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Reviews
Smallville: Abyss (2008)
A beautifully acted, terrifying episode
Watching Chloe gradually lose herself was kind of heartbreaking, and the scenes in which Chloe sees more and more of her memories disappear were so well done. She forgets her friends, loses everything, and who is the one person she remembers? The one she met last, Davis. Jimmy still has some annoying insecurities, but thankfully overcomes them. The real point of the pisode, though, is that Doomsday is coming, and it's terrifying.
Requiring a 600-character review doesn't make any sense, and I will now be adding this to the end of any of my reviews that are "too short." Sometimes you don't need to say quite this much to review an episode, and I'm not going to pad word count by meandering.
Smallville: Committed (2008)
So contrived it should be terrible
This should be a terrible episode; heavily contrived to finally make Jimmy get over his insecurities in a way he can't deny, and heavily contrived to finally heat things up between Lois and Clark. Yet the acting is fantastic, Chloe and Jimmy are totally sweet, and Lois has had some great character development as well. Honestly, the whole episode came together in a way I definitely didn't expect.
Tess sure got revenge on Oliver too. Oliver is a fantastic character and a great addition to the show, and it will be interesting to see how things develop with Tess moving forward. As for Clark and Lois, we already know they're endgame, but beyond that, it's fun to watch them in this awkward stage.
Smallville: Instinct (2008)
A bit off base
"Instinct" doesn't quite hit the mark. Jimmy's insecurities are over the top here and getting quite annoying, especially as Chloe has fully committed to him and he remains confused and fearful. It's very obvious that Chloe isn't in love with Clark. And then Jimmy tries to blame Chloe for the fact that he ended up kissing another woman shortly after asking her to marry him. It's a painful scene and really lowers Jimmy's character.
At the same time, the main plot feels like a retread of multiple earlier plot lines that involve women assaulting Clark while he's under some form of mind control or external influence. This poor guy has super powers and gets assaulted more than nearly anyone else in the show except maybe Lana.
Smallville: Sleeper (2008)
Painfully dumb and not funny
If this was supposed to be a comedic relief episode, it doesn't do a very good job of it. It takes itself just seriously enough that it makes the more ridiculous scenes painful. Jimmy Olsen taking out multiple highly trained agents? I don't think so. Lois would have made more sense. This feels like a "wish fulfillment episode" for Olsen's character, or the story he would have told to sound good in front of Chloe as opposed to what actually happened. Or another dream.
The episode also doesn't particularly advance the story. Technically it's part of the main plot, but it doesn't do anything for the characters and the plot points that are actually important could be summed up in two minutes.
Smallville: Hero (2008)
Not a good episode
Pete Ross already had a great outro in a previous episode, and there's no reason why he should be brought back just to blackmail Clark (again) with revealing his secret if Clark doesn't do exactly what he wants. It wasn't all that great the first time they used it, and it's certainly not now. Pete comes across as pretty awful and so unnecessarily jealous. Chloe is a great character in this though, but it doesn't make any sense that Lana and Clark try to keep Kara's past from her. All in all, the episode doesn't really work, and Kara's desperation is sad to see. They should have just told her. At least Jimmy gets a bit of a redemption arc for his previous attitude about "meteor freaks".
Smallville: Fracture (2008)
A dark, disturbing, and beautifully executed tragedy
This episode highlights just how depressing Lex's fall into evil has been. Not only is there good in him, but he has a terrible past, and his father is ultimately responible for what he has to come and yet treats him with disgust for it. Clark also gets a chance to see that there's still good in Lex, yet it's somewhat traumatic for us as the viewer and I think also for Clark to see old Lex beating up and nearly murdering his child version. Despite being allegorical, it's still very disturbing. Those scenes are by far the darkest of the episode, despite the fact that it's also a plot about a man kidnapping and trying to take advantage of a young woman with amnesia.
Smallville: Labyrinth (2007)
Deepest fears realized
This episode is incredible and offered so many opportunities for the characters to really explore their acting capabilities, though it should have been a dead giveaway to Clark that he "just happened" to have the exact same delusion as two other people who came from the same mental hospital.
It's still very creepy, incredibly well-acted, and it also shows many of Clark's deepest fears: hurting someone (Lex), his mother marrying Lionel, Chloe being crazy, himself being powerless, and interestingly, Lana loving him. I think the last one is because he feels like if she did love him he'd only end up hurting her.
Some of the scenes are very emotional, like Chloe "dying" and Martha being terrified of Clark, but the best scene is still Lex's reaction to being confronted with the person who has put him in a wheelchair. All in all, an amazing episode.
