SMALLVILLE Minicaps / Season 9, Eps. 5-8

Smallville season 9 minicaps have no plans for any Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog cameos this installment…or EVER.

Stewart here…

Last time, Clark’s attempt to be a full-time hero hit some big snags. One is the arrival of Zod and his Kandorian army, not as powerful as Clark, and still under the kryptonian’s radar. Another is the return of Lois from where or whenever she’s been, and the nightmarish visions she’s having. And then there’s Oliver, who’s been in a bit of a downward spiral of late that seems to be getting worse. Plus, now that Chloe is in charge of Watchtower, she’s been getting really secretive and kind of manipulative. And Tess is trying to figure out what Zod is up to, along with watching Clark. So, that’s everything, I think. I mentioned the person appearing in a landing site marked with the House of El crest, right? Oh. Well let’s get to that, then…

“Roulette”

Once again, Oliver is drinking and gambling his night away when he gets pulled into an odd game which forces him to face his demons. Its Smallville’s version of David Fincher’s The Game (highly recommended, BTW), where even when you figure out what’s really happening to Oliver, you find out how wrong you are. The point is that Oliver’s ready to become a superhero again, and that’s a relief for Clark. Well, “relief” because Clark has discovered those kryptonian (or should I say, “Kandorian”) arrivals on Earth. Hopefully Clark will get around to telling Oliver that.

"Thanks Blur for stopping this rapist! Can I give you my car insurance company's number so you explain why you trashed my car?"

“Thanks Blur for stopping this rapist! Can I give you my car insurance company’s number so you can explain how my car just got totaled?”

–I have to admit it was a surprise to see Chloe was the architect of the game Oliver was put through. And did I smell some romantic tension in the air during that reveal scene between her and Oliver?

–In the opposite of romantic stuff, Lois is really ticked off Clark didn’t mention anything about Oliver’s possible suicide attempt in “Echo”. Ooooh, bad move, Clark. I’m sure she’s going to have a hard time getting over that. Hang on, I just watched the next episode, so no, she gets over it.

–Oliver has a bit over 3 billion dollars in his personal account. Wow.

–There’s a joke about a woman “with a dragon tattoo”. So, topical humor at the time…

–Oh hey, that mystery future assassin from the season premiere is revealed to be a Kandorian. And she didn’t come alone as we discover.

“Crossfire”

Lois and Clark end up auditioning for hosts of a morning TV show, and thanks to their play off each other during the audition, both of them are offered the job. As ambivalent Clark is to taking the gig (he’s got Kandorians to find, people!), the duo’s first assignment goes well, until it doesn’t. While this is going on (and related to why the Lois/Clark gig goes wrong), Oliver reaches out to a young girl to get her off the streets and we meet Tess’s new business partner in a new solar energy project….Zod! Um, ok, I must have missed Zod’s corporate takeover thing or something, but his attempt to get Tess to reveal where the Blur is goes…well, surprisingly bad for him.

Tess Mercer for Starbucks Coffee: YOU WILL RESPECT ME.

–Chloe is busy searching for Kandorians and runs afoul of Stuart during her hacking. She doesn’t do well with the firewall thing, but does well in identifying Stuart.

–Oliver’s plan to tell Lois he still cares for her goes bad when she reveals she has feelings for Clark. Awwww. And then that kiss at the end? AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Hey, let’s see that for ourselves again:

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

–Zod getting the bloody dogtags back of that plant he had watching Tess was a subtle enough point.

–Oliver must be pretty forgiving to still let Speedy, I mean, Mia drive him around after almost getting him killed.

–The first mention of Cat Grant, who will be popping up next season in the flesh.

“Kandor”

We get a big surprise this episode as we reveal who else was brought to Earth besides Zod and his Kandorian army…Jor-El. That’s right, Clark discovers Jor-El is alive, and Chloe discovers Jor-El really needs to hide some special book. Then there’s Zod, who wants Jor-El (because he thinks Jor-El is the Blur) to give the Kandorians the super-strength they should have. Well, we finally get an answer to a lot of the questions about the Kandorians this season (clones!), Zod anger towards Jor-El, along with some big developments set up for the rest of it.

Jor-El: “This is not the weirdest job interview I’ve ever had, you know.”

–“Hey, what happened after that last scene from the episode before?”, you ask. Well, Lois decided to leave and collect her thoughts after that impromptu kiss from Clark, so…she’ll be fine.

–Yep, that tribunal on Krypton is meant to look like the 1978 Superman movie. Of course, if it wasn’t Julian Sands as Jor-El but Terrence Stamp (who’s been the voice of Jor-El for the run of the series, and Zod in the ’78 movie) in that tribunal ring, that would have been a weird coincidence.

–That’s a rather twisted moment to see Tess so happy Clark reveals himself to her, even if its while being choked out by Clark. But as she says about how its happening, “I’ll take what I can get”.

–“Save Zod?” Yeah, Clark, I would not really follow your father’s wishes on that last request.

–“For next Christmas I think I’ll get you a sense of humor.”

“Idol”

Lois is back from that awkward vacation (i.e., trying to deal with Clark’s kiss) in time to see the Blur’s newest crime-fighting exploits, albeit failed ones. Only thing is, its not the Blur behind these failed attempts at do-goodery, but super-powered twins Zan and Jayna, who really just want to help the Blur out. Of course, they do become helpful for Clark when he has to save Lois from an unexpected brush with death. And of course, Lois is dealing with all her issues regarding Clark and the Blur (and those creepy dreams), and how at one point, she thinks they are one and the same. Considering the Wonder Twins are in this, its one of the high points of the season.

Thank goodness this is the only Gleek cameo in this series. We all dodged a bullet.

–So yeah, Claudia from Warehouse 13 (Allison Scagliotti) is Jayna. Also, in terms of the Wonder Twins’s plan and website worship, I’m pretty sure only on Facebook fan pages, not personal pages, you can get more than 5,000 friends, let alone 10,000 friends.

–“Holding Out For A Hero” is The Blur’s ringtone on Lois’s phone.

–Chloe has seemed a little more creepy in her role in the Watchtower, hasn’t she, what with that voice manipulated Blur phone call?

–So yeah, the D.A. is corrupt. Of course, it doesn’t help I saw the actor as Dr. Ivo on Arrow this year.

–“I’m going to save you a lot of time and money, okay? It’s all your parents’ fault.”

–Oh, and after the kiss that ended this episode? Lois passes out in Clark’s arms, having more of those apocalyptic dreams. I’m sure we’re about to get some more details on that.

NEXT TIME: Tess gets to fully see Lois’s vision of a dark future and it isn’t pretty in “Pandora”, an old nemesis targets Oliver and his friends in “Disciple”, and Clark helps a disbanded super hero team fight a super-villain targeting them in “Absolute Justice”.