PRE-REVIEW:

Okay. There's a pre-review this time, because I have something I have to get off my chest that this episode brought to my attention. If you want witty banter and nothing really deep, just go to where it says, BEGIN REGULAR REVIEW HERE.

Sound the trumpets! The stereotypical Native Americans have returned (complete with the oh so interesting stereotypical rattle every time the Native American character enters the frame)!

Let's see. Before I start this review (and really, it wasn't all that bad an episode, but before I start, nonetheless, because it's foremost on my mind), how many times have you seen this plot:

A Native American friendly to our heroes gets angry that some heap big white man is stepping on his land, then becomes homicidal. That creeping racial horde moving forward to kill us all! Run for the hills! Get guns! Segregate! What? Oh, those aren't implicitly implied? Well, no, I have to concede that. But I have to again question the editorial choice.

Besides, heck, we've already seen this stupid and flagrantly neo-racist device already in THIS SERIES. Indian goes crazy and scalps a few white men before getting taken care of.

Am I reading too much into this? Heck, I know I'll probably get hate mail for what I've already said so far, but I don't think I am.

It goes like this. The United States has, let's say a checkered past with minorities and ethnic groups, starting with, oh, killing almost all of the Native Americans (or Indians, whatever), moving onto enslaving blacks (or African Americans, whatever), to hating Mexicans for "TEKKIN ER JEBS!", which is, "taking our jobs" for those of you who don't watch South Park. We have a bit of a problem understanding and tolerating people who aren't exclusively white, or at least white looking.

So what happens? Well, the country divides. Some people want to conserve the old feelings of hatred to other people, the other people want to make amends.

This group that wants to make amends, that's our concern here. The naïve racist are just that. Ill meaning, retarded, and worthy of simple broad contempt.

Take a well-meaning group of such apologetic writers, and give them a Native American character. Well, let's see. They want to make a positive impression, so they add Big Chief Whatsisname and give the peoples a rich (FAKE) cultural history. And then, because the plot needs a villain, they show the Native American the whites are afraid of, the murderous angry Injun, and they deal with it, leaving only the nice, pacified Indian, not realizing that while their intentions are good, trying to make amends, they're really reinforcing stereotypes and causing subconscious programming.

Way to go!

And get this, folks, the Smallville people MAKE MONEY doing this!

Two episodes with the exact same theme, really, one a boy, one a girl.

I guess we should be glad that this only happens every now and again, right?

Uh...just one second. Not exactly.

Don't look now, folks, but we're going into SPOILER TERRITORY. Don't worry, I'll tell you when it ends.

5

4

3

2

1

BEGIN SPOILERS:

In the following episode, according to reports, we will see the last of Pete Ross. Yep, Pete, the BOSS Ross, is gone. His character may be killed, maybe not, but Sam is gone, we will no longer have his charismatic and welcome presence on the show.

And I don't know if you noticed, but he's black. That's right, Sam Jones is a black guy.

If there were an indispensable aspect to the Superman mythos I could identify, it would be the characters that have lasted more than twenty years. Bibbo don't count, though he's been around for a while. Nor does Maggie Sawyer. She could bite a bullet tomorrow, there would be complainers, but you can't kill, without bringing back:

Perry White

Lois Lane

Lana Lang

Pete Ross

Lex Luthor

Or

Clark Kent.

Pretty much, anyway. Why? Because they're the INTEGRAL CHARACTERS OF THE SERIES AND MYTHOS. Chloe? We hardly know her. She's cool, but goodbye. So it's a tragedy to lose Pete Ross, black OR white, and I think no matter what the context (having thought this over a week) it's unacceptable. Patently unacceptable.

Like, say, much as I hate Lana, if they said she was gone because fans hated her, I would complain. If you don't like the function of the character, CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE CHARACTER.

But even THAT is not what started this rant. What started this rant is something that I realized, slowly but surely, through correspondence and contemplation.

Just post-hormonal gentleman like Lana Lang, and she's been propelled to one of the top positions of the show, I would postulate, because she has a nice body, and is exotic. At least, that's what I'm told. I don't like her character. Either way, a lot of time has been spent bringing her to the forefront.

