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
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