Smallville – S08E02 – Plastique

Tonight’s episode – Plastique

The more I think about last week’s premiere episode, the more disappointed I am with it. As season kick-offs go, it wasn’t overly thrilling. It had much more of a mid-season feel to it. I think that a lot of my frustration with “Odyssey” stems from the fact that, beyond Green Arrow, the Justice League served next to no purpose in that episode. Aquaman and Black Canary might as well have been window dressing. Also, I’m really bummed that they chose to have J’onn J’onzz lose his powers, even if it was in the course of saving Clark’s life. J’onn was my favorite “other” hero on this show. Hopefully he’ll be back some point and at full strength.

(We’re still talking about a weekly, prime time, live action TV show! Tee hee! I love you, Smallville!)

I guess that this week are diving right in with the Clark/Lois rival reporter dynamic and that should be interesting because Tom Welling and Erica Durance have good chemistry. And yes, it’s supremely ridiculous that the not-yet-graduated-from-college-even-though-he-looks-ten-years-too-old-for-college-especially-in-HD-Clark Kent is now a reporter at The Daily Planet. But if there is one thing that Smallville has been absolutely consistent with lo’ these last eight (!) years it’s been in its asking you to not sweat the details and just go along and enjoy the story. And so I will. Not that it will stop me from making jokes in the comments section.

When I kid, it’s from a place of love, baby.

As always, I look forward to your thoughts, opinions, gripes, live-blogging, etc.

 

Comments

  1. Okay I know I’ve been watching this for a long time, but I got into a discussion with someone the other day about this….

    Is this series suppose to take place before the Christopher Reeves films? (yes including 3, 4, and Routh’s Return films) I know the films we’re made decades before this series came about, but I just cant think if this is suppose to all lead up to the classic film series. If it is, shouldnt it be considered somewhat a continuity mistake since Clark has encountered the Phantom Zone, Zod, and other people before the film franchise? Just curious on this cause it has bothered me for awhile.

  2. Are you kidding?

  3. ….No, does every comment by you have to be condensending?

  4. I was seriously asking if you were kidding because you often make odd statements that you later claim to be humor.

    No, this show is not in the same continuity as the movies.

  5. Okay thanks for the answer, that’s all I wanted to know.

    I know I make goofy or confusing comments sometimes but that’s how I am. Just once I wanna ask a serious or random question without getting judged on this site.

  6. I’m curious, what would make you think it was in the same continuity?

  7. What issue of Action Comics does tonight’s episode tie-in with?

    Just curious.

  8. I dont know I just thought that was the point of the series. No where have I read that it say it does or doesnt so I thought it would’ve been interesting if this was part of the film’s continuity. But seeing the JLA should’ve made me realised that wasnt the case. It would’ve been interesting to me at least if this was part of the same continuity.

    @Chris: Well soon Geoff Johns is doing a Legion episode which in part is referencing his Action Comics run…So there’s your answer 😛

  9. Cool!

  10. Alright, I am all ready for a new Smallville! Let’s hope it’s better than last week’s. I think it will be. 🙂

  11. Erica Durance was just on Attack of the Show on G4 looking smoking hot.

  12. I want Clark’s career path

  13. is he going to work or camp?

  14. It’s amazing what big boy clothes can do…

  15. Who’s going to be more pissed? The people in the bus bombing, or the guy whose clothes Lois borrowed that are now ruined?

  16. God help me, I love this annoying song.

  17. Was that Miss Tessmacher that Clark just carried out of the bus?  I couldn’t tell.  I haven’t mapped her face to my brain yet.

  18. I guess Superman wears nice shirts and Clark wears flannel.  

  19. @chelsea – Heh, I know what you mean…

  20. @chelsea– I know!  I wonder if that band even plays out together still.

  21. What exactly is Clark’s journalism experience?  Besides hanging out in the Torch offices mooning over Lana?

  22. Doomsday!  Much less menacing here.  Also less scabby.

  23. @conor- beats me, I think he saved the writers of the Torch for a few years more than wrote for it.

  24. this guy is gonna look weird with bony contusions jutting from out his face.

  25. uh oh Jimmy, looks like chloe’s got a new love interest.

  26. @chelsea – Who appears to have about a foot on Jimmy, too.

