Savior
Updated 2009-09-26 08:00:37
First off, I have to give a shout out to Omar G. , who bravely recapped this show for an unbelievable eight years. I won't even try to fill your shoes, man. I'll just try them on while I'm playing dress-up.
Previously on Smallville : A decent and fun little show lost its soul but ambled on for several more years, like a zombie, only better-looking. Clark was a crappy dresser and worked at the Daily Planet . Lois befriended Clark's horribly named alter ego, the Red-Blue Blur and made a date to talk to him at midnight. Tess Mercer took over LuthorCorp and the paper. Oliver kaploded someone we're supposed to believe is Lex and got himself on Clark's moral shit list for his troubles. Chloe suggested Clark create a secret identity for himself, and he reacted like this was a crazy idea even though half the people he knows have done exactly the same thing. Lois found the Legion's time-traveling ring and zapped herself to some unknown time while in the middle of a fight with Tess. Tess found a magical Kryptonian orb that couldn't be activated until the "Beast" was dead. Speaking of whom... Davis Bloome had a super-hot physique and turned into Doomsday. The Doomsday part was killed by Clark (I think? The finale was so vague...). The Davis part became human and killed Henry James Olsen out of jealousy over Chloe, but Henry/Jimmy killed him right back with the last of his strength. Chloe got a happenin' penthouse apartment which she christened the Watchtower. Clark blamed himself for the whole debacle and faded off into the sunset, intoning, "Clark Kent is dead."
We sweep over the darkened Metropolis skyline and for a moment I get excited that this might be a Clark POV because he's finally flying. But then I realize there's no way this show has the money to have Clark flitting about on a regular basis. We land in Chloe's apartment. She's on the phone with the cops, informing them that her cousin Lois Lane has been missing for three weeks. In this time, Chloe's gotten a cute little wavy hairdo. She's also wearing a baggy belted shirt that puffs up in such a way that makes me wonder if she's supposed to be pregnant, as some people on the Interwebs have speculated. I think it's just a bad belt choice, though. Chloe stomps over to her computer. She's been calling the police repeatedly, she says, but she hasn't been getting any answers. Then she confesses that she's just hacked into their computer system because they're so unhelpful. Instead of arresting her, they just hang up on her. That'll teach her.
Chloe hears a noise somewhere in her cavernous apartment and looks around worriedly. She reaches down and produces a gun. She keeps her finger on the trigger as she goes to check things out, which seems like a good way to accidentally shoot someone. Although, what the hell. It's like 90% of the population of the city are either mutated psychos or psychotic mutants, so maybe it's not such a bad precaution. Also, I'm looking at this place and instead of thinking how awesome and spacious it is, I'm thinking of what a bitch it must be to dust because the ceilings are about 30 feet high. Plus, can you imagine what it would cost to heat and cool a place like that? I know, I know. On a list of implausible things about this show, this is pretty close to the bottom. But still! So expensive! Chloe stands at the top of the stairs as a man walks in downstairs through seemingly unlocked doors. She aims her gun and warns him she'll give him an "impromptu nose job" if he comes any further. Nasty rhinoplasty on the fasty is avoided when she recognizes the intruder as Dr. Hamilton. Hamilton's glasses must be super because even from a distance he recognizes the gun as a 9mm Jericho 941 , which he asks her to lower. He also says he prefers to be called Emil.
Chloe puts the gun down, explaining as she comes down the stairs that she's been "haunted by [her] share of ghosts lately." The spirits of seasons past have been coming to her door every night and demanding to know when the show started going so wrong. Chloe asks Emil if Ollie sent him. She's been calling him nonstop. Emil produces Ollie's cell phone from his jacket pocket and says she can stop calling. "Obviously, he's not gonna answer." Well, obviously not if you have his phone, dummy. He says "they're" all gone. Chloe doesn't want to believe it. She thinks Ollie, Dinah and Bart are just off the grid. [ Arthur and Vic, of course, are simply not important. - Zach ] Emil insists they don't want to be found. They're off wallowing because Jimmy died as a result of them turning against each other. No, Jimmy died as a result of a dumb plot twist. Chloe points out that Clark feels guilty, too, but he's still out there making sure the streets of Metropolis are protected. Emil dickishly and for no discernable reason notes that Clark seems to be doing OK without his "sidekick." Meaning Chloe, I guess, because she looks stung by his words. I bet she kind of wishes she'd shot him, now.
