Review by Edward Gross
PRE-CREDIT SEQUENCE:
Things commence with the aftermath of Clark hitting the ground, blue Kryptonite dagger still in his chest. Lois runs to his seemingly lifeless body, while the camera cuts to a cornfield with swirling skies where Clark is told by the voice of Jor-El that he is in a state between life and death, and he is then chastised for not being alive to defend earth from its greatest danger. Gee, thanks, dad! Nothing like a little support.
Clark pleads to be sent back so that he can become the hero he was meant to be, and that’s exactly what happens when, on Earth, Lois removes the dagger from his chest and throws it aside. After a quick glimpse of Lex Luthor, Clark, alone because Lois has run off to hide and witness his resurrection, gets shakily to his feet, his wound healing from the rising sun, and runs off.
All in all, an effective opening, although Jor-El’s fairly consistent berating of Clark has kind of reached its saturation point. The guy just took a blade to the chest to stop Zod and his people from threatening earth. A little praise might not be out of order. That being said, the cornfield sequence is fairly eerie, and the appearance of a silhouetted Lex Luthor works, proving that whether or not Michael Rosenbaum comes back for the final season, Luthor will be a part of it. It’s a quick moving opening that resolves the season nine cliffhanger insofar as Clark is concerned.
WATCHTOWER:
Chloe views video of Oliver before he is taken, another face appearing on screen warning that “we’re coming for all of you.” At which point Clark shows up, quickly filling Chloe in on what happened in his brief stay in the afterlife. He brings up that he saw Lex and they (again here’s that word) QUICKLY) discusse him, that his various projects are no longer in operation since his “death”. Chloe suggests there may be some info on other Luthor operations buried in the Daily Planet archives.
Definitely intriguing as we try to figure out what is going on with Oliver, though it’s a little surprising that Chloe doesn’t bring up what she just saw on video to Clark. While he’s proclaiming he’s not going to just have someone step in to replace Zod as the baddie (our word, not his), there should have been an instant where Chloe said, “Well, we’ve got even more problems to deal with,” and then show him the video. Instead, we’re off to the races.
DAILY PLANET:
Lois is realizing that she is the “last one to know” Clark’s secret. He arrives and they get into a cutesy conversation where Lois talks about what a great kisser the Blur is, which brings a smile to his face while his back is to her – and Lois eats up the reaction she knows she’s getting from him. She also makes it easy for Clark to retrieve a file he’s obviously looking for. As he’s about to leave, she says they need to talk, maybe at the farm. Clark says he’ll be there. Walking out of the Daily Planet, Clark calls Chloe and says that this file contains info on a previously unknown Luthor facility, Cadmus Labs. He asks for help in finding the address and is told that she’s not at Watchtower at the moment.
As always, the rapport between Tom Welling and Erica Durance is electric. They play off each other wonderfully and it’s almost enough to carry the scene. Almost. There are a couple of issues: first off, how does Lois know that Clark is trying to obtain a file so that she can come up with a dopey excuse like dropping a pen to allow him to get what he needs? And then when she says they need to talk, she suggests the farm – that’s a hell of a long trip for Lois to have to make for a conversation. Obviously she’s seeking privacy, but c’mon….
Clark’s discovery of Cadmus Labs in a file REALLY stretches credibility, even for Smallville. Chloe has proven that she can hack pretty much anything she comes into contact with (which was never really that believable, but we’re willing to go along with it) and has obviously researched everything there is to know about Lex Luthor, but she’s unaware of Cadmus Labs while the info is simply lying in a file at the Daily Planet? Oh, boy….
JUSTICE SOCIETY HEADQUARTERS:
Carter Hall nowhere around, Chloe goes to Dr. Fate’s helmet and uses it to try and find Oliver, its voice asking if she would be willing to sacrifice herself to find him. After the commercial break, Clark shows up and finds Chloe, unconscious, the Dr. Fate helmet beside her.
Again we must ask the question – why doesn’t Chloe just tell Clark what’s going on instead of going through all of this on her own? It simply doesn’t make any sense, as the abduction of Oliver and the proclamation that all of them are targets, would seem to warrant her involving him.
