Episode 6.22: Phantom

The last phantom is on the hunt for a kryptonian in order to copy there DNA and become just as powerful. That's bad news for Clark. Lana leaves Lex, which supposedly leads to her demise. Martian Manhunter convinces Clark that Lionel is on his side but is unable to convince him not to go up against the phantom and risk creating a bizarre version of himself. And Lois is critically wounded trying to break into Reeves dam, only to have Chloe save her at the expense of her own life, when her meteor power reveals itself.

The opening scene for this episode has to be the darkest teaser we've ever had for the show. It's very intense, like something right out of a horror film. The Exorcist meets David Cronenberg. I'd totally forgotten how full on it is. It definitely made me sit up straight.

Lionel tells Lex the truth about Lana, how he forced her to marry him. You can see how much it hurts Lex. Even now, after everything he has done, I still believe that Lex loves Lana and wanted her love in return. But he's so incapable of letting that love manifest itself in the proper, healthy way, that he just destroys it in his futile attempt to control it. It's the most tragic aspect of his character.

Clark says goodbye to Martha as she heads to Washington. I know that Martha does return, but it's nowhere near as often as we are used to. That's why this sort of feels like the show is saying goodbye to her in a way. But it's very underplayed. I like that Martha tells Clark to think about moving away from the farm. She understands that his ties to his home might in fact be holding him back, which is quite true of many young men in this day and age, I would imagine.

Lana tells Clark she's leaving Lex and he tells her everything about his secret. About bloody time is all I can say! This episode does seem to drop a tonne of truth bombs. Everyone seems to be confessing left and right. There's Clark telling Lana his secret. We've got Lana telling Lex she wants to leave him, as well as telling Clark about what Lionel did. Then we've got Lionel coming clean about being Jor-El's emissary with Martian Manhunter dropping in to tell Clark his reason for being on Earth. It's all very refreshing I must say.

I love that Clark gives Lionel a good thrashing. Again, it's long overdue. I flinch, however, when Lex hits Lana. Not necessarily because I care for Lana so much, but because it's such an act of cowardice from Lex, that's hard to see even him sinking down to.

Clark and Chloe track the phantom who is in the body of a small boy. It's super creepy to see this little kid in what I can only describe as a "possessed" like state. Again, it reminds me of a film like The Exorcist or something like that.

Lois gets stabbed breaking in to Reeves dam. I know she's an "army brat" as she is often fond of telling people. But sometimes I find her ability to take down fully trained military personnel to be a bit of a stretch, so it's nice to see one such fight that she has here end with dire consequences for her. It's far more believable.

Lana is "blown up". The moment has zero impact because I never believed for a second, even when I saw it the first time, that she was inside that car. The moment that does have impact though is Chloe's supposed death. That's mostly down to the absolute first class performance from Alison Mack. But also, given the fact that Chloe is not a character from the comic books, there was always the possibility that the show was going to kill her off. And if this had have been that time, it would have been a perfect send off for the character, just because of how bad it makes you feel that she is "gone".

I don't know why but I found it hilarious when Lex uses his scientist as a shield. It's terrible behaviour from him but it's absolutely first rate comic book villainy.

The climatic battle between Clark and 'Bizarro' is pretty epic. It's not as prolonged as, say, the fight with Titan, but the level of destruction that comes from the two Clark's trading blows is awesome in scale. Awesome stuff!

10/10

 

Episode 6.21: Prototype

Lex begins test runs of Project Ares, which turns out to be a super soldier program, using all the combined powers of meteor freaks and placing them inside a supposedly dead soldier. When Lois witnesses this mind-controlled killing machine in action she becomes a target. Knowing the man in his former life, Lois begins to break through his programming, causing him to malfunction. It buys her enough time for Clark to save the day, but her former friend pays with his life, igniting a fire in Lois to expose Lex.

 

This episode is directed by Mat Beck, who is more commonly known as a visual effects supervisor, both on this show and The X Files. He actually does a very good job.

 

The Ares test run at the beginning of the episode really shows how far Lex has disappeared down the rabbit hole. Scores of men are killed for it and he thinks nothing of it. In fact, he orders more men to be brought in as canon fodder for a second test run, almost giddy with excitement. Add to this the senator and his men that he has killed and he has most certainly lost the plot.