Elsewhere in the city, a monorail train is speeding through the night. Passengers are minding their own business when, suddenly, the sky opens up with a bolt of pink lighting. Pink light explodes inside the train. Lana? Nope, it's Lois who magically appears. She crumples to her knees and wonders, "What the hell?" I found myself wondering the same thing! Passengers mumble a bit but no one seems especially freaked out by the goings on. Lois looks down at her hands: the left one is bandaged and the right one is wearing the Legion ring. Her fingertips are dirty. Her hair is kind of insane. I mean, it's pretty, but it's just enormous . It has its own orbiting satellites. Just then, a blue bolt of lightning hits the train, causing some of the wheels to squeal and strain against the track. A masked, dark-haired woman dressed all in black appears in the flash of light and advances on Lois. (She's supposed to be Alia, but no one says her name in this episode.) They immediately start to fight, throwing punches and roundhouse kicks. The train races on. Lights flicker off. The train jumps the rail and falls what seems like a ridiculous distance. Lois, naturally, is knocked unconscious just in time for Clark to appear on the streets below. He catches the train handily. His hair, by the way, looks great. He might be dead inside, but his hair care routine is alive and kicking. He looks up through one of the train's windows and is surprised to see Lois. He stares at her for eons, then remembers he's still holding the train. He sets it down. Was everyone else unconscious, too? How did they not see him? Sappy string music plays as Clark stares at Lois for another 40 or 50 years. She starts to wake up. Finally , Clark zips the hell out of there. Lois gets up groggily and walks outside, where the side of a building has suddenly gone up in flames. As the flames quickly die back, the iconic Superman "S" logo is left behind. It looks really professional and symmetrical, especially considering Clark made it freehand. Or free-eye. Maybe he downloaded a template. From a rooftop high above, he stands dressed all in black, his long coat flapping dramatically, as he listens to the plaintive wail of distant police sirens. The glaringly poppy strains of "Somebody Save Me" start in, rescuing us from more of his emo posturing.
Fortress of Solitude. Is that the Aurora Borealis hanging out over the Fortress? Pretty. Inside, Clark is standing inside a spiral of glowing, moving Kryptonian symbols. It's apparently part of his new training, but it seems like a really crazy way to read something. It'd be like plastering the inside of your washing machine with words and then crawling inside to read them. Maybe he's just absorbing the words through osmosis. Close-up on Clark's pretty eyes as the symbols flash by. He loses his train of thought (it was just a model train anyway) as he remembers an image of Lois. Jor-El's disembodied voice stops the spiraling words and remarks that his son is distracted. He was supposed to be ready for all this when he returned to his training. Clark fusses that he's been going there for weeks and doing everything that Jor-El wants, so, Papa, don't preach. Jor-El exposits that until today, Clark was focused and had cleared his mind and heart of those who had kept him "tethered to the human realm." Clark says that it's his continuing inability to fly that's keeping him tethered. He's like a big, handsome tetherball. "Have I not earned the same powers that Kara has?" he asks. Jor-El says Clark's "physical composition" is no different than Kara's. Clark's problem is that he still sees himself as a human. Clark denies this, saying he's given up everyone he cared about and wears the symbol of their family to remind him of his destiny. Jor-El wonders if Clark tried to move on too quickly. Wasn't he the guy who tried to get a 16-year-old Clark to leave his friends and family that one time ? And then forcibly abducted him and reprogrammed him just a year later ? Jor-El blah-blahs about how heroes are supposed to struggle with their feelings of loss. "Something... or someone... is holding you back." Clark denies it and says he can do this.
