Episode 4.20: Ageless

Clark and Lana find a baby lying in a crater in Evans field. To prevent him being handed over to child services they offer to look after him, calling him Evan, after the place they found him. But after a couple of days Evan suddenly grows into a young boy. When Lex brings the best specialists from Metropolis to find out what's going on, they soon learn that this rapid ageing will continue to happen, unless they can get a bone marrow transplant from the boy's biological father. Meanwhile, Lionel is called to see Genevieve, who threatens to harm Lex if Lionel cannot get him to hand over the stone that she believes he took from China. In return, Lionel poisons her, refusing to give her the antidote until she gives him another stone that is in her possession.

I really don't like the main idea for this episode. I've seen it done in other shows and it never really works. It always feels a bit silly when the lead characters end up mourning the loss of a person they have only known over a few days as though they've truly put in the 20 odd years of parenting that actually goes in to building those connections. The scenes in which Clark, and particularly Lana, get all emotional over Evan's death are trying too hard to pluck the heart strings. They end up feeling unearned, as is often the case when you try to cram (in this case) years of relationship highs and lows into 40 minutes of television. I need to be able to care for this person as much as Clark and Lana do. But given how little screen time we get with him I just have no feelings towards him at all beyond seeing him as a plot device.

There are some things that come out of that plot device which are good moments, such as when Lex lies to Clark about when he's going to share the findings of the research that came from Evan with the rest of the world. This is a moment that truly makes me believe that Lex is now lost, with no hope of returning to the man he once was. Lying has become second nature and Clark seems nothing more to him than a wellspring of potential opportunities to be constantly plundered for personal gain.

The highlight of the episode though is the verbal sparring between Lionel and Genevieve. By the end, Genevieve looks like an amateur, trying to punch well above her weight. She's no match for the devious nature and underhanded trickery of Lionel Luther.

I just wish we'd had more of this and less of the rapid ageing storyline. Scenes like the one in which Evan accidentally kills his biological father just felt horribly contrived and totally unnecessary. It made me literally roll my eyes. That's never a good thing!

5/10