Pariah

DVD, Smallville S4 (Pariah)

One of a few that could be called two-parters, and that's because the episodes tend to be serialised with ongoing plots overlapping, but this was a direct continuation complete with 'previously' montage which hardly ever happens, except for season openers. My worst fears were realised in that Alicia is back again, and the story falls down in that she's a completely unsympathetic character so the conceit of the episode doesn't have a leg to stand on. The early scenes are marred by soapy-ness and it appears that the only note of interest to be sounded is Alicia's suggestion that Clark turn himself in, or at least reveal to Sheriff Adams (yes, she's back to get under everyone's skin again!) his powers.

That was a sufficiently thought-provoking idea, though it were impossible - why should she be the one to have all superpower blame laid at her door, and if Clark were to be revealed would people become more accepting of her? It seems more likely that Clark would have become an object of contempt (more than he already is with some people, such as Jason), and become a target for crazies more than usual. So, I was thinking, at least there's some root of an idea among the teenage moaning, but then a dramatic turn comes with Chloe being told of and witnessing Clark's powers at last!

It's happened before, but this time the unexpected result was that nothing occurred to dislodge this world-bending notion from her brain. She didn't hit her head and forget, she wasn't under the influence of Kryptonite and she wasn't going mad at the time: she genuinely learns of Clark's powers and accepts it pretty well, I'd say. You'd think she'd be going over every odd incident that she'd collected, witnessed or been a part of over the years and slot in the new information to make sense of it. In some ways she shouldn't have been all that surprised as she practically suspected there was something special about him already. Perhaps that was why she took it so well, and in an act of ultimate friendship doesn't intrude on his privacy or ask him questions, but lets him know she's around. What a good mate!

The tragedy is that Clark can never know she knows as it was Alicia who told him, and inevitably, she had to die. For someone that can teleport anywhere at a moment's thought I don't see how the sand boy, or dust boy, or whatever, was able to hold her long enough to drug her. Internal consistency has never been a strongly adhered to policy of the series and she was either going to be around forever or knocked off, so sandy-dusty-boy was merely the mechanism for bringing things back to a kind of normality. On the subject of consistency I was a little confused about Lex' dealings with Mrs. Teague. He claims the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but Jason doesn't ask why he considers his Mum to be an enemy, which would be the first question you'd expect him to ask!

The slimy woman convinces Lana that it wasn't by her doing that she and Jason met, so that trail is cold for the moment, but it's very strange the way she goes to Lex and why she should be so intent on pulling the couple apart or why she could imagine Lex would help her I don't know. Yes, she dangles the carrot of having some information on how Lionel got out of prison, but so what... The CGI was used well, especially for dusty-sand-boy, but as has become usual we don't get any history on him, how he got his powers, so he's only a vague moral vigilante who's got things twisted in his head a bit. To make an enemy worth having they've got to have a deeper imprint on the series or they end up seeming like a maguffin there to set the real story up.

I feel that the episode is one of those 'nearly there, but not quite'. With such a massively important development  as one of the regulars seeing Clark perform his extraterrestrial stunts and remembering it, it has an underwhelming sum total. I would have wished for such a brilliant moment to be a part of a brilliant episode rather than propping up a less than brilliant one, but as often this season it leaves you with a desire to see how things will transpire and how Chloe's knowledge will affect life. It didn't do Pete much good - he was written out a year after becoming the first man on the inside. Chloe will be around for a good while, I know, but it remains to be seen whether it will enrich or hinder her character. My bet's on a shouting match some time in the future where Clark moans she should understand and then she belts out that knows all about him, and then they'll be grumpy for an episode and then things will be fine. That's how things usually pan out, anyway.

Maybe Chloe took the revelations about Clark so well because she's a bit of a fan of heroes - she mentions both TJ Hooker and Captain Kirk in the same conversation... maybe Lois was wrong and she does have a secret - she's a lifelong fan of William Shatner?

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