We don't find out what Jor-El thinks about that because we move to a hospital in Metropolis. It's not Smallville without a trip to the ER. Nurses are rushing around, trying to get help for injured patients. Chloe enters, looking around worriedly until she finds Lois, who she keeps calling "Lo" throughout the rest of this scene. Has she always called her that? It's sort of distracting. "Lo" is in a hospital gown, in bed, having just ripped out her IV. Her giant hair looks impeccably tousled. Chloe gives her cousin a hug and asks where she's been. Lois explains about the alien orb and fighting with Tess only to suddenly wake up in a monorail car with a "ninja chick" after her. Chloe tells Lois that she must have bumped her head in the accident. You know, I'm looking at this scene paused right now, and Erica Durance looks so much younger and prettier all fresh-faced like this than when they spackle on eight pounds of Mary Kay like they usually do. Lois remembers that Chloe was MIA for a while, too, playing "Thelma and Louise with the Creature from the Black Lagoon." Lois wonders how Chloe managed to ditch Davis, and Chloe says she didn't... exactly. Lois gushes that the Red-Blue Blur must have saved Chloe, because he'd promised to do just that. Chloe, hurt, realizes this means Lois and Clark's alter ego have been talking. Lois beams and says he confides in her. Chloe, quietly: "Of course he does." Lois catches sight of the clock and sees that it's almost midnight, thinking that she's going to be late for her phone date with the Blur. Chloe tries to get her to slow down and explain that she's already weeks late, but Lois barrels on. The Blur, she says, is the only one who can help her escape from the "Crouching Tiger." Chloe keeps trying to get her to stop, saying she's got a big bomb she needs to drop. You shouldn't have stopped off for Taco Bell, Chloe. Lois finally slows down and asks Chloe to get her a sedative. Chloe, being the trusting person she is, goes off to get the meds for her cousin. Lois, of course, immediately grabs her clothes and legs it, leaving the Legion ring behind.
Lois runs through the streets for the appointed phone booth and picks up the receiver. "Hello?" she greets breathlessly. Of course, there's no one on the other end because it's three weeks late and the phone wasn't even ringing when she picked it up. She leaves the booth, thinking maybe he's outside. She says she wants to thank him for saving Chloe, then apologizes for being late. She thinks she's just five minutes late but she's on the verge of crying. Good Lord. You're not on a reality dating show; stop being so needy. She calls to him again, but gets no answer. "Where are you?" she pleads.
He's standing on top of the Statue of Liberty's head listening to swelling orchestra music, is where he is. He spreads his arms and takes a nosedive off the statue. He's obviously trying to fly, but he drops like 200 pounds of potatoes. Kryptonian symbols flash in front of his determined-looking face and suddenly he's back at the Fortress. He asks Jor-El if it isn't time to move beyond these "mental trials." So it was a simulation? That would be awesome if they would come out with a Wii version. The commercials would be so cute, because the actors would be flying through the air, going, "Wheee!" Whee. Wii! Anyway, Jor-El thinks Clark's determination is strong, but that his passion is getting in the way. Clark says Jimmy died because of him and he can't afford to make mistakes like that again. Clark asks what Jor-El needs from him in order to fulfill his destiny. Jor-El says that Clark already knows what he needs to do. Clark: "I have to say goodbye to her." Dramatic music!
Luthor mansion. Apparently all the normal light bulbs have been replaced by lime green floodlights, because everything looks overexposed and surreal and dirty, like neon bile. A young man in quasi-military fatigues walks down the hall and into the office where Lex once spent 99% of his waking hours. It's the super-adorable Callum Blue, who always sounds like a manlier version of the Geico gecko to me. "I lost her trail," he announces to a room full of soldiers dressed like him. Who's he talking about? I guess the mysterious assassin, but he never clarifies. He thinks there must me more of "us" out there. He asks if "the woman" has spoken yet, this time meaning Tess Mercer. He looks at a monitor and sees Tess lying on a bed. A male soldier says, "No, sir," and rests his hand on his gun. Callum smirks at that. He gives them permission to speak freely, although it sounded at first like he was asking for permission, which confused the hell out of me. A female soldier says Tess isn't an ally and that she's hiding something. She calls Callum "Major." He takes off his jacket, revealing the Zod symbol on his dog tag. Ground control to Major Zod! Your regiment thinks you're hiding something, too! The female soldier wants to know why they don't have the powers they should, what with the yellow sun and all. I want to know why all their weapons, clothes, and equipment looks like it came from a sporting goods store in Topeka. It's all so... mundane . Zod scoffs that his authority is being questioned by cadets. G.I. Jane thinks they deserve answers. "How did we get here? Does anybody know we're here?" Zod loses his temper and demands they salute. And kneel. "Kneel before Zod!" The male soldier knocks him right the hell out. "That's for talking about yourself in the third person, asshole!" He and G.I. Jane exchange nods.
Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, it's morning, and Lois is wandering onto the wrecked train. What's she been doing since midnight? She's still wearing the same clothes. She's on her phone, leaving a message for Ollie about the "she-ninja" that's after her. On one of the seats, she finds her attacker's cloth mask and picks it up. A male voice says behind her: "Good find?" She turns around. It's Brian Austin Green. Lois, displaying what appears to be a Sullivan-Lane family trait, immediately incriminates herself. Of all the illegal things she's done, she says, this doesn't even hit the radar. She assumes he's a cop, I guess because he has a little notebook? He asks for her name, which she gives, with a Daily Planet addendum. He recognizes her and asks if she's the reporter who's been missing for three weeks. She thinks he's talking crazy, but he says it's Friday the 25th. She looks to a newspaper on one of the seats for confirmation. Does that mean the finale took place on September 4th? Man, time flies. [ Also, the paper says the 25th, although, since the train crashed last night, it should say the 24th. Or maybe it's a very early edition? - Z ] He checks his notepad for her name listed among the other accident victims. Brian asks her if she knows how a "seven-ton sky train bellyflops onto Main Street without a single fatality?" Lois gets a dreamy look in her eyes and says it's a modern-day miracle.
Brian doesn't look like he's buying it. He looks at the "S" logo that Clark left behind on the window. [ He burned it on the wall and on the window? How many "S's" does he need? - Z ] He thinks an egotistical vigilante is responsible. Lois thinks the "detective" should stick to his night job. Brian theorizes that the Blur's saves are getting bigger and he feels the need to leave his mark to prove something. Lois glares at him and notices other cops have come. Brian responds by... kissing her. Ugh. I hate meet-cutes. A uniformed cop comes in and tells the horny duo to get a move on. Lois agrees. Brian tells her, "Not bad," referring either to the cop-deflecting ruse or to the kiss, or both. She responds by driving the heel of her boot into his foot. He watches her leave with an appreciative smile. Guys love it when girls beat them up.
Chloe walks in to her darkened apartment. The lights come on, surprising her. Even more surprising are all the new computer workstations that now surround her. There are at least six of them downstairs and several upstairs, along with a dozen or more additional monitors. Did someone open an Internet café while she was out? Chloe stares in wonder and confusion. Emil appears at the top of the stairs and says, "Oliver may be AWOL... but his funds aren't." Chloe wonders if Emil shouldn't be packing up Ollie's pleather collection. No, because then how would he try them on? Emil admits that Chloe made a persuasive argument before. "There are people worth fighting for," he says. She gives him a pretty smile and doesn't know what to say. Emil says he'd be more comfortable if they just got down to work. That was... weird. Is he just socially awkward, or did he think she was coming on to him? He is wearing a very nice suit. Chloe gets to work: She tells Emil that Lois suddenly appeared and was attacked by a female assassin. She shows him the Legion ring and says she thinks Lois was in the future. "Transversing chronal anomalies," Emil technobabbles thoughtfully. He goes to an especially fancy computer built into the surface of a desk. He touches a blank screen and it comes to life. He ran two scans at the time of the monorail crash and found two rips in the "temporal aperture continuum." Chloe's like, "You pullin' words out of your ass!" No, really, she asks him to "dumb it down" for her. What happened to your brain, Chloe? He explains, and Chloe realizes the rips account for Lois and the assassin's sudden appearance. Also, the scan of the rips totally looks like a pair of boobs, complete with areolae.
Speaking of which... One of those boobs is roaming the city. It's the assassin, and she looks sort of like if Selma Blair and Stacy Haiduk had had a baby together. She burns a Missing Persons poster of Lois using her blue, blue eyes. She looks pleased with her work. Vandalism is fun.
