Smallville "Extinction" Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Penguin]

An all new Smallville premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on The WB. Jesse Metcalfe of the NBC soap, Passions guest stars. Last week's episode was Phoenix.

A killer with kryptonite bullets?! Here is the official preview from TheWB.com.

Smallville #3-03 "Extinction"
Clark (Tom Welling) discovers someone is hunting people affected by the kryptonite rocks and the killer's next target is Lex (Michael Rosenbaum). Clark uses his powers to save Lex, but is caught off guard when the killer learns his weakness and shoots him with a kryptonite bullet.

Kristin Kreuk, Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, John Glover, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star. Michael Kattleman directed the episode written by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer.

[RZetlin]

I missed the first five minutes of the show.

I didn't catch why the killer was out for revenge. What happened to his father?

Chole is trapped in Lionel's world and can't get out.

This relationship dance Clark and Lana is doing is getting tiresome.

There's a twist that Lex might have kryptonite powers. From the way Lex talks at the end of the episode he sounds like he thinks he might have super powers!

Rating: 3.5/5

[Eddie G.]

It was okay, pretty good but not great. Couple of great scenes though.

[Jedigreedo]

Very interesting episode, but a bad follow-up to the last few. It was too cheery and stuff like in Season 1/early Season 2.

One really nice thing I want to point out was with the assault rifle the guy used. He never fired it on automatic, and it didn't show an automatic setting on the fire selector. This is accurate to civilian verses as automatic rifles are illegal. Even when he was firing a full mag he used one round burst fire, looks like they did their homework.

[BeyondGotham]

Lex is starting to think that he is untouchable. He is slowly becoming the man we all know he is.

And when will Lana find out his secert? I mean, she knows in the comics, and they are now JR's in school.. so they should be getting to that real soon... right?

[Terminatah]

I missed the first five minutes of the show.

I didn't catch why the killer was out for revenge. What happened to his father?

Van's father was the marine lieutenant who came to tell Whitney's mom that Whitney was dead. Disguised as Whitney, Tina Greer bashed the hell out of him with a bat. Van developed an obsessive hatred for all krypto-mutants.

Enjoyable episode. One major goof was Clark's self-healing wound. Superman doesn't have Wolverine-like tissue regeneration powers. He would've had both bullet wounds for a while, until they healed naturally.

Anyone else catch Sheriff Adams trying to pass off a Mark Twain quote as her own? The writer must've stumbled upon it while doing research for Lex's speech about, who was it, Winston Churchill? Sneaky bastard. Still though, enjoyable episode.

-Terminatah

[LazyReaper]

Great Episode. But I thought it was pretty dull in the first half. The pacing seemed to be off a bit.. but maybe that's just me .

They really need to work on Clark's superspeed FX. It looked fake mainly because of the fact that clark wasn't moving as fast the background. I dunno,... it just wasn't as good as some of the other superspeed effects I've seen on the show.

Both of bullet effects were pulled off excellently though. My favorite scene has to be when Clark got shot. Did you guys hear the way Tom cried out "Dad?!". *shudders* That was intense! The Johnathan and Annette both pulled of their parts very well in that part of the episode.

I'm not too sure about the healing factor with Superman, but I'm pretty sure his wounds would take a bit longer to heal than that. I agree with Terminatah that it was healed a little too quickly. But I guess that's just one of the many things of Smallville that we're used to . Also, it was probably so we could move the story along with Lana and killer, so I'm not incredibly dissapointed they did that.

Chole is done for. She should never have agreed to have done anything with Lionel, and now's she too far in to be able to stop him. I feel sorry for her. I hope she comes clean with Clark in the next episode. It might not help her situation but atleast it's better than having herself dragged down even further. Unless she goes to Lex... he might have been able to do something if he still had his company. But I'm not sure what he would do if Chole approached him, especially in the state that he's in now with Lionel.

Another thing I liked in this episode was how they moved Lex's suspicion away from Clark. Atleast for the time being anyway. The meteor "freak" angle was a good way to change his thinking, and frankly I didn't think he'd fall for it. But we'll see what happens.

Lana almost found out! Did anyone else wish she would have seen Clark superspeed the guy out? I think that would have been cool. It would be the end of all those nonsense "Are you gonna share your secret with me?" scenes. But I guess they wanna drag it out a bit more . I think that would have been real awesome if they had had her find out in this episode. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. And it shocked her too to hear this from someone else, since she had never thought of it before. The next time it comes up, it'll be a repitition of what just happen. Plus... if he does ever tell her, I don't think it'll be as dramatising. I mean "Lana, I'm an Alien." doesn't quite perk up my interest. They already did that with Pete. The tension, the setting... they had the perfect opportunity to have her know and they lost it. *sigh* oh well.

