Freak

DVD, Smallville S6 (Freak)

One of the best this season has produced, and all without the Green Arrow, not something I expected to see. For once a plot comes along that really is clever and shakes up the foundation of the characters without seeming contrived and ridiculous, but more on that later. At first this appeared to be one of the usual freak-of-the-week stories, the guy at the bowling alley possibly having an ulterior motive in handing out bowling tips to Lana on her unconventional batchelorette party with Chloe. It quickly becomes apparent that he was just a harmless example of the Meteor Freak generation, something we haven't seen much of in the past, but adding a new slant to the mutations - some of these have managed to stay quiet about their abilities and help people, not harm, managing to blend in to Smallville society. Daniel Kim was just one of several in the town targeted by Dr. Bethany who is a bit mysterious at first but is soon revealed to be working for Lex, though secretly. He's one of the many that have tried to exploit the infected over the years, and this time he's using one of them to turf out the others.

The unique ability of Tobias Rice is that he can see the infected when his dark glasses are taken off, which leads to one of the most fascinating twists in recent seasons, from several angles: I was probably mistaken for thinking the photo taken at the bowling didn't match up with the time Tobias pointed at Kim, but regardless, it leads to Clark and Chloe going to the freak's house, just like the old days, only this one's not an enemy. There's a great moment where Clark catches the glass in super-speed (though I don't think we actually saw it), to avoid embarrassment, but instead causes much more of a problem because in the confusion Tobias' shades fall off and he sees all! Now that's not too bad - many of the mutants Clark's faced over the years have known he was one of them… or was he? That's the blazing insight given off by the episode: Clark doesn't show up as one of them because, as Chloe explains to him at the end, he's not one of them. But she is. Tobias saw her and she was the one he phoned Dr. Bethany about, which is a thrilling and totally unexpected turn of events!

Clark does some blatant laptop stealing and he really should have taken it without the Doctor's knowledge rather than whipping past and then striding out with it openly under his arm. It was a good moment though, one of many to showcase Clark's powers such as we have't seen for a long time. So often things are reduced to him dashing about at super-speed or throwing baddies against walls, that his super-hearing, X-ray vision and heat vision had almost been forgotten. But not this time! Clark and Jimmy are both devastated by Chloe's abduction, as they should be (Clark not demonstrating super-intelligence as one of his abilities when Jimmy's at Chloe's place over the Talon, Clark comes in, Jimmy asks him where she is, and Clark replies "she's not here?"), but it's what happens when she comes back that makes the difference. Obviously they can't discuss the meteor freaks in front of Jimmy because he's not yet in the know, but someone that does seem to be in the know is Lana, believe it or not. She's finally put all the pieces together and wonderfully tries to protect Clark by helping Tobias escape from his false benefactor, finding out from him that Clark isn't the infected person she believed he was.

The moment where Clark speeds in, deflects the bullet fired by Lana to protect Tobias, takes the blast from Bethany's electro-blast (which must have bounced back to kill him) and exits without being seen is one of those classic moments of brilliance that have long been missing from the series - inventive, impressive and excellently directed. There were some scenes in the episode where I sensed it was going to cut away, but instead the scene carried on: when Lex threatens Bethany for one, and later when Clark reassures Chloe that he'll be there to make sure she's alright even if she becomes a mutant. It was like we were being shown some of the things that are usually cut away from, making it a much more rounded experience.

What could be more satisfying than for Clark and Lana to have a genuine conversation about whether Clark was infected by the meteors or not - it's only taken five and a half years to get to, but it was well worth it to see Lana reassure Clark that even if he were such a person he'd still be the same Clark. They're the words he always wanted to hear, it's just a shame they had to come at a time when she's about to marry Lex and Clark's already seen his world collapse when he told her what he really was in the alternate future last season. I can't imagine him ever getting to that point again, but it's absolutely heartening to see these characters talking warmly to each other, people's lives saved mysteriously again. Lana even holds up the bullet to show Clark, instead of hiding it away in a drawer and stealing glances at it to make us wonder what she knows. I do wonder what she thinks Clark really is or how he might have done the things he seems to have done, but the important thing is that this episode ends happily, even finding time for a song which was another aspect of it that felt like the old episodes.

It's a refreshing change to have so many things spoken of openly and most things cleared up in the space of the episode instead of hanging over, tempting us, but even then there are plenty of things to come back for, not the least that Lex swore on the soul of his baby that he had nothing to do with Tobias or knew anything about it, when it's clear he had much to do with it. Does that mean he thinks their baby won't have a soul? Does that mean it may not even be human, but some terrible experiment from him? It's all a scary thought. If you want horror though, this had a moment that was bordering on the torture films that became popular in the last few years: Clark has to burn through Chloe's skin and rip out a tracking device buried under her collar bone! It was horrible, but it also shone the light fully on their friendship, that she was willing, even begging, to trust him and the control of his abilities, to save her. It turned out to be only a GPS, but it could have been some miniature explosive like 'Mission: Impossible III.'

Lex has gone far deeper into the dark side than I expected, baldly lying to Lana, his bride to be, sanctioning Chloe's violent treatment and ordering her kept under close watch, while still taking the lead in all the meteor freak research and development that can be done. Lana has shown she doesn't fully trust him by going over his head and trying to steal Tobias away (nicely finished by sending him to Star City under the care of Queen Industries who will take care of the cornea transplant), and that she would protect Clark if she thought he needed her to. It was a such a good episode all round, and despite Martha and Lionel not featuring it had so many things to recommend it: action, suspense, great twists, wonderful character moments and excellent use of the freak storyline upon which the series was originally based. In some ways that would have made this a freak episode among lesser seasons, but as this season has been an improvement, it merely stands tall as one of the best among the good.

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