Booster

DVD, Smallville S10 (Booster)

A slightly patchy episode, but it comes through in the end, just like Booster Gold! When I saw the title I assumed it was going to be about this guy, but being a non-comics reader I didn't know anything about him, except that he was the Blue Beetle. At least that's what I thought he's supposed to be, then you get this whole story about some lad that ends up getting infused with weird alien technology in the form of a blue 'scarab' that is somewhat like the Iron Man suit, all CGI clunking armour that spreads over the user, or victim in this case. It transpires this Booster is from the future, so maybe there are stories about him being in era of time and he was the one to wear the suit, I don't know? What I do know is that, after the initial signs of Lois coaching Clark on being Clumsy Kent, I wasn't looking forward to some cheesy new superhero moving in on The Blur's patch, and the episode looked like it was taking a turn for the worse. Happily, I was proved largely wrong, and while I felt it could have been a little more substantial, and for once I wished for 'bigger' special effects (in the scene where scarab lad comes to blast Booster), it had the essential character that this season has been forced to concentrate on, and which has made it a standout in the series compared with the last several seasons, only excluding Season 9.

Once Booster talks of taking Clark/The Blur's place by grabbing the 'key to the city' and thus adoration in the eyes of Metropolis' population, you have to guess he's from the future, partly because of the technology he uses to fly around or blast people, which appears more advanced than the usual stuff we see, and also that he has secret knowledge of Clark's destiny - though the way they played his last scene made it unclear if he knew he was going to be called Superman, even though he was suggesting Clark use the 'S' and make it something super, as if in his timeline he wasn't aware of the final name Clark chose? Maybe it was just the way the actor played it as he was hot on branding and should have said something like "you will," when Clark agrees to get brainstorming on something, although on the other hand he couldn't have made it more obvious so perhaps he was being a little condescending giving such blatant hints and must have known Superman name. Anyway, my theory, thanks to my limited knowledge of Booster Gold/Blue Beetle, was that the young teen that looks like a blue beetle in the suit was going to turn out to be Booster Gold in his past who would grow up to be the man of Gold (loved the Steel versus Gold analogy of the episode, by the way, though I suspect this is all old hat to comic lovers as I think Geoff Johns who wrote the episode was a comics writer - for all I know he may have been the creator of Booster Gold, or well known for writing him, but I don't research and take the series as they give it to me, so I may never know!), and this was why he had saved him.

Booster is from the 25th Century, the time of the Legion, and having stolen a Legion ring, travelled back in time to in some ways put right what went wrong in his life when he chose the wrong path in life, ruined his career and had nothing left, though really he enjoys the glory of heroics, the publicity and the clamour of his fans, something Clark helps to turn around by the end of the episode, importantly, while also working out what's right for his own personas of Blur and Clark. I liked that the biggest problem he really had with hesitant, clumsy Clark was how it would reflect on Lois, a selfless and typically generous-spirited point of view that she's able to reassure him won't be a problem. It is these things, and Booster's tragic past, or actually, tragic future, which he's escaped from, that makes the episode worth spending time on a new character this close to the end. It was important that Clark didn't just suddenly begin acting weak and wishy-washy for no reason, but now that the idea's been well presented and we're so close to the end, they can go for it. I'm not sure anybody would have wanted to see ten seasons of Clark stumbling around (although it was fun to see him recognise the similarity between Jaime, the young scarab lad, and himself when he was at school, one of the first scenes of the pilot being him dropping his books in front of Lana, though they had the masterstroke of that being because of her Kryptonite necklace). But you need to differentiate Clark from his hero persona if it's to be public, and this episode ably achieved an organic transition and motivation.

Cat Grant is the returning character of this episode, though as she's already been in the season she doesn't count as a returnee from a previous season, and they're really running out of time now if they even have one new returnee for each of the final few episodes, which there's no guarantee they will. But surely Pete will be back, who knows about Lana, or anyone else? I doubt they had the budget to get everyone back, even for the finale, but there's always hope. Cat is a little less annoying, and gets to wear a cheeky Wonder Woman-esque costume, or part of it, with The Blur saving her in spectacular fashion, causing her to bake some cookies to say sorry to Lois, with the 'S' logo on the front! I must admit, when Booster was talking about Clark's red and blue outfit I was imagining he was referring to the Superman suit, as I'd forgotten he has the red leather jacket emblazoned with an 'S.' Still, we get a really cool moment when Clark rushes to the scene of the scarab's violent attack, then seeing a phone box does what he will do many times in the future. It's pretty funny, really, since phone boxes are all glass, so he may as well just have jumped over a wall, but it was a very nice touch, and although the confrontation was fairly low-key, especially when you can't help but think of the myriad superhero films and their inflated budgets, looking a bit small fry, the character stuff made it important, even down to seeing the lad's face inside the helmet like 'Metroid,' terrified because he can't control the armour's rampage, and using Clark's own words Booster is able to inspire him to take control and power down the weapon (had the Kord Industries guy been in it before?).

I do miss the interactions with Green Arrow in these episodes, but they've managed to stay focused on Lois and Clark's great friendship and partnership which is what makes the season so good, and they interwove the three lines of story well, Clark's uncertainty about the need for a diversionary persona that can fly under the radar, the extreme opposite of Booster Gold's desire for fame and riches poking him into taking the beetle by the horns (he actually doesn't, leaving it to the real hero inside Booster to do that, but it sounds good), and Jaime the scarab boy who's been made to feel worthless, but realises he has potential and the mentor to help him reach it. Which all goes towards making it a well written episode and one with goodness and rightness, a light, but meaningful story that continues to build towards the ultimate goal of Clark donning the mantle of Superman. I had thought that with Tom Welling directing, Clark would be in it less, but he was as much in evidence as ever, so well done Tom, you did good.

***