January 25, 2007: Labryinth
Clark's whole world changes in the blink of an eye, and all of a sudden he's a patient in a psychiatric hospital. He has no powers; Martha is married to Lionel; Lex lost his legs; the Talon doesn't exist; and Lana? Lana lives at the Kent farm, which she "bought" from Martha after Jonathan died. I can't talk about "Labryinth" without referring to a certain
Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode from Season 6 called "Normal Again." This brilliantly took every aspect of Buffy's world and explained it as nothing more than a mere hallucination. It was my favorite Season 6 episode other than "Tabula Rasa" and "Once More with Feeling." Like I said, "Normal Again" was brilliant. "Labryinth" was decent. It got major points off for breathing new life into the Clark-Lana saga. I know if that girl had just left him alone for a little longer, he'd get over her. (Or is that one of
my delusions?) This particular
Smallville gave us beaucoup de Clark and Lana scenes and even dared give us a scene where powerless alternate-universe Clark has to make a choice between Lana and Chloe. Of course, he chose Lana. Boo. It wasn't really the right decision considering this Phantom Zoner in the form of old Dr. Hudson dangled Lana as a means to make Clark succumb to the little treatment he had in store for him - a treatment that would elminate Clark as a threat and enable the alien to reunite with his fellow criminal Zoners in the name of world domination.
Clark was introduced to a new ally: J'onn J'onzz aka the
Martian Manhunter. His likeness popped up at Clark's hospital urging him to not give into the evil doctor and filled him in on what he needed to do to remove himself from Hudson's clutches: He was going to have to kill the "doctor." It was awesome to see Phill Morris debut as the latest superhero to visit Kansas. There's a great
interview with him currently on TVGuide.com, so click the link to read it. I've been watching Morris for a long time now: I'm one of the few and the proud to watch him on the remake of his dad's show
Mission Impossible back in the '80s; he was hilarious on
Seinfeld as the Johnnie Cochran-esque character "Jackie Chiles"; I even tuned in when he was on
The Young and the Restless back in the day. So it was definitely good to see him. Hope to see more of him on the show.
Clark starting to give into the reality that was being presented to him was pretty good stuff. I really enjoyed seeing everything about his life explained away in this existence: the nurse named "Raya"; the employee of the month named Oliver Queen; Clark's fellow patients, Arthur Curry and Victor Stone; the announcement paging Dr. Milton Fine; the prison memoir called "Fortress of Solitude"; a journal (or something like that) called "Phantom Zone"; the building-capacity sign that read 331; and my favorite: the antibacterial soap named Jorel. It was very interesting that even in this not-so-brave new world, Chloe's the only one who knows who he is and believes in him. Even Mama Martha sicced the security guards on him. Chloe was locked up in Fairview along with Clark, and even took a bullet that sent the character to an early grave. You know what I'm going to say here, don't you? Do I have to say it? I wasn't liking Clark admitting to Chloe that he still loves Lana. And I also don't like him going to seek her out at The Talon. It left him open to another dig from Lex. Clark's nemesis made sure to say that they were going to be late meeting the wedding planner. But I was all happy happy joy joy with the Clark and Chloe scene where he told her: "You were the one person who believed in me. I don't know what I'd do without you, Chloe." That better just be about the fact that he had to deal with her dying in his alternate 'verse. That better not be some sort of omen that's heading our way later in the season. We also got another Clark-Chloe emotional hug - very cool.