Pete Ross is being taken from his role in the show because his character as an entity has diminished. They have written him in less and less, and when he is there, he is an angry, troublesome pain in the @$$, questioning Clark, asking to be saved, and causing problems normally reserved for the damsel in distress.

And you can take this for what it's worth, as if I haven't dug myself enough of a hole for people to shoot angry mail at me, but here is what I see, and it's an honest observation:

They are taking the angry black man who has become no longer subservient to white man Clark out of the show, and they're emphasizing the role of the subservient Asian who acts mysterious and demure and loves the white man Clark.

Am I crazy? No, I'm angry. Nonetheless, let your flames begin. I stand by my words. That Pete has been removed is abhorrent. That the above paragraph applies to Smallville is almost racist to me. Perhaps, like I am assuming with the Native Americans, it is unconscious and means no harm. But then, why are so many attracted to Lana, and how many will notice Pete when he is gone who are not themselves marginalized?

Someone has to say it, and now I have. Now we can have our fun that the broader perspective is at least touched. And think about this stuff, people. Conscious awareness of media manipulation is the only way to combat Big Brother.

That, and reading. Go read a book. Now.

END SPOILERS.

BEGIN REGULAR REVIEW HERE:

The episode was interesting in ways. It was a freak of the week show, but it had some nice plot points. A realization of the motivation of the adult Lex Luthor, Clark and Lex arguing, angry at each other (the slide downward is believable. I'm buying it. That's very cool. I expected it to be abrupt).

We have a teenager who goes nuts over something that doesn't make teenagers go nuts (okay, he's a grad student...maybe 24, but still, nuts over something that doesn't typically lead to murder). Said grad student bruises Lionel's ribs, and a magical knife gives him Superman's powers, somehow.

It's like the lightning strike, and it sucks. Let's just come up with something obscure that gives a character Clark's powers. Well, how about a knife that may or may not be Kryptonian and may or may not be 500 years old, and play with that prophecy loose end we left hanging a year ago.

Schneider did just fine directing, but man, what a stinker to get to direct at times. At other times, just fantastic, but I'm getting there.

They shoot at Jeremiah, right? And guess what? Clark and the older Native American are right there. They don't duck, they don't dodge, and after the men fire into STONE (help me, fellow NRA folk), nothing hits Clark and the old man. Well, they're either really lucky or this is television.

And curses, in the KO Count, I missed that the older Native American knows Clark's secret. Curses! I'll fix it.

So okay. They've dug themselves a hole. Somehow, Jor-El has to be party to activity on Earth 500 years ago, 40 years ago, and presently. Somehow, he has to travel across time, and for some reason, he chooses a Native American tribe to cryptically reveal his prophetic intentions to his son.

Well, no. Jor-El sent his son across space to Earth because his home was blowed up. Why is this getting so complicated? I mean, I'm intrigued by the caves, but do I actually believe they will explain this stuff? If they do, it will surprise me. It's been, after all, 30 episodes with no sign of any real explanation of the caves.

Pete pulls a Homer.

"Go crazy? DON'T MIND IF I DO! BLUBLUBLUBLAH!"

He's like Mel Gibson in that South Park (what is this, a South Park Review). KERBLAH! Chloe's like,

"Hey, man, you want a crueler or something, I was just going to the Talon and-"

"I'LL SWALLOW YOUR STREAK BLONDE SOUL, LITTLE GIRL!"

"Pete?"

"THE PETE IS NOT IN YOUR REALM OF PERSPECTIVE RIGHT NOW!"

And then she's like, "What, dude?"

And he says, "Divorce."

Ah, divorce. That explains someone acting like a complete nut when he never acts like a complete nut. And sometimes, it does. But like it was said in the chat room (I believe Dave Wyke said it, if not, kill me next week), "I'm sick and tired of the third degree in this show."

And we all are. Sure, you gotta manufacture drama, but build it up a little, huh?

MY PARENTS ARE DIVORCED! I BLAME CHLOE!

