Smallville "Conspiracy" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

Aliens will be abducted! Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.

Smallville #9-15 "Conspiracy"
Friday, February 26, 2010 @ 8 p.m. ET/7 CT on The CW
Bernard Chisholm (guest star JR Bourne), a doctor who died and was brought back to life by the Kandorians so they can experiment on him, escapes and kidnaps some Kandorians in order to prove aliens have invaded Earth. Bernard tries to get Lois (Erica Durance) to write a story validating his claim, but when Lois refuses, he kidnaps her too.

In an effort to save his people, Zod (Callum Blue) poses as a reporter from the Daily Planet and uncovers Bernard's secret lab. Clark (Tom Welling) arrives at the lab just in time to see Zod get shot.

Turi Meyer directed the episode written by Al Septian & Turi Meyer.

#9.14: "Persuasion"

CWTV.com - Smallville

[Old Guy]

Everyone but Clark is flying these days.

[ABrown]

Yeah Clark needs to get over this mental issue and fly already. There was already evidence that he physically does have the abilitly right now to fly. And now Zod flying, because of Clark's blood!, there's further proof that Clark does have the physical ability to fly right now. It's all a mental issue.

[suss2it]

I just realized that the older sister who's been seen a lot, her name is Faora which makes her a clone of Zod's wife, the same wife that possessed Lois last season.

[k.s.]

Yeah Clark needs to get over this mental issue and fly already. There was already evidence that he physically does have the abilitly right now to fly. And now Zod flying, because of Clark's blood!, there's further proof that Clark does have the physical ability to fly right now. It's all a mental issue.

To be fair, the show did say just that in the season premiere when Clark asked Jor-El why he can't fly. Jor-El told him that he had to embrace his kryptonian identity alongside his human one in order to fly and that he had merely run to his kryptonian side to get away from his human side in the season 8 finale rather than embrace it. Which is really stupid if you ask me because he has clearly demonstrated a commitment to both of his cultures this season by living his life as Clark Kent while simultaneously working with the Kandorians.

As far as I'm concerned, the psychological block is just the writer's way of keeping him from being Superman. Like I said in the talkback for Idol, there's no difference between the Blur and Superman other than flight, the costume, and the superhero name. For the fans, these are important issues, but in continuity, these are minor changes for Clark when he already has a superhero identity and costume. All three could easily be addressed in one episode, but I have no doubt that that episode will be the series finale. The producers created this psychological block solely to stalling these final moments of growth until the last minute to stretch out the show because, in their eyes, the show is done once he is Superman.

As for the episode at hand, I thought this was a good story overall and gave us some much needed further insight to Zod's character. I thought it revealed a lot when he decided to stay and help Lois - while I'm sure some of it was to score points with Clark, I think he feels some respect for Lois for trying to save his soldiers. I wonder if this will come into play in the finale? Hopefully, it will not tarnish his evil charisma - I think in the end, Zod works best as a manipulative, evil despot who is unashamedly evil and has few redeeming qualities.

I was really happy to see the attention to detail in this episode. Zod called out Clark for bringing down the towers, Tess mentioned it in her conversation with Oliver, and I think I saw a Daily Planet article on it. When a building suddenly collapses the night before its unveiling, I would be very disappointed if people in that world didn't view that as a significant event even a week after it fell. Also, I loved the reference to Metallo and how it even tied in with the doctor and the abductions. Most importantly, I was thrilled to see Clark being an investigative reporter. We don't see too much of that in this series.

With the Chloe/Oliver storyline, I'm just confused how they suddenly became a couple after that scene in Warrior. I'm even more confused why Oliver would be interested in Chloe when he seems to care more for women like Lois and Tess who tend to have a stronger presence than Chloe does. Regardless, I felt that their plot in this episode did not make much more sense. Chloe decides to secretly create a stockpile of kryptonite weapons behind Clark's back and Oliver agrees with keeping Clark in the dark when these weapons could easily kill him? Especially when the threat of someone like Tess stealing them and using them against Clark was addressed in the episode itself? This gets to the heart of why I don't like certain aspects of Chloe and Oliver this season - they don't trust Clark in matters that have to deal with him and they even mock his morals. It's sad that the lessons of Absolute Justice were so quickly forgotten in favor of a storyline where Chloe and Oliver butt heads with Clark yet again in matters that Clark can deal with on his own. Oliver said it best in Bloodline last year when he told Clark that humans were never meant to meddle with these alien issues, especially when you have a resident alien who is more than capable of dealing with the situation on his own.

