Tim’s “Cure” Review
So what did Tim think of Cure?
Was he excited to see “Superman” return?
What an episode this was! I believe that it is safe to say that season 7 is turning into one of the best seasons of the series. Things are just continuing to build up for the season with all of the characters involved. Let’s hope this continues throughput the season. This episode was truly a joy to watch!
This episode, as most people know, featured past Superman/Clark Kent, Dean Cain, best known for his portrayal of that role in the hit 90’s Series, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Only this time he was less “Super” and played the role of the villainous immortal, Curtis Knox. I thought that Dean Cain did a great job in this role and proved that he could handle playing a villain as well as playing a hero, and it will be very interesting if we see him return to this role in the show’s future. It was definitely exciting to see him return back to the Superman mythos.
The writers of this episode did do a great job of connecting Knox in his relations to other characters. On that note, as well, Dean Cain played off of Tom Welling (even though they were only in like two very fast-paced action scenes), Michael Rosenbaum, and Allison Mack very well. Dean Cain obviously belongs in the Superman world. We can only hope that once Dean Cain DOES return to Smallville this season, he will given the opportunity to interact with other Smallville characters (Lois, perhaps?).
As has been established in last episode, there is a Kryptonian on Earth, having left a strange Kryptonian pendant in Smallville. Could Knox be this unknown Kryptonian? Or is he strangely connected to them? There is also been some speculation that Curtis Knox might in fact be the immortal villain from DC Comics, Vandal Savage. Now I, myself, am not too familiar with this character, but having looked into his character’s history a bit recently, I cannot help but notice the similarities between Knox and Savage. It shall be interesting indeed to learn the secret of Curtis Knox’s immortality, whether it be Kryptonian-based or if he really is Vandal Savage.
I think one unexpected twist that I was not expecting within this episode was the twist regarding Martian Manhunter and Kara Zor-El. In this episode, Martian Manhunter revealed that Kara’s father, Zor-El, actually tried to kill Jor-El. This revelation and Clark’s reaction to it, combined with the revelation that Jor-El made to Clark a few episodes back could create some interesting drama for Clark and Kara in the future. I had kind of a sense that these revelations would cause some boiling tensions between these two characters, but what surprised me was that it happened at the end of this episode, as we are only four episodes into the season. I was partly expecting that Kara would leave the Smallville city-limits at about episode eight. The fact that it happened so early was just amazing, for lack of a better word.
It shall be very interesting this “Kara’s crystal” storyline will take us this season, as we do not know what is exactly in that small crystal that is now in possession of the Dept. of Domestic Security. The only thing we know is that it contains Zor-El’s directives for Kara whilst on Earth. But what exactly are those directives? Are they for good or evil? Only time will tell, it seems.
This episode also furthered the Jimmy and Kara relationship. We only gained a little glimpse of it in Fierce, and we gained a little bigger glimpse of it yet again in Cure. I don’t really have an opinion on this yet. We did see kind of a connection to these two. In this instance, Kara just seemed to want Jimmy’s help because Lois wasn’t around. I think Kara definitely does feel something for Jimmy, as she is one of the few characters to call him “James.” It’s possible that Jimmy does trust Kara to some degree, as he agreed to keep Kara’s secret about her crystal. So it shall be interesting to see where this relationship will be taken in the future . . .
This episode, on another hand, was very Chloe-centric, one of the first of the season. In fact, it was bookended by Chloe. Allison Mack really shined in this one, portraying Chloe’s vulnerabilities regarding this new secret that she has to carry. Chloe seemed very anxious to get rid of this new power, even risking her own memories of the past six years (which for you fans is the entire series), possibly erasing her memories of Clark’s secret. I personally wondered how this little storyline for her in this episode would play out - - Would Chloe be cured or not? A million of scenarios could’ve been played out in this regard, but it seems that there is a plan for Chloe in regards to her meteor-power, and I can only wonder what that can be. Will she learn to use this ability for good and not die?
One scene in regards to Chloe that was really powerful was the scene between her and Clark. Allison Mack and Tom Welling played this scene really well. You could definitely feel the power betwen these two characters. It is scenes like this that really show why the dynamic between Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan works. You definitely feel that even though Clark is with Lana, he still values, and will always value, Chloe as an important part of his life and wouldn’t want that gone in a split-second.
A character that is really taking an interesting turn is the character of Lex Luthor. We can see that he is still making efforts to redeem himself from the events of seasons past. One of the most obvious examples of this is the reason that he hired Curtis Knox in the first place, to cure the meteor-infected. He definitely wants to rectify the lives he fractured from his 33.1/Ares experiments. We’ve been told that this is the season of reversals. We definitely see that with the Lex Luthor character, as for most of last season, he was doing very “dark and twisty” things (33.1, Lana’s pregnancy etc.). Now, he is actually making steps to rectify that. Now, I have stated this before, but seeing Michael Rosenbaum playing this kind of redeemed Lex is very different from previous Lexes. We have seen Lex on both sides, on the good side, and on the complete “dark and twisty”, but to see a kind of amalgamation of the two, tis intriguing. But is Lex truly changed? Or is he the same Lex after all and is just covering his tracks, since due to the collapse of Reeve’s Dam, his “Project” is known to all?
Another way that Lex is making steps towards redemption in his own eyes and in the eyes of others that was seen in this episode, was his “teamup” with Clark Kent. It seems that once again that Lex is trying to reassemble his fractured friendship with Clark. Even though Lex is trying to repair it, I think Clark, deep down, knows that that friendship can never be saved, as he is privy to a conversation that Lex never remembers (Vessel), where Lex confessed that he felt their friendship was doomed. It was still very interesting to see these two characters working together to save a common friend.
Another character that is taking a different turn is the character of Lana Lang. One thing we already know about Lana’s dark actions is that she stole 10 million from Lex while she was married to him. But up until this point, we did not know what Lana was doing with that money. But, now we do: building a secret base to spy on Lex Luthor. Not only has she done this, but she has kept it a secret from Clark. But a question about her secret base raises another question: why has Lana equipped herself with this secret base? Is to just stalk on Lex? Or is it to bring him down with a swift stroke? As for me, I think Lana will be working to bring down Lex, as revenge for what she did to him in the past season.
A character that I think really came into his own in this episode was Jimmy Olsen. This episode, I think, was Aaron Ashmore’s best performance yet as Jimmy. Especially that tender and heartbreaking breakup scene between himself and Chloe. He and Allison really worked well together in this episode. He really played it well. I really think they have now found their niche with this character and know where they want to go with him. But now that Jimmy has broken up with Chloe, will he get another superpowered girlfriend by the name of Kara? Or will Chloe and Jimmy get back together next episode like they did last season? Something does tell me, however, this breakup will last a little longer than the first one did.
All in all a very good episode, and it definitely continued to lay a foundation for future episodes in the season with Dean Cain’s character, Chloe’s meteor-power uncured and still in her, Kara’s departure from the Smallville borders, and Lana’s secrets. I definitely enjoyed this episode very much, and cannot wait to see how all of these things that were planted in this episode are resolved.
RATING:4/5
October 24th, 2007 at 7:01 am
very well said, here, here!
October 31st, 2007 at 6:45 am
I thought Allison Mack was awsome in this episode ..
She’s an amazing actress!