Smallville: 10x09 "Patriot" - Discussion and Spoilers

Didn't care for this episode like I thought I would. It just seemed run-of-the-mill to me when it should've packed more punch.

I don't know why it took Clark so long to tell his colleagues about a planetwide threat. His concern over his own darkness doesn't work for me. I mean, it's Tess and Oliver you're talking about, which this show has explored their dark phases in great detail.

The casting was good. Hogan was a good choice for Slade and I'm glad he got the eyepatch at the end. I hope he cuts loose the next time he shows up. The actress playing Mera fit her wetsuit very well. I wish that Clark would've at least asked who AC and Mera's 'people' were after she made that comment. Or asked AC what's the significance of also going by the name Orin.

 

It took him so long because this Clark is a douche.

 

Once again though, we have someone (AC and Merra) who have to encourage Clark to be a hero (he can't do it on his own)

Also, I kinda laughed when the wave of water knocked Clark down lol, the real superman would have still been standing there

 

I could be mistaken but this was the first time in quite some time I recall us getting to see Clark's "X-Ray Vision." And I miss the handful of times we got to see it as "see-through vision."

 

Yep, good point once again Brent. This Clark is so self-centered and filled with self-doubt that he needs other already established heroes to encourage him to become the greatest one. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. How the how is he supposed to inspire future heroes, let alone an entire Legion of them?

 

Yeah, but he was surrounded by two huge gates made of Kryptonite. Remember the first episode when he had a tiny little penant of Lana's around his neck and he was too weak to get off of that cross in the cornfield?

Other episodes show a smaller amount of kryptonite bringing him down. Sorry, but this episode was lame without a satisfactory explanation of how he managed to escape.

 

Chalk it up to bad writing then if you want since you won't accept our explanations which are quite logical given Smallville's inconstancy. The fact was that Clark wasn't under the influence of the cage for that long a period, maybe several minutes and the look of determination on his face would clearly indicate that he was gonna accept the building being blowing up and hoping he would survive. There is also the possibility that Arthur saved him using super speed, or he used his own super speed to zoom away. The fact though boils down to a badly written scene.

 

They've shown (and I think this is true for the comics) that over time Superman is able to withstand Kryptonite more and more, he's still able to use his powers, for example last week when he was still able to use his super breath under Kyptonite. Green K isn't like blue K, it doesn't completely remove his powers. Shoot, in Superman Returns he flew a whole island into space that was laced in Kryptonite.

 

In the comics Mera has "Hard-Water" powers.

Moves like water. Hard as steel.

"Hydrokenesis"?

Slade seemed to know about Atlantis as if America, or some Black Ops corner of the Marine Corps had been fighting wars with Atlantis for decades.

Mera CERTAINLY was easing AC into the actuality that he is a king.

If there's half a billion merpeopel swanning about under the waves who will do what ever Arthur tells them to, well really if America looks at him funny they might be starting another war that they don't have the cahones to follow through with again.

Cities, technology weapons, weapons of massdestruction?

What the fuck do merpeopel care if the land (all of it) is irradiated utterly beyond use for the new thousand years?

As King of Atlantis Arthur can talk one on with the President WITH AN APPOINTMENT and expect him to listen... Why fuck around with soldiers when you can take this straight tot he top? that's what sucked when Heroes tried to do this. They really don't seem to understand that it's congress who is the enemy authorizing the construction of concentration camps so tussling for cloak and dagger errand boys is for the birds.

Between the Red Queen and Watchtower, the JLA should be able to blackmail congress and perhaps the president int doing almost anything.

One of the funniest Aquaman comics I ever read was when Arthur opened Atlantis to American Tourism.

"sigh"

 

I guess only comicbook geeks connected "Slade Wlson" with Deathstroke the Terminator from the Teen Titans.

 

It would have been nice to have got a mention of Atlantis. I could see a Daily Planet headline "Atlantis Re-Discovered" "United Nations Recognizes Atlantis as sovereign nation". Or something like that. Did I mention how awesome Mera was?

 

Maybe Clark is like Pluto?

It was so far away that we assumed that what we saw was a little planet. a few decades later some one invents a better telescope and hotdog! Pluto isn't Pluto! half of what they thought was Pluto was one of Pluto's moons.

It's pretty obvious that half of what the Legion thinks is Superman, is really Chloe.

 

I felt like she was daring Lois to compare jumblies competitively.

Blue ribbon up for grabs maybe?

 

Very true about Clark.

Another thing that has been annoying me is the writers dedicate time every week to telling us how important Lois is. Okay, we get it. We don't have to hear it six times every fucking episode! Instead of regular trips to Metropolis General, we get one or more characters talking about how great and important Lois is.

 

Well, for the next episode, I am hoping in the alternate reality Clark finds out his counterpart knew how to fly forcing him to learn how.

 

Actually I look at it the opposite....they're building up Lois to make us understand how great Clark is. It goes with Brent's excellent observation that this Clark can't do anything without others telling him it is okay to. I think ultimately it is going to boil down to Lois giving him the idea to be Superman.

 

Yeah, it was bad writing because your explanations are weak. He can "will" himself to survive being surrounded by kryptonite, yet he can't "will" himself to tear lose from some ropes while he is hanging on a cross with a smaller amount of kryptonite around his neck? In the past at the mere presence of Kryptonite he fell all on the floor and was weak and he was in this cage long enough for that to happen to him and why didn't he use his superspeed to zoom away all the other times he was just laying next to a kryptonite rock, not entrapped by it?

If the writers had at least shown Aquaman run through the door before the blast then it would have been at least acceptable that he got him out, but since they didn't shame on them for this lame part of the episode. I guess we can expect more of the same later on in the season.

 

Two thoughts on the matter which are kinda the same.

1. Clark is a pussy. Dudes lived a life without pain that what he considers the insurmountable infliction of searing agony from Kryptonite is what we would feel from standing on a drawing pin. More annoying and shocking than actually painful.

Puss. Puss. Puss.

He's like someone that asserts that they cannot walk because they have a tiny blister.

Princess and the pea.

Hypochondria.

Drama queen?

(Though few else have stood up to krptonite well who have stolen Clarks powers?)

2. I shit you not, I read this in a comic. "Supersensitivity". Consider that his ability to feel pain is proportionate to his invulnerability. Walking into a hail of dandy lion seeds blowing in the wind to Clark would actually be what we we feel like when we're shot in the tongue. Of course if that was true, then even if it was killing him, Green Kryptonite should make him feel "better" not worse.

 

A decent episode hurt by bad storytelling and direction.

There are two scenes of characters standing around talking after Clark's offscreen escape. Surely those could have been combined to have a moment to at least suggest his escape.

Or place that conversation at the Kent farm on a beach at night. With A.C, Mera, and Oliver swimming to shore as you see Clark super speeding from the explosion. They wasted that big exposion for the teaser. Or just having them all on the shore meeting Lois, so there is less a time jump.

I am sure budget limitations are a part of this. But there are easy ways to have addressed this.

 

One thing that I found odd is that most of the time we're shown that kryptonite renders Clark beyond powerless. More often than not all he can do is huddle on the floor like a baby missing its binky while writhing in pain. We've been shown he pretty much has none of his powers including his invulnerability or even the power of any real thought. But this time around he can use his X-Ray vision?

That doesn't seem to wash.