I don't know if this is the title of the season 4 premiere, but the premiere is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 22.

TUE

But we knew it wouldn’t work out when every time he kissed me I kept losing my memory…
---Best Stunt Casting In-Joke Ever:
Martha Kent: “You don’t know anything about my son!”
Bridget Crosby: “You’re right. You’re right, I don’t. But I do know what it’s like to love someone whose calling is greater than your own.”
Martha Kent: “You and Dr. Swann?”
Bridget: “In a different lifetime.”

Pretty good season premiere.

---I can’t say I’m really happy with how the show is continuing to deviate from the established mythos. I mean, I can stomach Clark’s too-early meeting with Lois, but I’m really not happy about how Clark/Kal-El is revealed more and more to be an intended leader of a Crusade to conquer (Earth?), or with how ominous Jor-El is, or how ominous “Kal-El” is supposed to be.
---I’m also unhappy with how the resolution to the “Kal-El” storyline unfolded. It seemed a bit too “rabbit out of hat” to me, much as Phil Farrand opined for Spock’s vision in Operation—Annhilate!(TOS). It’s easy to write such endings by simply dropping exotic artifacts into a plot that can do anything the plot requires them to do, and even make up a new form of kryptonite with vague effects that doesn’t even exist in the comic book or any other previous Superman adaptation, than it is to write a plot in which the resolution blossoms naturally out of elements set up in the plot.
---Still, the episode delivered some nice moments. KUDOS to the creators for omitting Allison Mack from the opening title sequence!!! Had they not done so, the last twenty seconds of the episode, which were EXCELLENT, would not have been so. Nice touch. However, I do wish they had omitted that shot of Kal-El flying in that sequence, not to mention all the other stuff in the pre-premiere WB promos (Lois showing up, and Clark finally flying for real). It would’ve made these things much nicer surprises. And why in the WORLD did they have to inform the viewer during one of the commercials playing during the episode that Margot Kidder was showing up? I mean, HELLO! The viewer is already watching the friggin’ episode!! You got the person watching! You don’t need to convince them anymore to watch it! Why spoil yet another big surprise plot point? Sheesh. That’s THREE such surprises in the episode that were totally SPOILED, and only one (Chloe being alive) that wasn’t.

---NITS & NOTES:
When Lois’ cell phone goes out as she’s driving along Route 31, right before Clark is returned, was it the activity surrounding his return that made the phone go dead, or was it just the normal loss of signal that happens with cells? I ask, because the immediate impression I got was that it was due to Clark, but notice that the same thing didn’t happen with her car battery.

What a coincidence that the person who was driving by to witness Clark’s return just so happened to be Chloe’s cousin!

Good thing Lois keeps a blanket in her car. How many motorists do that?

Lois tells Martha that she was driving along Route 31 when she witnessed Clark’s appearance. There is a Route 31 in California and Washington State, and perhaps another one in Illinois, and yet another in Georgia, but I could not find any evidence of one in Kansas.

When making that rubbing of the mosaic in the church, Lana should tape the stencil paper down with drafting tape. Not doing so, the rubbing will be “off” as the paper shifts.

Also, that rubbing comes out WAY too neat and perfect! Even taped down, there would be unavoidable smearing of charcoal in the “white” areas that fall in between the areas that would show up as dark (the areas that actually show up because something is underneath the paper). But it looks like a carefully-made illustration, and the way it appears on the paper, I imagine it was CGI’d into the shot.

Crosby and Martha both refer to Swann as “Doctor Swann.” Wasn’t he referred to as “Professor” in Rosetta(2.17) and Legacy(3.17)?

Okay, black kryptonite? Now I’ve heard of Green, Red, Blue, Gold, White, Anti-Kryptonite, X-Kryptonite, Jewel Kryptonite, Slow Kryptonite, X-Kryptonite, Silver Kryptonite, and even the fictional hoax Yellow Kryptonite created by Lex Luthor, but black? What is that supposed to do? According to Wikipedia, it was created specifically for this episode with the power to—get this—“separate certain entities from people.” What a neat convenience that it just so happens to have the exact ability needed to resolve this episode’s conflict!

Moreover, how could Swann know that it would help Martha do what she ultimately did to “Kal-El”?

In a word, WOW! Good start to the season.

I continue to be giddy about the relationship between Lex and Lionel. This is the heart of this show, as far as I'm concerned. While Clark/Lana waffles around, Lex/Lionel is the ultimate cat and mouse game. Only you can't tell which is the cat.

Best line of the show, Lex to Lionel: Don't wound what you can't kill. I've always had a feeling that, as ruthless as Lionel is, he can't bring himself to kill his son. I don't feel the same for Lex, though!

