Really Good episode!

I remember how, in an episode from last season in which Clark asked Chloe and Lana separately how they’d react if they found out he was an alien, Chloe said it would be cool, and Lana said she might be uncomfortable, and how one or more of the posters here reacted by saying that Clark should be with the cool Chloe, and not Lana. I can imagine what their reaction is to the really meaty dialogue in this episode in which Lana talks about people affected by meteor rocks. Thing is, Clark reacted like she was condemning all such people, and tells her that she shouldn’t take it out on someone just because they were affected by meteors, even though she didn’t say she did. She made it clear early in the episode that her problem was with what some of the people she mentioned did with their powers once they got them. I can imagine, however, that some will take umbrage with her comment that life would be a lot better if the meteor shower never happened. Then again, I wonder how these people feel about Chloe initially deciding to inform on Clark for Lionel Luthor, even if she eventually changed her mind.

Speaking of which, I’m glad that Chloe gave a more detailed explanation to Lionel Luthor as to why she changed her mind about doing research on Clark than what we got in the last two episodes.

The banner on the front of the school establishes that it’s the beginning of the school year, answering those people who wondered if Clark missed school while in Metropolis, and confirming those who assumed he was only there for the summer.

When saving Lex from Van, Clark knows that the sniper is watching the area that he’s standing, yet he clearly holds the bullet he caught up for the sniper to see it, and even DROPS it at the crime scene, leaving evidence that it hit something. DUMB, CLARK, REALLY DUMB!

My friend Chris Lopez pointed out that you can’t melt rocks over an open flame and melt them, as Van does to make the kryptonite bullets, and opined that the creators did a much better job in Witness, in which the crooks used it as an inhalant, because in that episode, they correctly used a furnace.

Clark wonders to Jonathan if he’s at all like the other Meteor Freaks, and says that he’s met many, yet it’s never ended with him shaking hands with them. What about Earl Jenkins in Jitters? He was a sympathetic character. And my friend Chris Lopez pointed out Ryan from Stray and Ryan. He was a good kid. And there’s Byron from Nocturne, who although fought with Clark in his mutated form, was an essentially benevolent person.

After shooting Clark, why does Van tell Lana that Clark is dead? He should know that he didn’t get a head shot or even heart shot, and that while a shot through the shoulder can be fatal, it isn’t always necessarily. If Van panicked and fled without seeing where he shot Clark, then he wouldn’t know at all where the bullet hit him.

Did the kryptonite bullet fragment when it hit Clark? It was hard to tell from the shot of the bullet that Jonathan pulled out of Clark’s shoulder, but if it didn’t, Clark is lucky, or else he might’ve ended up with countless particles of kryptonite in his bloodstream and tissue, where it might’ve killed him.

Clark doesn’t seem to be affected by the radiation emanating from the kryptonite bullets sticking out of that vest he shows Lana he’s wearing in the climax. You’d think that he’d suffer at least some degree of weakness from it. And by the way, just what was vest? From the way the scene was lit, it was hard to tell, but it wasn’t some police-issue vest. It looked like the texture of aluminum foil or something. Where did he get it?

Lionel’s gambit with Chloe and the computers he donated to the school? NIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!

Boy, I'm really getting to love this show.

The Good:
- Meteor-rock-altered freak of the week died before the opening credits rolled.
- Pete had some great lines in this one, commenting that hunting rifles were in every rear window in the county, it's not a crime to have some father-son bonding, etc.
- Clark, Chloe, and Lana rehashing the meteor-rock altered folk they have battled for the past 2 years. It's nice to see that these past experiences are on their minds.
- Lex contemplating his ability to cheat death. Delusions of Godhood, perhaps?
- Lionel Luther. Oh, how I love this guy! A $50 mil insurance policy on his kid! Battering Chloe around like a cat plays with a ball of yarn! A great character.
- The Lionel/Lex relationship. Clearly, each is playing the other.

The Bad:
- Every school in America has banned cell phones, pagers, CD players, digital watches, and pacemakers, but Van can listen to his police scanner?
- All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't find a kid in Metropolis that shot at Lex Luthor. 3 SUV's full of them, and the shooter got away. That crack Luthorcorp security at work again.
- Clark seriously needs to quit catching bullets. But somehow I doubt this experience will teach him a lesson.
- It's becoming my end-of-the-episode mantra anymore. Sad scene between Lana and Clark, Lana imploring Clark to open up, Clark demuring. And Obi-Juan says "JUST TELL HER THE TRUTH ALREADY!!"

