Smallville "Reaper" Talkback (Spoilers)

[supermanpal]

Not one of the best episode of the first season,But had some good points in there.

How the boy came back to life was a little weak with being the green rock and some med.

And the ending could of been more then it was giving of he's mother.

Like pa kent easy up on lex a little.

Also that we finally see whitney father and that lana and whitney are having some relation problems.

I give it 3 and half stars


PS.Could a mod put a poll please

Thanks in advance

[Calhoun07]

Well, this was on par with some of the weaker episodes from earlier in the season. First thing I didn't like is the kid's heart isn't beating AT ALL??? Ok, even zombies need blood to keep them going. Heck, even if it's kryptonite blood. And the other thing that was just plain lame...the kid touches himself and he turns to ashes. Ok, the villian who can do those types of things can never use their powers on themselves. It's just an unwritten rule or something. And even if he was able to use his own power against himself, that was the first time he touched himself after he resurrected? How about when he put on his clothes? Went to the bathroom? Scratched his nose? Kracked his knuckles?

[mosszonedotcom]

I missed this one tonight, but I get the feeling that I've seen it before - just under a different episode name.

Also, has anyone determined which one of the writer(s) is the gay? When we learn that, we can place blame on him/her for naming this guy "Whitney". That has to be the single most inappopriate name for a character in the history of television.

[Barb Gordon]

What's wrong with the name Whitney? Seems all right to me. And what would a writer being gay having anything to do with it? Anyway, I only made the last 20 minutes, darn music rehearsal going like 20 minutes over...but obviously I shouldn't mind. Even though I saw the tail end of it, it was pretty easy to figure out what was going on. From I saw, defintely not one of the better episodes. Perhaps not the worst, but for sure not the best.

Barb^-^

[Craig Byrne]

Whitney's name actually comes from a real person -- Whitney Ellsworth, the editor of the classic Superboy comics who later became the executive producer of the 1950's Adventures of Superman TV series.

Smallville's Whitney was supposed to be named "Whitney Ellsworth" actually, until certain folks at DC deemed the character too mean to have the same name as a well-regarded deceased person. So it's not a "gay" thing at all to have that name.

-- Craig

[langden alger]

And even if he was able to use his own power against himself, that was the first time he touched himself after he resurrected? How about when he put on his clothes? Went to the bathroom? Scratched his nose? Kracked his knuckles?

exactly what i was thinking...lol. seems like they really just slapped together this episode at the last minute. the lex and lionel subplots just keep getting better and better though...they should have just completly focused on that storyline and "burned" this week's lame krypto-or in this case "crypto villan"....on a side note, did this guy even really need any powers to move along the story at all? he couldv'e just kept on going around smothering these helpless people with pillows..not as glittsey i realize of coarse. :p

not much to go on with the all too quick glimpse of next week's ep. "something weird is happening around here". think we already kinda establised that ;) lol...

[DisneyBoy]

This episode was a bit bland for my tastes.

Start with the obligatory freak-of-the-week, add a twist of irony, mix with a social concern and bake.

I disliked the exploration of uethenasia (mercy killings) in this epsiode. The "villain", while seeming sympathetic, really didn't have much of a reason to start going around "releiving people of their pain". His switch was too sudden. He went from trying to help his mother, to purposely seeking out people in pain to kill them. That's not mercy - it's obsession. I'm not exactly sure if the character villifies doctors and people who have unplugged their patients, but if the writers wanted to explore this controversial topic, their purpose for doing so should have become clear. Instead, it felt like they should never have gone there in the first place.

The other obligatory elements are starting to bore me. Lex jousting with his Dad, Mr. Kent and Clark getting into a fight, Lana kissing Clark, Chloe getting access to things the press could never find...

[James Harvey]

Here is the poll for newest episode of "Smallville". I found the episode to be alright, but they sure are stretching believability and credibility at times...just how many times can weird things happen and no one comments about it?

[cartoonboy]

Where were they(Chloe,Clark & Pete) when Lana came in and told them about the 'freak of the week' overhearing her & Whitney talk at the cemetery?

Clark runs off to save the day which invokes the best quote when Lana looks at Chloe, "Don't look at me, he does that all the time."

[The Penguin]

This is when I ask myself "Why didn't I just keep watching '24'?" The human/character elements were and are always good, but then you have the bizarre Kryto-Villain screwing everything up. I realized yesterday that the humans infected by Krytonite really isn't that far out there considering the rock is from a planet that exploded and with the rocks a small alien child landed in a rocket ship on Earth, who was then adopted by a childless couple and is now developing super-powers, but Clark seems so real that I just can't get behind it.

