Mercy

DVD, Smallville S5 (Mercy)

There have been far too many nasty films in recent years featuring torture storylines in which people get kidnapped and have to play gory mind games in order to survive, and now this series has got in on the act. Thankfully it works reasonably well as a device to put Lionel on centre stage and gives him a strong role to play, culminating in the shock of Clark rescuing him and Martha from a plummeting lift in full view of the man, and there's no get-out clause in which he loses his memory of the incident as has happened several times before, to him and most of the other characters. Although there is a final scene in which Lionel is shown to be clutching his head in an 'I've got something seriously wrong with me' way, so there's still a chance he could be made to forget. I actually wondered if somehow Jor-el had taken over his mind as he has seemed different this season, less focused on the business dealings, in fact more like a 'good guy' than when he supposedly turned over a new leaf last season. I took it to be just a continuation of the oddness in the way certain characters have been written, but perhaps I'm not giving John Glover credit for subtly altering his performance?

As well as the horror film overtones I wonder if perhaps the writer had seen some of the series that 'Smallville' creators Al Gough and Miles Millar had worked on here in England - namely 'BUGS' in which a blue-faced avatar is used for extortion purposes, and to frighten via onscreen prompts? Perhaps 'Countdown' should use the idea of a victim in a water tank instead of the famous clock as that might get them more viewers...

As soon as the mystery kidnapper was introduced my mind was reeling through the possibilities, but I have the impression they used Michael Rosenbaum's voice in the mix, at least at first, because it really gave the impression of him. As time went on I began to wonder if it could be someone we haven't heard from in a while, such as Lex' half-brother Lucas, although it was a long shot. Once we see the security rep it became clear it was most likely to be him as no other non-regulars had appeared and it follows the pattern of most of the episodes, in which the unassuming minor role is revealed as the mastermind. Nil points for originality I'm afraid, but the intensity of the scenes made it rattle along quickly and gave John Glover the chance to act. I know the name Lauro Chartrand from the credits, it certainly rings a bell, and the bad guy looked familiar...

Clark doesn't feature much, but it worked fine, and Lionel made a good lead. We've rarely seen such major moments as Lionel knowing about Clark, Clark doing something so dramatic to save him and Martha, or when Lex overhears in front of Clark his Dad saying how special Clark is to the world! And then he gets a final slap in the face as his Dad basically says Clark's the kind of son a Dad would want! Lionel has known about Clark as Kal-el for over a year, we learn, so it's good to get that confirmed at last, the uncertainty had often been used to tease us. The big question is whether he was really acting selflessly, for so long an unlikely scenario, or did he know the gun wasn't loaded? Either way it worked for Martha, who was softer on him than she had resolved to be. I began to suspect it was all a set up by Lionel to confirm Clark's identity with his own eyes, but that wouldn't make sense if Cole had to be restrained after finding his plan hadn't worked. That doesn't guarantee Luthor senior can be trusted, as he's always out for himself, as Clark points out. Things are never simple with Lionel as we know, and only time will tell.

The episode was well shot, and because it was mostly psychological the effects weren't needed as much, with more on-set stunts used, such as the water tank. I did think the train crashing into the limo didn't look quite real, but on the whole the intense nature of the situation came across quite well. All it needed was a contemporary vocal track and some happy scenes to end with and it could almost be an episode from the glory days.

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