Smallville: Subterranean (2006)
I wanted to love this episode
This episode is just okay, definitely not great. It handles some interesting issues about immigrants and portrays some real world problems, but it falls down badly in the final act. There's really no tension and the bad guy isn't the slightest bit threatening towards Clark. We see him defeated in barely a second. It would have made much more sense to see Clark having to at least race to save other people, but instead, there's zero tension.
The rest of the episode was good and it was interesting to see Martha and Clark at odds since that's pretty rare at this point. It was also good to see what a fantastic friend Chloe is once again.
Smallville: Fragile (2006)
Clark's interaction with Maddie is beautiful
This episode shows again just how kind Clark is and how much potential he will have one day as a father. His interactions with the mute young Maddie, even when there's a possibility she may have killed her foster mother, are gentle and encouraging in the best way.
It was refreshing to see that the child wasn't deranged in this one, since that's already been done in several episodes. And she also doesn't die at the end, which is even better. She's a sweet and lovable kid with a little bit of a dark side that is nonetheless perfectly understandable and redeemable, and I wish they would have her in another episode in the future just to show how things went with her Grandma.
The Librarians: And the Trial of the One (2018)
Strongest episode ending in a while
The end of this episode is incredibly strong, and I felt so bad for all of the Librarians and for Eve with what happened to Jenkins. YOu could really feel their pain and grief, especially Cassandra. Her acting in that scene was incredible and so heartfelt.
There were some less strong moments in between; each of the characters are thrown into a nightmare dimension, but honestly Ezekiel's and Cassandra's were a little weak, while Stone's was crazy over the top. There didn't seem to be a clear reason behind it except to see each other as enemies, but considering the ring could control perception of relaity it would have made more sense to plop them in the middle of the field without their memories of each other from the beginning.
That said, the ending is good enough to merit the 10 stars and perfectly sets up the finale.
Smallville: Hypnotic (2006)
A repeat of other episodes
It seems like women really like sexually assaulting Clark under the influence of red K, hypnosis, etc. This is a retread of other plotlines in the show. It makes sense that Clark and Lana broke up; it was a terrible way for it to happen, but it kind of needed to happen.
The revelation that Lex set all this up genuinely surprised me. I knew he was turning full evil, but to go that far against Clark who he still at least verbally claims he cares about to some extent was crazy.
The Lex and Fine story is very interesting and will no doubt lead to lots more danger and excitement in the future, but the hypnosis plot could go entirely in my opinion. It's a cheap way to break Clark and Lana up. At least Chloe didn't just immediately believe it.
Smallville: Cyborg (2006)
A stellar episode
It's unfortunate that Cyborg didn't come back for more episodes in Smallville. He seemed like a super sweet guy. Lana is a bit obnoxious in this one, but you can't really blame her considering all she's been through with Clark at this point.
Martha's acting is amazing, and the arc with Lionel really shows how intensely and unabashedly evil he is. It's unfortunate she fell for his schemes so quickly, but in a way, it shows exactly where Clark's tendency to try to see the best in people against all odds comes from.
Meanwhile Lex goes full on evil. I think it's pretty obvious at this point that he's just a terrible person who still has a thin verneer of respectability and kindness that is about to break at any moment. But it's beautifully done, as he genuinely doesn't believe himself to be the villain and you can understand why. After everything, they did save Victor's life. But Lex continues to go downhill with his lies, his willingness to hurt others for his own gain, and a scale of morality that is constantly falling closer to simply doing whatever is best for him regardless of other people, as opposed to what we've seen so far which is doing what is best for others as long as it also benefits him.
Smallville: Tomb (2006)
Better than most reviews suggest
While this definitely could be considered a filler episode and doesn't contribute significantly to the overall plot, this is a serious version of the terrible halloween episodes they are always doing. There are some downsides, like continually showing that mental illness = violence. But towards the end there is a beautiful portrayal of Chloe's first meeting with her mother in years.
A star off for the fact that Lana, Lois, and Lex were all 100% fine with committing Chloe to Belle Reeve instead of trying to figure out what was really going on. Given the proliferation of "meteor freaks" it was entirely possible that there would be some other explanation besides 'she suddenly went insane.' The fact her friends gave up on her so quickly was disheartening, but at least Clark stood by her. The story ended up being extremely creepy and scary, with a good terrifying atmosphere at multiple points. I was surprised people found it boring. It was more like edge of seat.
The cracks begin to show more clearly in Clark and Lana's relationship, and Martha Kent changes the trajectory of her life by choosing to go after her deceased husband's senate seat (which isn't the way senate anything works, but okay)
Smallville: Exposed (2005)
Chloe's drive hurts her friends
Chloe is a great character overall, but presurring Lois into dancing at a strip club in front of people when Lois was clearly not okay with it was problematic to say the least. If Chloe cared so much about the story, she should have been the one to do the dirty work rather than throwing Lois under the bus. Also Lois was underage for the club anyway, so add that in the not okay category. Literally handing her over to a pimp who was ready to sell her as a sex slave in a foreign country was maybe not their best plan. Fortunately Clark comes in to save the day and the episode overall wasn't terrible.
