Krypto

DVD, Smallville S4 (Krypto)

Pedestrian by 'ville standards, I suppose this would appeal ecstatically to dog-lovers. It does have a few nice character scenes with Clark and Lois or Clark and Chloe where she tries to cover for him without alerting him or Lois, but these moments are fleeting. The dogs smashing stuff up was mildly diverting, but the crooks were pretty dumb and unimaginative (apart from using meteor rock-infused dogs as partners in crime). As usual there's a bit of denying going on between Lex and Clark, or maybe a bit of verbal tennis, but it's kind of a lazy day in Smallville for the most part.

Jonathan and Martha don't seem to have any of the qualms they've previously shown at Lois coming to live with them. That's Lois, the wannabe investigator who is sharper than most. The solution is for Clark to do his chores at three in the morning. Does that not strike you as absurd? I know Lois fluttered her eyelashes and gave Clark a sob story last episode, but it doesn't feel right. The Lana/Jason story takes a further turn in its blink-and-you'll-miss-it part in the episode, but at least Lex shows he's not working for Genevieve Teague. Lionel shows up at last, his hair growing longer, but still seemingly exhibiting generous intentions to people.

So the story was okay, I'm not knocking it, and I appreciated the joke about Krypto the Superdog (even though I know absolutely nothing about that branch of the Superman mythos, beyond the name), but I am getting a sense that they're trying to fill up episodes, 'cunningly' inserting little clues and revelations one by one so that it appears to be a well-plotted arc for the season. The reality is it's not an arc that's feeling very natural and too few updates come along to make it substantial.

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