Starkville’s House of El Podcast

So what did newcomer Tim think of Smallville’s latest episode? Was the return of Red-K all it was hyped out to be?

Find out after the jump!

WARNING: this review contains mild spoilers about the episode. So if you have not yet watched Crimson, please do so before reading this review.

What a fantastic episode!!!! That’s what I want to say first. It was a very strong episode. It seems ever since we’ve come back from holiday hiatus, we’ve been treated to nothing but good episodes, and they onlt seem to be getting better from here.

I love the Red-K episodes. Ever since season two, we’ve been treated to these out-of-character episodes like this, and I think it is a great way of moving the story along. Another joy of these red kryptonite episodes is the acting of Clark Kent himself. The way Tom Welling plays the red-kryptonite infected Clark is amazing. It really opens him up as an actor. It’s truly remarkable. This episode was no exception.

As mostly everybody knows, it has been some time since we’ve had a Red-K episode. We had two in season two, two in season three, and one in season four, and season five was devoid of them to make room for the Silver-K episode (which was an enjoyable experience). So, Tom Welling has had time to grow as an actor since he last played Red-K Clark (or Kal), and it shows!!! Tom Welling, as he always does, played it amazingly. There were even times when I wanted to punch Clark.
One thing we know in Smallville about Red Kryptonite is that it removes Clark’s inhibitions, and it was amazing that Lois did the exact same thing, when she was on Red-K. Another thing that was interesting was that we saw many of the effects that Green Kryptonite had on effect on normal humans. Now for once, we got to see the effects that Red-K had on humans, and it definitely is and adverse effect, and of course, fun to watch. Erica Durance played this Red-K Lois pretty amazingly, as well. The “Lois and Clark Forever” tattoo was priceless. :)

One thing that was fun to watch was the love scenes between Clark and Lois. These two actors (Tom Welling and Erica Durance) have amazing chemistry on screen, and it shows during these scenes. We usually don’t see Lois and Clark acting this way so it was fun to watch.

At first, the episode seemed to start off good. But as for me, I just wanted to go straight to the Red-K Clark stuff. I was just getting impatient with all the buildup. But when we finally got there, it was definitely worth the wait.

The pinnacle of the episode though, for me, was when Clark decided to show Lois his powers. Because from here on out, it was when it started to get interesting. Esp. when Clark took to the skies and the way he did it was amazing! I mean, he FLEW!!!!! Some people might debate that he was super-jumping, but I am claiming 100 % FLIGHT!!! When it happened, though, I had a “fanboy reaction.” It was amazing. Probably my favorite scene of the episode.

The episode only escalated from there, when Clark crashed the Lexana engagement party. It was fun seeing Clark diss on Martha and Lionel’s relationship, and Chloe, and Lana, and Lex. It was fun to watch. Like I said, I love watching Red-K Clark in action, esp. when he starts verbally attacking people. I also loved Lana’s reaction to all this, having experienced this kind of Clark in the past, and asked Lex to stay calm, which was very similar to Martha’s.

Then, Clark kidnapped Lana (much to Lois’ dismay), to force her into marrying him, instead of Lex. This led into an intense emotional confrontation between these two characters who, according to Steven DeKnight, “have the best chemistry” on the show. It’s easy to see why, too. You could almost feel the emotional level that these actors were playing on, esp. Kristin Kreuk. It was touching. Truly amazing, esp. when they shared that kiss. What a scene to watch!

And it doesn’t stop there, people!!!! Lex enters the equation as well, and then Clark starts verbally bashing with Lex. This was interesting to watch, as well, because it is the first time since Clark and Lex’s really big falling out. So it was good to see this scene. Especially when Clark wished he had never saved Lex’s life, and Lex pulled out the gun. It was a very intense scene, between these two, as most scenes with them often are.

Then, Martha used Green-K to purge the Red-K out of Clark’s system (not sure how that works, but oh well), and Martha explains to those who may have forgotten, that Red-K doesn’t make Clark “bad”, but strips away his inhibitons, and really has romantic feelings for Lana and even Lois. The end scene with Clark and Lois kind of hinted that both might have those kind of romantic feelings for each other. It’ll be interesting to see how that takes shape in the future in Smallville and beyond . . .

Then, in the Daily Planet, Jimmy and Chloe talk about all the things that Clark did, and suspects that Chloe may still have feelings for Clark, as she is constantly covering for him. So, Jimmy decides that they should “take a break” (And no, Jimmy and Chloe are not going to Monte Carlo) , so she can sort out her feelings for Clark. So, Chlark (Clark and Chloe for those who don’t know) is reborn!!!!

Then, in the last few five minutes of the episode, Lex and Lana have a little altercation regarding the close encounter with Clark, and argue on Lana’s feelings with Clark again. It seems if these two were getting married, they’d be a little more trusting of each other. It seems these two are like two rivals going at each other. It’ll be interesting to see how their relationship continues to go downward. And downward it will go considering the secrets they’re now keeping from each other. Funny how it is the exact secrets that Linda Lake (Tori Spelling) in “Hydro” tried to expose

The first secret is regarding Lana’s pregnancy. From the conversation Lex has with Lana’s doctor, it seems that there is more to this pregnancy than meets the eye, and it is some sort of experiment with the pregnancy. Could it be part of Lex’s 33.1 research? Is Lex using Lana to be a part of 33.1? Has the meteor-rock necklace exposure finally gotten to Lana Lang? Who knows?

Then the second secret is even more amazing. From Lana’s desk, she pulls out a screwdriver/knife thing (I’m not sure what it is), but Lex used it to protect himself so Clark wouldn’t kill him when he confronted Lex in the Kent barn. SHe obviously took it before leaving the Kent Barn with Lex. She seems very interested in it. Does Lana suspect that Clark has superpowers? What implications will this have for the rest of the season? It should be very interesting indeed . . . .

This was an amazing episode. I enjoyed every minute of it. I could not keep my eyes away. I don’t think I blinked once during the episode. It was that amazing! I think that this episode will be the first of many amazing episodes this season. This season has got to be my favorite, and is shaping to be the best season of Smallville yet. (But it’s still soon to say as we still have nine more episodes left til the end of the season so . . .) So I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did.

RATING:5/5

This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 10:37 pm and is filed under News, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.