Smallville: Thirst (2005)
Yet another episode entirely dedicated to fetishizing Lana
The entire vampire plot is so poorly done and dumb. It doesn't feel sinister or interesting or even amusing. The dialogue lags, and while there are one or two scenes that are mildly interesting between Clark and Lex, the rest of the episode is completely pointless and adds nothing to the overall story. Apparently the actress for Lana really hated this episode because of the oversexualization. I feel bad for her and the role she was expected to play here. She also murdered another person, which is of course glossed over, just like it's been forgotten that she killed Genevieve since it's no longer relevant to the plot. Season 5 has been fantastic so far which makes this episode all the more annoying.
Smallville: Ageless (2005)
A really sweet episode
Despite the rather disturbing premise, this episode is very sweet, and we again get to see Clark's heart for young children, like we did with Ryan. Unfortunately this feels like a very slight variation on the Ryan episodes, with the only real difference being Clark takes the father figure role instead of big brother, and Lana is with him this time. Sadly, the story yet again kills off an endearing child. There was absolutely no reason to kill off Evan's father in the story, though it was a complete accident that was far more the father's fault than it was Evan's. It would have made more sense if he went into hiding and Clark spent a bunch of time looking for him until the very last moment when he ran to be with Evan. The main reason this gets such a high rating from me is for Clark's relationship with his parents and his kindness towards Evan.
Smallville: Unsafe (2005)
Interesting character studies with some major issues
I don't hate Alicia as much as I expected in this one. You can really see what an unhappy and lost person she is, and the psychiatrist who "cured" her is an absolute creep. It seems like he's romantically interested in her despite being much older and hates the thought of her being with Clark. Clearly, Clark was desperate for someone he could release all his inhibitions with.
However, there's no getting around the fact that she drugged and assaulted him. I didn't have a problem with the episode depicting this so much as Clark's parents' reactions. They know all about red kryptonite, so why are they more angry with Clark than with Alicia?
That said, the fact that he's still expressing an interest in Alicia after everything would understandably be upsetting to them, so I suppose there's something to be said for that. Still, Martha's words were really cruel considering they know Clark absolutely can't resist the effects of red kryptonite. He almost killed Jonathan the last time, so what would make them think he wasn't totally helpless in this case?
Alicia still manages to have an interesting arc and fortunately she refrains from actually raping Clark while under the influence of red-K. And she understands that what she did was bad enough that their relationship can't recover. Clark also shows some really beautiful compassion for her towards the end even though he is angry and hurt by the whole thing.
Parents should be aware that the episode gets very close to a sex scene and has a LOT of hot and heavy kissing.
Smallville: Spell (2004)
The equivalent of fetish art
This episode felt very out of place and weird, mostly because three teenage (supposedly) girls going between feeling Clark and others up or beating them up in multiple scenes was a bit much. Also Lex giving Lana alcohol for Chloe seemed a bit out of character; he's usually the one trying to keep them in line and refusing to fall into their antics. The whole episode felt pretty much unnecessary except to briefly establish that clark has a weakness to magic, which was already established in transference. While it was interesting to see the girls play different characters, the outfits they wore and the way they behaved made it impossible to believe this was anything more than the equivalent of fetish art by the creators. It would have been more interesting had the witches gone with 16th century clothing norms and had personalities beyond just "we are evil and horny."
Smallville: Jinx (2004)
Clark's unfair advantage
This is a pretty good episode with some sweet moments between Clark and Chloe, but it ultimately falls short because of a persistent problem in Season 4, which is that Clark cares so much about his team's opportunities but nothing about the opportunities he is costing all of the teams he helps defeat. Even Jonathan and Martha who don't approve of his choices don't bring this up. Not to mention any money he is costing in bets, coaching jobs, scholarships, etc. The scene when the coach says they will have to give up on an entire championship season if Clark is on drugs should have made him think twice at the least; he didn't do it thorugh drugs but he absolutely had an unfair advantage. He's literally an alien.
Now that the complaints are done, there was plenty of interesting content in the episode, most particularly, we get to see that Clark reallyd oes not trust Lex for good reason. Clearly, Lex has become more and more like his father by reopening floor 33.1.
