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Friday, 3 July 2020

Episode 4.3: Facade


There is a girl at Smallville High, called Abby, who has been nicknamed Scabby Abby due to some unfortunate skin problems. Her mother, Mrs Fine, a doctor/scientist/beauty therapist/tattoo remover (whatever) creates a new treatment that makes Abby look stunningly gorgeous. Unfortunately it also makes a kiss from her send people insane as they see their own faces melting away in reflections. When one such person throws himself in front of Lois' moving car just moments after Lana witnessed him kissing Abby, Abby's mother decides that Lana knows too much and needs to be taken care of. She persuades Abby to use her power on Lana. When Lois begins to investigate the procedure carried out on Abby by her mother, Mrs Fine decides to drug Lois and attempts to overdose her on the procedure she put her daughter through. Thankfully, Clark arrives just in time to save Lois who, in turn, saves Clark when the Kryptogas from Mrs Fine's machine brings him to his knees. Besides all of this, Clark defies his father by joining the football team, while Jason Teague becomes the new assistant coach at Smallville High.

This isn't exactly what you would call a standout episode but it's one that I can have some fun with. It's all about how high school is a time where we often wear masks, not really showing the people around us who we really are. This is the reason Clark decides to play football. He's tired of pretending that he doesn't want to do it. It does feel like we are going over old ground here with something that was already brought up in season one. But that's life I guess. We have a tendency to keep going over the same things again and again, maybe learning just a little bit more each time we come back around.

We get a little cameo from Whitney in the opening scene. I'm quite surprised that they bothered bringing him back for such a small portion of the episode but I appreciate the effort to make it more authentic by doing so, even if Whitney has never really been a character that I've cared all that much about.

I love the moment in the hospital between Lex and Jason as Lex lurks in the background while Jason tells a comatose Lana how much he cares for her. It shows us that Lex too has feelings for Lana, as he makes it quite clear that he thinks she deserves the best, though both of these men should be somewhat concerned about chasing after a girl that is still in high school.

I like that the meteor infected Abby isn't really the villain of this episode but rather, a young girl who is being manipulated by her mother, the true villain at the center of it all. Mrs Fine's motivations for becoming who she is are born from an adolesence of being mistreated in the most shallow of ways by superficial people. But in an effort to settle the score she has become shallow and superficial herself. It's a tragic irony that is often all too real.

I love when Lois gets to be a badass and kicks Mrs Fine in the face to stop her attacker. I'm not a violent person but for whatever reason it just amused me.

There's also a sting for Chloe in the final moments as she is hit with the reality that Clark might just be developing too good a relationship with her cousin. Poor Chloe! Girl can't catch a break.

A fun filler episode. 7/10

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