Suspect

DVD, Smallville S2 (Suspect)

Inventive, I'll say that for the manner in which another recurring character is written out of the series - it's like they hate being landed with so many familiar faces that make up the community of Smallville that they feel they must dispatch them one by one! We lost Principal Kwan, and there was Dr. Hamilton, and of course Aunt Nell. Whitney, if you want to count him, Ryan, maybe others I've forgotten. At the same time, going against the grain, they also bring back a recurring character from Season 1, Dominic Santori, which is nice continuity. It also means there's a fourth suspect in this potential murder mystery, although it becomes only attempted murder since Lionel pulls through. And that in spite of taking two large calibre bullet wounds to the torso, then falling one storey to crash through a glass table in the most spectacular fashion. You can't accuse the series of not thinking big, at least in this case! It's not an episode that relies on special effects, it's much more attuned to the knowledge regular viewers have of the people that make up the town. It's only a shame that Mike the barman hadn't been previously established as he was suspicious right from the off. It just goes to show, if there's one lesson to be learnt from this story: don't drink and drive! Not even a little bit, because if Jonathan hadn't gone to the Wild Coyote for his half, he wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.

I doubt very much I'd have guessed the identity of the attacker until late in the episode except it was 'spoiled' by listening to a podcast ('Always Hold On To Smallville' - recommended), which reminded me of what was going to happen. I'd seen it a couple of times before so it wasn't like it was brand new, but it had been well over a decade since I last went through the season. Knowing the identity in advance I did notice a couple of clues as the story unspooled: that the barman had 'connections,' which Clark reveals or speculates on when he and Pete go to the bar, and that a couple of people are said to be old school friends of Jonathan which makes a previously unknown connection. It's just such a shame that it should be someone like that who was trusted by Jonathan and the community, but was simply 'strapped for cash.' There's another lesson there: either look after your finances, or don't get involved with money men that promise good things, it never works out. I did like that Pete is with Clark so much as they go investigating, and really it only needed Chloe to tag along to make it just like the old 'Scooby gang' style of stories they used to do in Season 1 before things became more complicated by Chloe's issues with Clark, or Pete's inside knowledge of his abilities. It's such a shame we couldn't have had the trio as I'm sure Pete could have covered for his buddy, distracting Chloe if Clark needed to 'find' something, but as it is she's hardly in the episode at all.

Lana gets a little more to do, and I appreciated that they both brought in Henry Small, her Father, as someone in a position to help Mr. Kent from a legal perspective, and also that we learn something about him, another person whom the talons of Lionel got fixed upon, though for different reasons than the murderer. As it should be the characters mostly revolve around Clark in this story and he is proactive in his involvement even though it's a very adults-only narrative since it's all about the law and nothing to do with school students or secret meteor rock powers. In that sense it's a cut above the average episode, playing on the series' continuity, but also crafting a well directed (by Kenneth Biller), drama that had that noir-ish feel - you just needed voiceovers from a visiting detective to make it complete, although I must say I found the thunder crashes to be a little over-loud and intrusive to the dialogue. Maybe dial that back a bit next time! But the multiple versions of the same event worked really well and all were plausible (except for Jonathan or, really, Lex), plus it gave them the chance to show off their favourite stunt for the episode as Lionel tips over the balcony in the Mansion to topple to the glass table below, multiple times - they really got a lot of play out of that one, but it did deserve it, even if you can sort of tell it's not John Glover in the bit where the stunt man is actually collapsing through the table.

It wasn't the only memorable stunt, however, as Clark gets to save Pete when what looks like his friend's brand new car is pushed off the road to slam into a field (fortunately an empty one with no trees around the edge!). They had a fortunate escape with that one, but the danger isn't over as someone aboard the massive lorry takes a potshot at the car, which promptly explodes, but not before Clark has time to smash the door off and rip Pete out of there, protecting his friend from the ensuing blast of hot metal and flame. I don't think that was meant to be the guy who shot Lionel, more likely someone he hired, but I suppose it could have been. It's just I can't imagine him doing that. The saga of LexCorp apparently comes to an end, a short-lived life lesson from Lionel that his son should never oppose him, as he somehow bought out the company meaning Lex is back to square one. There's some familiar, if pointed, commentary on the making of a bad person between Clark and Lex, and thinking you can trust someone you've known so long. Obviously we're referring to the future that was only imaginary at this point before the series became much more cartoonish in future seasons, and it's better for it to remain that way as we think of these two people being nemeses as adults.

Martha and Jonathan get heartfelt scenes about loyalty and he opens up about his flaws and faults most strongly, Martha responding even more to him for his honesty and vulnerability, so it was good for everyone, and I liked how it tied into previous episodes such as Lionel's watch he gave her being so integral. In the end it's a fairly straightforward kind of story with the main draw being the style it was shot in and the good use of almost everyone, and for the fact it feels like a turning point, but I'm not sure it would hold up quite as well on repeated viewings simply knowing what's going on, even if it is nicely done and well acted. It's still hard to believe Sheriff Ethan would stoop so low… whoops, I finally gave it away, I couldn't keep it in any longer! But he was always such a sympathetic guy just doing his job. Sure, there was the fact he represented the authorities that Clark was always being hid from (and how come they didn't seem worried when they had police all over the house - they might easily have checked out the storm cellar!), but he was, or he seemed, a good, honest type, much like Jonathan. Was he a secret gambler and got himself into debt? Was it a painful divorce? Who knows, but if he'd trusted his friends in the community he might have found help and then he wouldn't have got into that mess with Lionel in the first place, so there's another lesson, I'm sure. This was a strong example of the series when it was good and we've had a successful run of episodes in this middle of the season patch, but how much longer can it go on?

***