UNKNOWN LOCATION:
Tied and blind-folded, Oliver is having the crap beaten out of him, apparently because Oliver’s satellite was the only one functioning during Zod’s quest for power. Additionally, the satellite was tracking Kryptonian bio-signatures, including the Blur’s, which is why Oliver is a person “of interest.” Naturally Oliver is a wise-ass and is punched into unconsciousness.
Maybe this is mis-remembering, but it seems that Oliver Is tortured an awful lot on Smallville. There’s a certain been there-done that feeling to the sequence, and certainly that’s true in its set-up: a dimly lit room with lots of pipes and water seeming to be leaking from a couple of them.
CADMUS LABS:
Tess awakens to find that her face, which had been so severely damaged at the end of season nine, has been healed. She also meets a child, Alexander, who, along with a number of others in this facility (one in a tank of liquid, another locked away) is a clone of Lex Luthor, all of them having been created to “heal the creator.” Inadvertently Tess releases a pretty insane version (the “bad one” as Alexander describes it). An older version of Lex, he states that he has all of Lex’s memories and goes about setting the lab on fire to destroy the other clones as “there can only be one Lex Luthor.”
Some nice eeriness in this sequence, and the idea of cloning Luthor works, especially the explanation that some of them are “damaged,” which would explain why they don’t look like Michael Rosenbaum. Again, Lex is going to be a presence on this final season one way or another. It is pretty humorous that apparently the clones had a role in healing Tess’ face – can’t have a scarred woman walking around on the CW, can we? One question, though: where the hell is a technician or security guard or something? It would seem that this section of Cadmus is running some pretty significant experiments and no one is there to supervise? Hmm….
STAR LABS:
Chloe awakens from her unconscious state to quickly fill Clark in on what’s going on and what she saw when she put on Dr. Fate’s helmet: the Oliver situation is going to be okay, Clark will be the world’s hero and “you aren’t in black,” and that Cadmus is burning. Clark zooms off, to which Chloe whispers the words, “Goodbye, Clark.”
Speed is the word that comes to mind when watching this sequence: the episode seems to be all about moving things along at breakneck speed, which is good in the sense of keeping the adrenaline going, but isn’t allowing for enough of an emotional connection to what’s going on.
KENT FARM:
While waiting for Clark at the farm, Lois opens the box containing the Superman uniform, looking at the “S” emblem and saying, “So much better in Technicolor,” before she is knocked out by Lex.
CADMUS LABS:
Clark arrives to find the remains of the lab, including a tied-up Tess, who has been left alive to give Clark the message to meet Luthor in Lawson’s field.
LAWSON’S FIELD:
Lex has tied Lois to crossbeams in the middle of the field, telling her that this is where he saved Clark 10 years earlier. Lois quickly comes to the conclusion that this is Lex, who claims that he has “evolved.” Calling Lois “the Blur’s greatest weakness,” he sets the field on fire, before moving off.
Clark shows up and it’s only a moment before Lex starts putting Clark down, tearing at his self-esteem about being a hero, claiming that they’re more like brothers than he thinks, both of them governed by the darkness of their hearts. Clark nearly proves him right, but clenching a hand around Lex’s throat and squeezing to the point of nearly killing him. Snapping himself out of it and removing his hand, Lex reveals that he’s dying and is sorry he won’t live long enough to see the world turn against Clark. He also reveals that the Daily Planet globe has been rigged with explosives…and that Lois is where Lex first saved him, but that not even with his great speed can Clark handle both things at once. Naturally, Clark proves him wrong, putting out the fire and freeing Lois Lane before heading back to Metropolis where he catches the falling globe and returns it to the Daily Planet rooftop, to the applause of the gathered crowds.
Most impressive about these sequences is the fact that guest star MacKenzie Gray does a pretty astounding job of channeling Rosenbaum. Older, the voice obviously different, he nonetheless makes the notion that the two of them are the same guy seem plausible. The dialogue, of course, is as arrogant as ever, though it’s a little surprising that Lex is able to push Clark’s buttons as easily as he does – we want to believe that Clark has evolved beyond such easy manipulations by this point.