 

I love the scene where the senator threatens Lex at the mansion and Rosenbaum plays it totally chilled. I'm looking at the senator thinking, "Oops, you shouldn't have done that!"

 

Speaking of threats, Clark pulls a right doozie on Lionel. It's one of those very rare instances in which he takes advantage of someone's knowledge of his powers in order to intimidate them. Most people would probably do this all the time if they had Clark's powers. But Clark only picks a time when it is totally warranted. So it makes you want to cheer him on rather than coming across as douchey. Go Clark!

 

Lois has a couple of really funny lines in this episode that made me laugh out loud. Once when she is trying to give a pep talk to Chloe, then again, when she references the time that she caught Clark in the shower.

 

The cloaking visual effect on Wes is really well done. Even by today's standards it's pretty impressive work. Though as if that wasn't enough of a nod to the film, Predator, they go and use the heat vision too.

 

What are the chances that, of all the soldiers Lex could have picked to become the test subject for Ares, it turns out to be one of Lois' childhood friends? I know that you have to make these kind of links in a show like this, so that every character gets to have some kind of personal connection to the overall mythology, but sometimes such links really do feel like an awful stretch. I've learned to just roll with it at this point. But sometimes I have to keep myself from overanalyzing it.

 

It's definitely a team effort in figuring things out this time around. Lois' personal connection leading her to ask Martha for help. Martha getting the soldier's file. Chloe using that file to figure out what, who, and where this man is. Then Clark rushing in to save Lois. The strongest episodes for me tend to be the ones where all the characters are involved in the A plot, with no B plot getting in the way, much as it is here. It's just the connection to Lois in this one that feels a bit clunky.

 

I must say that the final showdown between Clark and Wes is a bit disappointing. And it's starting to really bother me just how many people/phantoms Clark has been willing to kill this season. The phantoms I can kind of understand. But Wes is human. Modified, yes, but a person nonetheless. I feel like Clark should have tried harder to seek another resolution this time around.

 

When Lana dropped the line, "We all have our secrets Clark", I just wanted her to go jump out of a window. I feel like she has used that line so many times now that it just grates me like cheese every time she says it.

 

Lex justifies his actions at one point by saying they are protecting the world. At one time I think he genuinely believed that. Not anymore! Now, it feels like something he has to keep telling himself in order to keep doing what he's doing. It's interesting how the noble ideals we once believed in can become the bedrock for a life of deceit and destruction. It's what makes Lex such a complex and interesting character.

 

9/10

Episode 6.20: Noir

When Jimmy Olsen is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant, he "wakes up" in a fantasy world, a world shaped by his love of old detective noir thrillers of the 1940's. In this fantasy world he is a reporter trying to get to the bottom of a story that has parallels to real world events that took place before he was assaulted, namely, the shooting of Lana Lang.

The 1940's period detail is incredible in this episode and the black and white cinematography is quite beautiful. Unfortunately, everything during these sequences feels far too drawn out. It really doesn't add much that a simple conversation between Chloe and Jimmy, about the evidence that was found at the crime scene, couldn't have provided. This is a conversation they end up having anyway so take the dream sequences out and it wouldn't really affect the narrative all that much.

One interesting aspect of these sequences though is the exploration of the ways in which the subconcious mind can work things out sometimes in ways that the concious mind has not. It has been said that, "dreams are answers to questions we have not yet learnt to ask". I feel this is conveyed quite nicely through Jimmy in this episode, even if I'm not quite fully engaged with the story that unfolds inside Jimmy's subconcious mind.

The fact that Jimmy instantly recognizes Clark with glasses does highlight the ridiculousness of the very idea that anyone could be fooled by such a disguise.

The real world scenes are more entertaining for me and feel a lot more meaty. Although, unless I missed something, I don't believe the question of who shot Lana, and why, was definitively answered. We are merely presented with a few possible candidates behind it in Lex, Lionel, and a senator working with Lex.

I like that we see Jimmy's passion for old movies reflected in his ability to quote, word for word, scenes from The Big Sleep. It is an endearing quality in a character that, so far, I've not found all that endearing.