The season finale of "Spin City" airs the same time as "Smallville" next week, and even though I've seen every episode so far I'm seriously considering not putting forth the effort to try and watch it since it's competing with something else I watch. :(

[Calhoun07]

Another thing...the old woman's house was a crime scene. The one where Chloe and Clark went to to take pictures, that is. And it was CLARK who discovered the remains of Pepper? Ok, are the Smallville police totally inept? Wouldn't they have seen that? Taken samples of the dogs ashes? Plastic bagged the dog's collar and tag as evidence? It's like they want us to believe the police went in there, saw the woman was dead, and just left. Riiiiiiighttt. They would have combed every inch of that house. Even if they thought it was spontaneous combustion. If they were a real police department, they would have looked around for other clues. As if any investigator thinks the first conclusion they come to is the final conclusion.

[Craig Byrne]

I had been warned "Reaper" was a reeker before it even aired, sadly. The competition was kind of low last night so it would've been a great time to do another winner, like "Stray," but it just didn't work out that way.

From the spoilers posted at my site ( http://www.kryptonsite.com , then go to the Spoilers page), and from what I'm hearing, this is what we have to look forward to. Scroll over for spoilers:

Next week is "Drone" which I hear is better than "Reaper" but still not as good as say, "Stray," "Zero," or "Nicodemus" were. If I remember correctly there is to be a subplot with a reporter from Metropolis wanting to interview Lex.

The week after that -- "Crush" -- is said to be VERY good and it's got a good Lex subplot in addition to some interesting things with Clark and Chloe. I can't make much sense of the spoilers for "Obscura" (the week after). But I can say that the season finale sounds like it will kick total you know what. No freak of the week, very Superman For All Seasons-type plot. Big surprises. I almost wish I could see that one next and skip the next few.

They're getting there, just a little slowly. It's just sad when there's a string of good episodes and then there's "Reaper," which I thought was the worst one since the one with the guys who walked through walls.

-- Craig

[JusticeLeagueLegion]

It seems like this episode should have been rated TV-14. Because where I lived it was only TV-PG. It seemed like a pretty violent episode.

[DisneyBoy]

I just noticed the poll and voted to give it a 2. I think that's pretty generous considering that most of the episode was things I've already seen:

-Lex/Lionel tension
-Clark/Whitney tension
-Clark/Lana flirting
-freak-of-the-week
-Clark/Pa Kent tension
-Ma Kent in danger
-Chloe and Pete doing almost nothing

And what was with Lana when she got the call about Whitney's Dad? Hey crying was so fake! I thought she was going to say:
"Oh my God, Clark.....I like....broke my nail!"

[Steven C]

Originally posted by The Penguin
This is when I ask myself "Why didn't I just keep watching '24'?"


The season finale of "Spin City" airs the same time as "Smallville" next week, and even though I've seen every episode so far I'm seriously considering not putting forth the effort to try and watch it since it's competing with something else I watch. :(

Use the VCR and record one of them.. Simple solution.

[mosszonedotcom]

Don't be offended if your a male and your name is Whitney. You can't change what name that your parents gave you (at least until your get older).

Still, I maintain that it is self-evidently a very gay name. I would think long and hard before I gave my son a girl's name. Also, before I gave one my tv show characters a girl's name.

[Craig Byrne]

I've got the biggest Smallville site out there, but even I have a temptation to catch "Frasier" next week with Cliff, Norm, and Carla. *Sigh* What to do...

-- craig

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by mosszonedotcom
Don't be offended if your a male and your name is Whitney. You can't change what name that your parents gave you (at least until your get older).

Still, I maintain that it is self-evidently a very gay name. I would think long and hard before I gave my son a girl's name. Also, before I gave one my tv show characters a girl's name.

You know, I take offense to the comments that Whitney must have been written by a gay writer. That's like saying boys who have names like Leslie and Joyce and Connie (yes, I know a guy named Connie, but he goes by Con) and others that escape me at the moment must have had gay parents. There are names that are interchangeable between boys and girls, and just because one may be more popular for girls than boys or vice versa does not mean somebody was a homosexual or a lesbian when they chose that name.

I don't want this to turn into an off topic discussion about names, and perhaps the best thing to do is drop the topic. But seeing this idea resurrected just bothers me so I wanted to put in my 2¢. There are a whole slew of names that are interchageable between boys and girls, not just the three I listed, and I am offended anybody would suggest somebody was gay for one name over another.