Lois tied to the crossbeams in the field, wearing a white t-shirt, an “S” spray-painted on its center, works really nicely, harkening back to the original pilot and, of course, setting up some justice for Lex that, in his mind, is poetically served. Clark’s putting out the fire and rescuing her works, and the Metropolis sequence – well, I dare any Superman fan not to feel a sense of excitement, despite the fact we’ve seen this sort of thing before (most recently in Superman Returns) – when he catches that globe and returns it to its base. It’s a moment of triumph and the first step of him presenting himself more publicly to the people of Metropolis. And while still a leap, it certainly gives the impression of flight.
KENT FARM:
Clark has returned and is staring at the Superman costume with a smile, conveying that he just may be willing to try it on – though at that instant both he and the costume are transported to the Fortress.
FORTRESS:
There, Jor-El rips him a new one, saying that Clark’s pride and vanity, which led him to almost killing Luthor, will ultimately turn him into earth’s greatest enemy as the darkness that is coming preys on wavering souls like his. Clark arrogantly refuses to believe him, claiming that he is in control of his own destiny.
In some ways, this sequence is confusing as it completely contradicts the opening sequence of the episode where Jor-El tells Clark he is supposed to be earth’s greatest hero. The impression one gets is that this could easily be a manipulation perpetrated by the soon-to-arrive Darkseid as a means of making the greatest potential threat to his plans essentially ineffective or, worse, someone he can bring over to his side. All conjecture at this stage, of course, but Jor-El’s shift in attitude absolutely conveys that things aren't as they appear to be. That being said, though, Clark truly IS filled with arrogance at this point so it’s hard to decipher exactly what’s going on.
MANSION:
Tess has returned home and brought Alexander with her and the two of them seem to be bonding in a mother/son way as she gives him a glass of milk while he plays with a collection of knights in armor toys. What Tess doesn’t see is that one of those knights is melting in the fireplace.
It’s a little surprising that Alexander has survived, but earlier Tess did tell him to run away from the older Lex. He seems to be the one surviving Lex clone and in a bit of earlier dialogue he did mention that some of the clones aged too fast, suggesting the key to Lex in season 10 of Smallville will likely be in the form of Alexander, who – if they get Rosenbaum back – will likely go through something of a growth spurt.
MONTAGE:
A “prisoner exchange” takes place between Chloe and Oliver; Lois is standing on what looks like a desert plain, tearfully holding a photo of her and Clark; Clark is on the farm, reading a note from Lois claiming she couldn’t pass up Africa, and then Clark sees the late Jonathan Kent, who counters Jor-El’s arguments, expressing his pride for Clark and the man he’s become, encouraging him to be the greatest hero the world has ever known and telling him to do what he does best: prove Jor-El wrong. He does say that Jor-El is right that something dark is coming and that it won’t be easy for Clark, but he has faith in his son.
This whole prisoner exchange idea is, frankly, annoying. That Chloe would turn herself over to an enemy force, with all of the knowledge that she has, seems to stretch credibility – even bearing the love she feels for Oliver in mind. Why doesn’t she turn to Clark or Cyborg or Bart or Hawkman or Aquaman…..or Cyborg, or Bart….?
Lois going to Africa is the natural result of Lex filling her head with the fear that she is indeed Clark’s greatest weakness. It works, though the visual of her on what looks like a desert plane, while grand in its scope, makes you wonder why Lois is standing in the middle of a desert by herself. There’s not a soul anywhere around.
The scene with Jonathan works, largely because John Schneider is just so damn good (does this guy EVER age?). He and Tom Welling instantly connect, effortlessly conveying that father-son dynamic. What the sequence – which is actually surprisingly moving – does is serve as foreshadowing of the season to come. One has to assume that Jonathan will play a significant role in keeping Clark in the light.
ROOFTOP:
A black cloud takes the form of Darkseid.
The CG isn’t the greatest, but it’s cool that they’re not dragging out the fact that he’s the season’s big bad. Let’s hope they go for an actor, though, rather than depend on CG for the rest of the year.
FORTRESS:
The Superman costume is encased in a crystal, perhaps waiting for Clark and the right time.
Can’t argue with this being the final shot of the episode, playing on every fan’s hopes for Clark to get into the damn thing already!
The biggest complaint about “Lazarus” is that it moves far too quickly, trying to cover a tremendous amount of ground, the end results being that many of the sequences don’t have the opportunity to carry the weight that they should. That being said, it will be interesting to see where the various seeds planted here will go in the weeks and months to come.