re: Lois,

I was thinking basically the same thing. The image we had last week of Clark and Kal El separating in the way they did certainly was reinforced when we saw the image of the one body and two heads on the cave wall. And Clark lived through the split of Kal El personally, and he's still looking at that image and think it's Lex??? I just don't get it.

I get the feeling that this show could easilly fall into an X-Files type mess if it goes on too long. I will reserve final judgment on next week's episode, but I get the feeling that Kryp/Tuck will Kryp/Suck and it's appearing this show is really running out of ideas, and running out of them fast. If Tom Welling is going to be the next big screen Superman, better to have this show wrap up quickly and let these characters graduate to the big screen.


Another disappointment with last night's episode....they really glossed over the trial of Lionel. It could have made for a riviting episode by itself. For get the reality of how many years it would take to convict him, I feel we needed a pay off from last season with all the built up tension surrounding this. Having Chloe storm off and declare she's going to nail Lionel's ass to the wall and the next scene being the Kent's reading about the verdict in the paper just plain sucked. Easilly the worst moment in the entire episode.

That is what's so frustrating. They have more than 60 years of Superman comics to draw from. They even have comic book writer(s) on their team. How are they running out of ideas?!

Is it me or do the writers have some weird obession with shower scenes this season?

So far we've seen:

Lana in the shower
Clark in the shower
Lionel in the shower

I thought the aryan brotherhood was going to make Lionel pay American History X style. Then I realized it was network TV.

They need to keep Lois. She's so much better than bland, bland Lana.

Fixed.

I agree. I am not a huge fan of how Lois came off at first, but I would rather see her on the series over Chloe or Lana. Lana will undoubtedly remain, but I think they could send Chloe to a witness relocation and keep Lois in Smallville. Or at least put her in Metropolis, and let her make more appearances on the show than 13.

The one thing that really bothered me about the episode was Lionel getting stabbed in the shower. At first, I thought he had set it up himself so he would be sent to some hospital, and he would escape. But they showed one short scene of him in a hospital bed, and that was it. If it was just thrown in for shock value, it was monumentally stupid. An action like that should have some sort of payoff.

Seriously lovin' Lois. I take back my "wee bit overacting" comment from last week. She's perfect and her chemistry with Tom is great. I don't even miss Lana. Heck I was hoping they'd end it with another Clark/Lois moment instead of Lana and the latest boytoy. Great episode all around.

i really enjoyed this episode including the freak of the week

I don't mind the odd freek of the week

the lana and lois first meeting was cool, lois really has added to the relationship dynamics

Good start to the series, i do think some Smallville fans have gotten too whiney, it's a sci fi tv show, there's gonna be some plot holes and unbelievable things ! deal with it

freak of the week was pretty weak.

So now that Chloe is back we get double dose of her and veronica mars!!! w00t w00t.

I agree. They've been doing the Hannibal Lecter thing with Lionel thus far, now that he's actually in prison, will they go the Arrested Development route or will they go Oz style?

One question for the comic book readers - how do the modern storylines handle the "secret identity" part? Having Lois on the show has just reminded me how preposterous the whole thing is.

That's the big problem with bringing Lois to Smallville: Clark here is more or less a teenager with a bit of mystery to him. Not at all the nerd with glasses persona he adopts in Metropolis. Any reporter with half-a-brain should be able to figure out Clark=Superman (when it comes to that in the future) given all the clues Lois will get during her stay with him in Smallville.

I understand a Superman series without Lois Lane would seem odd, but I really think they should've avoided this ratings ploy.

Agreed.

I think that the writers must have just finished watching Terminator 2. Just silly.

I just finished watching a Smallville marathon... the last two eps of last season and the first two of this season.

Last season's finale opened with a Terminator 3 moment, with that whole Kara naked in the field thing. Even more obvious watching it all together (Kal El naked in the field last week, Terminator 2 this week). Last ep's Kal flying reeked of Matrix Reloaded...

As far as secret identity goes... I think a far bigger problem for Clark would be that he GREW UP with Lex, who's very suspicious of him. When he turns into Superman, how could Lex NOT know his secret identity?

I love Lois. I don't think she's super hot (in fact, her eyebrows kinda freak me out at times), but she brings the kind of antagonistic witty banter that was lacking from this show (Chloe provided some of it, but not to this extent). Probably a good idea not to make here a cast regular just yet, though.

Lana's boyfriend seems like a cool guy, but I despise Lana so much that it's hard to pay attention to them. I guess (from the opening) he'll be playing soccer or something at the school, so they'll be going back to smallville high... though I guess Lois is a little older than them. Speaking of which, this is their senior year... is this series going to go into their college years too? Guess it depends on their ratings...

Lex has also been portrayed as being mentally unstable from time-to-time (i.e., going through psychotic delusions and what not), so anything can happen by the time the series concludes. He probably won't be able to comprehend anything and be sent over the edge if Clark were to be revealed as Superman. It's the ol' "best friend/worst enemy is the same person" comic book theme.

Current DC continuity started in 1986 (after Crisis on Infinite Earths). Lois has known about Clark being Superman since about 87 or 88, so she finds out pretty quickly.

I don't think that having Lois there is any more "preposterous" than having a very young Lois see Clark from a train in the original Superman movie.

I'm a huge Superman comic fan and have been for a long, long time, but you have to seperate the two. Smallville and current DC continuity have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

In regards to the Lex thing, shortly after the Superman relaunch (in 86) Lex was determined to find out who Superman was. All the evidence came back and said that it was Clark Kent. Lex wouldn't believe it because Clark Kent is a weak person. Lex eventually went with the belief that Superman has no secret identity (no mask = nothing to hide). They did something similar to this recently as well. Lex found out that Superman's rocket crashed on the Kent farm 30 years ago. I forget how that was resolved, but Lex currently doesn't remember.

Yeah, I know in the Byrne re-do of the Superman legacy after crisis, we had Lex find insurmountable evidence that Clark was Superman, and concluded that someone as powerful as Superman would never hide his powers and pose as a weakling. They also introduced the concept that he always moved his face at superspeed when he was superman so people couldn't get a good look, but that was later dropped.

Here, however, we have a lex that's obsessed with the idea that Clark has a big secret, and unless he was mindwiped or something he would have to be able to put two and two together to make four.

Anyway, the point is moot, since this is a different continuity. Pete Ross is black, and he'll never marry Lana (who's not a redhead) or be Lex's vice president. Also, in the current comic continuity, Clark didn't even develop his powers until almost adulthood. I was just pointing out that Lex knowing Clark at a young age messes with the mythos much more than Lois meeting Clark now. Don't forget, we also had Perry White last season too.

And we all know that anyone with half a brain wouldn't be fooled by a pair of glasses and a slouch. And yet, they all are...

Anybody remember the SNL skit with The Rock where he was Clark Kent/Superman and everybody knew the secret, but they were pretending that they don't?

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/99/99okent.phtml

Looks like I'm in the minority on not liking Lois. But, I never liked her in the movies either. Pretty much for the reasons Clark blurts out to Lana when she asks about him about liking Lois. The only Lois Lane I have liked was the one from the old old b&w tv series . I've never read many of the comics. I've always been a tv/cartoon/movies kind of fan.

The FOTW definitely seemed a little out of place in this episode.

Only a little??
I'd have thought they would have ditched that by the third season. Ugh.

Michael Ironside
Lois
Lana's bf (aka Whitney II)