Good that they chose an actress to play Lois who's a perfect fit for their gorgeous cast. And good of them to tease sexual tension between the upcoming Lois/Lana meeting in front of Clark. Wouldn't if have been a shame if Lois at 18 was a pimply, chubby girl driving an '86 Civic?

As much as I enjoyed seeing Margot Kidder again, she (and Swann's Foundation) knows way too much. What possible motive would Jor-El have for broadcasting his plans for his son in a way that Swann could interpret?

In addition to deviating from the mythos re: Clark and Lois' first meeting, the creators of this show seem to be teasing that Kryptonians have left artifacts that can unlock vast knowledge, as well as bestow Kryptonian powers on humans. OK, I can buy that the Kryptonians might have sent some portion of their society's wealth of info so as to prevent their entire culture from being lost in the disaster that destroys their world. But how is the powers angle possible, when Superman derives his powers from his biological interaction with Earth's sun?

The bit about the hospital requiring Lois to stay with Clark was ridiculous. It would have been easy to have Lois bring Clark in, then hang around speaking to the sheriff or something when Clark wanders into the hall and has his meeting with Martha.

Good flying effect, not unlike the Matrix.

We need more Lana sweaty-in-bed and showers scenes.

Lana runs away to Paris. And falls in love. With an American. You can take the girl out of Smallville...

If I tried to take a picture of children I didn't know, Id probably be arrested. But I don't look as good in a plaid skirt as Lana.

Another great line, as Kal-El flies towards the jet: "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?"

Obi-Juan: Good flying effect, not unlike the Matrix.
Luigi Novi: And I'm sure that the fact that Warner Bros. both owns DC Comics and distributed The Matrix movies is sheer coincidence.

And yeah, I forgot to include my comment about that shot of Lana in bed with the sheet just covering her bum. WOOF!

Wow,
can't wait for next week

I am happy Chloe isn't dead,
why take a cute character out of the show?

> Good thing Lois keeps a blanket in her car. How many motorists do that?

Well, in the ending scene Clark says staying with the Kents is better than living out of the Car, so maybe Lois' plan was to do so?!

I am very curious what happens to Lana next.
(We certainly need more showers scenes but I am almost sure it was doubled.)

So, KalEl can fly but Clark can't?
If I was him I would really test that out.

*waitingfornextweek*

I assumed he did test it off-camera.

So, Clark sees an empty grave and jumps to the conclusion that she's alive? Wouldn't you need a little more evidence than her absence from that grave?

I notice a couple of "Superman III" hommages:

When Annette O'Tolle and Margo Kidder shake hands the give each other a "Don't I know you?" look.

Also the scene where Clark splits into two people looked very similar to a scene from Superman III.


"So, KalEl can fly but Clark can't?
If I was him I would really test that out."

He did say it was scary so maybe he didn't want to.


And this may sound a bit off the wall but I was thinking it may be possible that Swan IS Jor-El.

Cool theory, Chris. And yeah, Josh, that did occur to me, but ya gotta admit: It made for a helluva great final line of the episode, didn't it?

Well, there's not a whole lot I can say about this episode that no one else has said already. Generally awsome, in spite of the lame black kryptonite and spoiler commercials. I also must give the creators props for the handling of Chloe's "death;" I was really thrown for a loop when she wasn't in the credits. I wasn't quite so pleased about the Lana fan-service, mainly becasue I knew the viewing public (i.e. you guys ^__-) would enjoy it and encourage the creators to devote more and more plot time to the like (Then again, it IS a WB drama, what the heck was I expecting?)

Anyway, I do have one nit about Lois and Lionel's meeting at the end. While I loved the scene (if only for that "uh oh" look on Mr. Luther's face) how did it happen? I mean, this is a PRISON, that's holding the CEO of a MAJOR company who's beeing charged with MURDER! And here, Lois can just waltz in because she said she was Martha Kent? Don't they do any background checks, or even IDs? What kind of security is this? (the kind that makes cool scenes possible, that's what.)

Oh, one more thing. Mr. New Boy seems rather concerned about Lana as he pounds on her door, yet it never seems to dawn on him to actually SAY anything.

Guys, there's a great discussion of this episode going on at Peter David's blog, including some really interesting theories on what has happened.

One is that because we never saw Chloe reacting to the explosion, that we were only meant to understand this by the juxtaposition of the images, and that Lex set up her apparent death to prevent Lionel from trying to prevent her from testifying against her.

One is that the reason "Jor-El" and his intentions for Clark seem so ominious or evil is because that's not really Jor-El, but the Eradicator. (For those non-comics fans of you who don't know who the Eradicator is, go here.