[The Penguin]

Originally posted by Steven C
Use the VCR and record one of them.. Simple solution.
I have a stupid TV/VCR combo so I can't watch something and tape something else. Therefore I have to get really creative (friend's VCR, watch one show someplace else, etc.) so I have to put forth more effort than someone with a TV and a VCR, that and I'm just blowing off some steam about how bad I felt this one was.

[witness]

Didn't like this episode too much. In fact, I was flipping during the episode. :eek: The part I missed was the villian killing himself, which was obviously not too interesting to miss. I have to agree with whoever said the best line was when Chloe said, "Don't look at me, he does it all the time." I enjoyed that a lot.

The episode for next week looks to be pretty much the same as this week. All I saw was people being attacked by a swarm of bees. Which fits with the title, "Drone". I won't skip watching it, but it had better be good.

[optimal321]

The good part was our favorite characters getting good characterization. The bad part was everything else :rolleyes: .

The freak of the week was just plain stupid. I know it's already been mentioned, but the way he died was tremendously unbelievable. Everytime his arm touched his torso, or knees bent, or made a fist he sould have been dead.

And as a character, i didn't even like the bad guy. He never showed enough emotion or something. The character just wasn't right.

So, this one was a little stinker.

[Failure]

I guess I must be in the small minority that thought this ep was pretty good. I'll admit the villain wasnt all that great, and the way he died was pretty lame, but I thought he was interesting, because he thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was helping people by putting them out of their misery. It's just another case where good intentions doesn't necessary work out for the best.

What carried the episode for me was the characterizations and the relationships. It's eps like these that make me sad to know how Lex is gonna turn out in the future.

btw. personally, I've considered Whitney to be a guy's name more than a girl's name.

[mosszonedotcom]

Don't take it into the third degree. Maybe I shouldn't have said that about his name. I'm not losing any sleep over it. I just think that it's a poor choice and another example of the WB writers disrespecting the greatness of Superman.

Superman vs. Whitney isn't the same as Superman vs. Doomsday or Darkseid

It's an example of the writers pulling this series toward The Gilmore Girls style.

Now, if Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, or any of those guys were writing this show, do you think that he would be named Whitney? I don't. I also think that many other things would be different.

Smallville is an entertaining show with above average actors, but it will never match STAS. With that said, I'm recording about every episode that I can.

[DR. BELCH]

Calhoun07
...if he was able to use his own power against himself, that was the first time he touched himself after he resurrected? How about when he put on his clothes? Went to the bathroom? Scratched his nose? Cracked his knuckles?
It seems he wore gloves everywhere...now working in agreenhouse, I can understand...but wouldn't he arouse suspicion never taking them off? Would he wear rubber ones to the shower or to wipe his bum? The ending was strangely anticlimactic--he just stands there at his mother's bedside, shakes his own hand, and rots to dust. (Oddly I was reminded of the Stephen King short story, "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands", with a protagonist with a similar talent who takes the same way out.)
Lex, though, was very interesting--his refs to the Nietzchian "superman", and his ruthlessness coming to the fore--I thought he'd poisoned the man in his office, but it was only a setup to embarass the weasel (and to prove something to the old man). "As much as I try to deny it," he admits, "I am my father's son." He was raised, he says, by books. Very chilling.
It was nice to see Whitney's father--it proves that he isn't taking the medicine himself, and is telling the truth. "Whitney", to me, sounds too much like a surname.
The villain was merely a deluded boy who thought he was doing something right and merciful in bringing death--obsessed, not evil. If he'd been written better I might have pitied him. But that was a lame setup--a pebble on the sidewalk gets imbedded in his leg, and badda-bbom, he's a death zombie.
Nit: how did the necrosis bruise on Clark's face fade so fast when hte bullet bruises were still there the following day?
Clark! Go for Chloe. Lana's pretty but not too bright. I love an intelligent girl whose passion for the strange and twisted rivals my own. ;)

[DisneyBoy]

Ok...maybe I'm a complete moron....but I just don't understand why so many people make a connection between bees and the title "Drone"...could someone please clarify :confused:

[Calico]

Originally posted by DisneyBoy
Ok...maybe I'm a complete moron....but I just don't understand why so many people make a connection between bees and the title "Drone"...could someone please clarify :confused:

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

drone n. 1. A male bee, especially a honeybee, that is characteristically stingless, performs no work, and produces no honey. Its only function is to mate with the queen bee.


Does that help?

[Terminatah]

Originally posted by mosszonedotcom
Don't take it into the third degree. Maybe I shouldn't have said that about his name. I'm not losing any sleep over it. I just think that it's a poor choice and another example of the WB writers disrespecting the greatness of Superman.

