Jinx

DVD, Smallville S4 (Jinx)

Quite a frustrating ending! Through most of the episode I was thinking how much of a nothing episode this was: another one of those where nothing much really happens, that plagued Season Three. Thankfully we haven't had much in the way of that this season, and I was proved wrong by the end. Certainly things moved on, and in confusing ways. For instance, what did Lex take the freak-of-the-week to? Was it a room like he used to have with the crashed car and details on Clark, or maybe it was a collection of the many 'freaks' that he's beaten over the years. Either way it leaves us hanging, anxious for what might happen next.

I was a bit confused that Clark was back on the football team since he quit last episode at an inopportune time. It seems a bit easy for them to skip over having to explain himself to the coach, and I wondered for a while if I'd missed an episode. It could be that Jason felt Clark's knowledge about him and Lana still hung over them, as he mentioned, and so let him back on the team without question. The football moments were quite good, although they'd probably mean something more to those interested in the sport. What meant more to me was the talk Jonathan had with Clark before he goes onto the field, showing how he's grown up a bit. I've missed those talks, so it was good to continue the tradition.

I'd say the episode picked up a bit from the moment Clark's strapping on his gear, and the use of his powers to zip into the radio room and save Chloe in the middle of the game was excellent. I couldn't help getting a niggling feeling about it, even though I loved it, because he was moving so fast that time had basically stopped, whereas before he's always moved fast, but you could still see things happening in slow motion around him. They've changed a fundamental thing about him, and I wonder if they'll be consistent with that level of speed in the future - they weren't so consistent with the meteor fragment. Previously he'd always get green veins if he touched it, yet here he grips it in his hand and apart from feeling shaky there's no visible change. And why should he be affected by Mikhail's 'power'? Usually he's pretty much immune or far less affected by enemies attacks.

I wonder if they've written themselves into a corner with the football career. As he says himself, it's a massive struggle to keep his strength to a believeable level, and who is he to decide what's fair? Coach Tigue tellingly warns him about doing anything to make the balance unfair. He's referring to drugs, but Clark himself is playing with an unfair advantage, so it's a difficult subject. Seeing Lana angry with Clark yet again, before he has a chance to explain was unpleasant, but what's worse is that Lex did the deed to fire the coach. What seemed to be a return to the older friendship can surely not continue now that Lex has taken another step, as if trying to force Clark and Lana back together, which won't work.

Lex is seeming more and more unstable, doing favours occasionally, helping people in need, yet also conforming to his own agendas as if the power of his Father's business has corrupted the last vestiges of goodness inside him. I wasn't all that interested in Mikhail, but it looks like he might be someone who'll be a recurring character. As long as he's not as annoying as Adam was last season. Could it be that Lex is putting together a group of people? I don't know, his motives are no longer clear cut, and I still think there are patches of madness inside his head. He's never quite returned to the suave and likeable guy who's being pushed towards evil, and now it's more like what he wants to do. Sad.

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