Stiletto

DVD, Smallville S8 (Stiletto)

It's pretty much a comedy episode, but there aren't a lot of laughs. Maybe it's a tragic comedy? The premise is that Lois needs a story as her career's going nowhere, and inspired by the Red-Blue Blur, she winds up creating a spur of the moment superhero of her own: Stiletto! A pretty silly idea, was my first thought - everyone on the series has to be a superhero in costume, except Clark, it sometimes seems, but what was initially created through barmy logic, and seemingly just an excuse to put Lois in a leather catsuit, led to a touching end scene in which Lois finally gets the coveted interview with the untraceable hero. It's a truly great moment with Clark watching from the top of a building as he talks through a voice scrambler so she doesn't know it's him on the other end of the phone box telephone line. And for once, after all she's been through (being a superhero; having to rise to the occasion to save Clark; Clark taking a bullet for her), Lois doesn't want a story, just to offer an ear for this hero to talk to. Even in this conversation there's some fun to be had, as after Clark guesses how she's feeling, she asks "Can you read my mind?" which is obviously a direct link back to the 'Superman' film in which Lois has this (frankly rubbish), song as she's flying through the air with Superman. There's also the witty moment when she gets Jimmy to photograph her in costume for her story, and says she thought about sowing an 'S' on the front, and is that tacky?!

Jimmy's finally back in the picture, though he's a bit messed up. I must admit, I didn't realise that he and Chloe had actually divorced, as she mentions in this episode, as it's not been stated before - I assumed they were just separated and would eventually get back together, maybe Jimmy would save her from Davis, or something. But no, and he's continuing his drugs habit, has fallen in with a rough crowd, and his new job is at a mob boss' club. Oh, and what a surprise that that club happens to be the Ace of Clubs! I know, they have to save money by reusing sets, but it makes the city seem tiny when they have to go back to this same place, which is now a mob hangout! Not only that, but the bad guy for this episode is working for 'Ron Milano,' the biggest mob boss in Metropolis. Yet we've never heard of him before! The lackey who offs him is the real baddie, anyway, though he just seems like an idiot more than a serious contender for a mob empire. Maybe Metropolis doesn't have any big mob bosses in town, and so this minor one is the biggest around… It was funny when Jimmy first sees Lois in costume, but I didn't really get a handle on the line Jimmy's travelling. Did he go undercover, or was he just in need of a job, and why isn't he working for the Planet any more? If he was trying to get in on a story, he wouldn't have been so matey with the bad guy, I'd have thought, so if he was just doing a job as a barman it's ironic that he's working at the good old Ace of Clubs just when it's under mob management, ready for him to get caught up in.

It's the same thing for Lois, once again being a dozy girl: Clark gets to the alarm situation from the police radio, and she never once suspects he's the Blur (his excuse that he had to go and feed Shelby the dog at least lets us know she's still around, though it can't be much of a life for a dog to be left on a farm alone all day!). It was fortunate that the forged money was imprinted with Kryptonite ink so that when Lois stumbles upon Clark's attempt to rescue Jimmy, he's getting his face kicked in, so there's no reason for her to suspect Clark could be anything more than her intern, as she calls him. It was great when he stopped a bullet for her, despite the Kryptonite giving it the power to penetrate him, and I thought all might be up - either the medics would get there and find he's not human, or Lois would realise that no ordinary person could stop a bullet and survive without any problems. But it's skipped over again, with it supposedly being a flesh wound - if he stopped the bullet, then it couldn't just be that simple. Mind you, Lois is that simple!

Talking of things that aren't human, Chloe continues to have a monster in the basement that she refuses to tell anyone about. This time we don't actually see Davis, but he does save her from a knife man, though you can tell the situation's getting to her when, having just deposited the remains of the attacker in the bins out back, she sinks down with blood on her hands. It's a tricky situation, but she shouldn't have got into it in the first place, it's her misplaced loyalty to Davis, and belief that keeping him down there will save Clark, that keeps her going. In reality it's just a device for the writers to keep Doomsday neatly locked up for a final confrontation, I'll warrant. I suppose it would have been difficult to come up with another solution where he wasn't causing trouble but could burst into Clark's life at any moment. Logic doesn't often matter in 'Smallville' and much of it has to be contrived in order to get things to where they're needed - Chloe's car just happens to be stolen by a car-jacker who could use the names locked up in her laptop from Watchtower, for evil; Jimmy's involved in it; and it all coincides with Lois needing a story. So once again, a bit messy in writing terms, but it had enough to be fairly enjoyable, the end scene capping things nicely (and I had to smile at the joke about online message boards wanting the Red-Blue Blur and Stiletto to get together, with Clark saying something like 'who thinks up these things' - a poke into the ribs of the series' more dedicated viewers, I believe!).

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