Stately Luthor Manor. Even the outside seems to be bathed in that horrible greenish light. Is that just a crappy artistic choice on the director's part, or is the "off" quality of the light supposed to mean something? I mean, green is the color of kryptonite, and those soldiers don't have their powers, right? Are the two linked? It's probably just a crappy artistic choice. Anyway. Inside, a bruised and beaten Tess is just regaining consciousness. She sits up in bed and looks around. On the floor, Zod is busy doing pushups over a spread of what look like magazines. I guess he reads them while he works out. As a new arrival on Earth, he needs to know what's hot and what's not. Tess asks him who the hell he is. He tells her, and she backs up. She's confused. "They talked about you like you were their leader," she says. He says that was before they lost their faith. He advances on her, all hot and sweaty, and notes they weren't able to get any information out of her about their arrival. He studies her quietly and says they were unsuccessful because they took the wrong approach. Tess looks down. She says, "Let's leave the 'getting to know you' part for later." That's kind of presumptuous. Or hopeful. He is pretty cute. He says, in a low voice, that she's obviously become accustomed to abuse over the years, and it's made her obstinate. A more emotional approach would have been his choice, he says. He holds her face in his fingers as subtle, menacing music plays. He tells her he would have preferred to prey on her vulnerabilities. Tess jerks away from him and asks why his voice wasn't the same as the one from the orb. Don't ask for continuity from this show, Tess. When Zod doesn't answer, she realizes he doesn't know. Tess says she was told that they were coming to Earth to save it from destroying itself, that they'd have abilities, but now she sees they don't even know what they're doing here. Once they realize Zod doesn't have the answers, they won't need him anymore. Zod looks twitchy. Tess proposes an alliance, but as soon as Zod turns his back, she reaches under her mattress for a makeshift rope and tries to strangle him with it. He handily intercepts her, pushing her to the floor, and tells her he won't hesitate to kill her.
Full moon over Metropolis. Looks like the perfect setting for Clark to stand moodily on a rooftop. And there he is! He looks out over the city. Chloe joins him. She says she's been trying to track him down for three weeks, but Lois shows up for one day and he's "predictable as clockwork." Don't go down this annoying road, show. Clark says it wasn't that he didn't want to see her. Leaving behind everyone wasn't what wanted, either. Chloe understands: "It's not about what we want, Clark, but what about the rest of the world needs." Then she goes into a slightly embarrassing speech about how lucky she was to be part of Clark's life for a while and how they knew he'd have to move on. Clark says he's started training with Jor-El, and now his old life seems far away. Chloe nods sadly and tells him he can't look back. He says he can't have any attachments that might influence his choices. Chloe asks what that has to do with Lois. She looks hurt, although she's trying to keep her tone light. Seriously, show. I don't want to see 22 episodes of Chloe with the brokenhearted eyes. Clark says it's not like that and he just wants to say goodbye to Lois. Chloe shows him the Legion ring and tells him Lois "hitchhiked to the future." Clark is worried. Chloe says Lois doesn't remember anything, but that when she came back, she was followed by someone who's trying to kill her.
Over to someone who's trying to get killed on purpose: A shirtless and magnificently gleaming Oliver is in the middle of a cage fight. The assembled crowd of miscreants cheers. Ollie's opponents knock him facedown into what I hope is a puddle of water. As he starts to get back, a pair of female legs walks into view. The camera pans up to reveal what looks for a second like Lana, but it's actually Lois. Why do I keep expecting Lana to show up? She's got on lace stockings, boots, a miniskirt and sleeveless top, along with the eight pounds of makeup I mentioned earlier. She holds up a sign that says "Round 3" and parades around the cage. He greets her and she notices he's drunk. Where's he been? Didn't he get her messages? He says his phone's been "kinda MIA" for a while. See, Emil? Lois parades around with the sign some more in case some of the fighters have learning disabilities and need five minutes to read two words. One of which is a number. Also, ew! Oliver's barefooted in all that dank water and/or urine and/or vomit and/or blood! Lois says she had to come up with the disguise to get into the fight. She's come to find him because she needs a hero. She sums up her part of the episode so far. Oliver asks her to repeat herself, but just then the wall explodes. Lois's ninja assassin walks in. Her eyes glow with fire. Oliver grabs Lois and hits the ground, even though they're right out in the open and aren't making themselves any harder targets. Luckily, Clark walks in behind the assassin. She says, without turning to look at him, that she was after him, not Lois. Clark zips over, grabs her, and zips away. Also, I guess he managed to flame an S into a piece of banner or something while no one was looking. Lois looks up from the filthy, filthy floor and sees the symbol still burning.