And then hugs, and it's all forgotten.

Not to mention the fact that though they kissed a few weeks back (and this is the first time we've seen them since then) they're not exactly talking about it. It's a big deal, kissing. It caused twenty stupid Clanas when Clark and Lana did it.

At least Lex and Lionel have a memory. They deal with the Memoria issues in a plausible, fair way. They still hate each other, but they're family. They look out for their physical well-being. A good resolution to last episode.

Ah, look! Lana's going to a school of the arts.

What art? Cheerleading? The most interesting Latte possible? The art of avoiding near death situations? The art of being a pain in the Adam? The art of bad renters? The art of horse accidents? The art of talking to the dead? The art of wearing pink clothing? The art of Neutrogena make-up?

Like Al Pacino in Scent of A Woman, AH'M JUST GETTING STAHTED!

The art of passive aggression? The art of past lives of obscure Aunts? The art of getting knocked out? The art of turning on young boys? The art of the obscure cross (blocking)? The art of straight hair? The art of not trusting your best friend for no reason? The art of being buried alive? The art of walking towards a sparking pipeline with your jock boyfriend? The art of screaming, "CLAAAAARK!" The art of holding the cell phone? The art of pacing graveyards when no one's around? The art of being too poor to attend art school, but rich enough to co-own a business for three years and own a PONY?

Ah, that's enough, because that's my next note. Yep. Lana owns a business that survived three years, she's been doing nothing but attending high school otherwise, where did all that money go to? When I was her age (groan, I know, but bear with me) I went to a private high school. And how? I worked a job and paid my own tuition. Had I wanted to go to Paris, France (and I worked 20-30 hours a week, unlike your typical business owner, who would make much more than I did), I could have easily. And that's if she was like me when I was young, POOR.

But Lana, hey, she has new clothes every week, a nice new vehicle, a cell phone (at least, as I recall, could be wrong there), and some very expensive looking makeup. To say nothing of being able to live on her own. She is loaded with money, or her characters portrayed wrong. Hmmmmmmm. Which do YOU think it is? I'm guessing they wanted the poor to identify with her character.

Sorry. I don't. If I had half of what Lana does (and I consider myself privileged on my subsistence life) I would be just fine. But oh, Lana needs to be everything to everyone.

So Paris is her natural place to go for three months over the summer until she's brought back in two or three episodes, and while she's there, she'll talk on the phone with Clark when?

8:50.

It's the continued obsession in the media with the fact that girls can do it on their own, they don't need anyone! (Because Lord knows, to be honest and ask Lex for help would be...I don't know, not GIRL POWER!)

Why Paris? Because as we all know, in Paris you're more artistic and more YOU, right? Well, I heard that people go to Paris to get liquored up, see the world, and maybe be with a few guys, at least the ladies I know who are obsessed with travel. I know only one person who traveled overseas to learn, and that's my buddy, All U.S. Euphonium Player Kevin O'Neill, my best friend. And even then, he had some fun.

Lana doesn't play a Euphonium. She plays the hot chick pariah.

Unlike the real pariahs, who sometimes know how to write or draw, otherwise known as art.

I expected Lex to start snapping and going "uh-uh, girlfriend!" at Clark, and then I wanted Clark to say, "No, you didn't!" and then a magical vat of mud appears and they start mud wrestling. They're certainly getting catty now, aren't they?

But I notice...Clark lied to Lex, yet again!

I'm gonna keep track of those. Next year, I'll watch season three and add two categories. The Clanas (I'll mark them all down, along with who was being a jackalope) and the times the man who later "Can't tell a lie" lies. Expect that with review 401.

Kansas Central A and M. Is this a preview of season 5? Perhaps...that's what occurred to me.

Thanks to Dan Wyke for pointing this out in chat...that grad student had one HECK of a big office! When I was in college, the professors were bundled two or three to an office, and the undergrads were three to four to converted closets. Kansas colleges must be RICH! Dude had almost a classroom to himself and his little funky homicidal glasses wearing self.

