Identity

DVD, Smallville S8 (Identity)

At last, the season is finally getting started! Things aren't what they seem in this, the best episode so far of an underwhelming opening salvo, but it was worth the wait, whether it be the exciting teaser, good use of all the characters featured this week (only Davis is absent), and some heartfelt rapprochement between Clark and Oliver Queen, who returns having been in hibernation after learning of how his parents died and that Clark knew, but didn't tell him. We have the old humour back, jabbing at the Superman mythos with Clark making jokes about the red cape Queen uses to fool Jimmy and the general public in a brilliant reversal from Season 6 when Clark stepped in to throw Lois off the scent of Green Arrow's true identity. And we have Lois talking about her destiny to fall for a man that flies a lot and wears tights, excellently judged action scenes that make sense and impress, and some great effects. What's going on 'Smallville,' and why can't you be like this all the time?

It shows how well I reacted to the weaving of the story that I didn't mind Jimmy being fooled into thinking Clark couldn't be the mysterious Red-Blue Man (as I'd like to call the blur - the only thing missing from this episode is a nickname given to the super fast samaritan. There's another name right there!), with Chloe even pointing out that Clark should use the publicity and take an alias to inspire hope in people, something later taken up between him and Oliver, who always caused friction with Clark because of his outrage at the Kent boy being happy to sit back and stay secret instead of embracing his abilities and going full-time in the superhero business! It's wonderful to see these themes carried across between sets of friends and shows that the series can write well when it chooses. Not to say I wasn't a little disappointed when, after teasing us in the aptly named teaser by hinting that Jimmy can see that it's Clark saving Lois from the car when he's in the middle of trying to take a photo of the mugger (it never rains, but it pours, right?), we then find out when the episode starts properly that it was just a red and blue blur. I was kept guessing as to how this was going to go in the story - from the teaser I was sure this was going to be the moment Jimmy discovered the secret, then it all changed and he wasn't going to know, then when he's dedicated to uncovering the identity and he's put it all together and Clark and Chloe have to openly lie to him I was astonished that they didn't just admit it.

In the end poor Jimmy's left out in the cold, but it was done in such an inventive way with a plan to convince him, which then turns out to work better than expected despite being artfully messed up, I couldn't help but be pulled along by it all. Yes, there are problems: the feel is still sometimes 'small' thanks to the reuse of the Ace of Clubs for Lois' dinner date, and the same city street set being used all season; and going back to the teaser, I didn't really get the mugging and whether it was Mercer instigated (she's still after the blue stone which she learns in this Lois doesn't have), since I had the impression it was the same mugger who attacks Jimmy at the end, and at Kane's first appearance I thought maybe it had been him with a beard; and what's the point of Jimmy getting a picture of the maniac, who could just take the camera, when he should have attacked him; and why wouldn't Lois put two and two together and see that shortly after she'd called Clark Kane had been thrown across the room. Most importantly, why couldn't Chloe, engaged to be married to Jimmy, lest we forget, and Clark, a good friend of his, lie so barefacedly to him? It was cold and heartless, and he even understands that it's difficult to entrust such a secret to him. It's funny when Clark's elaborate plan to convince Jimmy he's not the famed hero goes completely wrong and ends up making him even more sure it's Clark, until he sees with his own eyes Green Arrow dressed in the semi-Superman costume. Even the disappointment they couldn't admit Jimmy into the inner circle didn't matter because it was so well done.

I at first felt the addition of Sebastian Kane, a meteor freak whom I wasn't sure whether he was a pre-made character from the comics or a new invention from the vaults of LutherCorp, or some place called Black Creek, which Chloe had apparently been inside (there are so many facilities and groups of mutants I lost track of whether this was something we'd actually seen), was too much when they had this great story of Jimmy knowing the secret, but even that was neatly worked into the finale with Clark having to rush off to save Lois from certain death, although she did pretty well in the fight scene with this vicious thug. And it was another thing that wasn't what it seemed because Clark thinks she's immediately fallen for this new reporter at the Daily Planet (the way Kane walks in without any explanation I didn't understand whether he worked there or had just wandered in off the street!), which, unfortunately was only too easy to believe, but in fact she's going undercover, knowing his past - maybe she didn't know about his powers or the extent of them, to be able to read people's minds, engagingly illustrated by showing us fast rewind flashbacks of what they've just been thinking or saying, which was inventive and shows us extra things such as what was going across Lois' face when Clark's doing up the back of her dress for her. So he wasn't the typical freak-of-the-week, he had a real purpose and an interesting ability, and it was only sad that he couldn't have survived to be a thorn in Clark's side in future.

That was quite an ending, though. Chilling to see Chloe come into Kane's room wearing black, pulling off black gloves and grabbing his arm so his mind reading ability completely overloads his brain thanks to all the knowledge she's accumulated from Brainiac. It also made me wonder if that was Brainiac's influence as it was quite a harsh thing for her to do, basically wipe his mind, even though it was a necessary evil because Clark's secret would have got back to Mercer, Kane's employer. But still, it's practically cold-blooded murder, not something we expect from Chloe, and reminds me of all that stuff when Lana went bad, wearing black and doing 'whatever it took' when she felt it was warranted. That was never Chloe's style, so I hope it turns out Brainiac is taking over her mind. But none of the medical staff noticed Chloe walking out of Kane's transparent room, with all those windows and people all around? Pah, even those usual little niggles mattered not as I was carried along by a satisfying story that brought back the feeling of friendship between all these people, as well as setting up potential danger for Clark as Lois is now dead set on finding out the identity of the hero.

Whether it was the making up with Oliver Queen, which shakes him out of his depression and brings back his desire to get back out on the streets as Green Arrow again, (I was expecting The Flash to do the saving since he usually wears red anyway), Lois and Clark bantering away in a caring style, little things like seeing the photo of Clark, Jonathan and Martha Kent, or the clever setting up and diverting of expectations, it was a pleasure to watch. We've seen many times when a vital piece of evidence is destroyed or a story is changed to protect Clark's identity, so it was refreshing that he came to see that this publicity was actually a good thing, even if it was super-suspicious of him to go to Mercer and beg off writing the article for the front page when he's just a lowest grade reporter who should want to make his name. They could have played up the ethics of wanting to be an honest journalist, but it didn't really matter, and it would have been even more suspicious of him and Chloe to somehow lose Jimmy's photo or get rid of it, and would have caused all kinds of grief, so the different angle was appreciated. Instead, Jimmy got his story, Clark kept his secret safe, and he began to realise that he could be as much an inspiration as a saviour for people, which is an inspirational message in itself. I had a feeling Jimmy might not get to know after all because he's part of the Superman story, and there's no Superman yet so how could he be that innocent photographer when he knew such a deep secret. But if they ever do reveal it, he's going to be so angry with Chloe and Clark for their lies, with every right!

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