This episode tells us that Lionel's reasons for blackmailing Lana were to protect Clark. Lionel has told us this much already, which has always left open the possibility that he is really one of the good guys. But his methodology of protecting Clark by using the woman he loves, as a pawn to get close to Lex, tells us everything we need to know about the man. He is still manipulative. He is still careless with other people's lives. He still has his own agenda and he is still not to be trusted.

7/10

Episode 6.19: Nemesis

Lex and Clark are trapped inside a vast underground tunnel system that's part of one of Lex's schemes. The woman responsible for trapping them believes that Lex knows what happened to her husband, a former military officer who supposedly died in a helicopter crash.

I don't usually like it when Lana "goes to the dark side" as I'm not often convinced that she really means it. The scene where she threatens Lionel in the hospital, however, is an exception. It's a great scene and I buy Lana's threats because she has every reason at this point to truly hate both Luthors.

This is one of those episodes where Lex gets to see Clark appearing to be just as human as anyone, little realizing that it is the meteor rock, which is all around them, that causes Clark to suffer injury. But it's always fun watching Lex's reactions to these moments as he looks at Clark in total disbelief that anything could have made him bleed. Clark is a total contradiction to Lex. He knows he has powers. But then these moments totally screw with his head, which is awesome!

I love all the stuff between Clark and Lex down in the tunnels but, no matter what Lex says or does at this point, there's just no sign of anything that could bring him redemption. He talks of his genuine love for Lana, but he has absolutely no idea what genuine love truly is, as evidenced by everything he's done to her.

I've never been the biggest fan of Clark and Lana getting together but, when Clark and Lex are met by Lana when they first get free from the tunnels, I genuinely wanted her to give Lex the finger and walk away with Clark.

Lana's final words to Lex, "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you", really do feel spoken in sadness and anger at being so unfortunate. It's another great scene, in which she is essentially telling Lex that she knows everything, without telling him that she knows anything. The whole time Lex looks like a man about to break under the weight of all his own guilt. Once again though, it is not lost on me that Lana, who spent so long getting pissy with Clark for keeping secrets, has now become quite adept at telling lies.

At one time I would have said that Clark was partly responsible for the path Lex has chosen. But sooner or later people have to accept responsibility for the choices they make and, at this point, Lex has made all the wrong choices. It is nice though to see Clark address the possibility that he may have given up on Lex too soon. But, as the final scene shows, Lex just isn't to be trusted. He's very good at playing the wounded animal. But, ultimately, he's always got his own agenda.

10/10

 

Episode 6.18: Progeny

Chloe's mum is being held by Lex in one of his level 33.1 offshoots. She has the power to control people with meteor infected abilities. One of those people just so happens to be her own daughter. When Chloe begins waking up with memory gaps and clues that point to her having done some questionable things, she begins to think that it may be the start of her latent meteor powers rearing their head. But with help from Clark, she soon discovers that it was her mother who was responsible, using Chloe to try and get her out of her entrapment.

Great to see original Wonder Woman herself, Linda Carter, show up here as Chloe's mother. She's wonderful in the role and I really enjoy the scenes between her and Mack as well as her and Rosenbaum.

It's also great to have so many scenes between Chloe and Clark. I love it when the two of them work an investigation together. It's like watching a teenage Mulder and Scully with super powers. They always have great chemistry and I love how Clark looks out for her like a true friend.

Lex is a right git in this one. He's well and truly gone over to the darkside now, with the way he treats Chloe's mum, the bare faced lies he dishes out to Lana on a regular basis, and the threats he unleashes upon Chloe. The way he sneaks up on her while she types up her article is just like season 2 Lionel. The son truly has become the father. Rosenbaum is great as always of course.

I find it somewhat mind boggling that one of the meteor freaks being held in Lex's compound has the power to throw guards across halls and yet only tries to escape when being controlled by Chloe's mum. It's also something of an annoyance that Chloe's dad seems to be completely out of the picture in an episode that really should concern him. It's like he doesn't exist anymore.

