I feel like, in the middle of some great momentum, we were handed another episode that meant nothing (beyond some thinly veiled parallels between the Isis and Osiris relationship and the Lois and Clark relationship) and was just an excuse to showcase Durance's ability to fill out a dress while throwing out some meaningless DCU fan service.

Speaking of, much like the overly convenient and wildly unlikely Scottish lingerie featured in "Escape," did anyone else find it odd that Lois was costumed in the absolute best possible outfit in which to be possessed by an ancient Egyptian psychotic?

All that being said, one of the few things that stood out in a positive way while watching "Isis" was the very few times that Durance got to play Lois. Her rehearsal of the conversation that she wants to have with Clark was touching and well delivered, as was her reaction at the end of the episode when he finally comes clean. She really plays the mix of emotional vulnerability and excitement well, which makes the fact that she's husked out for a bad metaphor during most of the episode especially irritating.

The other high point of the episode was the Ollie and Clark team up. The one thing Genevieve Sparling really managed to nail in both this outing and her last was the relationship between Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. (And really, if you don't get by now how completely Green Arrow has become Batman on this series, you haven't been watching.) The conversation where Clark fills Ollie in on both his plan to tell Lois his secret (and holy man am I ever tired of that phrase) and the events of "Homecoming" was borderline gleeful and was one of the few times on this show that expository dialogue has felt like a natural conversation.

I also love how Lois and Clark, in the middle of a beautifully awkward scene, both react to Cat Grant's intrusion as though someone has let out a particularly noxious fart. I really, sincerely, hope that there turns out to be a point to this character beyond having a semi-regular whipping post amongst the furniture because if there isn't Cat will go down as probably the most unnecessary character ever introduced on a television show. After two episodes it's become shockingly clear that she's becoming a character that it's okay to laugh at and bully and, if there's nothing more to her, she becomes a highly inappropriate addition to a show that's ostensibly about Superman. Superman doesn't get to snigger down his sleeve at someone just because they're an easy target.

Lois' delivery as Isis was painful. Also, unnecessary. A bizarre fusion of the Egyptian myth, the television show, "The Shazam/Isis Hour" and the most recent incarnation of the character from the pages of 52, Isis winds up being, really, none of those things. Why introduce a character named Adrianna (Adrianna Tomaz being the name of the woman in 52 who becomes Isis through the efforts of Black Adam and a nod to Andrea Thomas, the alter ego of Isis in the original TV series) and then not have her become possesses by Isis? Why base the character primarily on the Egyptian myth but still make heavy handed references to Black Adam? (For those of you not in the know, that plaque near the end of the episode that said "Dagger of Teth Adam Khandaq" was referring to the original identity of Black Adam, who marries Isis in 52) Where was Tut, the telepathic bird?

I'm not necessarily asking for faithfulness to the comics when they do this kind of adaptation, but if you're not going to utilize the frame work provided by the books, why would you then reference them repeatedly? It's the same issue I had with the Smallville interpretations of Silver Banshee and Deadshot; I don't mind change, I just like to understand it and here it makes no sense.

But hey, for a filler episode, the whole conceit of Isis "unleashing Hell on Earth" is a shockingly world threatening premise, so kudos to having actual stakes in a weightless episode.

The exchange about the emotional effects of motherhood between Tess and Cat is almost heroic in its attempt to humanize both of these characters but ultimately falls apart when Cat starts venting about Lois being the Blur.

First, why assume that she's the Blur, specifically? As Lois points out later, this is Metropolis, weird things happen all the time, get used to it. Billionaires become vigilantes, college dropouts become journalists, and aliens are constantly blowing up the architecture. Isn't Lois=Blur, just because she exhibits a few weird abilities, kind of pushing the assumption envelope a little? And second, why would you go to your employer with your theory about a fellow employee before you had any proof? Where did these people get their journalism degrees?

Right.

I loved that the thing that ultimately saves Clark from being turned into Isis' love monkey is Cat being a clumsy moron. Way to make Clark look like a chump and take another pot shot at the new punching bag, Smallville.

Less sarcastically, I did actually really enjoy the team work between Ollie and Clark in defeating Isis. (Never mind the insane coincidence that allows Clark's heat vision to be the exact thing needed to accomplish the task. Quiet, you.) The whole scene felt very The Brave and the Bold, which is a neat thing to see in live action.

And then we were given eleven whole minutes of melodramatic wind down. (That's a full 25% of the episode this week.) The two things that made watching until the end worthwhile were Clark's superspeed destruction of Cat's phone, (okay, destruction of personal property is not a very Superman-like trait, but I kind of snickered a bit) and the final moment when Clark finally tells Lois the truth. That scene could have gone a little better; for one, in "Homecoming," future Lois tells Clark that the day he told her his secret was very romantic and this was definitely not that (though last week's barn scene sure was) and the fact that Clark genuinely sounded for a few minutes like he was going to keep things under wraps was more unnecessary drama. However, Lois's reaction as she realizes what's coming and her tackle of Clark once he blurts out the truth were wonderfully executed and I'm glad they didn't occur off screen between the this episode and the last.

So.

Did I hate this episode so much because it was such a decline in quality when compared to last week's or was it genuinely terrible in its own right? I'm not entirely sure but I do know that I hope Genevieve Sparling gets no more kicks at the can before the show wraps up.

1.5 out of 5

Julian

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