Did you hear that? Underneath the Native Americans debating over the farcical and retarded concept of Naman? It was a garbled version of the SUPERMAN theme! They used it HERE and not in Legacy? Those...

It's enough to make me go homicidal like a freak of the week, and go after the writers. Heck, I could blame Kryptonite.

Uh, government guys reading this? I didn't mean that. I really like the producers, and I would never murder anyone unless my country drafted me and made me, and then in duress.

Jeremiah became Anakin Skywalker there for a moment.

"He's holding me back! I'll become more powerful than you can ever imagine."

The old man should have stepped out and said, "You will learn your place, my young padawan!" And hey, if you buy my little take on the deeper subtexts, maybe they tried to do just that...

So Anakin...er, Jeremiah pulls a General Zod and starts using his eye lasers after Clark warms up the knife. "Why do you say this to me when you know I shall only kill you for it?" And then he heats up the SUV and blows it up.

So what does Clark do? Dives for cover! I kid you not! Watch it! Boy walked naked out of a blast furnace unscathed and he jumps at a blown up beater. The old man I understand, but Clark? And why didn't Clark shield him? It's like the beginning when the bullets are flying but no one is ducking except Jeremiah. Continuity and blocking...bad.

And then commercials. Marvelous.

Now here's one of those magical leaps, like we haven't seen since Bee girl (She was in a accident with bees, Chloe says, so naturally she became a bee queen who controls them with pheromones. As Adam West would say, "Quite right, Robin! The only... possible... interpretation... available! To the Batmobile!"). We go from Naman saying that he must destroy the evil Zegeef, to the evil Zegeef being Lionel Luthor. Uh, okay? And how? And why? And if the old Native American says Clark is Naman, and fire comes from his eyes, why would Zegeef then be this old rich guy who has no true power over Jeremiah? Nice little leap there. It was too abrupt for me.

And then another leap of logic. Because Clark's powers are present in Jeremiah (God knows how) he'll be vulnerable to KRYPTONITE! Well, we all know how that panned out. I laughed my butt off watching Clark get stabbed. I have to give them credit. For every crazy leap they've ever made of logic, at least this time there were consequences for a stupid one. I hope to see something like it again.

And then Lana again.

"LEX, HOW DARE YOU SELL THE TALON?"

"Well, Lana, under your crummy management it didn't make money, and you sold out your rights to go screw around in Paris, so I'm offloading it like I should have years ago."

"But I worked there! I put blood sweat and tears in there."

Speak of stereotypes, here's a woman with business sense! Erm...wait.

He calls her honest and pure-hearted. I'll give you pure-hearted, when she's not being a passive aggressive sot. She seems kind. But honest? How many lies has she told Clark over time, and how many times has she demurely avoided through deception telling her problems to Luthor?

Bad Lex! You're supposed to be observant. Eh, he's a sucker for people who like him. I'd be too, if no one showed up to my birthday parties.

You're leaving and you're replaceable. Or, you're leaving and you're irreplaceable. If it's one, Lex is one cold SOB, and I respect him. If it's two, Lex is direct and a little misguided. His delivery (for once) left me unsure, because I didn't hear what he said.

Why hang on to something that's over? (Says Lex). Well, I know you don't know it, Lex, but see, she's going to come back in three months and screw with Clark's head and want the Talon back. I can't tell you if it'll be after one or three episodes, but somewhere in there. I'd not just sell it, I'd demolish it, and then send her to Canada. Have her try out for a few dramas...who knows, maybe she'll make a good actress!

Nah, you can't lose Lana. I've explained why. I keed.

But good going Lex, calling her for trying to be everything to everyone.

Clark asks Lionel to stop pillaging the cave. Uh, maybe stewarding it badly, but the one who's pillaging the cave is Jeremiah, isn't it? Nothing really leaves the cave. Willy Wonka Rule. Nobody ever comes in, and nobody ever comes out! Only it's NOTHING ever comes out.

Another logical leap. Why does Clark assume it's Kryptonian metal if it's 500 years old?