This is the episode where Lana finally learns that there never was a baby. I love how the doctor goes from thinking she faked the pregnancy, in order to get a billionaire to marry her, to realizing that she was totally clueless about it. It would be an obvious assumption to make but the actor playing the doctor does just enough with subtle mannerisms to show his change from accuser to sympathiser. Good performance there from such a bit part player.

It's really tragic that Chloe gets her mother back only to lose her again. It reminded me of the film 'Awakenings', where there are people with the power and resources to bring people back to being fully compus mentus, but refuse to do so because it's simply not within their best interests. And that film was based on a true story so knowing that makes everything that Chloe goes through here feel much more grounded.

A touching episode overall with just a few minor logic quibbles.

8/10

 

Episode 6.17: Combat

Clark, still reeling from Lana's marriage to Lex, is obsessively hunting down phantom zone escapees as a way of dealing with his anger. In his search, he finds his way to an underground fighting club for meteor freaks, run by a doctor from Belle Reve named Maddox. But the meteor freaks are no match for Maddox's new champion, a zoner by the name of Titan, who might even be too much for Clark to handle. Meanwhile, Lex and Lana's marriage has already grown cold, and the situation isn't improved when Lana supposedly has a "miscarriage".

I get that Clark is feeling emotionally battered after the events of the previous episode but I feel his going off the rails routine is a bit of a rehash of the way he acted just after his father died. It's like we are treading ground previously taken, which makes Clark really seem like someone who doesn't learn from his past mistakes. It's not that I don't think he should get angry, but I guess I just don't like the way he talks to Martha at the start. Their relationship is better than that.

The online footage of the underground krypto-freak fight that Chloe shows to Clark is quite laughable. You have shots and camera moves that could only be made by a camera operator who was in touching distance of the fighters. As a camera operator myself this is something that always bugs me in TV shows when I see it.

Scenes between Lex and Lana at this point are just really uncomfortable to watch. Yet, and I don't know if this is just because of how good Rosenbaum is as an actor, I still can't help but feel bad for Lex. Maybe it's the knowledge that, despite his own manipulations, even Lex is a victim of his own father's underhanded dealings with Lana. If not for Lionel, the truth would be out and Lex would have to deal with that, instead of dealing with the (perfectly justified, admittedly) cold shoulder from Lana. Though, let's be honest, it's somewhat ironic that Lana, who constantly moaned at Clark for "keeping secrets", now has to live a life built upon them.

The moment when Chloe is startled by Clark knocking her drink over when he super speeds his way in was pretty funny.

At first, I was disappointed in Lois when she asks Chloe to give her a story, then dumbfounded when Chloe leaves her laptop behind knowing full well that Lois is interested in what's on it. But, all credit to Lois, she gets onto the story, not by digging through Chloe's computer, but by using her own knowledge to decipher something Chloe had missed from a photo she threw in the trash.

I love how Lois drops the line about being able to do a "killer stars and stripes routine" when trying to get around Ashley. Any true fan of the show will instantly know what that's in reference to. Can't say I'm fond of Ashley's acting chops, or the lack there of, but it's fun seeing Lois beat her ass.

I must say that I do find it somewhat strange that Clark is completely on board with killing Zoners. And his attitude can't just be put down to his current anger issues. After all, he dispensed with the Zoner from Wither in just as rash a fashion. Even though he does come to his senses by the end of the episode I feel this element of the story is slightly mishandled.

I kinda feel sorry for Erica Durance having to wear that red pvc costume. She really does look uncomfortable in it. Pretty amusing to see her reaction to punching the "man of steel" however.

The guy who plays Maddox seems to flipflop between acting well and just plain overacting, but he's dispensed with before I have the chance to really make up my mind which one it is. Which brings us to Kane as Titan. First off, the fight between him and Clark is pretty badass, though the way that Kane falls on his own weapon seems like one of those "physical impossibility" type of deals. Secondly, Kane's acting is abysmal, but thankfully little is asked of him beyond being a physical adversary for Clark. I still wish they'd have swapped the parts around that they had for Kane and Dave Bautista in this season. Bautista would have been a lot better as Titan in my opinion.

The look on Lex's face when he tells Lana about losing the baby is just... evil! All sympathy towards him is gone in this moment. Even at the end where we see him crying one has to wonder who he is shedding tears for. Is it the baby that never was? Was he wishing it was real? Or is it for the pain he's caused Lana? Or is it in fact tears in mourning for the loss of his very own soul?

