Void

DVD, Smallville S5 (Void)

This one is about Lana's ethereal nature. It appears that her lightness of presence throughout the series isn't simply a character trait, but that she's feeling, and has felt, alone for a long time. Whether she's referring to her parents when she says that, or she's just missing something (or maybe it's to do with the bizarre life she's experienced in recent years - going to Paris, getting a new boyfriend and then it turning out to be an arranged meeting in order for his Mum to uncover her inner witch, blah, blah, blah? Then making up and breaking up with Clark more times than I can remember...). Regardless, she's ended up a junkie, but not for drugs, this is for the meteorite-induced near-death experience from a serum created by a mad student. Sorry, I meant a med student. Of course things get worse as people realise her condition, and we're pretty much just waiting for the next character to get injected to see what this supposedly 'real' experience will be for each of them. Unlike previous episodes such as the 'deepest fears' one, or the 'seeing the future' one, the individual experiences aren't that interesting. Lana apparently meets her parents in a glowing, sunlit room; Lex meets his Mother again, only for her to tell him he's going down a very bad path; and Clark...

Well, we didn't expect Clark to be able to have a crack at it as the serum has to be injected into the bloodstream, and we all know what happens with Kal-el and needles - the needles always come off second best. Aah, but this time the needle has Kryptonite juice dripping from it, so it does indeed penetrate his rock-hard skin, and we get the most interesting scene of the episode, with a surprise visit from Jonathan Kent, raising the episode up a level. It seems to be the real JK who takes the opportunity to say how proud he is, and warn Clark that Lionel knows his secret and that it's his destiny to protect the whole world! Big plot reveal there then, at least for Clark, but not for us. It's really nice to see Jonathan, even if it could all be some hallucination (useful all the same!), but how did Clark revive? The antidote has to be injected, but this time it's not a needle with Kryptonite so it won't work. Actually they thought of everything, and it transpires that when Clark expires the Kryptonite is neutralised, so 'no perspire'!

With such a title I had hopes this would be a jaunt into the Phantom Zone where the Kryptonians from earlier in the series were incarcerated with old Zod, but this void has nothing to do with that place, though no doubt we'll be seeing more of the Zone if Milton Fine has his way. One question? Why didn't he at least change his name when he moved to Honduras as even a little local boy knows of him, so Clark doesn't have any trouble tracking down where the black ship has been. We can ignore the fact that Clark manages to find the exact village location where Fine is working thanks to the good visual of his superfast journey from North America to South America. The camera zooms out as he does his familiar dash, but keeps on going until we see the globe, then pulls in, rolling towards the southern continent, then zooms in again. Nice. I suggest it might not be wise for Clark to be wandering around without a disguise in Honduras as he was going to stick out and his description would quickly tip off anyone interested.

Talking of those interested in Clark, Lionel continues to be really pleasant to Martha, but this time she puts her foot down to a certain extent, letting him know they are friends, and that is all, forever. But now Clark knows Lionel knows, and by the way Lionel shut the door and said "goodbye 'Clark'" when taking Martha off to some function, you wonder if he knows that Clark knows that he knows. Well he can't know, unless he happened to be dead at the same time Clark apparently was, but even then, why would people go to the same place for their near-death ride? For that matter why doesn't Clark meet all the Kryptonians that died in his world's destruction? Instead he ends up at the barn. Maybe they ran out of money for Kryptonian architecture?

Another episode that hasn't really achieved anything with the characters; the baddie 'meats' a grisly end - he who lives by the circular saw, will... you know the rest; Lana gets ever-friendlier with Lex; and it ends in a strange way. At least Clark can talk to her again, but then he did try and save her life (again). All he wants is for her to be happy, she replies that she will be, and then it ends in silence as if they forgot to add the musical outro. At least it wasn't a messy, emotional ending, or one of the characters calls back to make up, and is rejected and goes away sadly, or one leaves with tears in their eyes. It's gone past all that by a long way, and now all they can do is stare robotically, the circle has been travelled that many times. So not that good, but Mr. Kent gave us something to enjoy, and the series looks as visually varied as ever, I can't really say anything better than that. I won't make any jokes about the episode being null and void. I'll 'avoid' that.

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