The Fortress of Solitude music, in Clark's Fortress of Solitude! AGAIN, why not in Legacy?

My, that's an odd note. "Clark got co-stabbed! (Giggle)"

When I was a kid, my friends would always add co to the beginning of an action, and that would make it more severe. Why? I don't know. But it's funny.

You got co-dissed, fool!

I'm gonna co-kick your...

You're co-stupid!

Try it out. It's an old one, and it's passed out of the lexicon, but I like it.

Anyway, Clark was a co-idiot, and he got co-stabbed, so I co-made a note about how it made me giggle.

Here we see magical vulnerability, but it's not elaborated upon. There were multiple flaws with the stabbing scene.

First, Clark gets stabbed and has no idea how it happened, and draws no conclusion as to how later (Oh, I guess it just happened). Then he staggers into the house, Ma and Pa Kent find him (good acting, Ma Kent, really convincing, and I say that seriously. Go Annette!), but get this! Instead of calling an ambulence (you know, your son is BLEEDING TO DEATH!) Pa just kind of tries to stop the bleeding on his own. Didn't know he was an MD.

And then a light appears, and Clark is saved. That counts as a miracle in the KO Count, folks. Though how the heck and why the heck, they'd BETTER get to explaining. It's getting weird to have plot holes that are related to the abstract concept of Jor-El that are not explained.

But at least we here the Fortress of Solitude music again.

And what, they just sleep on the steps? Man, mom, if I get co-stabbed by a co-indian stereotype, carry my co-butt up the stairs to my room and cover me up with my co-superman bedsheets! You leave me on the floor, I'm gonna co-stab YOU!

Does that make Pa Kent a freak of the week (he gets powers, folks)? I'm gonna say no, though I should pap them.

And again, Pete going nuts. Yahoo! Pete with Chloe, going nuts, sleeping at the school, eating radioactive froot loops and dancing the cha cha with meteor rocks. The Boss is kookookoo, daddie-o!

Clark's blanket looked very much like a cape. Oh, how they torture us with the movie role that will never come! Rotten, no good...

(Laughter comes from behind the screen).

My next note: Dude swung a tree.

I said dude.

That was one of the cooler, more believable effects so far. Sure, there was a little blur on the CG, but I'm talking when Clark hefted the tree. UBER cool. Was it a knock down drag-out per Superman II? No. But, man, the dude co-swung a TREE!

And then the bad editing kicks in. Clark and Jeremiah are thrown maybe ten, twenty feet in their original volleys, and then Lex is just suddenly THERE? How? Clark told him where he was going to have a super-fight with another metahuman? I don't think so. But hey, assume you buy it. Lex didn't hear a dude swinging a TREE? Lex didn't see them fighting a few feet away?

Then they block it so Clark jogs back, but how does he explain that Jeremiah is in a coma and had the crap kicked out of him.

Oh, I know! The reason for everything (It's been a while since I used this one.)

KRYPTONITE!

So either Lionel or Lex is Clark's greatest enemy, and they know it now. COOL. Very nice touch. One of the best parts of the episode.

Oh, God. Barf. I hate this note.

Now wait until you get to business for me to go off on Chloe and her dad, but let's put it this way. Two, three months ago, Chloe's dad LOST HIS JOB! And hey, you could argue, maybe they had some savings. But you know what they were? The co-savings of a CRAP MERCHANT! That's right. A crap merchant's riches. Now I love crap merchants, but I know they're poor.

Can they make a plausible bid for the TALON, something LEX, a billionaire, had to step in to pay for early in the show? Uh....NO!

So Pete says he's going to Witchita. Alas. See spoilers above for elaboration.

Maybe the hero is Zegeef. Maybe it is brave to fight Naman, because maybe with all of his power, Naman could become a tyrant.

Lex Luthor scenes keep outdoing themselves. I get tired of parroting, but Michael, you and those who write you are geniuses of Lex, baby. Geniuses. The best writers of the character yet.

This episode had a lot of problems, a lot of issues I take issue with, and a freak. There was no Clana, and someone pointed out to me that this is the first time this season with two episodes without a Clana. I am greatful for that.

