Cyborg

DVD, Smallville S5 (Cyborg)

An unremarkable opening was followed by an unremarkable episode, the point being a mirror Victor Stone is a mirror for Clark, as he's willing to tell his girlfriend the truth about his bionic nature as opposed to Clark who continues to keep the secret of his own super-powered self from Lana. This analogy doesn't work very well because Victor was thought dead, whereas Clark grew up with Lana and the meteor storm that brought him killed her parents. In other words he has reasons not to tell her, but Victor's survival on its own warranted an explanation. The actor that played Stone did a good job of portraying a good man struggling to escape his captors, there was no malice or ulterior motive in him, much like Clark, so the two formed a common bond quite quickly, not to mention the 'football' connection.

The effects were mostly uninspiring, there were no incredible 'wind back to see it again' moments demonstrating the cyborg's enhanced capabilities apart from he and Clark jumping off a building and cracking the ground. The story that commanded most interest was the one given shortest shrift - Martha's blackmailing using footage of Clark saving Lana from the warehouse blowing up ('Lockdown'?). I guessed quite early it would more likely be Lionel manipulating events to charge in as a white knight, than another influence, and so much of the story was simplistic and predictable. Lionel and Lex seem to have become one-dimensional bad guys, both proving it by their actions.

The same old, same old reactions between Clark and Lex and Clark and Lana harked back to Seasons 3 and 4 again, since these boring, negative conversations had been reduced this season. You know the one - Clark bursts in to accuse Lex of something, he fobs him off or promises to do something about it. You could probably go through the seasons and count up how many times such scenes have been done, only it would be depressing. The same goes for Lana talking about trust and how they're going in circles. I think almost those exact words have been spoken by her before. Lionel flattering Martha and she being uncomfortably flattered is another scene that's been played to death, this time she takes the biscuit, suggesting Lionel is a friend of hers! What happened to him being the number one enemy whom no one should trust?

There was no really exciting or special action scenes to break up this drab story, it was just a case of retreading and retreading old ground. If we didn't already know it, Lex is bad. If we didn't already know it, Lionel is bad. If we didn't already know it Lana wants Clark to confide his secrets. If we didn't already know, etc... The sliver of interest comes from Lionel putting his cards firmly on the table as far as us viewers are concerned, but only in private. After multiple retch-inducing schmaltzy endings, the only worthwhile moment in the entire episode is the final seconds as we find out for sure that Lionel knows not just that Clark has special powers, but that his real name is Kal-el! No doubt they'll drag it out a long time before Clark or Martha know that he knows.

**