Whisper

DVD, Smallville S3 (Whisper)

How to go from sight to blindness to sight in one easy episode. This series used to be what you would call a 'feelgood' series. This is one of those episodes that is about as far away from that concept as can be. There's just too much bad happening, and about the only moment in the episode I felt good was in the scene where Clark learns to hear his Father's voice.

It wasn't so much a bad episode as a scrappy one, with mushy, moody stuff reminiscent of early S2 (at least Adam didn't make an appearance, except in mention). The freak-of-the-week came on the scene from nowhere, popped up a couple of times, then was dispatched without Clark lifting a finger. No explanation of his ability, no rationale for his criminal behaviour, just a 2D enemy there so the script could happen. It felt like a shoehorn in of the old style, while juggling storylines like nobody's business - Lionel and Lex' feud returns; Lionel and Chloe's arrangement ends in the sacking of Mr. Sullivan; Lana floats around in turn being offended and being drawn to Clark; Clark goes blind, with a lot of talk of how bad it is, and how difficult, then snaps back to sight with nary a mention from the other characters; Chloe and Clark get angry; Pete gets kidnapped; Sheriff Adams appears, with no teeth - she used to get up people's noses and really have an attitude; Pete's Mum is introduced at last, after being mentioned before...

Judge Abby Ross is good to see at last (played by Sisko's wife in DS9), and with Pete so often sidelined, it's great he's more involved. Shame a better episode couldn't have been crafted with all these elements. Sometimes not enough happens, but in this one, maybe it's a little overkill.

That he discovered one of the few remaining powers was good, and maybe the rest of it was only there to create this eventuality, but it is still a below-par episode, for what we know the series can do (witness last week's 'Asylum').

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