Superman vs. Whitney isn't the same as Superman vs. Doomsday or Darkseid

It's an example of the writers pulling this series toward The Gilmore Girls style.

Now, if Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, or any of those guys were writing this show, do you think that he would be named Whitney? I don't. I also think that many other things would be different.

Smallville is an entertaining show with above average actors, but it will never match STAS. With that said, I'm recording about every episode that I can. I don't take offense to any of this, because this is just your own personal opinion of the name Whitney. I imagine you must have a cool name like Rico or Striker, but hey, not all high schoolers can be that lucky.

Whitney Ellsworth would be spinning in his grave right now if that were in any way physically possible.

-Terminatah

[Fantasie117]

Originally posted by mosszonedotcom
Don't take it into the third degree. Maybe I shouldn't have said that about his name. I'm not losing any sleep over it. I just think that it's a poor choice and another example of the WB writers disrespecting the greatness of Superman.

Superman vs. Whitney isn't the same as Superman vs. Doomsday or Darkseid

It's an example of the writers pulling this series toward The Gilmore Girls style.

Now, if Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, or any of those guys were writing this show, do you think that he would be named Whitney? I don't. I also think that many other things would be different.

Smallville is an entertaining show with above average actors, but it will never match STAS. With that said, I'm recording about every episode that I can.

Then don't compare it with S:TAS. It's not S:TAS. It's Smallville. It's about Clark Kent. It's an entirely different show. In their canon, Superman doesn't exist yet. It's hard to believe because the writers reference the future every single week, but within the context of the show, Superman doesn't exist yet. I'm not trying to be rude, just stating a fact. :cool:

When I voted for this episode yesterday, I gave it four stars because of the Lex-Lionel-Dominic, Clark-Whitney, and Jonathan-Clark interactions. At this point, I wish I hadn't been so quick the mouse. I probably should've given it three or two and a half. The dialogue was groan worthy, but the actors made it bearable.

On the subject of names, I don't like Clark, Virgil, or Harry, but that doesn't affect my enjoyment of the characters and the stories. Again, just stating a fact.

[wtf]

I keep giving it chance after chance. hoping that the freak of the week thing has been laid to rest. and yet time after time, thats what they come back to. rely on.

are the writers have so much trouble writing non-freak-of-the-week? get new writers.

[DisneyBoy]

Since the writers have already plotted out the first three seasons of the show, I think they'll be hanging around for a while. However, these lame villains have got to go. My father really enjoyed the show until everyone started to get powers. After seeing what all his opponents can do, I'll bet Clark would be willing to eat a chunk of Kryptonite just to be rid of his growing inferiority complex!

[mosszonedotcom]

I guess that when you've seen the animated greatness of Batman and Superman that nothing else can really compare with that. The writers for those series surpassed any other comic-oriented series ever on tv, and I wouldn't expect any WB writers to ever come close to that.

That is why I like Smallville but can never put it anywhere close to Superman The Animated Series.

[Jimmy Kustes]

Is it me or have they not played "If I go crazy then will still call me Superman" in Smallville? That's wierd because music is a big thing in that show.

[batE]

Originally posted by Duncanzits
Is it me or have they not played "If I go crazy then will still call me Superman" in Smallville? That's wierd because music is a big thing in that show.

I was wondering that same thing. I love "Kyptonite," but since they've not really made any connection in the show, to the green meteor rocks being Kryptonite, to play the song would be a little premature and maybe cheesy, really.

This ep was eh for me. The first ep I've taped since my new obsession with all that is Smallville. The villain was rather lame, yes, and the thing with Chloe and Clark being able to get such easy access to a CRIME scene nearly made me hurl. I'm a journalist, and I know that ain't how it happens. And Pete got all of two seconds of screen time! But the good points were the Whitney plot, the Lex/Lionel/Dominic interaction and the Jonathan/Clark argument.

One other thing that made me wince was the scene with the villain Tyler and Martha Kent in the storage shed. The idiot knew he didn't have gloves on, so why the hell would he go to touch the veggies? He knew he startled Martha, so why didn't he just back away and apologize and get the hell out of there? Weird.

A lot of SV fans thought the ending with Whitney and the football thing was cheesy, but I thought it was very cool, and it makes me sad that Lex will turn evil at some point.

batE

[Fantasie117]

Originally posted by batE
I was wondering that same thing. I love "Kyptonite," but since they've not really made any connection in the show, to the green meteor rocks being Kryptonite, to play the song would be a little premature and maybe cheesy, really.

Since they played "Superman" by Five for Fighting, I think they'll play "Kryptonite." The writers have an affinity for cheese. :rolleyes: