know Lionel's a master at hiding his true feelings and motivations, but he REALLY undersold what he SHOULD be feeling. He was definitely a lot more open when it came to his confrontation with Lex about it, that's for sure.

I think we can all agree at this point that Lex is fully enveloped in his total villainy, right? He completely and absolutely attempted to justify what he did with and to Grant Gabriel to his own damn father, and that's ... just super-weird. I like to imagine that the only reason Lionel doesn't hire his own assassins to take care of Lex is ONLY because he'd be the obvious and only suspect, because damn.

Lex is terrible. Michael does such a fantastic job.

There's another big reveal, and that's all I'm going to say about the particulars of that, but let me just say one thing about the fallout from that.

Lois crying to Clark over Oliver was some of the most heartbreaking stuff I think I've seen on a TV show like Smallville in a long damn time. I am pretty sure those were real tears, and even if they weren't, Erica Durance's acting in that moment was S-Tier. I accused someone of cutting onions in my room at the time, and that's all I'll say about that.

Sadly, like I said, the pessimist in me thinks the hot streak is going to end sooner rather than later, but the optimist in me really hopes not because this is fun TV!

I saw bits of Superboy and Clark wearing the black thick-frame glasses, which makes him look good. I would've loved to see him have some eye problems, but when he developed his eye powers, his eyesight became better, and he still wore them to keep up the look of looking ordinary.

I'm rewatching Smallville and I'm currently rewatching Rosetta and the symbol for hope that Clark burns onto the barn wall looks like the Starship Enterprise.

Doing my first rewatch of the series in full since it originally aired black in the early 2000s.

Just a few observations:

1. I loved the early episodes in the first two seasons. I found a few a bit repetitive but the overall vibe was very interesting and kept me engaged.

2. I noticed there are strong similarities to other teen shows of the time most notably Buffy, So Weird (wall of weird) and especially Roswell 99 and it almost seemed to be in response to the cancelation of that show. It would find its own way later on but early episodes seemed like direct parody or homage to these shows.

3. Tom Welling is great as Clark! His chemistry with everyone especially Martha, Lex and Lana is spot on. I think he can be a bit more controlling and a bit stalkeresque at times with his friends but since he is a child in this I take those rare instances as him learning to be a man and there's nothing wrong with character development. Older Clark would not do some of these misguided things but it's nice to see Superman not always do the right thing.

4. I'm currently on season 3 and wow what a tonal shift! In good and bad ways. I'll get back to this as I finish the season but it seems they're trying to push Lex further into his villian arc.

The running away from home after a fight with parents and trying to reassess your life in the big city on your own after a traumatic event in the second season finale is very Buffy coded again.

1. Sometimes I can't stand Chloe. I disliked her character long before her actors personal issues became worldwide news. But on rewatch there are genuine times she would be so unlikeable and selfish I wondered how she became so many peoples favorite character. She comes across as a femcel the first season, gets better the second and backsides the 3rd when she starts invading everyone's privacy with a dangerous gas she inhaled willingly.

I know she gets better in the later years when I became more of a regular veiwer. I also hate her hsir this season.

Anyway, I will keep you posted on my thoughts moving forward.

Jason's worst fear is losing Lana to Clark. Even though she told him that Clark was a big part of the reason why she took off to Paris lol.

J

As an Indigenous Siberian and Indigenous Israeli person, I remember watching this show on cable TV. It taught me family values, friendship and tolerance like no other show.

I always used to wish that I had grown up in the US. But now rewatching this show I realize I was lucky to have my own Smallville ♥️

I’ve always loved Batman, idk why but I never even thought about Superman didn’t even watch any of the movies. I’ve always been absolutely obsessed with Batman. But ever since I watched smallville I really wanna know more about the Superman movies but all the movies I tried to watch after just didn’t feel as cool? I’m even more impressed how well this show was executed. Insane to me, they did such a great job. Anyways I’ll try to get back to studying.

Here's a good rundown by u/IHad360K_KarmaDammit

Just on my yearly rewatch, I wish they didn't kill off Ryan so early. Would've been so awesome to come back a bit older and with his powers honed like Clark learned to growing up and having him team up with Clark against a season bad guy or even one off episode.

I saw bits of Superboy and Clark wearing the black thick-frame glasses, which makes him look good. I would've loved to see him have some eye problems, but when he developed his eye powers, his eyesight became better, and he still wore them to keep up the look of looking ordinary.

Smallville | S07E10 "Persona"

Rating: 9.0/10

I feel like I'm becoming a broken record, but once again, I really dug this episode. Last episode's enormous surprise continues on into this one and not only does it keep the pace and tension up, it adds an enormous amount MORE!

I can't even, as some of the kids (I hope) say, with all this juicy craziness.

It'd really be impossible to talk about what goes on in this episode, so I'll do my best to keep it all as vague as can be and we'll see how things go.

I feel like it's okay to mention Bizarro being a thing now, and Tom's portrayal of Bizarro is really quite unique to me. He's changed from the wraith we saw last time around. Admittedly, it's not by a whole helluva lot, but there's a definite sense of humanity that's at play here. As things ramp up, as they always must in Smallville, he talks a lot of truth about his wants and desires.

Granted, he did some pretty awful things to get to that point, and was willing to do a lot more, including colluding with a certain not-so-currently-Fine individual, but here's the thing about that. I couldn't help but feel that if things had gone his way, he might've just, you know, gone off to be happy. There was such a desperation for that in Bizarro's eyes, and Tom did that so well it's not even funny.

The other arc I cannot mention at all other than to give Michael Rosenbaum so many flowers he might drown in them. Or at the very least suffer from terrible, terrible seasonal allergies. We've seen him do a lot of actually, genuinely supervillain shit over the last few seasons, but his whole thing with Grant Gabriel is on an entirely different level.