  27. I wonder if he still wakes up each morning and pummels his way out of a containment chamber buried deep in the earth’s crust. 

  28. Clark is never going to make it in journalism.

  29. what? shes been a journalist for what? a year?

  30. It *was* Miss Tessmacher!

    Is Clark’s shirt clean now?  Or is that a trick of the light?

  31. ohh she’s sassy

  32. he borrowed another shirt

  33. His shirt appears clean in HD.  

  34. So he got *another* shirt?  That guy is either a sucker or he’s in love with Lois… or with Clark.

  35. either way he’s got impeccable taste 

  36. I want Clark to wear one of those bolo ties.  

  37. Chloe is the most thoughtful person ever

  38. I make a bet that this guy turning into Doomsday is going to involve lightning and sparks, somehow.  

  39. Oh, Davis has ideas.  Creepy, creepy ideas.

  40. what an intrepid reporter

  41. sweet the one out of two episode power uses

  42. No bomb?  Maybe it was one of those rare Pinto Buses.

  43. Luckily his city shirt was reversible.  

  44. hey man, don’t bring that flannel shirt around here!

  45. I think that Alex Ross should redesign Superman and incorporate more plaid.

  46. It would be cool if the new producers had no idea that there were different comic companies and decided that this vagrant girl was Cyclops.  

  47. how did she know I wear tights?  Clark thought.

  48. @PaulMontgomery – And then the Warner legal team somehow let it slip and they’re all watchig it together right now (as the Warner leagel team is want to do) and they all look at each other and go. "Uh… did  you..?" "Nooo… I thought you…"

  49. there was a time like 12 months ago when i would have KILLED for an obit.  

  50. Chloe should be an EMT.  Why not?  The producers can’t figure out what else to do with her…

  51. what does Chloe do now?

  52. Talk awkwardly with a Kryptonian Killing Machine

  53. that Doomsday’s all heart

  54. That was literally a frame from the opening credits to Scooby Doo. 

  55. So, the EMT guy is Doomsday?

  56. glad to know she likes roaring fires as well

  57. WHOA – That henchman’s voice is very similar to Keifer’s.  I was looking away when he started talking and I snapped my gaze back to the screen thinking we had a SMALLVILLE/24 crossover.

  58. @xebix- thats what they say

  59. @xebix – Yep, that’s Doomsday.

  60. @xebix – He is confirmed to be Doomsday, yep.  

  61. @conor- that would be amazing, start the letter campaign now

  62. Geoff Johns should have Lois call Clark "Smallville" in one of the Action Comics issues.

  63. I would do that all the time

  64. Yeah, she is totally Lady Cyclops.

    She should fight Lady Bullseye!

  65. that would be pick of the week for sure

  66. @xebix – "Smallville" has been Lois’ nickname for Clark for a long time now… I don’t remembe where it started, but it goes back at least to LOIS & CLARK.  It has definitely popped up in the comics.

  67. didn’t Lois call him that during the Byrne run?

  68. @Kimbo – Possibly.

  69. new city, same hospital set

  70. @conor Ah. I was not aware. I just started reading Action comics with the Brainiac arc and don’t have much experience with Superman comics. I vaguely remember the Lois & Clark TV show.

  71. This flannel shit vexes me.

  72. Notice how all the jokes and wordplay are falling totally flat?  They need to write a little more plainly or have the actors step it up a little.  

  73. better call the Justice League on this one

  74. power use #2

  75. He should have seen the origin of the fire just like that in the first instance.  He’s Superman!

  76. Haha – I mistyped "flannel shit" instead of "flannel shirt".  Makes me seem much more annoyed at the shirt thing than I really am.

  77. @conor Next thing you know, Clark will be wearing a chain wallet.

  78. haha didnt even notice that

  79. Are we getting no explanation of the apparent demonic possession which "forces" her to go after people?  That attack was really jarring.  

  80. Chloe doesn’t strike me as a Clockwork Orange fan. 

  81. Oh, c’mon Clark!  Stop messing with Chloe’s head and heart!  This is just cruel.

  82. he is such an asshole!

  83. Seriously.  

    "You’re supposed to pine for me, Chloe.  Pine after me forever!"   

  84. It is very sad.

  85. man..who else can I string along then..

