Smallville What I liked: - Finally...

SmallvilleWhat I liked:- Finally some James Marsters. Sans blond hair. Sans cool English accent. Even sans the black leather. But it didn't matter. This Professor Milton Fine dude is sarcastic (like Spike) and is going to be totally badass once the story line and his alter ego really kick in. Mark. My. Words.- Speakin' of badass, Lex Luthor is drifting ever so speedily towards the Darth Vader-like dark side. Michael Rosenbaum seems to enjoy playing up Lex's full-scale descent into evildom. The Lex/Clark rivalry continues to heat up and there's promise of an epic Milton (Brainiac?)/Lex battle, too.- I loved the allusions to the future (Lois someday meeting someone else who just wants to save the world), and the wink-wink moments (the JLA and referring back to last season's Flash episode).

What I didn't like:
- Yeah, even though I knew it would never happen, I was really wishing Entourage's Adrian Grenier (aka Vincent Chase) would cross over and embody Aquaman. But bonus for the Smallville version's "I don't travel with an entourage" line. Over the top, but funny. Not ha-ha funny. But I-swear-I'm-laughing-on-the-inside funny.
- Because Aquaman was the freak of the week, we were subjected to the following watered-down terms: Arthur Curry is a marine-biology student who's on the swim team; something's fishy; big fish; Lex is a shark; Lois calls Aquadud a fish stick; she calls her brief fling with the speedy swimmer the shark-infested ocean of romance. Please stop.
- If Arthur said "bro'" one more time, I was going to have to harpoon his green- and orange-wardrobed self to a very fast boat that was heading far, far away from Smallville.

One final piece of business: Clark, when that fine Professor Fine asks you to be his research assistant, you say yes. Immediately.   Bettina Charles

Alias
I so thought the action was going to kick up a notch when Jack told Grace and Dixon that the "rules of engagement are at your discretion" when the duo was trying to save Syd and Rachel. But no, not really. Instead we got the two girls grasping at a crowbar a couple hundred feet in the air, and then they were suddenly in an airplane all cozy. Did I miss a scene or was their rescue just totally implied? I did really perk up during the casino scenes I've got a soft spot for the gambling facilities, something about the slot machines, money and free drinks. Anyway, Syd's sympathy ploy to play with weighted dice because she is a mom-to-be got me wondering what I could get by batting my eyelashes and showing off my superpregnant belly. I'm thinking I could at least get away with an extra cookie or something at the buffet... or maybe I could get one of those pesky old ladies to move away from the nickel slots so I could play. OK, so the stakes are a little different. Anyway, I know I was down on the whole boring Sloane plot last week, but this week it looks like he's up to his old tricks again. Is it possible that he found someone more dastardly than himself to sell his soul to? Finding out what he has to do in exchange for his freedom could really make this whole season a lot more interesting. Because if I've learned anything in these several years of Alias watching, Sloane being bad is such a good thing.  AC

Everwood
I'm sorry, I just can't get into the whole Jake and Nina story line this season. I love Dr. Dimples and all, but the whole playing-house-and-trying-to-be-a-dad thing is just not really engaging. I liked it better when he was trying to woo the waitress instead of dealing with domestic issues. Let's see him at one of the Botox parties that he mentioned that could be fun. I did love that the writers really went full circle with the Ephram story line by cursing the sullen teenager with a know-it-all, self-absorbed kid who behaves just like he did when he first arrived in Everwood. Ah, truly what goes around comes around. And, of course, no episode would be complete without a brilliant comment by Bright.... I swear the writers must have a blast coming up with dialogue for him. Tonight's gem was his excuse for leaving Delia alone at the job fair (which he was disappointed had no rides). "Sometimes I forget how young she is. She's got that Dakota Fanning thing going on. It freaks me out." I couldn't agree more. Both girls are like 12 going on 40 and it is just plain unsettling.  AC