In the season 6 premiere of Smallville, we got our first exposure to the Smallville incarnation of General Zod in the form of a wraith who possessed Lex Luthor and attempted to reshape the Earth's crust to recreate Krypton on Earth. The next time we saw him was in Season 9 in the form of Major Zod who was the leader of the lost city of Kandor. Callum Blue portrayed the character for the entire season and became a worthy enemy for Clark.
When last we saw Callum Blue as Zod, he had recieved a bit of Clark's blood, gifting him with the powers of a Kryptonian under a yellow sun. After realizing that Kal-El would not help him in achieving his goals, Zod shared his blood with his fellow Kandorian soldiers and assumed the rank of General. After realizing General Zod's deceptions, the Kandorians turned on Zod and supported Kal-El in activating the Book of Rao and sending them to their own new planet. After a hand-to-hand fight with Kal-El, while exposed to Blue Kryptonite, Kal-El stabbed himself with the Blue Kryptonite and forced General Zod to ascend with the other Kandorians. It is revealed in “Dominion”, after the Season 9 finale, the Kandorians sentenced Zod to imprisonment within the Phantom Zone.
Now, a year later, Tess discovers that Slade Wilson/Deathstroke was found in Metropolis unconscious, leading Clark to believe that someone in the Phantom Zone had discovered how to manipulate the escape hatch within the Zone. To ensure the safety of Earth, Clark and Oliver journey into the Phantom Zone to find that Zod has assumed a throne within the Zone and all the Zoners and Phantoms are his subjects. There, General Zod is king and puts on gladiator matches between the beings within the Zone.
John Chisholm first joined the Smallville family with his debut as a writer in last season's "Checkmate" episode. Many fans were skeptical of Chisholm's ability as he does not have many film credits to his name just yet. However, "Checkmate" ended up being by and far one of the most popular and best written episodes of Season 9. John Chisholm has gone on to write two successful episodes this season with "Patriot" and now "Dominion". While Chisholm does not have many writing credits to his name, he DOES have a fantastic understanding of the characters in Smallville. He captures Clark's selflessness and heroism, while also conveying his stubborness. In Oliver, John shows the difficulty Oliver struggles with when it comes to his past and his underlying anger. Between Clark and Oliver, John also captures their love/hate relationship. While Clark and Oliver respect each other and value each other's presence, they both have a sense of mistrust, which is nearly palpable in this episode.
Perhaps Chisholm's best work in this episode was in writing the character of General Zod. Not only does he give us the TRUE General Zod (when you see the episode, you'll see what I mean. I don't want to spoil anything!!), but the dialogue that he is given really takes me back to Superman II's version of The General. It is in this episode that we see Zod has not only sworn vengence against Jor-El or Kal-El, but The House of El. We see just how much distain Zod has for Clark and the amount of suffering that he wants to put him through for what he and Jor-El did to him.
Also, very well written, was Clark and Lois's relationship. We not only see the Clark and Lois that we've seen the last two years, but we see why they will be comic's best couple in the near future as husband and wife. Lois's understanding of Clark's role as a hero to Earth and Clark's appreciation of that understanding is conveyed extremely well in this episode. Any Clois-shippers will be extremely happy with this episode.
As fore mentioned, this episode marks the return of Callum Blue as the famous villain General Zod. Callum did a great job as Zod last season, but I don't think that any of his performances last season match what he accomplished in this ONE episode. Not only does he have the signature, fan-loved beard in this episode, but his attitude and presence is extraordinary in "Dominion". Callum really taps into his dark side in this role and brings out this scary, yet elegant villain. While he portrayed Zod for the entire season last year, there was still a sense of immaturity and brashness to him. He was a bit too emotional at times. But in "Dominion", Callum Blue steps up his performance with his best portrayal of Zod yet and really creates a life-long enemy for Clark. The fact that he spends a whole year in the Phantom Zone plotting his revenge on Clark and figuring out how to draw Clark into the Zone and then trap him in there just shows how the character has grown and just how genius and strategic he is.
One aspect of the episode that I believe merits acknowledgement is the costumes and sets. In the past, the Phantom Zone has always been brilliantly lit and really looks like a desolate extra-demensional void, but all we really ever see is endless sand and dunes. In this episode, we are given a Kryptonian-esque throne room and gladiator arena. The set and cinematography reminds me a lot of Gladiator and 300. Also, as I said, the costumes were great, too. If you look closely, the gladiator shields they use are the ones used in the film "300". Anyway, the costumes and armor were fantastic. They were realistic and really pulled you into the story of the episode.
One aspect of "Dominion" that I was sweating over a little bit was the directorial debut of Green Arrow himself, Justin Hartely. Justin has always done a fantastic job portraying the Emerald Archer since Season 6 of the series and did a great job last season when he made his writing debut with the episode "Sacrifice". However, directing is an entirely new challenge. There have been directors on Smallville with years of experience who have not known how to make a good looking episode of Smallville. I was extremely happy to be surprised with how well Justin directed this episode. His choice of camera angles were very creative, while also utilizing angles that are satisfying for fans to see the action scenes and the more emotional scenes. I thought it was really great how Justin used slanted and low-angle shots to give us different views and different perspectives to work with the fact that we were seeing an extra-dimensional prison. I really feel that it is too bad that we are only just now getting to see Justin's skill behind the camera. I would have really liked to see him do some other episodes for the series. I can definately say that I will continue to watch his career not only as an actor, but as a director and writer as well.
All things considered, this was a terrific episode. It involves some great moments between Lois and Clark and how their relationship will evolve. It returns a fan-favorite Superman villain with the return of General Zod. It was very well written, and the directing/setting gives us a great look into the Superman Universe outside of Smallville and Metropolis. I really hope that you enjoy the episode as much as I did, and I really hope that you all tune in next week for "Prophecy" and on May 13th which will be the 2-hour SERIES FINALE!!! Please leave your comments and feelings towards the episode below.