Episode 4.21: Forever

Brendan Nash, a photographer for the Torch that we've never met before, has the ability to freeze people into waxwork statues. He uses that ability to trap several students from Smallville High inside a large replica of the school that he had his dad build for him. It's the last day of school for each of these students, but Brendan doesn't want to let go of the "best years of his life", hence the giant prison cell. One of those students is Chloe. Another is Lana Lang. Meanwhile, Lionel and Lex are being held in a log cabin in the woods by Jason and Genevieve. Genevieve threatens to kill Lex in front of his father unless Lionel coughs up the wareabouts of the stone. Also, Clark has made the decision to go to a much less prestigious college in Smallville, rather that Met U. This decision upsets Jonathan, who believes Clark is only making it in order to stay home to help with the farm, jeopardizing his future potential.

Well this is an episode of two halves, that's for sure! Everything that ISN'T the Brendan Nash plot is absolutely great. The Nash plot itself, not so much! It has it's moments, such as the head being thrown down the stairs and Lois and Clark working together like they're in an episode of the 90's TV show. But the idea that Brendan could faithfully reconstruct half the school inside his dad's warehouse, even if his dad helped him, is utterly proposterous! It's one thing to rebuild the rooms and corridors, but decorating parts of it, such as The Torch office, to the point that even Chloe is fooled, just requires too much suspension of disbelief. And how on earth did Nash even get Chloe into that place without her realizing, given that the people he freezes still appear to be conscious once frozen? It's ridiculous!

However, I really love the other 2 plots that are going on. It's fun seeing Lex and his father having to work together in order to break free from Jason and Genevieve, clearly having not learnt her lesson in the previous episode, but with Lex still unable to trust Lionel as far as he can throw him. Seeing Lionel get under Jason's skin does clue us in to how Jason really feels about Lana. It makes him a more complicated villain as we see that he is genuinely torn between the love he feels for his former girlfriend and the duty he feels towards his mother.

Finally, there's the stuff between Clark and his dad, which I really enjoy. At first, he totally comes off as his typical stubborn self, which does lead to a really funny moment he has with Martha as he chops wood in the barn. But as his reasoning become clear I find it very easy, as a parent myself, to completely understand where he is coming from. No good parent wants to be the person responsible for holding their child back. But Clark's response is quite beautiful and really shows maturity beyond his years as he thinks about the kind of son he wants to be. I love that moment.

If they could have had a better freak of the week thrown into the mix, or none at all, this could easily have been one of the best episodes of the season. Unfortunately, it is there, which really drags the score for this one down considerably.

6/10