And there's the best Lex monologue about why he fights Superman in the show yet, there's the scenes with Lionel and Lex, there's the...dude swung a tree. Those are all cool, but they're not cool enough to offset the horrors described above. It's a little below average, but not bad. I say 2.5 of 5, mostly for the absent minded ethnicity shuffle coupled with the plot holes and some bad continuity of characters, along with crazy Pete.

Next week: Lana in a box being tortured. It's Lana in a box being tortured, but then, it's Lana. In Pink. Of course, they advertised that last week and it didn't happen this week (Like showing Jitters moments in the premiere's preview...God, how do I remember that stuff?), so who knows?

Also

(SPOILER)

Emily Dinsmore returns, and to date, her last episode was the worst of the series next to Velocity, at least for me. I don't have much hope.

And then, well, there's that little lady taking Clark on a flight. I'll give that the benefit of the doubt. But just the benefit. I need execution, or expect execution.

THE SUPER SHORT REVIEW:

Pete goes blabla kookie koo rabba jabba craaaaaaaaay-zee. Clark gets co-stabbed. No Clana. Jeremiah is Anakin. Dude swung a tree, and it rocked, and Lex thinks it heroic to stop the very powerful, believing power corrupts. All in all, however, many plot holes and a lot of pseudo racist stereotyping. 2.5 of 5.

BUSINESS:

Well, the mail went down for a few days (if you sent something and I didn't write you back (except the last two days) I might have missed it, please send it again). Concurrently, business is smaller...but here goes.

The novel is now mostly edited to the second draft. Thanks to those of you who wrote in and offered to read. To those who haven't...come on, it's a chance to FLAME me! All you Lana lovers? Come kick my style in the nards, I dare you! Co-kick them, even.

I also started updating my website again. It was on hiatus for the novel, but I'm getting on top of things. There's a new comic poster from Alessandro Gianna for my comic in production, along with review listings from my past stuff. Check it out, if you want. 232 reviews! Man, that's too many!

My buddy Daniel Medina who talks to me online daily (he's a really good friend, a funny guy, and he lives in Venezuela, which is the middle of a major crisis right now...look up some world news, it's a big deal, and it effects our oil, if you only read stuff selfishly related to the U.S.) came up with a name for what happened when Chloe's shirt ripped open and Clark stabbed her with the needle.

Chloevage. Zing!

He also notes that Clark is so fanatical about the primary comic colors that he wears red boxers, even. :)

Brian Radford corrects my take on Levitas, pointing out it means light in weight, as one might feel when a burden of a lie is lifted. I missed that, plainly.

Scott Judd and I wondered over email why Cadmus labs has disappeared off the map, and why we haven't heard much from it over the years when such a big deal was made about its acquisition.

Doug Meacham preaches a similarity between the scene with Clark and Chloe on the bridge and Superman: The Movie, when Clark pulls Lois from a car and begs her back to life. I saw it too. Intentional?

JB has four good ones this week. First, he catches the Krypto-power having no effect on Clark in Truth being strange (his letter was missed by my lack of getting to it last week, but he was concurrent with the other people who saw it). Second, he points out that Pete liking Chloe has further evidence I missed. With the Nicodemus episode, he alluded to the crush as well. Third, Clark lies to Lex about the door being unlocked (I'll get to that in a second). Fourth, Chloe is not running straight to Lex to tell him what she knows about Lex's father. Why not? Lionel, not Lex, was behind the blacklist. Why not turn to Lex, who can and wants to take Lionel out?

Now as to the lying, as I mentioned before, Clark lying all the time will be notated soon, I just wanted to credit JB with the idea that inspired it. There. Co-discombobulated.

Keith Price, a constant writer and friend, points out that there was no Clana in Memoria in the Kristin sense, but in a TECHNICAL sense, Annette DID play Lana in the past, so it WAS a Clana, from a certain point of view. No change to the KO Count, I just thought that was funny and witty on Keith's part. Also, he wanted me to point out when everyone called Lara LAURA in the KO Count, but then, if I do that, I have to count the times Lex and Lionel Luthor call themselves LuthERs. And that would just get co-messy. But it's the thought that counts.

