Tim’s ‘Progeny’ Review
So Smallville has returned from another dreadful hiatus! At least it’s the last of the season . . .
So what did Tim think of the latest episode of Smallville?
Click the jump to read his review!!!
So Smallville has returned from yet another hiatus with yet another episode. I thought this was a really good episode, I really did. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was a great way to start this “block” of episodes of this season of Smallville.First off, Lynda Carter. I thought Lynda Carter was great as Moira Sullivan (AKA “Chloe’s mom”). I thought it was well-executed. She did a really great job with the role and not a single Wonder-Woman reference to be found. I didn’t see any anyway. It seemed that her being on Smallville wasn’t as pumped up or promoted as say Tori Spelling’s appearance as Hydro was. But I thought she did a good job. She was loving, and she was determined to hurt Lex for using her for her abilities. ALso, even though she had dark hair in Progeny (but clearly had blonde hair in Tomb), I actually believed that Lynda Carter was Chloe’s mom. Kudos to Carter!
But there was one thing that I was hoping for that I did not get to see. I would’ve really liked to see just how Chloe’s mom got her power. I had read spoilers and I thought we were going to see just how that happened, if she had gone to Smallville in the first or second meteor shower (but we can assume that it is the first, as she was in a mental institution at the time of the second). Still, I would’ve liked to seen how exactly she got these strange abilities.
Something we also got to see in Progeny was the resolution (of sorts) of a plotline that seems to have implemented almost since the beginning of the season: Lana’s pregnancy. Now I don’t know how you guys thought this pregnancy was gonna turn out. But THIS was not what I was expecting. My pre-Progeny theory? That Lex was experimenting on the baby via Lana’s pregnancy and miscarriage for 33.1 research. But the truth was that Lex had drugged Lana into a pregnancy so he would marry her or at least be with her. Yikes!!! Lex is not only turning darker but also this was kind of creepy.
Lex was featured quite a bit tho, as Lex was the tormentor of Wonder Woman . . . uh . . . I mean . . . Moira Sullivan in this episode. I think it is wonderful and always wonderful to see Michael Rosenbaum tap into the dark side of Lex Luthor. In episodes such as Hug, Onyx, Vessel, and Zod, we’ve seen how well Michael Rosenbaum can play darkness. In this season, we’re seeing how he plays it so flawlessly. It’s amazing to watch. In regards to his meteor-freak research in his “33.1 franchise,” he was even willing to force Moira’s abilities out of her so he could see what she could do.
Some people have called this a Chloe-centric episode, due to the fact that it is an episode that has hearkened to previous Chloe thing that has been referenced to previous episodes (Lineage, Scare, and Tomb) but I think it is a Lex episode as well. Now every episode we continue to get glimpses of Lex and his dark side and this episode was no exception. In the first few minutes of the episode, we saw Lex in the car scrolling thru some radio stations in his car and the car radio happened on an opera music and Lex started listening to it and was comfortable with it. I thought this was a very nice touch.
Now this episode was written by Genevieve Sparling, who is a rookie Smallville writer, but I thought this episode was very well-written. I thought the characters of Chloe and Moira Sullivan were well-written on where the episode would take them. For a first try, it was a well-done effort of Sparling’s part.
Progeny was directed by Smallville veteran director Terrence O’Hara (who has even started the crossing over into the realm of Heroes for an episode), who has by and large directed freak-of-the-week episode but has also directed the fan-favorite episode Onyx. I thought this, although not nearly as good as Onyx, was very well-done. All the scenes, from the tense scenes to the clearly emotional ones, I think were very well done.
Now, seeing as this is a majorly Chloe-centric episode, let’s talk about our Smallville ace reporter. Now I’m a huge Chloe fan and have been for a while now. I thought this was one of the weaker Chloe-centric episodes of the season. OK!!! Don’t think I hated the episode, I thought it had definitely had ists strengths, as there were many strengths. But I have seen better Chloe-centric episodes. What deems it weaker than most in my opinion? The whole Chloe being a (for lack of a better word) meteor-freak zombie thing. Now do I think Allison Mack’s acting ability was diminished by this at all? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! I thought she was, as she always is, at the top of her game.
One scene that was particularly of note for her as well as Michael Rosenbaum, was Chloe and Lex’s face-off scene. I really loooved this scene. It was true Lex Luthor at his best. The way Michael Rosenbaum played this scene, it reminded me of a scene in early season 3 where Lionel confronted a young eager Chloe Sullivan. It was true darkness for Lex Luthor but Chloe stood her ground like any good reporter.
Clark, it seemed, wasn’t in this episode, it seemed, or wasn’t the focus of the episode, it seemed like (to me, at least). It seemed like he was a super-companion to Chloe in this episode. But I do think Tom Welling did do a good job with the time he had to stretch his role as Clark Kent. But you know in a mostly Chloe-centric episode, whaddya do? Though, I did enjoy the Chloe and Clark conversation when Clark said the line, “The war is about to begin . . .” Now this war is obivously not referring to an all-out war between Clark and the Phantoms of The Phantom Zone (as some of us might’ve hoped), but a personal war between Clark and Lex. Noe this war I hope doesn’t only end at this season, but I hope (and think it will) carry until the end of the series. I can’t wait to see how this plays out . . .
But all in all, I thought it was a decent episode. Not the greatest, but not a bad one. It was a great start to this part of the season, I think, and I think things are definitely building up. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how future episodes play out until the finale.
RATING: 3/5
August 7th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Great review. I agree that his was as much a Chloe episode as it was a Lex episodes which tends to happen with Chloe centric episodes. We get a ace reporter Chloe, a darker lex luthor and a more heroic clark kent :)