I have to pause for a moment and ask what's up with the symbol. Clark said it's the symbol of his family, but it's not really. It's been modified to look like the Superman shield. Except he's not Superman at this point, but the Blur, so he has no reason to make it look like an S now. I mean, what's it supposed to stand for at this point? Superhero? Super Ostrich? (Because, like an ostrich, he's tall, clad in black, and flightless.) Maybe it stands for "Sorry," because he feels so guilty for everything all the time. I'm going to stop thinking about it.
Back to the recap: Clark zips the assassin over to his family's farm in Smallville. Clark demands to know why she's after him. "Because you betrayed us," she says. She goes to smack him, but he grabs her hand. He stops when he sees that she's wearing Jonathan Kent's Swiss Army watch. He rips it off her wrist and shoves her away. Clark pulls another watch out of his pocket (I thought he'd left behind everything he cared about? I guess he's still gotta tell time.) and compares the two. They're identical, except the one from the assassin has a broken crystal and the date is set one year in the future. He wants to know how she got it. "You gave it to me," she says. Her funky blue eyes fill with hate. She tosses a small parcel between them and out rolls a chunk of blue kryptonite. She says they're from the same planet and calls him Kal-El. They're both powerless now, but she has a sword. She says she has to defeat him before he destroys "our world." Krypton? Too late. Earth? Eh, it's kind of halfway there on its own. With a battle cry, she leaps at him. She goes at him with her sword, he fights back with farm implements. He kicks her in the face and, despite having no super powers, manages to send her hurtling end over end through the air. She frisbees a saw blade at him, cutting his cheek. She lunges at him with the sword, but cuts the chain that was holding some kind of heavy-looking machinery, which then knocks her through a nearby wall and onto her own sword. Clark goes to her. She touches his cheek and says, "I'm so sorry," just as she dies.
Back at the cage fight warehouse, Lois is tending to Ollie's wounds. The other fighters have left. Ollie and Lois have some banter about what a mess he is, and how she sounds like his other ex-girlfriends, except he can't get her back into his bed. How many love interests does Lois need in a single episode? Lois tries to give him a hero's pep talk, but Ollie's not having it. "I'm nothing but a shallow playboy." She asks why, then, is he the Green Arrow, but he plays it off as a distraction, just like she once was. She responds by rather being rough with one of his wounds. It's mostly playful, but in the end she decides she doesn't need him. She stands in front of the S symbol and says she's already found her real hero. Oliver's manhood shrinks. If you put your ear near his crotch, you can hear it whimper.
Luthor mansion, under the sickly daylit sky. Tess and Zod are being shoved into chairs for questioning. The soldiers have assembled lots of chairs into an impromptu courtroom setting. The male soldier from before asks Tess when she joined forces with Zod. She insists she never met him before today. What about all the other soldiers? There should be hundreds, he says, but they've only found a few dozen. Tess has no idea; she was just taking orders like the rest of them. She tries to turn them against Zod by reasoning that she was only trying to save their civilization. Would she really team up with just one man against an army? She says they should be asking Zod, because he's been leaving them in the dark. "Impressive," Zod tells her. G.I. Jane says the last thing they remember is their blood being taken "in camp before the battle at Kandor." She wants to know how they got there. Zod reveals that their world must have been destroyed. G.I. Jane and her friend wonder if Zod has betrayed them. Did he kill all the others? Why don't they have powers? Zod stands up. His eyes are cold. "You dare defy me?" Tess carefully watches the interplay. Zod says he's saved half their lives and no one has sacrificed as much as he has. His eyelashes are really pretty, by the way. The soldiers look chagrined. Zod gives an inspirational speech about how he's scoured this hostile world in search of their loved ones. "I've always been true to my word," he says. He promises to find answers or he'll "die in the quest." Tess watches the tide turning. One by one, the soldiers start kneeling/saluting, until all of them are on the ground. Another female soldier looks up from her salute, revealing herself to be the assassin from the future. Zod smirks at Tess over his shoulder, like, "Yeah, I'm the shit."
