Starkville’s House of El Podcast

So what did Tim think of Kara? Did it continue the momentum that was left by the stellar season premiere? Or was it a super-flop?

This episode of Smallville introduced a critical player in the Superman mythos, and that is the character of Kara Zor-El AKA Supergirl. Supergirl is a much varied character which has had many origins throughout the Superman comics ever since she was in the 70’s. The origin Smallville is going with is the origin of Supergirl that was recently induced into the comics, where she is Superman’s cousin from Krypton, and I am a huge fan of that version, so I was pleasantly surprised with how she was presented in the episode. Now, unlike her counterpart in recent comics, she didn’t come out of her ship speaking Kryptonian, but all-in-all her presence on Smallville has been very welcome thus far.

Also, I think Laura Vandervoort was a great additon to the cast. I really thought she jived well with the other cast members such as Tom Welling and Allison Mack. It’ll be intriguing to see where Laura takes this character in further episodes this season. I was a little nervous about her being on the show this season, as the only thing I had seen Laura Vandervoort in was Instant Star, a smaller show on which she’s also a regular cast member, and the two roles that she played in both Instant Star and Smallville, and I didn’t how she would tackle it. I thought she tackled it very well. The only thing that really annoyed me was she kept pronouncing Kal-El, “Kall-El,” but I got over it. In fact, if you look back on old episodes of Smallville, almost everyone has pronounced Kal-El that way (including Terrence Stamp).

Clark and Kara’s interaction was really great. I was a little nervous about their interaction, but a little excited at the same time. It was the same feeling that I had when Oliver Queen was first introduced into the series. Smallville once again did not disappoint with their interpretations of superhero characters that have been introduced thus far. There were several parts throughout the episode where the Kara and Clark really rocked. One such instance was when Clark was teaching Kara how to use superhearing. It reminded me very much of how Jonathan Kent taught Clark Kent to use his superhearing in “Whisper.” I half-expected Clark to say, “Concentrate on my voice, Kara.” It was a great scene. I love the effects they are using for superhearing now.

Another thing I like about Kara’s presence on Smallville, is her role as somewhat of a herald from Krypton. This is the role she had when she was impersonated by the girl in the season 3 finale, “Covenant.” I think we will be seeing more of her telling Clark about Krypton, and more specifically about his destiny (and the more mentions we can have of Krypton is fine by me). One memory that Kara shared with Clark that I really enjoyed was when Lara found out she was pregnant with young Clark, Kara recounted that Clark was Lara’s miracle baby. It really made me smile, and if we can have more moments throughout the series similar to this, this will shape up to a pretty awesome season as far as Kryptonian stuff goes.

I also like that Clark seemed really grown up these past two episodes. He has really accepted who he is as a person, and the arrival of Kara didn’t change that at all. He really took it upon himself to give this girl from Krypton a home, and show her earth life, as well as show her how to use her powers. I think we will see more of this growth as the season progresses.

One new cast member that I thought didn’t fit well was Michael Cassidy as the character of the new Daily Planet editor, Grant Gabriel. I did not like Grant, and really saw him in the veins of characters such as Jason Teague and Whitney Fordman, who are always brought on to be love interests for the female main characters. I mostly did not like him because he cut out poor little Chloe, but I think he was a well-written character. We won’t have to put up with him for long, as he will only be in about 6 more episodes, I think. Maybe his character won’t be as bad as we think. But regarding him supposedly him being brought in as an intended love interest for Lois, I have not seen that yet, if it ever does happen. It might happen, but maybe it won’t. But seeing as it’s Smallville, it just might.

One plot thread that kind of popped up in this episode was Lois working for the Daily Planet. it was a long road to get here, but now she is finally employed at the Daily Planet, workin on stories, quickly becoming the Lois Lane that we all know her to be from the comics, and the movies. I cannot wait to see what she does with her new position at the Daily Planet. Last season, we watched her getting to a lot of danger regarding stories she was writing for the Inquisitor, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of dangerous stories she’ll get herself into this season while working for the Daily Planet. I am really excited to see where Lois goes this season, and am intrigued to see what she does.

Some very surprising twists in this episode was the agent for the “Department of Domestic Security.” He seemed to know a lot about the Kara’s ship, that it might have had an alien life inside it, or at least near it. It is very interesting, to say the least. What is this man’s plans for Kara’s mysterious blue crystal?

