Infamous

DVD, Smallville S8 (Infamous)

It was too good to be true, and too much was happening, so I wasn't fooled for long. But the way they had Clark finally decide to go public, and by telling Lois first, I did believe it was really happening, although I still kept the expectation spark alive in my head that Lois would somehow lose her memory (let's face it, it happens to characters on this series all the time!). With the reintroduction of a minor villain from Season 6 ('Hydro'), in Linda Lake (played by Tori Spelling again), I began to feel this might all be some kind of dream or forced hallucination that she was putting Clark through for some nefarious unknown purpose, especially as he really did go public and let the world know his secret, unleashing all those painful results that Superman has had to deal with: adoration that turns into adulation; people doing crazy things to get his attention; the authorities quickly suspicious and having to put a leash on this potential danger; unable to save everyone, and the backlash that goes with that… It's all part of the Superman mythos, even the superhero genre, the reason why they have to have a secret identity, and it's nothing to do with colour coordination!

It started one way, as a threat from Lake, a past adversary that wasn't a particularly good one as I recall, changing into something more magical in the vein of the Season 5 story in which he tells Lana his secret ('Reckoning'), and all this great stuff happens until something terrible occurs and he comes under doubt and suspicion. I think he was able to turn back time in that one (and I was half expecting dashing round the world to make it spin in the opposite direction to become an option!), but I had no idea what gimmick was to be used to remedy this spiralling situation. Of course, the Legion's time travel ring given to him for just this kind of dilemma! I thought it was a one-use only deal, so I don't know why he had to destroy it at the end (disappointing he's unlikely to go to the future now) - if he had the ability to travel through time as much as he wanted I'd have thought he'd have used it a few times, at least to try it out. Maybe he's just not interested in human history…

Still, it removes that particular get out of jail free card, and with Jor-El still apparently gone for good after the destruction of the Fortress, his specialist options are running thin on the ground for world-changing intervention. The pudding was a little over-egged, what with Lake (who fortunately didn't have as big a part to play as at first indicated), Clark's big decision (though believably arrived at thanks to the inspiration his alter-ego the Red-Blue Blur has given the people), as well as the return of Davis. In this version of those days, we learn Chloe's memories are blacked out on Bloom, so she doesn't know he's Doomsday, which makes for an exciting moment when she has to escape from the metamorphosing man-beast. It's not like Clark to ignore a message from Lois as she tries to tell him Davis is Doomsday, a Kryptonian sent to kill him, just as he goes back in time, but maybe he thought (as I did), that Lois' phone wasn't the first thing she should have been paying attention to after being knocked out by, and fighting, Lake!

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the episode really was, as we already knew Davis' identity, and it's only Clark that needs the heads-up. I suppose it was a vision of the future for him, and the dangers of revealing all to the world. He's successfully kept his secret for so long that to release it on a whim brings him the realisation that to protect himself and his friends it needs to stay locked up. You could say whenever he's told someone else it was a moment of weakness where he couldn't keep it in any more, and he's got the chance now to stay strong, and the added incentive, having seen such a frightening vision. It doesn't change that one of the reasons this episodes works is that he finally, and unexpectedly confides in Lois. It's done well, and it's a special moment between them. Such moments are rare and protected jealously by the writers for times that matter, but with this they got to 'have their cape, and wear it too,' as Chloe puts it, with a 'what if?' scenario that gives us Lois' reaction to learning his big secret. It also drives a bit of a wedge between them as seen in the sad little ending where Clark chooses not to meet up with her on an open offer (wonder how long that'll last…?). But it was a really nice piece of writing (I know, is this really 'Smallville' I'm watching?), and good to see Lois back. I always thought she'd be the last to know his secret, and that doesn't look like changing for a good while. Probably the best episode of the season.

Also nice to have Clark talking to Martha, though we don't actually hear her side of it, being a phone conversation. I'd have thought she'd have something to say about him going public with his secret, and I'm surprised he didn't at least let her know what he was going to do, and preferably discuss the ramifications of his choice. Of course Martha might well have talked him out of it, undermining the drama, so I suppose it's a fair enough dramatic device. What isn't so easy to follow is Linda Lake's special powers. I'm not talking about being able to dissolve into water, but in carrying clothes and paper around with her. I have to assume it's all for show and not real, as one, the paper would fall apart if it got wet, and two, we can't see it when she sloshes away! It was quite a harsh ending for her, but I have to say I thought it a bit of a relief that Davis got rid of her (after she tried to rile him up so he'd free her from her cell), as she wasn't much of a character and I hope we don't see her again. I liked that we get the events of two days earlier, but with different outcomes: Clark doesn't get a rollicking from Lois for failing to pick her up in the rain, and Davis isn't under suspicion from the nurse that finds him ransacking the medical cabinet (don't you have to have requisitions to replenish your drugs?), but is instead asked to meet a patient, who turns out to be Lake. It's difficult for them to do time travel on this series, but they pulled it off here without it feeling like a major gimmick, and as an episode I actually liked it, which is always a nice surprise.

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