Witness (2)

DVD, Smallville S2 (Witness) (2)

A conventional Smallville High School episode on the face of it, complete with 'monster' of the week, not terribly inspiring, and peppered with teen soap overblown feelings out of all proportion, indeed it could just as easily be called 'Jealous' for all the stuff revolving around poor Lana. And yet, for all that I was still drawn to this episode, it retained a warmth and positivity even amongst all the downers, something subsequent seasons increasingly failed to do, so although I wouldn't class it up there with the strong episodes, this was still a good watch and not the initially poor example of the series at its worst that it seemed. The school student who's using refined meteor rock to increase his strength along with a couple of other criminals reminded me of the tattooed guys from Season 1, except without all the adrenaline rush of chucking Whitney in front of an oncoming lorry, and they were the weakest part of the story since they had no real role other than to be a threat to Clark and his family. The lad is mainly a pawn in the growing adversity between Father and son Luthors and has no sympathetic backstory to his misdemeanours. That whole plot of them stealing the green bars and making a Kryptonite cocktail to inhale for super strength wasn't well developed and only makes its mark in the way the Kent parents are put in serious jeopardy.

Then when you add Chloe's final straw of blowing up at Clark and his not trying to make up as he usually would since he does have a lot to do with Lana at the moment and doesn't need his old friends as much, it could make the episode come across as quite a negative experience. I must admit, I do feel annoyed with people that say they'll do something by a certain time and then don't show up, I'm with Chloe on that, it's just that she comes across as ridiculously jealous of Lana. Clark for his part should have tried to be more understanding, but since we haven't had much of the Clark, Chloe and Pete gang this season, it doesn't have quite the same impact this would have done in Season 1 when they were always uncovering things together. That's one thing in this episode's favour: Chloe and Pete both contribute a little more - I do wonder how he and Clark transported the Kryptonite bars to the woods since the latter doesn't even stand close when Pete's burying them so they couldn't have shared a car to take them there (Clark probably ran, Pete drove, I expect). He's also there when Chloe finds them looking up the bad guy on the Torch's computers. It was tough on her to discover the school newspaper's office had been smashed up, but her reaction suggests it was more than that because we'd already seen the place destroyed at least once (the fire in 'Hothead'), maybe more, so her reaction was a bit much, but she was obviously at a vulnerable time.

And who should take advantage of that time than Lionel Luthor. I didn't really recall anything about this episode so it's no surprise I'd forgotten all about any connection between him and Chloe, especially this early in the series. I think it was just good to see him again after a few episodes absent. I think the implication is that he had some people mess up the Torch so he could come in and fund a rebuilding, which in itself is weird since surely the school has budget for such things? And are there no CCTV cameras at all? Anyway, she's at her lowest ebb, a time when Clark isn't there to warn her against Lionel, and he plants the seeds of cooperation by dangling contacts at the Daily Planet, and so the episode ends. Again, the implication I'd take is that Clark would be at risk more if Chloe was working for Lionel in some capacity so I suppose it was somewhat of a cliffhanger, though it's all very vague and about potential rather than definite reality. The other Luthor has some good screen time, too, for a change without Helen, verbally sparring with Dad as he used to. Funny how Lionel came when she was away, especially if she is actually working for him secretly as that would be a good time to visit Lex and make him seem much more distant to Helen, so a good plan. The moment I really liked about Lex was when he's talking casually to Clark, who's obviously got a bee in his bonnet, and then when he hears the bad guy he posted bail for has hurt the Kents he immediately snaps to the caring Lex we know, one who doesn't want harm to come to them.

There was a lot of potential drama right there, as if Lex had been responsible for loosing a criminal on the Kents and Martha had lost the baby or something else horrible like that, he'd never have forgiven himself. I'm glad he wasn't responsible for anything more than scaring them really, but still it was a shocking moment when Clark goes to the barn and finds them tied up high. His fight with the villains might be described as a little lacklustre, but I just liked the fact that he took them on, three to one, knowing they had the same strength. I suppose they didn't have his resilience since a bunch of pipes banging on his head wouldn't have mattered (as we see with the concrete block!). But if the other guy has the formula why couldn't he push himself out of the pipe Clark bends round him? For that matter why aren't any of them surprised to see him, especially the student guy, since they all chucked him in a furnace! It also makes zero sense that they never said anything about him to the authorities, why would they protect him? They wouldn't, is the answer to that one. All I can think is they felt foolish that Clark had been able to stop all three of them, but they must already realise he's special since he survived the furnace. It's because we, the audience know Clark can survive all kinds of things so they simply didn't think through what a natural reaction would be - cutting corners narratively.

The other side of the episode are Lana's problems. She's already caused her best mate Chloe's jealousy and now she finds out how jealous her real Father, Henry Small's wife, is. It's really nasty, but it's not like she was threatening to divorce him unless he ignore Lana, since it was by chance she saw the woman. I suppose she feels a kind of responsibility in some way that she came to talk to Lana, or was it merely guilt? I liked seeing Henry again, but he does seem as clueless as his wife warned he was earlier in the season. She was saying he moved from interest to interest rather than he was dim, but still, there were clearly problems even then, but he hasn't noticed so he does come across as someone with their head in the clouds, which is strange when you consider he's a practical man when it comes to law, an expert and activist, but his character is flawed. I don't know if this is his last ever appearance, a shame if so as that ended on a low point and I don't think he ever returned to the series later on, so it's one of those dropped plots that could have continued to add the personal touch and the intimate trouble rather than taking the series bigger and more fantastical as they did. It's like when Jonathan mentions taking Martha to a doctor in Metropolis and says he'll probably stay with Clark's Grandfather - they didn't get along and how is he going to explain leaving Clark at the mercy of these thugs?

Martha wasn't in it much, but there was one standout thing she said: about not allowing the knowledge of Clark's secret to be used to intimidate them into silence and doing what they should do, which was a good, moral point to make, though in the end they find a way around Clark getting involved, yet still informing the police about what happened. Ultimately it's the positive qualities that stood out to me on this occasion, where in the past I'd rated the episode quite low. It wasn't even that I had low expectations as I didn't know what to expect from the title. There was the self-sacrifice of Lana recommending Henry needs to talk to his wife and concentrate on her, there was obviously Lionel's contribution to proceedings (I couldn't help thinking of the last time he confronted a broken beam as he does at the Torch: when it was poised to skewer him at the Luthor Mansion during the storm at the end of the first season!), and generally a bright, upbeat tone despite all the soap and misery, and that's what makes the difference: for all that happens, at least things are happy between Clark and Lana, Clark and Lex, Clark and Pete, etc. But I really think Clark should have waited until Lex had finished his phone conversation before he clonked him on the back of the head as you'd think the person he was talking to might be suspicious!

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