SMALLVILLE Minicaps / Season 9, Eps. 16-19

The Smallville season 9 minicaps plays chess, not checkers.

Stewart here…

Last we left everyone, we had a few surprises. One was Chloe and Oliver becoming way more than just friends, if you know what I mean. Another comes when Clark saved Zod from dying with some of his super blood. I’m sure Zod feels grateful for that, except now he’s using the Blur’s secret identity to get Lois to unwillingly spy on everyone. Oh, and he can fly. Barely a few hours with powers, and he can fly. That happened. So let’s see how that and that mysterious group Checkmate fit into things in this installment…

“Checkmate”

Ollie as Green Arrow comes to the help of some mystery lady, only it’s Tess, helping Checkmate to imprison him. Clark starts searching for Oliver, but gets weird vibes from John Jones during the search. Of course, the question of John’s loyalty falls by the wayside when Clark discovers Waller’s big plan: to capture Chloe and all of Watchtower’s secrets. This is a nice twisty episode, and one that hints to bigger players than just Waller, if that Red Queen chess piece at episode’s end is to be believed.

“I leave the room for one minute and someone steals my Game of Thrones chess pieces!”

–Really, Tess’s office at the Daily Planet has an escape chute? Complete with costume change on the way down?

–Wow, extreme speed ramping overkill in the opening of this episode. Although, I did like the slow-mo 3D tableau as Clark rescues Chloe.

–So, Tess may be going into hiding for a while after helping Ollie bust the Checkmate Castle’s powergrid. Oh, and now she knows Ollie is the Green Arrow, which is met by her standard reaction of throwing things at people.

–So John Jones can wipe memories, or at least something to that effect when telling Clark that Waller won’t remember who Clark is. Oh, and he is working with someone, just not Checkmate. That “Red Queen” perhaps?

–Ollie’s runner through this episode: “They’re not tights.”

“Upgrade”

Lois is doing some spying for Zod (not that she knows that, BTW) at one of Tess’s labs and runs into someone we haven’t seen for a bit: John Corben, with his kryptonite heart working and a new component that could make him someone’s puppet. Corben turns out to be more helpful than you would think when Clark gets exposed to red kryptonite and gets all creepy because of it. When he joins Zod to start taking over the world, Corben may be the only one who can stop them both. Well, Clark does get saved, but Zod decides to strengthen his bond with his fellow Kandorians by offering them some of his new super blood. Once again, great job, Clark.

Burning piles of used copies of Twilight books never looked so cool.

–Well, evil Clark finds out Zod has superpowers now, and now knows about Chloe’s kryptonite weapons. Guess which one of those Clark torches?

–Great. Now Chloe gets to hide stuff from Lois, along with drugging her at the secret lab.

–So Clark and Zod’s way of getting the world conquering started is by starting a snowstorm in Seattle. Little steps, I guess.

–Kind of bummed this is Corben’s last appearance on the show. But at least he’ll be better off, albeit until any future date asks about that new red kryptonite heart he’s got.

–“By the way, this is the least secret- secret lab I’ve broken into. Twice.”

“Charade”

That crooked DA from “Idol” earlier this season manages to get released from prison, and Clark and Lois are tasked by the new Daily Planet editor to scoop this. Of course, the threat of one of them losing their jobs is enough to cause some trouble. And then there’s a rogue Checkmate agent named Maxwell Lord, who’s out to expose The Blur by creating a image of him by scanning the brains of people who’ve seen him. Oh, and it looks like Lois and Clark both lose their jobs, but start fixing their relationship, so, lose-win this episode?

mwwwwwwrrrrrrroooooooowwwwwww.

–Welcome a sexy Playboy Club-esque outfit to Lois’s undercover closet.

–The mysterious Red Queen just picked up Lord for, what exactly?

–So Clark knows someone is pretending to be The Blur (not who) to Lois, so he calls off the whole phone tag with her permanently.

–“Mr. Sacks, Lois Lane from the Daily Planet. You may remember me from the roof of the Daily Planet.”

–“Sometimes I swear you have more than two hands.”

“Sacrifice”

Chloe receives an unexpected visitor at Watchtower in Tess, which causes the system to seal them both in. Of course, it seems the real culprit is Checkmate, who want control of Watchtower. Meanwhile, Clark asks Ollie to raid Tess’s mansion for info on Zod, while Clark tries to save the unpowered Kandorians from Checkmate. Obviously, things go bad for everyone this episode, and I do mean everyone.

Chloe and Tess’s staging of a scene from Pulp Fiction went off without a hitch.

–Hey, Stuart the techie’s alive! And he’s with Checkmate! And he lost an eye thanks to Tess!

–Wow, what a dark scene with Zod killing Faora, only afterwards realizing she was pregnant with his child. But true to form, he just uses it as an excuse to start a war on humanity. Jerk.

–Checkmate gets kneecapped pretty badly by Zod. Whether Waller survived is another matter.

–Speaking of Zod laying waste to people, Oliver gets sent to the hospital with a gnarly Zod crest tattoo on his chest. Ew.

–Clark finds out the remaining Kandorians have superpowers and can fly too. Say it with me, kids: great job, Clark.

NEXT TIME: We finish season nine of the Smallville minicaps with some highlights, but before that, Martha Kent returns with a surprising guest in “Hostage”, and Clark faces Zod to save the world in “Salvation”.