The Ugly:
- Shooting a moving target under 3 feet of water (a guess, based on the scene of Jake pulling Lana under)takes a huge amount of skill. It's sheer luck that Van's bullet hit Jake at all, much less fatally, and it was just chance that he didn't his Lana.
- As Luigi pointed out, a campfire couldn't smelt anything stronger than pancake batter into a bullet. Had Van been filing pieces of Kryptonite into bullet shapes, I would have bought it. Crude, but workable.
- Clark runs to Metropolis just in the nick of time to save Lex. I mean, 1 second later and Lexs would have been smoked. Really, if Clark and Pete had stopped for a quick mocha latte, or if Pete had stopped to take a leak during the hike, Lex would have been in a real bad way. Makes me wonder why, if Clark asked Pete to call the cops, Clark didn't borrow Pete's cell phone and call Lex, or run to a pay phone and dial 1-800-SAVE-LEX, or something.
- Nice lead bulletproof vest idea, ala Clint Eastwood. I do question whether a thin sheet of lead would stop a projectile fired from a submachine gun. Good thing for Clark that Van's dad preached shooting center-mass.
- This was just sad. Apparently Clark has Wolverine-like healing abilities. Pull the Kryptonite slug from his shoulder, and miraculous healing begins. It would have been an interesting story point if Clark carried an injury for a few episodes.

Ryan wasn't a meteor freak. He was just a freak of nature.

Lex Luthor is "Unbreakable".

BL: Uh, actually a conventinetly placed brain tumor is what activated his powers. "Freak" is not the word I would use for that poor kid.

Yes, the "bulletproof vest" that Clark had on was lead. Lana even commented on it.

How did that meteor rock get into the pool next to Fish Boy, pre-opening credits? Did Van chuck it over there bare handed? And maybe it was just the camera angle, but it seemed to me like Fish Boy's right side was presented to Van, thus making me wonder how he got shot on the left side (my tv, however, had really really bad reception, so I might have missed an angle change in the static storm).

So did Clark's hand heal right up once the kryptonite was on its way to his shoulder? Or once the shoulder piece was out? I wasn't clear on that part.

And just how did Jonathon get Clark inside the house without nary a blood trail? Did he run back with the Lysol Wipes and clean up?

Niiiice continunity. Van's dad was that Marine from 'Visage' that Tina Greer (posing as Whitney) bashed to death (ya know, the one who went to tell Mrs Fordman that her son was Bisquick). At least, I'm assuming so, since we were never informed if Tina was on a mission to kill all Marines.

Over all, a very enjoyable episode. (Although they didn't drown Lana in the beginning (I know, I know, they're not going, but I wish they would!))

I like what Peter David said on his blog:

The Kryptonite bullet sequence was harrowing; it's shocking to see Clark that vulnerable and his poor parents freaking out. Interesting that we're now starting to see the beginnings of Lex's megalomania, and where it's coming from is *extremely* disturbing. Consider: Where it seems they're saying is that Lex's eventual sense of destiny, dominance, and power-sucking ego stems from the fact that Clark has saved him so many times. Clark is basically creating his own worst enemy simply by doing what comes naturally. In saving him, he's damning him. How stupendously twisted is *that*?

Quick possible nit: They state in this episode that Lex has never gotten sick since the meteor shower. Didn't he just recover from malaria? My memory is a little foggy.

Quite good story.
I enjoyed that.

But Clark again shos how dumb he can be.

Why would he just catch that bullet with Lex's name on it and remain there? Question like hew Clark, what are you doing here in Metropolis in that exact right moment to save me?

He could've just passed him as superspeed, catching the bullet and then confront Van.

Same with the bullet wounding him, he has plenty of time jsust to step 1 feet away and catch Van in that time. Oh, and Jonathan is very surprised when Clark lies shot on the ground, but didn't he hear the shot?

Van's choise of arms is a quite exotic one.
It's a german Heckler&Koch G36 assault rifle but not the model issued to our army. I am not familiar with it, but I guess its a american civilian sale model. The standart G36 has optical sights, but this has a picantinny rail with some other scope attached plus a laser pointer.
While it looks cool, its obsolete The neromal G36 scope has an aimpoint.

That bulletproof vest of Clark.
A lead vest may keep him safe from gamme radiation, but surely won't stop any bullet. lead is very soft. It would safe his chest from kryptonite radioation, but the k-bullets would go through again.

When van tells Lana that he killed Clark,
why would she call the police telling that,
at first I would call for help AT THE TALON
to arrest the murderer, if Clark was already dead,
no need to hurry here. Also she could have made sure he was disabled after he fell down the stairs. Also, she has no cellphone to make the call?

Also, it sure was nice of Van to walk over to the stairs so Lana could knock him down them, wasn't it?

BW: The term "freak of nature" does not necessarily imply freak. Lighten up.

BL: Point to me one instance in movies tv or books where someone used "freak of nature" as a compliment.

Anything that is an abnormal occurence from the norm is technically a freak of nature. So, Brian L. is correct. It shouldn't necessarily be confused with the derogatory freak, usually meaning "monstrosity."

In other news, we all seem to have forgotten that Lana herself was a "freak of the week" back in the first season episode "Obscura." Her prejudice towards the "freaks" seems a little strange in this episode giver her own experience.