Sacred

DVD, Smallville S4 (Sacred)

It was nice of them to write a tribute to Dr. Virgil Swann, killing him off because Christopher Reeve had died and wouldn't be coming back, but the rest of the episode? It's a heavy-on-the-plot style of episode, tying together the ongoing threads and advancing the storyline, except it's so contrived - I guess they've succeeded: The series now feels very much like a comic! The scenes in China were well shot, but it was hard to disguise the fact that they're on a studio backlot which they have to film from multiple angles. When characters walk slowly down a street talking, stop at the end and then stride purposefully back the way they came it's rather obvious.

Apart from some unnecessarily brutal torture scenes, I enjoyed the different style and visual tone. Lana, dressed in some long, flowing Chinese attire made for a dramatic visual (again with the comic book), but it was like they wondered what was missing from the series and someone piped up "I know, how about a 'Matrix'-style fight scene?" On a TV budget? Yeah, right. I never bought any of the witchy stuff, and this episode didn't win me over. It seems Isobel can take over Lana at any time, how useful that is for the plot. As for the short trip to China... None of the characters experience jetlag, no one looks the least bit dishevelled, I mean they haven't even had a change of clothes! And then they pop back again to America as if it was a matter of heading off down the shops for a pint of milk.

I know, I know, this is fantasy and there've been lots of things that are fantastical in the series, but the writing decisions are terrible. Even the staunchest fan couldn't defend the clunky 'Duh!' plotting. I guessed right away that Jason and Lex' incarceration was his own ploy, and everything has to be rammed into place to make it fit, none of that finesse stuff here! Worse, Chloe doesn't even make it into the story at all, the whole 'sticking stones around the world for Clark to find' was a ridiculous premise in the first place, and I have to say the season has gone off the boil in a big way. I feel very generous to give it this rating, but chalk it up for the look of the episode, and nothing else.

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