Tim’s ‘Prototype’ Review
So what did Tim think of “Prototype?”
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!!! SO READ AT YOUR OWN WARNING!
To start off, I thought this episode was awesome. It did not disappoint for us at all, in my opinion. This episode was a great sendoff to Smallville writer Stephen S. DeKnight, who has written many great Smallville episodes such as Run, Onyx, Zod, and Justice. This was actually his last episode, for those who didn’t know, and what an episode it was. So tops to DeKnight, as it was a wonderfully written . . . no, expertly written episode oif Smallville. One this episode began, it did not let up.
But I think I should say that KUDOS to DeKnight as the word “MOLE” was spoken in the first few minutes of the episode, and it was wonderful. I about fell off my chair, it was sooo amazing. The episode also featured a mention of the character of Ben Hubbard near the end of the episode, who was mentioned briefly in Superman: The Movie and was suppsoed to be in Superman Returns, but his scenes were cut.
Another thing regarding the writing of this episode, there were many references to past episodes. When Clark recalls fighting Wes, he mentions several meteor freaks including Alicia Baker (last seen in season four’s episode Pariah and since I’m a huge fan of Alicia, this was nice for me), Graham Garret (last seen in last season’s Fade), and Titan (seen in Combat). This season has been said by producers as the season where they’re gonna tie up old storylines. This showed in this episode since what it was about was the culmination of Lex’s 33.1 experiments code-named Project Ares. I think definiutely the 33.1 plotline has definitely evolved from just a little project that Lex has been working onto a much huger level. This 33.1 thing has definitely been a looong time comin. It was executed perfectly in the episode.
Some people do consider this to be a Lois-centric episode and in many ways it was. But I think this could also be considered to be a Lex-centric episode. I am sure I have said this many times, I think, Lex has really turned to the dark side in this season, and this episode only furthered that, I think, as we got to see Lex go full-in to a military project, simnilar to what he has done in the comics, which was a great thing I think. This season has most definitely been the rise of Lex Luthor. It’s been amazing to watch that progression from good guy to bad guy throughout the course of the series.
In the end though, it was interesting to note Lex’s reasoning for continuing his 33.1 experiments throught Project Ares (which has been going on for 3 years; since season 3 apparently) that it was to protect the world from people with strange abilities, which I believe is classic Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor has alwayus been opposed to Superman because of his abilities and his strange alien heritage. Now, in Smallville, Lex Luthor has always been interested in the extraterrestrial, but I believe his encounter with Zod, his disciples, Brainiac and just meteor-freaks in general has soured him and he is trying to stop an onslaught and he believes that attacking with an army of “super-soldiers” is the only way to do it. How Luthor-like of him, as that is the samne attitudew he holds against Superman in the future.
In contrast though, when Clark learned of the extraterrestrial prototype, he was on the frontlines ready to stop Lex’s efforts to start an unneeded war against people with abilities such as himself. Some have criticized that he is not fighting Lex on the frontlines in the way the proto-Justice League is doing, but Clark is fighting his own battle against Lex at the homefront in Smallville. I hyave a feeling we’ll see more Clark vs. Lex’s plots in the series’ future.
Speaking of Clark vs. the prototype, even though it was a short-lived battle. I think it was very well-executed (as we know budget was kind of cut this season), and I loved Clark fighting a “superman” of shorts with a plethera of abiltiies like he does.
Also kudos to Michael Rosenbaum. It has been real nice to see these evil moments that have been sprinkled throughout the season up to this point in episodes such as Hug and Onyx and other little sprinklets of what I like to call “classic Lex” moments. When these emoments were sread througout the season, Michael Rosenbaum has played them expertly well. But in this episode, I thought Michael Rosenbaum played them to perfection, as he always does.
I think something in the episode that happened that I wasn’t expectin was the personal connection between Lois and Wes the Prototype. it really added to the episode, I thought. Made it more Lois-centric episode than it already was. Also gave fuel to Lois’ fire against Lex. Kudos to Erica Durance in this episode, as she was able to pull off a variety of emotions from the inquisitive reporter to the sassiness that we have come to know from Lois to the emotional vulnerability she showed while confronting the Prototype, Wes Keenan.
Also regarding Wes Keenan, I think that this kind of ultra-powered super soldier was a very cool awesome idea. Added a very sci-fi aspect to the episode. I also found it interesting to note that the human bodies need alien DNA (aka “alien peptides”) to harness all these different powers; it made it very interesting, and also makes Clark’s situation very unique as with his alien DNA, he is able to harness all his many powers. The whole alien DNA regarding the Prototype is something that has been talked about quite a deal in the Smallville cross-promotional junket, Justice and Doom, and there was even a crossover with Justice and Doom for those of you who have been participating in that on http://www.cwtv.com/justice.
The crossover that I’m referring to is Clark told Chloe that to call Oliver, as his “team” was takin out 33.1 complexes. Then in the online Justice and Doom, Chloe called Oliver, and then relayed info to Clark later in the episode. I hope that there are more crossovers similar to this in the future. I have always liked watching croissovers on TV (the one being the most obvious is the Buffy/Angel crossover episodes that have aired), because it is interesting to see both POVs onscreen or on online-comic-panel. So, I hope to see more of them.
But going back to Wes Keenan, I thought the character was really good, and was very well-played by Tahmoh Penikett. I think that this actor plays these militaristic roles very well. It has something he has been doing in his role of Helo on Battlestar Galactica. It should be interesting to note that Prototype was nto the first appearance of Penikett on Smallville. As most of you probably know, Tahmoh Penikett appeared in a season three episode called Resurrection, where he played a nearly dead character as well, and I thought he pulled off the role then very well too.
I think another thing that’s worth mentioning is the visual effects. It seemed to me that the visual effects in this episode were really top-notch, like the VFX crew at Smallville have been saving all their effects for not only this episode but possibly the finale as well. Another reason for the top-notch visual effects could be that visual effects supervisor Mat Beck directed this episode. Some great VFX shots that are of note were Clark’s close-up of heat vision, the use of Wes’ many abilities, and the panning shot of Luthorcorp from the roof of the Daily Planet (which was a great shot, btw). I believe that the episode benefitted greatly from his direction.
This episode like last year’s Oracle/Vessel finale, it seems Prototype will lead directly up to the season finale, Phantom. I thought it did a very good job doing so in the last few moments of the episode. It definitely seemed as if things were brewing for our characters into what they’ll get into in the finale.
Some examples worth citing is Lionel Luthor. It seems as if Lionel Luthor is continuing to write Kryptonian symbols as we saw in Zod. This is a matter of much debate among fans on how Lionel can still do this, since it was clearly stated in Zod by Lionel himself that he couldn’t translate Kryptonian symbols. I still would say thast the presence of Jor-El has not totally left Lionel or Lionel has not been allowed to forget the symbols he learned while being Jor-El’s oracle last year. We will have to stay tuned for the finale to see what Lionel’s true colors are.
Overall, I think episode was a great one. It definitely was a great penultimate episode; a good builder for next week’s finale. I think it’s safe to say that this was my favorite episode of this sixth season. I will most definitely be tuning in to see what happens with Lex’s secret 33.1/Ares project, and to see a Kent-Luthor confrontantion (and not just with Clark and Lex, I’m thinking, although I’m all for those confrontations). It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the finale with evrything we’ve been following this season with the phantoms and 33.1. I have a feeling both are going to cross over in a big way. (And I love crossovers) . . .
RATING: 5/5
