Starkville’s House of El Podcast

So what did Tim think of “Gemini”?

Wow. That’s really all I can say about that. I think I can be bold enough to say that this was my favorite episode of the season. It seemed like this episode was stock full of surprises and turns that it was amazing that it was able to fit in the forty minute time it was allotted. I hope I can do this episode justice with this review . . .

One thing this episode did was kind of cement the fact that there is literally no turning back for Lex. Throughout the final five episodes of season five and the whole of season six, Lana had been his moral compass of sorts. When he had lost that (by his own hand, mind you), he has been desperately trying to piece himself together, trying to reform himself of the things that he had done to drive Lana away from him. He has obviously failed in that, by his actions through the mysterious Project Gemini.

Which brings to another discussion: Project Gemini. This project was obviously created for a single purpose: to create a clone of the long dead brother of Lex Luthor, Julian. Grant is obviously that perfect clone. Now I do not know where they got Julian’s DNA to create these clones (some perfect, some imperfect), but they were created for that purpose: so Lex could have a brother. Lex, for all his machinations, failed to see the implications this would have on Grant.

This episode also saw, through the revelations by failed clone Adrian, kind of the de-evolution of the Grant Gabriel. I think it’ll be interesting to see what happens to Grant now. I can only imagine he’ll try to piece together whatever semblance of his life that he can. He knows from Adrian that the memories he had of homelife and family are just pieces of glass that have been shattered by Lex. My guess is (and this has been said by Derek on SHoE) he’ll try and go to Lionel Luthor, the person he knows as his real father. Now, in episodes previous, Lex has kind of “advised” Grant not to do so as Lionel might find out what Lex had been doing with Project Gemini and Julian. So it shall be interesting should Lionel and Julian meet up.

I have to say some things about Grant Gabriel, though. I will say that this character has gone through a radical change. But I have enjoyed it very much. When he was first introduced at the beginning of the season, he was just a normal editor who just criticized Chloe and praised Lois. Now he pretty much on the verge of suicide almost. Michael Cassidy, I think, has played that character change very well. He has played all the aspects of the character beautifully. Now should he not last too much longer on the show, could it pave the way for the return of Michael McKean as Perry White as editor of the Planet? One can only hope . . .

If you notice at the end of the episode, Grant is wearing very Lex-like apparel with a long black trench coat and a white dress-shirt unbuttoned some. I just thought it was very funny and very Luthor-like.

But I digress . . .

This episode marked a milestone of sorts for the series: the purchase of the Daily Planet by Lex Luthor. This has been a device that has been used in many incarnations of Superman. In the comics, Lex purchased the Daily Planet for the reasons he mostly did them in Smallville: to control the media and avoid unfavorable publications about Mr. Luthor himself. Near the end of the episode, when meeting with one of his associates, Lex asks for info on everybody on the Daily Planet staff, claiming to want to get rid of the Planet’s “dead wood.” Does this mean that possibly Chloe, Jimmy, and Lois might be out of jobs? Chloe, maybe, but Lois and Jimmy very unlikely. Still, it shall be intriguing to see how Lex handles running a major metropolitan newspaper and a Fortune 500 corporation at the same time.

This episode was a particularly strong episode for Lois Lane. Now I enjoy the character of Lois Lane on Smallville, and believe she definitely adds something to the show. I am probably in the minority there, but I like her. Of all the Lois-centric episodes though, Gemini and Prototype definitely rank high on my list. Many times during the episode, I was rooting for Lois to warn Chloe about the bomb and to get to the root of the problem. It was definitely an awesome episode on that note.

It definitely helped move the character of Lois along a straight and narrow path to the Lois Lane that we all know and love from the movies and the comics. Because now the person she has promised to expose in past episodes is now her boss. It will definitely create some interesting drama for both Lois and Lex. Now, no doubt Lois is going to cause some trouble with Mr. Luthor. But that’s part of the fun of it . . .

