Smallville OK, last week's tease...

SmallvilleOK, last week's tease was a dead giveaway as to what was going to happen this week: Clark would turn back into SuperClark, mainly because we saw him "die." As if. So I decided to watch anyway because: 1) I write the Smallville Watercooler. And 2) I'm on an unending quest to spot James Marsters. But for the second week in a row, he's a no-show. (So cold, Smallville. So cold.) What we did get was some Lana and Clark lookin' all googly-eyed-in-love with each other. Later, a cybergeek friend of Chloe's tries to blow up Smallville because he's sick and tired of all the freak-of-the-weeks running around town. Apparently he tries to use one of the 15 or so nuclear missiles located in Smallville, Kan. And how did we find out about those little buggers? Because Jonathan told us, in a clumsy bit of exposition with Detective Frau Farbissina (I keep wanting her to say, "Bring on the Fembooots!") Gabriel shoots PowerlessClark, kidnaps Chloe, and Lana grieves over Clark's "death." By the bye, I just loved it when Lionel opened his mouth and sounded just like Terence Stamp. Zod being Jorel is soooo cooool. Except for the part where Papa tells his superson that now that he's with power again, someone he loves will be sacrificed. I say it's time for them to cart Pete back in for an episode, don't you? (I know, so cold.) Meanwhile, Lex seems like he's trying to turn Lana against his ex-BF uh, I mean his ex-friend Clark. Yeah, that's what I mean. Plus WB gives us a sneak peek of Tom Welling's new flick, The Fog. Not one time do we get Tom sans his shirt. I thought they were trying to convince me to see the movie?  Bettina Charles

Survivor
Kudos to the Survivor challenge-creating crew this season; they've come up with some amazing games that are really tough and a little disturbing. I loved the whole train-cart thing, even though the challenge was a total blowout in Yaxha's favor. But the best new game has to be Brian's "Bait Blake" game. It's easy, and offers a big reward. All you have to do is find a guy who seems to be way into the oversharing (see, this wouldn't work if it was "Goad Gary") and just keep asking him questions about himself that will lead his entire tribe to think that he is just too annoying to keep around without ever actually having to backstab him yourself. Score one for the skinny Ivy League boy over the strong, frat-guy pretty boy who got sent packing when Yaxha lost their game of catapult catch. Brian, buddy, that stunt and your "He's digging himself into a hole and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he has a shovel!" quote just landed you my Favorite Player of the Week award. The biggest twist of the night, though, was that the best quote didn't come from comic-relief Judd who's spending more time being angry at Margaret than being funny  but from Stephenie. The sore loser was griping about her former Palau pal Bobby Jon, and in her sour-grapes moment said that the thing that most annoying thing about the Yaxha win was that the Alabama boy "cheers like a freakin' girl." With all his flailing around and everything, I kinda have to agree. Angel Cohn

Alias
How many fake CIA black-ops groups are out there? And what are the chances that Syd and Co. who had already been burned by one find a girl who is a victim of another manipulative control freak like Sloane? But I do like that this whole implausible situation gives my boy Marshall a new friend. He and Rachel did that whole geek-speak thing, and I didn't have a clue what they were saying, but it was fun to listen to them anyway. I just wonder if, in their downtime, one of them could whip up some of those tracking-device mints for my purse so the next time I misplace my wallet or keys I could trace them? I also thought it was cool to see Amy Acker as a bad girl who isn't blue. She needs to get more fight scenes, because although there was a big explosion and a car chase, I still found myself missing the heart-racing action that this show used to dole out so easily. Also, when they showed Syd and Vaughn's address, there was part of me that was hoping this was a clue, like in the good old days, but it seems like these little details don't really add up to any big hints... unless someone knows where

Zephyr Street

is and it has some significance. And I know that Nadia is in a coma and all, but I was so disinterested in Sloane trying to find a cure for her, or really anything that has to do with Sloane. So now that we know these pretty new agents, let's hope that someone gives them something fun to do soon, and they could throw in some wigs and foreign accents that would be even better.  AC