The ending was great, though. Clark, being the paragon of good, decides to save the villain because it's the right thing to do, but unknowingly makes his enemy more dangerous than ever before. Zod has his powers now - all bets are off. There's no turning back after the end of this episode. He will logically kill Tess, give his soldiers powers, fight Clark, and take over the planet now. The only way they can prolong this outcome is if he decides to keep the charade up until he powers up his soldiers to avoid fighting Clark alone (the end scene with Clark and Zod and the next preview seems to support this idea). I am extremely excited to see how this story concludes and pray it does not come crashing down at the last minute the same way the Doomsday story did last season.

[DisneyBoy]

Jor-El told him that he had to embrace his kryptonian identity alongside his human one in order to fly and that he had merely run to his kryptonian side to get away from his human side in the season 8 finale rather than embrace it.

I respect that they finally tried to come up with a concept to explain their desire to keep Clark from flying (and keep the CGI budget down), but for them to write it off as mental just doesn't work. Sure, I guess that'll make his big flight moment seem really profound (do I have to say I'm rolling my eyes, or can you tell?) and emotional, but mostly, it just makes the past nine years seem even more annoying. I would have much preferred that they come up with a silly plot device as a reason for why Clark's powers are stunted. Unfortunately, this show has used up more than it's share of bad plot devices with all the crystals and stones and and talismans, so...oh well. By choosing to do it this way, they just make Clark seem so very very emo.

And it also just doesn't make much sense. How many times already has Clark "embraced his heritage"? They say that so often on this series, it doesn't even have any meaning anymore. He did it in season three/four as Kal, then again when the Fortress was built, and then again when he made peace with Jor-El. It's not like he walks around saying "I'm not kryptonian". And what the flipping heck is the point of all his "training" if it can't unlock al his powers? Even the wording of the explanation was wonked...something about him holding on to Lois and that preventing him, or somesuch. Hun?!

Personally, and I know this might be cliche, but I've always enjoyed seeing that moment when Clark discovers he can fly. On S:TAS it was as memorable a sequence as any in the show. On Smallville, fully adult Clark is left to mope about waiting for the day it will happen. Silly.

With the Chloe/Oliver storyline, I'm just confused how they suddenly became a couple after that scene in Warrior. I'm even more confused why Oliver would be interested in Chloe when he seems to care more for women like Lois and Tess who tend to have a stronger presence than Chloe does. Regardless, I felt that their plot in this episode did not make much more sense.

Though I suppose one could argue that Chloe in this season has been portrayed as more of a woman of "power" and secrets, on par with Tess, I have to agree with you. The writers just threw in this fling romance to appease fans who were cheesed off at Chloe getting messed out of everything she wants, from Clark to Davis to the Daily Planet. I agree that I never saw chemistry between these two. As actors, sure I believe they could pull off being a couple in other roles because they're just that good...but here, they look like brother and sister, and have often served that purpose on the show, reminding Clark of what he needs to do and stepping in to assist him or disagree. Chlollie, as it's called, just doesn't feel right. Ollie's basically preying on a woman in mourning that he's really not interesting in staying with, even though he's long loved her cousin. And Chloe just looks like she's settling for a shag, which is understandable I guess, but pretty beneath her, given her smarts and Ollie's rep. At least if they were saying she was doing it to hurt Lois, we'd have a story...but to try and sell it like a real romance fans should be happy about...it terrible.

[Nephets]

My impression was that Checkmate created Metallo not the Kandorians.Why would Kryptonians use kryptonite to power something? But then again this is Smallville so I'll pretend like it makes sense and forget to blink when something doesn't make sense.