Warrior

DVD, Smallville S9 (Warrior)

Fantasy versus reality is the theme of the week. But it has an excruciating start and an uncomfortable end, so on balance it has to be one of the worst of the season. That's no slight on Allison Mack's direction (though it wasn't really any better than her turn last season thanks to the bad stories she gets), she must have had a tough job since she's in it a lot, has to romance a ten-year-old in a man's body, and play XBox Kinect while saying lines! How much can one person do? Right from the opening shot, though, my hopes dropped: going to a comics and fantasy convention was just too much like the series eating itself - do we really need to see Clark wandering around people dressed as comics characters just because these are the target audience? I'm sure there were a ton of in-jokes in those convention scenes, and it was fun to see 'Star Wars' references, Lois even dresses as a Stormtrooper ("No love for 'Star Trek'?" I wondered, until she said "Stop gawking and prosper," once in the Amazon suit - Wonder Woman, I suppose), and was the guy in Clark's red jacket his stuntman or just an extra? It was way too far into fans and fan life for me, and then we have to endure a kid being into Warrior Angel, the hero that Lex Luthor was always so fond of, and stealing issue 1. I'm pretty sure the character was created for the series, not an existing character, especially as it's not well designed and didn't look very professionally drawn, and it is fun that it's so much from the series' history, but it was groan-inducing when this child, Alec Abrams, turns into Stephen Swift, aka Warrior Angel, from reading the comic.

I never liked when magic cropped up in Superman stuff, it's just silly (and we don't need real witchcraft signs and symbols in our series, thank you very much), and Zatanna wasn't one of the best characters, either. If you have magic, even though, as Clark says, it's not an exact science, it just undermines any reality that there is, and superheroes are always walking the fine line already. This season they've generally done a pretty good job of keeping things real, so it was a letdown to go back to magic and curses, and suchlike - to begin with it didn't seem much of a curse that whoever read the comic would turn into a superhero, but then you find out that he's destined to turn into Devilicus, the evil alter ego, but all this happens very fast and before you know it Chloe's up on a ledge about to be pushed off. I will give credit to the actor that played Warrior Angel - he was only doing what many before him have done in such films as 'Vice Versa,' 'Big,' etc, and pretend to be a boy in a man's body, but he did it well and believably, a more unguarded, natural attitude coming out. As usual with these things it's a bit awkward when you think about his real age and Chloe being interested in him, but I was much more worried by Oliver taking advantage of her mood at the end, to 'teach her archery.' He should be more respectful and she shouldn't rise to the bait, just as Clark denies himself when Zatanna uses magic against him.

On the whole, it wasn't a bad episode for him - we get to see him finish welding a couple of villains between chain link fence panels, knocking out another guy with a tin can (Teal'c did the same thing in an episode of 'Stargate SG-1'), but he also has contend with Zatanna taking advantage, which shows up her character all too clearly. Clark's justification of himself and his heroic life was also inconsistent: throughout the episode he lets out little bits of explanation or advice, but the scene at the end (the first sunset at the Kent barn scene we've seen in a while), just felt like a list of platitudes and lessons he spewed all over Alec, without much context: bullies are human too; no one starts out as a bad guy; life's hard but you mustn't allow pain to take over; just because you can do something doesn't mean you should; choosing to help people is good; everyone's worth saving; and a hero's work is never done. A bit corny, but I can appreciate the sentiments, if not the presentation. At least the Kandorians and Tess weren't part of the mix, but the Lois and Clark thing remains a bit jumbled and uncertain when you'd have thought it was solid by now. There are other little niggles such as the CCTV that just happens to be covering the comic case - if it was so rare that it warranted a camera, wouldn't the vendor have been more careful about keeping it locked? And Clark does make being a hero sound rather dull drudgery, a workmanlike appraisal. I like his attitude, taking no breaks; sacrifice, responsibility and accountability, the reality of such a life as opposed to the fantasy people at the con were dreaming of, and I suppose the message of the episode is that it's alright to enter fantasy now and again, just so long as it's not too much. Only this episode was too much.

**