One is that because Jor-El is an alien, and possibly because of language translation imperfections, the "crusade" mentioned is not one of evil, like our own Crusades, but possibly Supermans eventual fight for "truth, justice and the American way," and that he will not "conquer" Earth in way we usually understand the word, but that he will be a leader through his example.

These are summaries of some of the things said there, and I really do recommend that you read the more-detailed thread there, because it's really a cool discussion.

Clark says Chloe was his best friend. She was? I thought Pete was his best friend! Speaking of...

Pete? Pete who?...

Pete? Parker? He knows Spidey?

I just realized something really wierd about the opening credits this season, Lionel's got hair! Is he going to buy a wig this season, or does his hair just grow REALLY fast?

He looks better that way, so it's a good idea to leave it that way for the credits, since the opening credits could be seen as a perhaps a sort of advertisement for new viewers tuning in to the first few minutes.

Lois talks repeatedly in this episode about getting justice for Chloe. But what about her Uncle Gabe? He was seen with Chloe walking into the house before it exploded. Is he "dead" too? Lois never makes any mention of it.

Was it established that Gabe was Lois' uncle too?

Chloe is the cousin. Her parents would be the aunt and uncle.

Oh, I thought "Uncle Gabe" was Chloe's uncle too. I didn't realize it was her father.

Chloe is the cousin. Her parents would be the aunt and uncle.

Technically sure, but it's always possible they are related through Chloe's mom, and Lois doesn't hardly know Chloe's dad. Sure, he'd be her uncle by marriage, but maybe not so much in her mind.

I like the actress they got to portray Lois, personally. Just watching her running around, bossing her way through stuff... I thought it was really reminiscient of Margot Kidder's portrayal of Lois in the movies.

Just my opinion.

Oh, and some other stuff... when the episode came on, my friends and I were joking that Margot Kidder's character was probably going to turn out to be Swann's ex-wife or something. We were close.

And, personally, I'm not too worried about the 'mythos.' I'm not expecting this show to be a moment-by-moment backstory for the first movie. I'm not expecting it to be a frame-by-frame backstory for the original comic books.

It's a show about an adopted kid from a place far away with special powers trying to live a normal life. That kid's name just happens to be Clark Kent, and his friends just happen to have names like Lex Luthor and Lana Lang.

But then, I genuinely liked the organic webshooters in the Spider-Man movies. And I don't mind that Spidey's dating Mary Jane Watson when he hasn't met Gwen Stacy yet. So take my opinions with a grain of salt.

C'mon, they're name do not "just happen" to be like those in the comics. It's based on them.

You're missing my point.

I'm taking the comics and the movies and the show as seperate entities. I don't think the writers are obligated to make Smallville lead perfectly up to the movies and/or comic books and they shouldn't be treated like they are.

Becoming a cliche: A character in a fantasy series returning naked and with temporary memory loss. e.g. Angel coming back from Hell in Buffy and Daniel 'descending' in Stargate:SG1

CHLOE'S ALIVE!
I should that aloud.

I liked this episode. I think Smallville shouldn't be a copy of the Supes comics. There are Smallville comics after all. It's a parallel universe version sort of.

I liked the fact that Clark didn't wear the usual flannel plaid shirts. That's much better now, I hope the producers burn the shirts he used to wear from now on, and we never see him in them. Why, because it makes him look less of a tough guy and his image from now on should be tougher. So change the wardrobe! And TPTB seem to be doing that, from what I saw in the episode. I hope they kept this on in the other episodes.

That should have read I said that aloud.

So no plaid makes him look stronger, tougher etc.. less of your "nice guy" look.

Please try to avoid placing spoilers in the first line or so of your text, so it doesn't appear on the Last Day view.

Wolverine: I liked this episode. I think Smallville shouldn't be a copy of the Supes comics. There are Smallville comics after all.
Luigi Novi: Which are based on this series.

I don't mind all the changes the show makes to the canon, but some of the changes are really awful, the worst being the introduction of Lois.

Right, agreed, especially since Chloe herself
was supposed to based on the Lois herself.

I don't mind any of the changes except making Lois' sister a criminal. The others are ok with me.

Interestingly, black kryptonite has now been added to the comics. In Supergirl #2 (Sept. 05), Calculator seems to be interviewing Lex Luthor about a new gauntlet that Luthor has added to his power suit, which contains a green, red, blue, and black kryptonite stone on four of his fingers. Calculator asks Lex what Black Kryptonite's effect on Kryptonians is, to which Lex simply smiles, implying that the answer to this may be in a future issue of the comic.