03:03 EXTINCTION
Prologue
- not another Lana obsessed KMOTW
- Creepy gratuitous shot of Lana on the diving board
- Fish Boy. Is there an aquatic Legionnaire?
- Kristin doing some underwater stunts here. Fighting back again now that she has learned self defense.
- Triple trauma here: attacked, choked while attempted drowning, and seeing someone get killed. Yikes.
- Well that turned out unexpectedly. Someone is gunning for meteor freaks. A nice twist on the KMOTW formula. You think the episode is going to go one way and then it turns.
Act One
- Writers Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer / Director Michael Katleman – did Zero in season one which I liked.
- Swimfan movie reference
- Chloe has a list of potential KMOTW – with names of plenty of characters we’ve already seen including Alexander Luthor / her computer has Starr-Ware programs on it. Karen Starr / Power Girl
- Pete being skeptical about Chloe thinking Jake is a KMOTW. Pete – come on. Watch the show.
- Listen to Chloe’s pronunciation of “vigilante”
- Clark back at the Torch. Just like that.
- And now Lex is back at LexCorps. See? Their stories always run parallel
- Oh good! Lana addressing all of her attacks. Clark senses that she isn’t sympathetic towards powered people. And honestly, I don’t blame her!
- Lana brings up Clark’s rescues – “spoken like a true vigilante” – great conversation. Nice of them to address that Smallville has powered people and that they remember their experiences. Stuff like that should have weight over time.
Act Two
- Lionel the manipulator, this time with Chloe who wants to quit. But now her dad’s job is on the line. / I liked the potential that was seen at the end of season two – where it felt like Chloe would be using their arrangement to spy on Lionel. Which she may be doing but this feels different.
- Ohhh Van’s father was killed by a KMOTW. Well there you go.
- Leonard Wallace was Van’s first victim. He could stretch. Elastic Lad!
- Chloe calls all this a hate crime
- Van’s father was killed by Tina Greer in Visage
- Van has a hit list – almost like his own version of the Wall of Weird – and Lex is next.
- Clark saves Lex – appearing at LuthorCorp as if out of the blue. As if there aren’t any security cameras around. That’s not suspicious.
- See? The rocks are inches away from Clark and he’s paralyzed. Unlike last episode where he could toss them away.
- Van now knows Clark is powered
- Clark seeing the word freak on a rock – this won’t help his insecurities
- Ha! Lex’s people drive right past Clark on the ground.
Act Three
- is Lex playing dumb when Clark tells him about meteor powered Smallville people?
- Lex: “must be some reason he picked me.”
- Lex’s white blood cell count brought up again. That’s a deep dive from season one. And Lionel was talking to a doctor about Lex earlier on this episode. Hmmmm
- Chloe’s list is being used by Van; no Clark. It is her fault. Again her curiosity and info are being used for bad.
- Now Lex is questioning his own health and such. He’s never been sick after the meteor shower.
- Clark giving Sheriff Adams the freak list. Everyone addressing the “phenomenon” surrounding Smallville. As they should!! It’s only been two seasons. Get some STAR Labs people in here and check everyone!
- Clark: “No one asked to be different” / Lana: “Life would be so much better for everybody if the meteor shower never happened.” Oh damn. This will definitely hit Clark in the gut and will make him stay away from her.
- This is like an 80s commando movie
- Kryptonite bullets. Smallville has a Bloodsport.
- Clark and Pa. with Clark bringing up my point about how KMOTW are always bad. But how he thinks the worst about them right away and maybe that’s not the case for all of the KMOTW.
- Clark shot. Ouch! Good look of surprise on Welling’s face when the kryptonite bullet passes through his hand.
Act Four
- Clark insta-heal
- Oh no – Lex is questioning himself about the accident with Clark? That would be an interesting twist if Lex starts to believe that he’s special, not Clark.
- Van and Lana. Now she’ll learn the truth about him
- Van: “Clark Kent is one of them.” Come on Lana. Put it together!!!
- Van also calls Clark a disgusting mutant. / Now Lana is being kidnapped. Add that to the list of attacks she talked about earlier.
- That’s it Clark. Give the Sheriff more reason to suspect you by super speeding away. Dummy.
Act Five
- lead bullet proof vest. Which would still hurt like a mother if a normal person was shot like that. And it’s not like the bullets are completely submerged. He should be in pain.
- Lana kick!
- Van – another loose end with Clark’s secret.
- Lex: “Maybe I am a freak”. This will set Lex on a dangerous path if he starts thinking he’s invulnerable. Or its a way for the writers to keep him from looking in Clark’s direction after all the info he learned in Season two.
- Okay good. At least they bring up Clark getting shot
- Lana: “Suddenly everything made sense.” The Tornado referenced! See Clark? Tell her!!! She’s ready!
- “I wasn’t affected by the meteor rocks.” Ha. He basically is telling her the truth and he knows it. You can see it on Welling’s face that he’s playing this as “I’m telling her the truth without having to tell her the truth.”
- She said she’d be okay with it. If he was.
- This final conversation by Lana has been said before but she’s right. And now it seems like that’s Lana’s role. The mistakes he makes by not trusting Lana are corrected when it comes to Lois
- Good episode – mostly because they are using the Smallville formula of a KMOTW but with a twist – and as a way to talk about larger Smallville themes: the meteor shower, the KMOTW, Clark and Van being vigilantes, how Lana and Chloe are targets, etc. That’s good – I like that the show occasionally remembers its own past and builds on it.
Next episode: Slumber!