David Cox finds it weird that Lionel has attempted to clone someone but has never attempted to clone Clark. I think it's because they're putting off a big "Bizarro" event, but then, that's just me. If I were Lionel, I'd clone Clark. Thankfully, I'm not. Though for an older dude, the guy's co-buff.

Mike Cooke, another oft-writer friend, thinks the choir in Memoria was "Dies Irae" from Verdi's "Requiem" but he said not to put that until I checked for myself. I didn't, alas, so don't crucify him. I just haven't had a minute.

He also thinks that when Clark was knocked upside the head it included some of "Symphonie Fantastique" by Hector Berlioz, from the movement "Dream of A Witch's Sabbath".

I trust Mike, so he's likely right. I'm going to downl...er, purchase those CDs from the appropriate retailer tomorrow. Almost got myself co-busted.

Mike also notes that Chloe should know the truth of Clark's secret already. Why? Well, she calls Clark on her cell phone when the psycho tries to run her off the bridge instead of the police. Why? What could a 17 year-old do? I'm just tempted to put that under the "She knows" category, if I didn't know better. But that's a great catch. Mike says it reminds him of Jimmy's signal watch. Good call.

Ah! Here's the note continuing off the offer of the Talon up above. Chloe's dad, who has no cash, can offer money for the Talon, a crap merchant. But then, that's contradictory, but how about this. CHLOE HAS A CELL PHONE! How can she have a CELL PHONE if her dad's out of work?

I don't think Hollywood writers or set designers (at least, Smallville ones) have sense of what poverty or losing your job really MEANS to someone. But then, hey, more and more of us know each day! God Bless unemployment!

And Chloevage.

Scotty V also noted that Clark and Chloe know about Lionel, and wonders why they didn't tell Lex. Also, he points out that though I rushed to call Clark names for trying to hide his secret from Lex stopping the memory resuscitation, perhaps Clark was genuinely concerned for Lex's welfare, knowing that Sumerholdt was part of what killed Ryan.

And here's a note from me. A personal note, because so many people have written me and asked...

LUCAS Luthor is Lex's brother that lived. He's now in hiding, and Lex saved him. JULIAN is Lex's baby brother his mother murdered. Lex has two brothers. So please, no more emails saying, "Neal, I'm confused. Wasn't Lex's brother on the show a year ago? How is he dead?" Well, yes, but it wasn't Julian. Some people, like my mother, bless her fertile heart, can have more than two children. Mine, for instance, had six, and I had to be the first one, the example setter. Lex had two brothers. It happens. :)

Eh, I'm just poking fun at you all. I remember everything because I study the show, I might have been confused myself if I didn't write about the show. ;)

Dan Wyke at the post-show chat (9:00PM Pacific in the Superman Homepage Chat room after each new show, please come and yell at me!) came up with a great new category for the KO Count, one I hope you all will contribute to in the coming weeks.

Times that others have snuck up on a guy with super-hearing.

Lionel creeping up on Clark in Legacy,

Lionel appearing on Martha and Clark in Truth

Lionel in the barn this episode, beneath the fortress

and

Jeremiah, this episode. Good catches, and a nice category. I'm sure I missed some. A little help, readers?

And HEY! HEY! I have NO entries at all for the MOMENTS I mentioned last review...the moments from the show that made your hair stand up on edge, disturbed you...the best of the best! What's up? If you guys can write me to ask who would win in a fight between Superman and Batman 800 times, you can write me with your favorite moments of the show! Come on, now!

And for the record, it's Superman. Unless Batman cheats. And cheaters never prosper. Superman would co-cream his pointy headed sphincter all over Gotham and all the way to Edge City, then pick pieces out of his teeth all the way to Metropolis.

But see, here's the point. They DON'T FIGHT. Eh? They're FRIENDS!

Anyway, I'm co-out of things to write. Check out the KO Count, and thanks, as ever, for reading!

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