The Daily Smallville 04:01 Crusade

04:01: CRUSADE

Prologue

• three months later
• A death video for Clark from Chloe to find out what happened to her
• Crazy storm. Clark returns. 
• Is this similar to Superman the Movie? Spending time with Jor-El to learn?
• Lois smokes – because of her father. Just like the movie 
• “Who are you?” “Lois. Lois Lane”
• Okay even though I remembered this opening it still worked on me. 
• New title song images. Including spoilers for this season!
• Jensen Ackles but no Erica Durance?

Act One 

• Writers Alfred Gough & Miles Millar. Directed by Greg Beeman. All the big guns.
• whoa. Lex alive. Just like that. All in white and playing Indiana Jones. And now Kryptonian symbols are all across the world.
• Kryptonian alphabet: This is the First Crystal of Knowledge 
• Clark at the hospital. Red blanket of course
• Upping the beefcake now that Lois is here. It’s only fair. 
• Paris! 
• Ew. Lana has a type for sure
• Jason. Jensen Ackles. 
• Pa in a coma for three months. Huck Finn is his favorite. 
• Doctor Harden again. 
• Kal to Lois: “You talk a lot.” Haha. 

Act Two

• Lois meets Martha
• “I’m waiting for the sign.”
• Lex’s blood needs to be purified every 72 hours. Yikes. 
• Pa calls the barn Clark’s fortress of solitude 
• Clark: “I was in a place that felt like home”
• About Pa: “He tried to prevent me from being reborn”
• Dr. Vaughan, Lex’s doctor
• A crystal inside the artifact. And it triggers Clark
• ANOTHER Kryptonian artifact: a key. The ship’s heart. Jor-El’s amulet. The star blade. And now a Crystal or gem. 
• Always dug this moment. Clark goes all Matrix
• Hahaha. No flying what???
• Ah I see. Because Clark and Lex aren’t friends anymore they need a new cute meet. A new bridge crash moment to bring them together. That’s what the airplane scene is for Lex. A new obsession just like surviving the porsche

Act Three

• Jason Teague
• Countess Margaret Isobel Thoreaux. Is this the new Smallville 61? Unheard of ancestors? Or the start of Veritas?
• Looks like Lana. Has a necklace like the Kryptonian necklace. Symbol on the shield. So is this connected to Lana or just happenstance?
• What the heck. Lana zapped. Ah. Right. I think I remember this. 
• Martha trying to call Virgil possibly?
• Lois: “Give me a nerd with glasses”
• Erica is a little eager in her acting. 
• Lionel is being released in two weeks
• “What is it? A bird? A plane?”
• Clark’s initial size against the plane seems off
• How much did Lex see?

Act Four

• Margot kidder!!! Bridgette Crosby!
• “You don’t know anything about my son.” That look on Kidder’s face in response. The closest we get to an acknowledgement of a larger Superman metaverse beyond just using similar actors. This is like the multiverse before Crisis. Almost like Kidder would turn and say Shut up, Lana. Or, I knew you in a different reality.  
• “You’re right. I don’t know Clark”. Or at least – not this Clark
• “But I do know what it’s like to love someone whose calling is greater than your own.” This is great casting and great meta dialogue. 
• “In a different lifetime.”
• “Because he flew. He has completely embraced his Kryptonian destiny”
• Crusade symbol 
• “Only challenge to a father’s will is a mother’s love”
• Black Kryptonite. Wtf???
• Three relics hidden around the world. When United they point the way to a treasury of knowledge. Where is this coming from?
• Apparently Lionel has been looking for these for the past 2 years. This is like a new hunt to replace the caves. Like the caves weren’t working so we’re going a new route. A new chase. 
• “Apparently I’m not ordinary.” Still pushing that Lex is above average in health
• Oh gross. The caves again. 
• One symbol found and placed into a table in the caves. One down two to go. 
• Naked Lana now. Both going thru a destiny thing. 
• black Kryptonite separates Clark’s two natures. There’s the Kal side with the Superboy Prime scar and the Clark side.
• Pa Kent wakes up! Maybe Jor-El was keeping him in a coma. 
• So many new elements. Pretty cool for a season opener. Trying to push the series to new roads. Building on before but needing to push beyond. 

Act Five

• Clark about flying: “If I can do that maybe I’m capable of anything.” That’s the look Pa once gave Clark when they talked about flying before. Just how powerful is his potential? 
• Martha held on and saved them. 
• Tramp stamp
• Ha! Lionel was expecting Martha Kent. He was trying to make himself presentable. But it’s Lois. 
• Lois and Lionel
• “Try to have a little more than righteous indignation.” Lois gives a look like she will bring the facts from now on. Lionel just set her on her journalistic streak for answers.
• Lois slings it back. If it wasn’t Lionel then who was it and why? And are they setting up Lionel?
• Chloe Sullivan: 1987-2004
• The real Clark meets Lois this time. 
• They have pretty good chemistry so far
• X-ray that coffin Clark. “Chloe’s still alive!”

Next episode: Gone!