  86. She should knee him in the balls. Even though it wouldn’t hurt.  It’s the principal, you see.

  87. you know seriously, as much as I get a kick out of this show this version of Clark is a total schmuck almost 90% of the time.

  88. LEGION OF DOOM!

  89. This is doubly annoying because I was so in the Clark/Chloe camp for the first few years… they can’t put him with anyone but Lois, though.  They are stuck with that pairing.

    Still, they should let Chloe catch a break.  Enough!

  90. Or..INJUSTICE SOCIETY!

  91. A team?!? The Legion of Doom?!  Wait, "The injustice of it all" – the Injustice League!

  92. They could at least put them together for a season.

  93. there are no editors at the Daily Planet apparently.  It’s more a co-op.

  94. where do you find these deals on rooms full of Plasma screens?

  95. A long career ahead of him based on what, exactly?

    Also I now see why they want to keep Clark in flannel.  In regular clothes it’s much more apparent that To Welling is 10 years older than Clark Kent.

  96. What the hell was that supposed to mean?  

  97. Um, gross?

  98. Doomsday is a werewolf?  No I got it, he’s possessed by something Jor-el gave him from krypton.  

  99. HOLY CRAP! GREEN ARROW ORIGIN!

  100. That should be interesting.

  101. why is every character other than Clark more interesting on this show?

  102. Kimbo – Sadly, it’s always been that way.  It’s the same problem that DC has with the comics.  They are, for some reason, terrified of giving Superman a personality.  Christopher Reeve, Tim Daly in the cartoon… that’s about the most interesting Superman has been portrayed.

  103. I just finished those animated Superman cartoons, he totally had a personality on that show.  It seems like this Clark only knows how to say no to everything and then apologize for it later.  

  104. This show needs to end.  I have enjoyed for these last 7 years, but it’s time to go.  So far they are 0 for 2 this season.  I thinks it’s suffering from a major lack of Lex Luthor.  And Tom Welling does’nt look like a man in his early 20’s anymore. 

    Next week looks promising with the Green Arrow origin story though.

  105. Damn you East Coast people!!!  You get to watch this show and rag on it already while people like me and Ron are stuck on here in the bay waiting for this piece of crap to start so we can hate on it!!!

  106. No hate here, my friend!  Good natured ribbing.

    Also, Ron is on Long Island tonight.  🙂

  107. darn it all!  Oh well, its about to start here.  I shall commence with my good natured attacks in one hours time. 

  108. I don’t recall. Did they saw where Lana was going? I know she isn’t on the show anymore.

  109. *say

  110. @xebix- They never said where Lana went.  All we got was a Dear John video where she told Clark she was leaving him.  She will be returning around episode 10 for a few episodes, so we’ll probably find out where’s she has been in those episodes. 

    Kara is returning as well for an episode around that time.

     

  111. You know, I love Smallville. Love it. No matter how stupid or bad an episode can be, I’ll still watch with avid glee.

    But I just realised that the weekly comments on this site are infinitely more entertaining than the actual show. Good work, chaps! 🙂

  112. I exclaimed with an ‘AHA!’ at the mention of ‘injustice’ in Tess’ little spiel to ole flame-eyes.  My wife, who actually likes the show a lot, looked at me with that look I always get when there are comic references in the show – the look of, "Oh come on, what now?"  I still enjoyed it though. 

     

    Oh .. and that WAS mean of Clark.  It’s almost like Chloe was throwing it out there one last time… "Things are going to change between us Clark, no more booty calls.  …. but you still have my cell # right?"

  113. No one mentioned that this Bette character is the supervillain Plastique! The episode title even!

    I think it’s going to be either the Injustice League or the Suicide Squad. Or maybe it starts as the Injustice League and becomes the Suicide Squad later on.

  114. Seeing Clark sitting across from Lois completely nails the fact that in the Smallville universe there will be no costumed Superman.  At least, he won’t wear the costume from the comics.   There’s no way the no mask idea fools anyone, even if he starts wearing glasses.  This is an Elseworlds series.

     Just an observation. 

  115. @Tad- I think last night demonstrated the brilliant subterfuge of Clark wearing plaid shirts and Superman wearing really nice borrowed shirts.  Brilliant in its subtlety.   

  116. hmm i just watched this one…it wasnt too bad but i do like the lois and clark interaction