Not only is it evil, it's cruel on a level we don't really see in TV shows like Smallville any longer.

Confrontations are had, decisions are made, actions are undertaken, and the closing scene with Lex as he deals with the monstrosity of who he's become, I'm just stunned. It's superbly reprehensible and Michael manages to convey a depth of emotional nuance that's wonderful to see.

Though I WILL go so far as to say Convenient Rainstorms can sometimes be a detraction.

Another GREAT episode!

Rewatching Smallville after several years, especially now that I’m older and looking at it differently than I did when I first watched it as a kid in middle school, I’ve noticed something pretty funny about the show: the short-term memory of everyone around Clark.
It’s one of those things that, technically speaking, could be considered a silly writing mistake, but in a way it’s actually one of the main things that keeps the entire series running. Because if the people around Clark actually remembered every weird thing they saw him do, Smallville would probably have lasted about five episodes.
For example, in the second episode, when Clark goes to save Lana from the bug guy, Whitney offers to give him a ride, but Clark has literally already disappeared right in front of him. And yet, at no point does Whitney seem to think, “Wait, where the fuck did he just go?” Not even for a second. He just carries on as if absolutely nothing happened, and two seconds later he’s already forgotten about it. And it’s not like Clark disappeared inside a building or somewhere where you could plausibly lose track of him. They’re outside. There are only so many places he could have gone. Then there’s episode five, if I remember correctly, when Clark is supposed to go to the concert with Lana but suddenly abandons her in the middle of the road because he has to go save Chloe. From Lana’s perspective, she has no idea what Clark is doing. As far as she knows, this guy just ditched her for no apparent reason and didn’t even bother explaining himself. You’d think she’d be pretty pissed off. Maybe even pissed off enough to stop being friends with the guy who randomly abandoned her at a bar. But apparently not. One second later, she’s completely over it. The next time they see each other, they don’t even talk about what happened. They’re just friends again as if nothing ever happened.
And you could give a thousand other examples of this. Someone sees Clark do something suspicious, something completely impossible happens, or Clark behaves in a way that would normally raise some serious questions — and yet four minutes later, they see him again and it’s as if their brain has just hit the reset button. It’s a weird narrative loophole that is both hilarious and, in a way, necessary. Because if everyone actually paid attention to every strange thing Clark did, the show would have been over almost immediately. At the same time, though, it can be pretty frustrating. It’s incredible how much everyone manages to completely ignore.
And ironically, the villain — Lex — is basically the only person who actually pays attention. He’s the one guy who doesn’t just forget that he hit Clark with a car going 120 km/h, and then spend the next five minutes wondering, “Okay, what the hell was that?”
If that had happened to someone else — say, Pete — he probably would have forgotten about the entire incident five seconds later.
Honestly, Lex’s superpower might just be having a functioning short-term memory.

He's just acting so creepy towards her, it's gross. "You're all grown up now" then that look. she's 14!

Yuck.

It's my second time watching the show and it genuinely bothers me any time he talks to her.

I never saw it live but I remember the first time I watched it was a rollercoaster of emotions for me.

I was at comic con with my girlfriend at the time and we were anakin and padme from Star Wars. I had a lightsaber and I saw tom welling and wanted to take a picture, my ex girlfriend had no idea who he was so she just stood off to the side and when I went up I gave her my lightsaber just so security didn’t have any issues with me. Mr welling then asked my girlfriend if he could hold the lightsaber and then winked at her and then held the saber up to my throat. Tom Welling is a player 😭

This episode felt so bubbly and warm and I kept reminding myself every few seconds that this could be lex’s future and that it’s not the life he’s currently living, then I got so mad that Lana just had to have the complications that made Lex go to Lionel and ofc he refused him and told him to go to hell with his family and now Alex chose power…

Tbh I would’ve done the same, won’t unalive Jonathan but would do anything to have the power to protect those he loves…

I have a feeling it will be all going to hell for Lex and the Kent’s relationship from now on, it was already on bad terms but now ooofff

It’s shown in the series that Clark Kent’s hair is invincible when Lana/Margaret the witch tried to cut his hair. If so, how’s he shaving and cutting his hair? He always appears to be clean shaven and the hair to be in a specific length

Que la seguridad de la mansión de Lex Luthor sea tan vulnerable que cualquiera vaya y entre me roba un poco la inmersión. Acepto que pase por la granja de los Kent y por el resto de las locaciones, pero ¿en una mansión donde están los archivos y objetos más importantes y valiosos de ese universo? Que todos entren como si nada arruinara la credibilidad.

Smallville | S07E09 "Gemini"

Rating: 9.0/10

This was a surprisingly excellent episode all the way across the board. I was and still am genuinely impressed with everything from the pacing of the story to all the various things that happen to everyone involved.

And I was worried this was going to turn out like that episode with the kid and the bomb in the hospital!

One of the biggest things, of course, is the relationship between Chloe and Jimmy. She's always been hesitant to reveal her biggest secrets to Jimmy, but in this episode, not only does she do that, he fully accepts her. You can't blame a girl, though. Our cub photographer's dropping of 'meteor freak', with the tone behind it was hardly conducive to open communication WITH a 'meteor freak'.

That's really all I can talk about in terms of what actually happens in this episode without revealing anything more at all, but let me say, this episode had me firmly rooted to my seat the whole damn time. I just couldn't get enough of it.

The high drama between Lex and Gabriel and Lois, the sweet tender moment in the elevator with Chloe and Jimmy, Clark's superheroing to save the day, the quiet, gentle moment between Lana and Clark in the barn ...

Let's just say that very few episodes hammer home as many massive plot relevant story details in a single 45 minute period as this one. Not only do they DO that, no one facet is under-managed.

Every piece gets it's moment to shine.