Back at the Kent farm, Clark walks into the barn carrying a shovel. For a second, I was afraid his poor dog had died from neglect, and he had to bury it. Then I remembered dead Alia. Chloe's waiting in the barn. "It's over," Clark says. Chloe wonders who she was, but Clark doesn't know. He tells Chloe the assassin was from Krypton and told him he would cause the end of the world. He says he feels like he has a ticking time bomb on him and only a year to figure it out. You'll figure it out by May, Clark. Chloe thinks he shouldn't believe the assassin. "What does she know anyway?" "The future," Clark says. Oh, that . Chloe looks like she wants to say something. Clark goes to her and asks what it is. She pauses, then says, "I want you to go back and save Jimmy." He can use the ring and stop Jimmy being killed. Clark says she can't ask him for that. Chloe reminds him that he's dedicated his life to helping people. Clark thinks that would change destiny, which pisses Chloe off because Jimmy didn't deserve to die. (Eh...) "He died because you and I screwed up!" Clark says he's not a god and the last time he tried to rewrite fate, his own father died . Sad eyes all around. Chloe cries that she's given up so much for Clark and just wants this one thing. Clark whispers that he can't. Chloe says it's good that he's embracing his Kryptonian side, "Because there isn't really anything human left in you." Ouch. He watches her go.
Thank God night has finally fallen at the Luthor mansion because it means that horrible barf light is gone. Tess walks into the office, surprised to see that all the soldiers have left. One of her lackeys, heretofore unseen, enters the room and asks how she's feeling. She snarks that he should know, because he had a "front row ticket to the entire thing." She wants her video. Lackey reminds her she told them not to interfere when the soldiers took her hostage. She thinks Lackey enjoyed it. Stop hiring voyeurs, then. "Just tell me my plan paid off." She wants to know where the soldiers are. Lackey pulls out a tiny netbook and starts looking for the video feeds they recorded. Of course, they're all gone now, erased by Zod and his soldiers. Tess seems just mildly pissed off that she went through three weeks of torture for nothing.
Daily Planet building. Lois is trying to get into her old computer, but her password doesn't work anymore. She keeps at it anyway, growing increasingly frustrated. She hears someone at the desk opposite hers, and looks up hopefully. "Clark?" Nope, it's Brian Austin Green, who she still thinks is a cop who's stalking her. He finally clues her in that he's not a cop. So now she thinks he's a detective. He further clarifies that he doesn't work for the force. He says she jumped to conclusions, which he's heard she does a lot. Who the hell is he, then? He's a field reporter and Lois's new deskmate. Lois says Clark is coming back, but Brian heard Clark is on indefinite leave, and that Lois has been fired. He introduces himself as John Corben and shakes her hand. As he walks off, Lois sees Clark's nameplate in the trash. She doesn't have long to be sad, though, because the phone rings. She answers and it's Clark as his "Blur" persona. He's supposed to leave, he says, but he can't. He asks her to promise to keep "this" just between them. Yeah, Lois . Quit telling people what a confidante you are. She promises.
Lois is back at the Talon apartment for some strange reason, getting ready for bed and looking very pleased with herself. She climbs into bed with a smile. As soon as her eyes close, though, she gets a disjointed vision of the future. The images include a silhouette of Clark wearing the Zod symbol, fiery skies and destroyed buildings, Lois and Clark getting it on, a woman (maybe Tess?) kneeling and getting bestowed with a Kryptonian dog tag, another woman (Alia) unsheathing a sword, something being buried or unearthed, blood-drenched hands (from a Lois POV, it would seem), Oliver with a shovel under a red sun, Chloe running, and then Chloe lying seemingly dead on the ground. All the while, voices whisper Zod's name. Lois sits up in bed with a gasp. How many of these images will make sense by the end of the season? How many will be retconned or forgotten? Place your bets now!
Discuss this episode in our forums , then see what vlogger Sean Crespo thinks of Smallville when he has No Prior Knowledge ! And find out who all these superdudes are in our guide to the Heroes and Villains of Smallville !
Tippi Blevins is a lapsed comic book writer . She used to want to be Wonder Woman when she grew up, but now thinks it'd be way too much work to fit into the outfit for any length of time. You can reach her at b_tippi@yahoo.com.