Talisman

DVD, Smallville S3 (Talisman)

The various endings pretty much make up for all the bad feeling in this story, and Lex' final words, that Sagith could be the hero of the legend, who could stop Numon from controlling Earth... well, it puts his mission up there on screen and shows us the direction he will likely take. We've always known Lex is the evil enemy who will become Clark's opponent, (despite the clever use of the dagger to suggest Lionel or Lex could be the prophesied villain). Now we see that trait often adhered to by tyrants: they think they are performing a greater good. Lex had taken almost a step back from evil, by seeing what his Father has done, and became determined not to become like him. Yet now he has a crack in his armour, that fits with his established personality. So many times he has managed to deny committing to bad ways, but if he no longer thinks these ways are wrong, then his descent is forged inevitably.

It was funny to see John Schneider directed this one! He probably gets the best vote possible for a director, in that he didn't try too hard to make his mark, but like the best of their craft, allowed the story to tell itself naturally. The angles and decisions worked for the series, and weren't radical. Now we know why he wasn't in the previous episode - he must have been prepping for this! It was also good to see Teryl Rothery ('Stargate's Dr. Frasier), in a small role as the property agent. Perhaps this means a recurring role for a few episodes? And we have another baddie in a coma, in back to back episodes. Can this mean a big awakening in the near future?

Jeremiah wasn't a great freak-of-the-week, but he wasn't given enough limelight to explore his character. The episode wasn't about him, and when the freaks-o-t-w aren't the focus they don't usually work as second fiddle. They almost never capture the danger and horror of Clark's brush with these people now, and often become merely an excuse for a couple of action scenes, amid what are mostly talky episodes. You can't beat someone being smacked with an entire tree trunk though, can you! The story should have been a high point. Clark goes up against an equal, but there is none of the complexity or relentlessness, or even tension, that you'd expect. The story instead bounces patchily between various characters, continuing their arcs a little, but not in that much of a meaningful way.

Lionel is excellent as ever, but if he can creep in the Kent's barn, you'd think he'd have got more concrete evidence on Clark by now! At least all the characters were in it, even if you get a sad foreboding of the breaking of the fellowship. Chloe was very much her old self, though Pete continues to be grumpy (he had good reason). If the school had been as much a part of the season as previously, scenes there would have more resonance, but the series continues it's disjointedness. As nice as it was to see Willowbrook again, he's not one of the characters I'd most have liked to be brought back! But as I said, the endings pretty much leave the story in a better place than the episode presented.

**