Quick Recap:
Kevin (guest star Jonathan Bennett) has this strange ability to wipe the short term memory of people. However, in trying to avoid being caught by Clark for robbing the Talon, and wiping Lois’ memory, Kevin ends up wiping out all of Clark’s memories. Clark doesn’t remember his name or even what he can do. Chloe tries to help him figure out how to use his abilities while also keeping them a secret from others. Meanwhile, major movement on the Stone storyline front as Jason showed more of his dark side. Finally, Lex is beginning to really connect with his inner evil genius as he tries to take advantage of the situation and trick Clark into revealing what he knows about the caves.
Review:
What a beautiful episode.
From the spoilers and the trailer, I had been expecting a good episode but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was far better than I had even hoped it would be.
Episode scribes Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson rarely disappoint (Delete being probably their only complete miss) and this outing no exception.
NOTE: The long time writing team was recently profiled in an excellent article in the most recent Smallville magazine, issue #8. The article is a must read for people wanting to better understand the writer’s perspective on a network TV show.
First off, what a wonderful premise for an episode!
Having Clark forget who he is and what he can do provided the writers and the actors an opportunity to examine their characters (and their relationships to Clark) in ways that can’t really be done in a regular episode. Clark was shed of his all too human cynicism and ingrained distrust of others. Clark’s character was distilled down into what surely must be 100% pure Superman: honest, trusting, and nearly completely guileless.
Tom Welling has proven yet again that he isn’t just another pretty face. His portrayal of Clark at his most vulnerable and innocent was truly remarkable and understated. It would have been easy for him to just put on a “blank” look and let Clark be passive, yet he was still the Super Boy Scout we all know and love.
His rediscovering Clark’s powers was also fun and probably better than the first time he discovered them. The heat vision moment was hilarious, especially given Smallville’s sexual subtext take on that ability.
Also, the purity of his love for Lana shone through in the scenes he had with her. It was beautiful and romantic.
Tom did a great job.
Allison Mack outdid herself in this episode as well. And thank goodness Chloe looks to have finally moved past her incessant Clark lusting into being more of a friend. Her taking care of Clark helped her to better understand just how much more powerful he is than she thought. The complexity of his life and dealing with all the abilities he has surely put a whole new spin on her relationship with Clark.
Chloe’s reactions to seeing Clark use powers she had no idea he had were priceless. “And the super Wheaties abilities keep on coming!” Very funny.
Lex is finally embracing the evil side we saw in Onyx. His taking advantage of the newly guileless Clark to try and discover the secrets of the caves was about as duplicitous as we’ve seen the undivided Lex ever get. His taking Clark’s drawing of the caves showing the location of the secret room even more so.
Kristin Kreuk’s Lana wasn’t really in this episode much since she was more involved with Jason, but she’s getting into more complicated emotional states than before. Kristin is beginning to come into her own as an actress, I believe. She’s shown some growth this season and her reactions to Clark’s wanting to renew the relationship were wonderful.
Jenson Ackles’ Jason has also moved a lot darker than I would have thought he would have from the beginning. His confrontation with Lana in her apartment was really scary. He seemed to show that the man who could kill to get hold of one of the stones (from last week’s show, Spirit) isn’t going to let a silly teen’s romantic fickleness get the better of him.
What was most interesting on that front, however, was what he told her: “You are the one person who made me forget what I turned into.”
There are only three episodes left in the season and that statement could mean so much depending on what you believe will happen with Jason between now and May 18th.
Is there more to Jason than meets the eye? I guess we’ll see soon.
Guest star Jonathan Bennett was surprisingly good as Kevin. Usually the Freaks of the Week (FOTW), get short shrift in the character arc department. So it was a pleasant change of pace to have one that actually changed and learned over the course of the episode. He did an excellent job as the troubled young man betrayed by his father…
As wonderful as I thought the script was I do have one complaint: they missed a golden opportunity to let Clark reveal real insight into the reasons why he is such a do-gooder.
Kevin is understandably perplexed on why Clark tried so hard to help him. After all, he had wiped Lois’ memory, stole money from the Talon and “86’d” Clark’s memory almost totally.
Why would Clark help him?
Clark’s lame answer was “Maybe it’s because I know what it’s like to be missing part of your life.” Really lame.
Comic book writer Mark Waid wrote a wonderful essay on the motivations behind Clark/Superman’s do-gooder-ness. You can read that here:
http://www.newsarama.com/general/SuperPhilCh1Pre.htm
I’m not sure any episode prior to the series finale, which would logically have Clark finally ready to pull those blue tights, would delve too deeply into Clark’s motivations for being a Super Boy Scout. However, it would have been nice for them to have touched on that a bit.
Overall, one of the best episodes so far this season, but probably just shy of a home run.
4 ½ stars out of 5.
Major Episode Faux Pas:
Just where is Summerholt located? I thought from the previous times it was on the show, it was in Metropolis. That city is supposedly a three hour drive away from Smallville based on comments made in previous episodes, most notably mentioned in 3rd season episodes Whisper and Truth. Yet Kevin’s dad supposedly commutes to Metropolis from his home in Smallville and Lowell County Sheriff Adams apparently has jurisdiction up there if her threats to the receptionist were any clue…
