Velocity

DVD, Smallville S3 (Velocity)

That ending seemed so much more realistic than we're used to. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I was fully expecting for Clark to break into a grin and for the scene to end with them shooting hoops in that typical 'Smallville' feelgood ending. It's happened before, but it didn't happen this time. In a way it's a brave decision, but in another it further shows not how far the series has come, but how different. A bit like when Clark tells Pete he's not special, only different. The first two seaons felt special. This feels... different.

I can't complain about a Pete episode though. At the beginning when Clark sees his friend get out of the offending car I wasn't sure if it was shock at seeing him in that situation or surprise at seeing him in the episode at all! Because, facing facts, Pete's character was lost a long time ago. Clark says he's taken Pete for granted, well I say the writers have taken Sam Jones III for granted, and long ago lost the sense that he was in any way essential to the series. Even Mrs. Kent gets more scenes than him. It's a really sad thing, but it's something that happens with a long-running series. There's usually one character that is surplus to requirements, that is lost amid the other character's storylines and becomes a mere hint of the creation they once were. You can argue when it happened, how it may have been the death-knell to let Pete in on Clark's secret, or later, but the fact is, whether he was in on it or not, he still wouldn't have been used effectively.

And so we get a Pete episode, and he's acting so out of character that I was waiting for the Kryptonite twist, but it turns out Pete's simply been feeling lower in self-esteem. This doesn't scan with what we know of him, how he always got the girls and had fun, how he was friendly with everyone, and was always first up for the adventure. That's not the only thing I didn't like about this episode. There are shady messages and a lack of consequences that is both disturbing and yet it isn't something new. Usually the baddie gets killed, we should be used to it. Only this time it's a direct result of Clark, and the baddie is simply a crooked guy rather than a meteorite monster. Yet no one gets in trouble for it? And Jonathan's talk about grey areas seemed very much against what the character has always been about. And Lex' smug approval of Clark's actions, though never spoken are pretty obvious. It's like Clark has taken a step closer to his way of living.

It shows how far Lex has dropped that we take it for granted that he'll bully and cajole people to do what he wants as in the case of the Doctor who treated Adam (and you knew he was going to turn out far from normal, it was inevitable, though at least it gives his story some purpose), but now he does it completely without guilt. You're no longer quite sure exactly what he's doing. Before it was simply a case of curiosity over Clark, now things have become a bit more complex. A shame then that Lionel wasn't in it again, but Lex does enough for the both of them. It still feels strange that Chloe kind of reports to Lex, and again moments are lost where it could have been Clark, Pete and Chloe banding together. I suppose it reflects their growing up, and things never remain the same.

The heart attack was a bit of a letdown, when you wonder what it could be at the end of the previous episode affecting Jonathan, but is a clear sign of the consequences Jor-El spoke of. So it ends on a sour note, many of the characters aren't quite comfortable to watch, and the effects weren't spectacular... but it still feels like a good episode. Plotlines are beginning to constrict around the characters like snakes and the future looks bleak, but the ongoing stories are undeniably intriguing, and, at least in some scenes, there's a feeling of pleasantness and familiarity. Much has changed, but unfortunately there is still much that will.

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