BTW, what in the world is next episode about?! Skinny Dipping? In Smallville? Huh?!


-Aximlli-

[PaQ]

Another new Smallville, another "Lana will find out about Clark" tease..

• Seriously almost every episode this season there is that tease and it looks like it's gonna be that way next week since the teaser implied it and the word "Truth" came on the screen.
• Looks like Chloe has bitten off more than she can chew and Lionel has her right where he wants.
• That was a crazy slo-mo of the Kryptonite bullet going through Clark's hand.
• I thought it would've been a regular bulletproof vest but I forgot about the lead that was needed to dull the effect.
• Lex is now wondering if it's him and not Clark the reason he's survived so many times..
• During the episode, Lana seems to get closer to Clark, but by the end they're at the same place they were to start with. I don't know how many more episodes they can keep doing that.

Overall an A-. A good episode, I liked the actor who played Van, I've seen him on Passions on NBC. It was a good story and it seems like it's getting closer to when the "truth" will come out.

[Simpler Simon]

Wow, what a great episode. I remember Terminatah in the Phoenix talklback saying how we needed more of the flirty/angsty stuff after the dark season opener, and that's exactly what we got. This definitely felt like an early season 1 kinda episode, but in a good way. It continues the plot threads we've been following, but has good "guilty pleasure" angst moments.

Lots of continuity here, with them listing off some of the freaks who've attacked them. Granted, they're interchangable unless mentioned by power, but it's nice to know the minor "freak of the week" episodes are being brought into the fold. Being attacked and stalked so many times has to have some emotional bearing on a person.

Lex is questioning himself now. This is an excellent twist to his dynamic with Clark, hope they keep it going.

Chloe is really in it deep. I wonder how this will play out...

Clark getting shot actually wasn't as big a part of the episode as I thought it would be. And it felt kinda odd that his parents didn't appear onscreen until halfway into the episode. The healing goof I'll forgive I'm sure Kryptonite bullets will appear again.

Love the final scene with Lana. FOR GODS SAKE JUST TELL HER!!! I hate it when they do that.

Two minor nitpicks: Clark's dynamic with Chloe seemed a little odd after everything that happened between the 2nd season finale and 3rd season opener. It's like the writers couldn't naturally segue back into a friendship, so all of a sudden they're good friends and alls well. Also, Lex does his trademark "(insert famous person) says" line where he turns around, walks towards the camera and rolls off a famous quote. I guess the writers like it when he does that, but its the same shot every time! Mix it up!

[The Penguin]

It took me a long time to get around to watching "Extinction" so I'll just share a few thoughts.

I'll admit right here that I haved watched Passions in the past. It's gotten way to weird for my tastes, but Jesse Metcalfe and his character's girlfriend were the main reason I like the show, so it was cool seeing him outside of that.

The story link with the son of the Marine recruiter was a nice touch. It makes me want to see Visage again, just to get that little background again.

There was a lot of Lana-Clark stuff in this episode I liked, but I'll just leave it at that before my memories blend any more together with this week's Slumber.

Plus... if he does ever tell her, I don't think it'll be as dramatising. I mean "Lana, I'm an Alien." doesn't quite perk up my interest. They already did that with Pete. The tension, the setting... they had the perfect opportunity to have her know and they lost it. *sigh* oh well.

Actually I think it will be more traumatizing for Lana than for Pete and it will mean a lot more (which is why it didn't happen last week).

By their very nature, relationships with male friends are obviously much different that those with female friends and of course even moreso with girlfriends. After knowing each other most of their lives, Lana has finally realized that she's in love with Clark and that he's been in love with her "ever since he was five." One of the things that is keeping them apart (at least in their minds) is whatever part of Clark's life he is keeping a secret from her. Lana believes that if Clark were just honest about that one thing they would be together right now. Clark is scared to tell her, because he probably believes she wouldn't even talk to him.

When Lana finally finds out the truth, her world is going to come crashing down. She is going to question whether she really knows Clark at all and wonder what is true and what isn't. Then she is going to think about it and realize that the event that brought Clark to Smallville is what killed her parents all those years ago. Pete felt betrayed, but no one he loved died the day Clark showed up.

You could do half a season on the number of things Clark and Lana will have to work through before things are finally right between. Ultimately, Lana Lang will realize that no matter where he is from and regardless of his special powers and weaknesses, she loves Clark Kent for who he is.