SMALLVILLE Minicaps / Season 8, Eps. 9-12

The Smallville season 8 minicaps is trying to slim down for Chloe and Jimmy’s wedding. Either that, or buy a new suit.

Stewart here…

Clark’s starting to become a hero (if in secret) around Metropolis, and that’s bound to get some attention for the nervous Mr. Kent. But he embraces it, and probably good timing too because things in town are getting weird. Chloe has started to become creepy super-genius, Tess is getting really interested in Lex’s obsession with kryptonian stuff, and Davis has found out he might be a kryptonian WMD whose meant to lay waste to Earth. Plus, Lois is totally not interested in him. What? She isn’t!

“Abyss”

Chloe’s brain upgrades from her exposure to Brainiac have finally caused a real problem in her forgetting details (and people) from her past. What it’s being replaced with is kryptonian code, and Clark has to rebuild the Fortress in order to try and purge Brainiac from her brain. While Chloe gets saved, she has forgotten Clark’s secret and Brainiac may have found its way into the Fortress. Also, for some reason through all this memory loss and until Brainiac is kicked out of her head (?), she specifically is being left knowledge of Clark and Davis. That’s odd, isn’t it?

Sadly the Smallville spinoff The Young Clark and Chloe Chronicles never took off.

–Brainiac warns Jor-El “Doomsday is coming”. Ruh-roh.

–I’m not sure I’ve ever been good with Chloe getting the memory loss she has here. It’s not the only Chloe-related thing I have issues with this season, but it’s one at least that gets corrected later on this season, unlike, say…well, when we get to the season finale, we’ll talk.

–Hmm, Lana hasn’t responded to Chloe’s wedding invite. Well, I guess that’s one seat open (not paying attention to next episode).

–Um, bad news, Davis, I don’t think she remembered you because of some love connection. It may have to do with you being some kryptonian creature of death. But good for you on not wanting to go to her wedding despite your feelings (really not paying attention to next episode).

–“Thank you…father.” Clark, your dad’s still a colossal dick.

“Bride”

So Chloe and Jimmy’s wedding day is here, and it goes off spectacularly, except for that inhuman party crasher that drops by to see the bride. And after severely injuring Jimmy, Doomsday takes Chloe back to the Fortress, and she seems…happy to see him? Oh nuts, Brainiac’s still holding some real estate in Chloe’s head. Before the wedding goes to pot, Oliver is hunting down Lex (you know, for Lex’s dad killing his parents and all) and runs into during this little trip…Lana Lang? I know, right? Weird.

“(saying through gritted teeth) If this ends up in any future wedding video of mine, I’ll rip your soul out!”

–I guess its important to return phone calls from Davis, because if you don’t, he transforms into a giant rage monster and tries to kidnap you.

–Awww, Lois really is warming to the idea of Clark. And just when Lana shows back up into Clark’s life. Drat!

–On the Lana front, she took her time away to get herself a nice hairstyle and continue seeking revenge on Lex. Well, she did other things, but more on that later.

–I could tell you Jimmy may have jinxed his wedding earlier, but if you’ve seen this season before reading this, you’d know there’s evidence of that long before he almost gets killed by Doomsday.

–The back of Lex’s bald head makes an appearance. Say “hi”, back of Lex’s head!

“Legion”

Clark’s about ready to find Chloe when he gets interrupted by a mysterious visitor with an axe called The Persuader, and gets help in fighting said axe-wielding guy from three people (Rokk, Imra, Garth) from the 31st century. They call themselves The Legion, and they arrived to stop The Persuader, but then have to help Clark recover Chloe from Doomsday, and eventually from her control by Brainiac as it plans to kickstart Doomsday’s whole mission to destroy Earth. Oh, and good news: Chloe finally remembers all that “Clark’s an alien” stuff while Davis chills out in some Fortress icicle before he breaks out as Doomsday. Whew.

Davis: “Um, Chloe, why am I in some ice cavern with barely any clothes on? And why do you look like you came from a six day bender?”

–Some nice comic book connections here, with Garth mentioning his sister (another Legion member), and the reference to Brainiac 5. The latter reference will pop up again in the final season.

–Imra tells Lana that she has her own destiny to follow. Well, la dee dah. Also, she’ll keep Lana’s secret. What “secret”, exactly?

–Cool, Clark gets one of those neat Legion rings. Best part of it is he can time travel with it. Worst part is he can’t use it to fly like other Legion rings. Rats.

–Boy, Davis, a Brainiac possessed Chloe telling you you’re a kryptonian super monster isn’t getting the message quite through, is it?

–Maybe one of the best last lines before going to the Smallville credits sequence: “Cape?”

“Bulletproof”

John Jones takes a bullet from a mystery gunman, and Clark goes undercover as a cop in Jones’ precinct house to find the shooter among John’s co-workers. Clark makes friends with his patrolman partner and has to steer him away from the corrupt cops who may have shot John. Lana seems to be back in town for a while, and so she has a talk with Tess about ol’ Lex, and surprise, it’s a fairly negative review of the missing Luthor, backed up by the reveal she’s literally been Lex’s “eyes and ears” for a while now. Welcome to the “I’ve been used by Lex” club, Tess, your chair is waiting.

“Clark Kent: Supercop”. Meet the cop that REALLY can’t be stopped.

–I will say despite what happens later on, it’s kind of nice to see a competent Lana pull the blinders of Tess’s loyalty to Lex. And by blinders, I mean the camera in her eyes.

–Oh, and Tess mentions something about “Project Prometheus” being important to save Lex. I assume this means he’s going to meet the Engineers and hang out with Charlize Theron or something.

–Dan Turpin is another comic book callback to a cop in Metropolis. Of course, Dan was a bit older, pudgier, and balder in the comics, but hey, tomato, to-mato.

–I think I may be hallucinating but Gaeta from Battlestar Galactica is the doctor at the hospital. Actually, the same actor will pop up later on in the run in a slightly larger role, but no telling.

–Clark and Lana seem to be back together. So you wanna place bets on what’s going to drive them apart this time?

NEXT TIME: Clark discovers a new superpowered ally in…Lana Lang?…in “Power”, Clark and Lana’s new relationship meets a tragic ending in “Requiem”, Linda Lake returns to threaten Clark’s identity in “Infamous”, and Tess and Clark find themselves on a bad flight in “Turbulence”.