Smallville: Transference (2004)
Really shows what amazing actors Smallville had
Watching "Clark" act exactly like Lionel was absolutely incredible. He did such a good job of mimicking Lionel's mannerisms, and it was so deeply disturbing to watch him with Martha, Chloe, and Lana in particular (I took one star off for the Martha scene though because it was a bit much for me). But also when it came to his interactions with Lex. Honestly, Clark should have told them the truth at least by saying he was under the influence of the meteor rock or something; they've seen it happen to other people a million times before and it wouldn't be implausible. Or since Lex knows exactly what happened, why couldn't they tell other people as well? Lionel's actor also does a fantastic job of actling like Clark, and the scenes where he is so mild and pleading made me actually feel sorry for him, which I didn't think was possible from other episodes.
I will say I didn't necessarily think Lionel should have been healed, but if they were going to redeem him at all, something like this was absolutely necessary. It is a bit weird that they didn't also show the personality of Lionel Luthor leaking through into Clark after that since they seem to be implying Clark's presence in Lionel's body made a lasting difference; it would have been a really interesting pot point and made so much sense.
Batman Beyond: Babel (2000)
A great showcase for why Terry is Batman
When Gotham's animals go wild, it's the start of another confrontation with Shriek, who now personally has it in for Batman. Terry is in serious trouble as the city he has protected all this time is all too happy to give him up to the enemy to return things to normal.
What makes this episode amazing is the scenes between Terry, Max, and Bruce. Bruce looks at Terry as a son, and it is agonizing for him to see the way the city treats him, even though he always expected it when he was the one wearing the cowl. Max meanwhile looks at Terry as a best friend and we get to see just how much she cares. Most importantly, we get to see just how much Terry is willing to give up to protect Gotham.
My Adventures with Superman: My Adventures with Supergirl (2024)
A perfect finale
While you might say the finale comes off as a bit rushed (it probably could have been twice as long), it felt very satisfying, and the characters' motivations made perfect sense, even including Live Wire and Heatwave. There were some "scientific innaccuracies" as mentioned in the goofs section for this episode, and all I can say is, if you wanted something factually and scientifically accurate, why did you pick a Superman show?
The focus here is on Superman and Supergirl, which was perfect. I was a little worried they would try to shoehorn Lois in where she couldn't be all that useful, but that wasn't the case at all. Instead, every character got a satisfying arc, even including the villains, that made sense for them, with the possible exception of Amanda Waller.
This whole show was very sweet. Superman in this show comes across as a Ferdinand the Bull-type character. He would have been happier as a gardener or a zookeeper playing with animals, as shown in the last episode, rather than fighting world-ending threats. Nonetheless, when it comes to protecting people around him, he will do whatever it takes. In the end, that is the real appeal of a series like this: the belief that anyone can overcome anything with enough love, help, and hope.
Regardless of how you feel politically or whether you like certain aspects of the show, caring for family and protecting those you love will probably resonate with you. That's why Superman will continue to be successful no matter what our world looks like.
Justice League: Only a Dream (2003)
Extremely dark but also compelling
These two episodes manage to be quite dark, with a deeper look at each of the crew's worst fears. The really dark part is how the insane villain goes after his ex-girlfriend, though.
This episode has a very unsettling feeling compared to most of the other episodes in the show, though there are certainly other dark ones. You need only to listen to the choice of music in several scenes or watch a single one of the various dream sequences to realize why. Ultimately, the bad guy doesn't feel super original, as his powers end up being fairly similar to the scarecrow. But what makes him perhaps even more insidious is the fact that he isn't simply using a gas to make people think he's scary; he's actually inside their minds.
Justice League: The Savage Time: Part II (2002)
Steve Trevor is awesome
This arc continues to be the best of the whole series, with J'onn finally having the character moments and focus he deserves. The twists are nothing particularly surprising, so what really shines is the way the backdrop of WWII allows the league to show time-honored values that the allies similarly held. Bravery, kindness, value for life, and hope all shine here as much as they do in any WWII movies made to encourage the allies during that time.
Then there's Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman. Their relationship is very sweet and fun, and I also think it changes her view towards men throughout the whole series. Steve is a thoroughly decent and charming human being who fits in perfectly with the league despite being a normal person who doesn't have any powers. All in all, rather than being merely a plot device intended to keep the characters busy for a couple episodes, this arc is a character showcase.
Justice League: The Savage Time (2002)
One of the greatest arcs of the series
These three episodes are probably my favorite. The alternative universe where Hitler won has certainly been done before, but rarely has it been done so well, at least in the superhero genre. There are some very sweet moments between members of the league, and putting these superheroes back in the trenches of WWII giaves them an awesome opportunity to embody the values of the allies in a very visible way. They truly are the "Justice" league, no matter what time period they're thrown into or how they may be challenged.
And also, Dick Grayson is in this episode along with Barbara! It's the alternate verison of the characters and they're only shown for two seconds, but it's definitely them. Also Bats is barely shown and he's still the best character.