I'm not too sure about the new opening credits. I'll give it some time. Nice that Erica Durance has joined the cast permanently. The character has some problems, but I like the actress. I hope they can find a permanent reason for her to be in Smallville instead of those lame episode-by-episode excuses from last year.

I laughed so hard when that vortex turned into the floating glass plate from the movies. I assumed that the vortex itself was an updated version of the Phantom Zone. Very cool.

Couldn't Lana have obtained crutches, a cane, or a wheelchair at some point during this episode?

So did Jason just get smashed to bits with the meteor or is he technically missing?

I'm curious about who that Venom/Terminator guy is. I've heard rumors about a certain villain appearing on the show, but I didn't think he had morphing abilities.

This episode was a good remedy for most of last season. I was really having some worries about this show last year, and some of those problems may still come up, but this episode just made me feel a lot better about it all. Good job all around.

TUE

"Superman has a defect. He has a chink in his armor. Superman has morals. He has ethics. He is unrelentingly good. Because of that, I will win."

As Chloe said, “Whoa.” A much better season premiere than last season’s. Well done! Some really nice material from the Superman movies and the comics that I wasn’t expecting too.

The Fortress of Solitude. I figured that that’s what would happen after seeing the finale, but I still would’ve liked it if TV Guide didn’t spoil it by confirming it.

At the end of Act 2, Clark speeds out of Chloe’s hospital room, and her juice container slides down the tray in Clark’s direction, and she grabs it, saying, “Whoa.” Why have objects never been drawn to Clark’s speed wake before? For that matter, why doesn’t this happen to Chloe’s hair or her gown, for example?

“The disciples of Zod……They must be stopped.” COOL. I never imagined they’d use or refer to Zod on this series, because I thought I heard or read somewhere that they couldn’t because of acquiring the movie rights or something.

After opening the Phantom Zone vortex behind Clark, the Kryptonians fire their heat vision at his back to propel into it. But since when does heat vision include a concussive or propulsive aspect?

Funny how the vortex was intended to capture just one person (Clark), but doesn’t close after the Kryptonian woman falls into it. Instead, it stays open long enough for the Kryptonian man to fall into it too. Or was it on some type of timer? In any case, it was dumb of them both to turn their backs on Clark and assume that he’d fall into it rather than making sure that he’d do so.

I wonder how long Clark’s powerlessness will last. And will he AGAIN break it off with Lana when his powers come back? I sure hope not, because that cliché has been done already on this show. I hope instead that he continues to see her, and maybe reveal his secret to her too. I mean, what does he expect to do, stay celibate for the rest of his life?

My mom wanted to know how Lex found Chloe.

Clark promised Jor-El that he’d be back at the Fortress before the sun set. Clark can’t just go back to the Arctic now that he’s powerless, but will Jor-El be pissed about that? Or will the sun not set for months because the Fortress is in the Arctic? Will Clark regain his powers before it sets?

James Marsters as Brainiac! AWESOME! Okay, so he’s not a green-skinned android, nor an all-metal robot, but still, since he’s undergone so many revisions in the comics (pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, the Animated Series), that it seems only fair to let Smallville come up with their own version, and I have to say, the black-sludge-shapeshift look appears to be pretty interesting!

Spoiler Warning:
And on October 20: AQUAMAN!

In answer to TUE's question, the headline on the newspaper that Lana was reading at the end said that both Jason and his mother were killed. What a coincidence. One could call that supernatural.

Back in the pilot episode, Clark said that Jonathan referred to the loft as Clark's "Fortress of Solitude." It's interesting that Jor-El would pick the exact same moniker for his Arctic hideout.

First off, I completely concur with the good things said about this episode. MUCH better than last year!

The dumb villian-ness of not watching to see if Clark has actually been sucked into the Phantom Zone has already been established, but where were those two going? The way out of the room was to their left, which is also where they threw Lana. The only thing I saw behind them was the vault with the kryptonite, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want to go in there.

Did Clark forget that he left Chloe in the Yukon? After he finds out his powers are gone, he's happily picking up pieces of the house and talking about how he'll have a normal life now. Um, so how does he expect Chloe to get back? (After Lex's questions, there's no way in heck Clark would have asked him to pick her up, right?)

I figured that the whole reason Jor-El told Clark to be back before the sun set was because we just wouldn't be able to once his powers were gone. I mean, how is he supposed to pull it off once his super speed is gone? Walking is out of the question, and the Fortress of Solitude sure doesn't seem to be in a very easilly accesible place (One would hope it's not, at least, otherwise it's not very useful is it?)

By the way, as much as I loved the final scene, all I could think of was how much it looked like the X-Files. Think about it: triangular space ship, locked up in a dark room, with black oil dripping out of it... hardly a nit, but I thought it was kind of funny.

This is only an assumption, but I think the set for the Fortress of Solitude shown in this episode will be seen in "Superman Returns"

Why did the two Kyptonians have powers right away? It took years for Clark to get enough solar engergy to get his. Or was it like Supergirl in the Superman/Batman comics, where there was an artificial yellow sun in the ship?

One other thing that seemed off. If the stones were lost on Earth thousands of years ago, why did it have information about Krypton's destruction which only happened less than 20 years ago? Who updated the files?

Why did the two Kyptonians have powers right away? It took years for Clark to get enough solar engergy to get his. Or was it like Supergirl in the Superman/Batman comics, where there was an artificial yellow sun in the ship?

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that while Clark's powers did develop over time, this may have had something to do with age more than time on Earth. Given that it's been shown more than once that the Kryptonians are pretty knowledgeable about Earth, I wouldn't be surprised if they're familiar with what would happen once they reached Earth.

After all, in the second movie, Zod and his flunkies had powers as soon as they broke out of the Phantom Zone.

One other thing that seemed off. If the stones were lost on Earth thousands of years ago, why did it have information about Krypton's destruction which only happened less than 20 years ago? Who updated the files?

Jor-El's conversations with Clark seem a lot more like just that-- conversations rather than recorded messages like the hologram from 'I, Robot.' I figure Jor-El's mind (or a passable simulation) has anchored itself somewhere on Earth, having come down with the ship or through a transmission at the same time, and is capable of linking up with the Kryptonian technology left on Earth (for example, the stuff in those caves).

If that makes any sense at all. If it doesn't, I can try to elaborate on the theory.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that while Clark's powers did develop over time, this may have had something to do with age more than time on Earth. Given that it's been shown more than once that the Kryptonians are pretty knowledgeable about Earth, I wouldn't be surprised if they're familiar with what would happen once they reached Earth.

Also, there's nothing to indicate that they were as powerful as Clark or, at least, as powerful as the adult Superman with their limited exposure to the yellow sun. They were just clearly stronger and faster than humans. They certainly shouldn't have the vast energy reserves that Clark has built up over his lifetime.

James Marsters wasn't the only Buffy regular in this episode, the male Kryptonian played Forest in Season 4, another evil lackey.

Lois's voice seems fine the first time Clark shows up at the hospital after she's attacked, but when he returns at the end it's worse than before. Shouldn't she have had trouble talking after the initial attack?