This episode was an episode for relationship changes, particularly the relationship of Chloe and Jimmy. It was in this episode that Chloe revealed to Jimmy that she was in fact a meteor-freak. Now this was a reveal that kinda had taken me aback a bit. Not the fact that Chloe’s a meteor freak, but the fact that she revealed it so soon in the season. I was not expecting that reveal to take place until probably the season finale. But it was a great reveal. Another reveal that surprised me on this same regard was when she actually revealed what her power was. Now we all knew what the power was of course, but seeing her use the power in this manner was awesome. This was awesome because it implies that Chloe has been testing her limits and experimnenting with her meteor ability. Maybe this is the reason she chose not to tell Clark and Jimmy about her power right away. So that she could test and try her ability without being coddled and protected.

Now to get to what I’m sure you’re all waiting for. The real meat of the episode. The return of Clark Kent from the Fortress of Solitude. Now, like Derek on the podcast, I went into this episode knowing that Clark was NOT Clark, but that he was in fact Bizarro. I wish I had not known so the reveal at the end of the episode would’ve been a huge surprise for me. Now, regardless, when Bizarro did reveal his true face, I screamed at high decibels. So it obviously didn’t ruin it that much for me. In fact, if you rewatch the episode, everything Bizarro as Clark says and does makes sense.

This reveal has sparked much debate among fans, saying that Jor-El is responsible for Bizarro’s return. Now I don’t think so. I believe that Bizarro might’ve returned during that time in Blue when the sun was eclipsed. Then he possibly went tot he Fortress and saw Clark there and took advantage of pretending to be “Clark.” And I do have to say he did an awesome job of pretending to be Clark. But Bizarro’s return instead of providing more answers, opened more questions.

On that note, Tom Welling did an awesome job playing Bizarro playing Clark. Whoever thinks Tom Welling is not a good actor should just sit down and watch this episode. Tom really shines as an actor when he plays one of many of Clark’s alternate identities (Red-K Clark, Kal-El, Lionel-Clark, Silver-K Clark, and Bizarro). He really played off Bizarro’s damaged persona perfectly.

This episode also marked another milestone not only in regards to Smallville, but in regards to the entire Superman mythos. This episode was the first time where Kryptonian has been spoken onscreen. This was really awesome that Bizarro/Clark was able to listen to the Brainiac-infected woman. Albeit the Kryptonian was muted a bit and you couldn’t make it out much

One thing I’ve liked about Smallville’s Bizarro that I did not get a chance to mention in my earlier review of the season-opener is that he is very different from the comics’ Bizarro. In the comics, Bizarro was always a misjudged villain, doing things he believed to be right in a demented sense. On the contrary in Smallville, Bizarro is just plain EVIL. That is in part on how he was raised in those Kryptonian labs, which raises the question: What is Bizarro’s true motives? Is it just to take over Clark’s life? Because if it is that, what does he want with Brainiac? Why is he interested in finding Brainiac at all?

That also brings to light the subject of Brainiac. We have not seen Brainiac in form for a couple of episodes. So it was nice to see that storyline be brought back. This Brainiac trying to boot itself up will no doubt come into bigger play in the upcoming episode, “Persona,” in which we will see James Marsters return as Brainiac. It shall be very interesting to see Bizarro and Brainiac interact, as that what may happen. Will they team up? So many questions . . .

One thing I’ve liked about Smallville episodes in the past is the titling. Some people have thought it lame that Smallville episode titles are only one-word titles. But there are times when the title can say so much. “Hidden” is one that comes to mind. You watch that episode, and post on the forums what you think that title implies. Anyway, I digress. This episode I believed what focus entirely on Project Gemini, which it did to a certain extent. But the title “Gemini” also refers to the fact that Bizarro (Clark’s “twin”) returned, because Gemini being the Zodiac symbol for twins. SO many meanings in one word . . .

This episode as a whole was a really strong way to tide us over for a whole month until the next episode airs. Definitely added more fuel to the fire for all our questions regarding certain characters and certain events. As for me, I cannot wait to see them unfold until this season concludes with a Big BANG!!!!

RATING: 5/5

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 7:42 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.