SMALLVILLE Minicaps / Season 3, Eps. 5-8

Smallville season three minicaps is staying indoors for fear of being followed by pesky drunk journalists.

Stewart here, and be warned of spoilers within…

Well, things are kind of back to normal for Smallville. Clark is back after his unplanned summer vacation in Metropolis being a red-kryptonite affected bad boy, and everyone’s doing okay. Except Lex is getting therapy for his whole “my wife tried to kill me and I spent the summer on a deserted island” thing, Chloe is regretting that really bad “make alliances with Lionel to find out more about Clark Kent” decision, and Lana is, well, her I guess. How do things fare in this round of minicaps?

“Perry”

A massive solar flare is causing some weird power trouble with Clark, like the fact his power goes from zero to 200 and back again in seconds. All this wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t for a down on his luck reporter named Perry White (Michael McKean) who has traveled into town and witnessed Clark’s power problem. So now Clark has to deal with escorting the continually drunk White, who wants to turn him into an exclusive story. And did I mention Clark’s sudden jolts and drops of power aren’t making that task any easier? Considering all the heaviness of the season so far, this is a welcome breath of fun.

“Hey, I found a penny under the tractor…oops.”

–Clearly Lex has some issues from his island exile, so it looks like he really will need to spend some more time on the therapist’s couch. I smell spinoff worthy material there, like Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist with a supervillain.

–Judgmental Lana Time: She couldn’t just wait for Clark to explain he was escorting White, not on his side before she ran off to talk to Lex to get rid of the nosy reporter? On the plus side, she isn’t visiting her parents’ graves that much anymore. So, yay there?

–White apparently had some dirt on Lionel that he’s protected himself with. I wonder what’s going to happen now that White is quite sober and willing to write about it.

–Just watching those looks of Clark and Jonathan’s faces when that tractor went flying over the horizon was nice. Also, that reaction from White when the tractor lands in front of him is the reason you have someone like Michael McKean in that role.

–Clark pieces together that he gets his powers from the sun. If he didn’t then, he probably would’ve pieced it together during that thousand mile trip back home after his superspeed went wonky.

–“‘Principal Authorizes New Gym Mats by Clark Kent’. I know I was riveted.”

“Relic”

The murder of Lana’s great aunt forty years ago reveals an unusual connection in the present in a sketch of the suspect, a drifter that looks like Clark. So what’s going on? Well, a discovery at the caves leads Clark to flashback on the events of that (which allow Tom Welling and Kristin Kreuk to run around in early 60’s dress), and how this mystery drifter is connected to him. What we get a little mystery story that links the Luthor and Kent clan in what we discover is the story of a young Jor-El going to Earth. And we find out Jonathan and Martha may not have discovered their adopted son by mistake.

Gotta say, I dig the shorter haired Lana, I mean, um, Lana's great aunt.

I quite like the shorter haired Lana, I mean, um, Lana’s great aunt. Also, she dies permanently. That’s a plus over Lana.

–Lex pieces together his grandparents were murdered in a fire, and he tells Lionel, who wants to find their killers. Um…so who wants to take bets it was Lionel?

–Like I said in season two, if William B. Davis is one of your guest stars, he’s probably the bad guy. In this case, the corrupt mayor was also a crooked cop.

–Speaking of dealing with Mayor Tate, Clark pretending to be the drifter ala a ghost was a clever way to get the guilty party to confess.

–I’m not sure how I feel about the idea that Jor-El picked the Kents to take care of Clark. The whole trip to Earth and falling in love with Louise is fine, but I kind of like the idea of a random couple picking up and raising young Kal-El.

–Wow, Chloe had to stretch to explain how Clark could give up so many specific details. It almost makes you think she’s covering up his secret…nah. Couldn’t be.

“Magnetic”

One of Lana’s childhood friends Seth gets an accidental meteor super-power in becoming magnetic. It also has another side-effect in making Lana obsessively attracted to Seth, which causes her to act more irrationally the longer she’s with him. And Chloe is dealing with Luthor troubles of her own when Lex gets wind of her investigating Lionel. Its probably not a good idea to align yourself with another Luthor, Chloe.

–Oh, Chloe: sneaking in a kiss from Clark while in the hospital. Crafty girl.

–Its kind of hard to disagree with Lana about her falling in with Seth because he was so open about what happened to him, as opposed to Clark, who barely offers up anything. However, I’ll let that go because her willingness did tarnish her rep as Little Miss Overachiever of Smallville.

“Looks like you’re attracted to more than Lana, huh? Huh? Sorry. Bad joke. I had nothing for puns to work with.”

–Seth’s in a coma, so no way he can reveal what he knows about Clark. I believe this is the fourth of fifth time someone is kept from revealing the truth about Clark thanks to a coma in the series so far.

–“The American version of closure: you can only get over your grief when you can merchandise your tragedy.”

“Slumber”

Lex thinks he’s found evidence that could bring his father down, and ducks out in the Kent farm after someone tries to kill him in the mansion. Except, there’s one problem: it seems like Lex is having a psychotic break and he thinks everyone is conspiring against him. The truth is way more complicated than just a nervous breakdown and its up to Clark to piece it together. So we get a nice twisty episode to end this round of minicaps, leaving Lex locked up in an asylum thanks to Lionel’s machinations. Yikes.

Lionel is just entranced by Lex’s impromptu mime act of playing a dog.

–So yeah, Lionel conspired with Edge to destroy Lex’s credibility and yes, Lionel probably did let Edge kill his parents. And also yes, the psychiatrist was in on the whole plot too. Sucks being in the Luthor clan.

–Meet the new Morgan Edge, not played by the same Morgan Edge. Instead of Rutger Hauer, we get Patrick Bergin as post-plastic surgery Edge. A pretty inventive way to deal with a scheduling problem by having your villain change his appearance.

–That’s a pretty subtle reference back to Lex’s baby brother Julian, and that hint that Lex may have had something to do with his death (a more definitive answer to that comes later on this season in “Memoria”).

–Kryptonite beads for weapons? Smart idea on Edge’s part. Not so much in trying to run Lex down and getting shot up even more. He also probably didn’t count on his car getting wrapped around Clark.

–I actually like how the whole Lana’s broken leg thing is downplayed. Its not until the horse eases off her that we see that long shot of her unconscious with that twisted leg. Hard to hold it against her to push Clark away after that babysitting of Lex goes that bad.

–“Why do these institutions always stink of ammonia?”

NEXT TIME: Clark faces old foes while going into an asylum to save Lex in “Asylum”, Clark goes blind in “Whisper”, everyone (and we mean everyone) wants to kill Chloe in “Delete”, and a grave future is foretold for Lana in “Hereafter” .