Another interesting twist was one that was revealed by Jor-El himself that Kara might be evil, as their family was sort of dysfunctional and Jor-El and Zor-El (Kara’s father) clashed a bit. Is there something wrong with Jor-El? Is he mistaken that Zor-El’s side of the family was a little shady? Now that Clark knows that Kara could potentially be a danger to him and everyone on the planet, I wonder how long it will before Clark spills the beans, and will it cause a falling out between the two Kryptonians?

Something of interest I think is the resurgence of Lana Lang. I may realize that I may be all alone on this, but totally loved this scene. I knew it was coming, but I still loved it. When I initially heard about the whole cloning angle, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical, but it was pulled off onscreen very wonderfully! Kristin Kreuk really played this scene wonderfully! As I’ve said before, Kristin really shines as an actress when she’s given great stuff to work with. The Lana that we see here is definitely a departure from the sweet little girl that we’re used to seeing in previous seasons. She definitely seemed darker and tougher than earlier seasons. Some people have wondered what Lana’s new role in the series will be. It is my theory that she may be working to bring down Lex, and time will tell what she’ll be doing once she returns to Smallville. I do wonder how Lana being alive affects her marriage to Lex. Are they divorced or still married? I guess time will tell. It shall be very interesting indeed to see how Clark and Lana’s reunion turns out when she returns to Smallville next week.

Another thing I found a little interesting is the character of Chloe. At the beginning of the episode, she was looking at files from Belle Reve patients, who, we can assume, have meteor-induced powers. We also learn in this episode that Chloe has been suffering as a journalist at the Daily Planet, since she knows Clark’s secret, and is not able to print the larger than life stories she and Clark stumble upon (Brainiac and Zod’s arrival in season 5, the escaped Phantom Zoners and 33.1 in season 6, and also Bizarro’s recent arrival last week), and her career as a reporter has kind of stagnated a little bit as a result, and our new editor has noticed. Also, Lois’ new job at the Daily Planet may cause her to step up a little bit and might cause her role as Clark’s sidekick to diminish a little bit. So it should be very interesting to see what Chloe does . . will she focus on her career as a reporter or be Clark’s sidekick?

Another scene that I loved in this episode was the scene when, after a whole season, Clark Kent finally returned to the Fortress of Solitude. Hearing Terrence Stamp as the voice of Jor-El was very refreshing to say the least. Even though Jor-El spoke, the mood of the Fortress was very dark. This could’ve also stemmed from the news Jor-El presents to Clark: that Zor-El could potentially be evil. Every time I hear Zor-El’s name being mentioned, I cannot help shake the fact that Zor-El was able to preserve himself (possibly the same way Jor-El was able to preserve himself), and may manifest himself sometime near the end of the season. But I could very well be wrong.

This episode was directed by James Conway, whose only Smallville directing credit is “Static” (the first wrestler episode in Smallville), but he has directed a lot of my favorite episodes of Star Trek. So when I heard he was directing Kara, I was very excited, and I was not disappointed. He was able to turn an already well-written episode into a better one.

One thing that episodes like this have continued to do throughout the series is ty up loose ends. Some instances that this episode did that was when Clark mentioned the Kara impostor from the season 3 finale, Covenant, which I loved, because it makes it seem like that episode was a part of a bigger picture. It also seems that Jor-El probably named the impostor to Kara to possibly spite Zor-El. Another instance that Zod may have had a hand in the destruction of Krypton, something that has been hinted at since season 5. Hopefully, we get a full explanation of Krypton’s destruction soon.

All in all, this episode was awesome! With the second episode of any season, you wonder if it will carry the momentum that was held by the season premiere, and this one definitely did that in spades! I know I’ve said this before, if the rest of the season can hold up this momentum, we shall be in for quite a ride. Not only did the episode help move the story of the season along, but it was very enjoyable for me as a Superman fan, because it was rife with references to the Superman mythos (i.e. Lara, Zor-El, Zod’s Civil War, HOUSE OF EL, Kandor City, and even Ben Hubbard). This episode may even exceed Phoenix as my favorite second episode of a season, but it’s early to say right now, as Phoenix gave nice foreshadowing into that season. I hope Kara will do the same for this season.

RATING: 5/5

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 4:24 pm and is filed under 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.