8/10

 

Episode 6.16: Promise

It is the day of Lex and Lana's wedding. Lana uses Chloe to put Clark to the test so that she can learn his secret. Lex fears that Lana won't show up at the church, prompting Lionel to manipulate her into following through on her promise to Lex, which means breaking Clark's heart in the process. Also, Lex ends up killing Lana's doctor after the man tries to blackmail him with threats of revealing the truth about Lana's pregnancy.

When Clark throws the photo in the pre credits sequence it suddenly dawned on me just how painful this would all be for him. The woman he loves marrying the man he's grown to hate and "having his baby". It's obvious really. But, for whatever reason, it's this moment in which I have felt it most. Maybe because it's the day of the wedding, which means the window of opportunity to turn things around has all but disappeared.

It's very relatable to see Clark dealing with the probability that all the reasons he's had for not telling Lana his secret were really just to hide the fact that he was too chicken to set himself up for rejection. However, I feel that it's way too late in the day to be exploring this aspect of his character, for the simple fact that Clark flipping well knows that Lana loves him. Not to sound like a stuck record but, he proposed once already and she said yes, so to have doubts at this point about how she feels is mind numbingly stupid on his part. This would have been more suitable to explore in season one or two, not season six.

I love the look on Clark's face though when Lana tells him to meet him at 5 because she's "not going to marry Lex". He looks like the cat who got the cream. But I can't help but feel that Lana has acted selfishly in some respects in waiting until now. Would she still be acting this way if she hadn't secretly learned Clark's secret? Don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling sorry for Lex at this point given what he's done, but as far as Lana is concerned, she is unaware of the truth concerning their baby, which means that, right now, she is a woman preparing to run off with another man and betray the father of her child. It's almost a callback to the behaviour we saw from her great aunt in the season 2 episode 'Relic'.

The scene between Lex and Lionel at Luthorcorp, where Lionel promises Lex that Lana will be there at the wedding, is a really great scene. Lex shows a rare moment of emotional vulnerability in front of Lionel and I believe, in this moment, Lionel truly loves his son. It's obvious that he's about to go off and plot something, but it will be a devious act that is intended for the right reasons, not to hurt Clark and Lana but to look out for the wellbeing of his son.

When Lex snaps and kills the doctor who tries to blackmail him, I feel it was a mistake to have it looking accidental in the last moment. There should have been no ambiguity here. Given everything Lex is already guilty of this would have been the perfect moment to have him commit the ultimate tresspass with total intent.

Love the callback to Tempest and Vortex with Lana's dream. It's nice to see that such a pivotal moment still plays through her mind after all this time.

It's pretty funny that we haven't seen Aunt Nell in, like, forever and now she finally pops up to offer Lana some "sage" advice that leads her into acting deviously in order to learn the truth. This scene only serves as a way of trying to absolve Lana of having acted the way she does. But it's unnecessary. There's no reason she couldn't have made this decision on her own. But the writers would rather turn Nell into the irresponsible parental figure than allow Lana to be painted in a negative light. As a result they only make her look worse.

There's a moment where Lionel strikes Lex after finding the doctor's body in the crypt. He suggests that Lana has made him weak and it is Lex's grovelling response that shows us that, in the most twisted of ways, Lex really does love Lana. But when he loves something or someone, his fear of losing them gives way to his need to control everything. It's tragic! He creates the whole phantom pregnancy situation, presumably to make Lana feel like she has to marry him. He does this because he loves her so much that he genuinely wants her to be his wife. But the level of doubt in himself is so great that he cannot trust that he is enough to make Lana want to spend her life with him. And so... control the outcome... phantom pregnancy. Like I said, tragic, on so many levels.

It annoys me that Lana can't at least be honest with Clark at the end. It feels like she is unnecessarily putting herself into the role of martyr when, actually, she should come clean with Clark and give him a headsup about Lionel threatening to kill him. If she believes that Lionel truly has a way to kill Clark, then she is putting him more at risk by keeping him in the dark than what she would if she gave him valuable warning.

8/10