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5:04 Aqua Review
By Zoomway
They call him Arthur, Arthur
Faster than lightning
No one you see, is faster than he
And we know Arthur lives in a world full of wonder
Flying there under
Under the sea.
Oh, sorry, that's Flipper.
Well, the episode opened with a hot summer day in Vancouver, er Smallville at Crater Lake with its beautiful pine forest and majestic mountains in the background.
Clark rubbed suntan lotion on Lana's back. She turned around. "I think you missed a spot."
"Where?"
She pointed to her lips.
Gosh, aren't they just the most cutesie poo couple since Gidget and Moondoggie? Well, aside from Gidget waiting for the wedding night.
Fortunately Chloe and Lois interrupted.
"Well, I know what you did this summer," Lois said as Chloe giggled.
Clark broke off the kiss and turned around. "Lois?"
"Oh, don't feel so guilty, Smallville. It's about time you two lovebirds flapped your wings."
So everyone in Smallville knows that ... how should I put this delicately ... that Lana will be wearing off-white at her wedding?
Clark smiled. "What are you doing back?"
"Yeah," Lana said. "We thought you were in Europe until the end of the year."
"Hoping," Clark added.
"Will you stay with Chloe?"
"Actually, I ran into Mrs. Kent at the Talon and right out of nowhere she asked if I'd like to move back in at the farm."
"Yeah, right," Clark said, but then his smile faded. "Really?"
"I know, isn't that sweet?"
Clark and Lana exchanged an "oh, no, where will we hump now?" glance.
"Oh, don't worry," Lois assured them. "You snuggle bunnies can hop around all you want. I'm a heavy sleeper."
I have a feeling Martha invited Lois back as a house guest to avoid the Lana sleepover scenario from happening again.
Lois headed for the pier. "I'm going for a dip," she said, but surprisingly left the dip standing on the beach with Lana.
"You think she could sleep after me smothering her with a pillow?" Clark asked.
"Don't stay in the sun too long or you're going to get burned," Lana admonished Clark as if she were speaking to a 5 year old.
After Lana walked away, Chloe approached Clark. "So I take it Lana hasn't gotten a peek into the confidential files of Clark Kent yet."
"Chloe, you think I'm happy about having my powers back and lying about them? I didn't ask for this life."
Oh, cry me a river, Clark. I read a review of this episode posted by a Buffy/Angel fan who tuned in to see James Marsters (former Spike from those shows) and he said that Clark Kent isn't dark, he's just a crybaby.
"We didn't ask for a world that needs heroes," Chloe countered. "But the truth is we do. Now more than ever, Clark."
Chloe's new job is to play Jiminey Cricket to Clark's Pinocchio since he wants to be a "real boy," but Chloe has to be his conscience.
Then the money shot. The background song had voices singing, "Good! Good! Good!" as Lois rose from the lake. This type of shot of a wet well endowed woman in a bikini emerging from the water has been used in a lot of movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I have to admit Lois looked good. I don't know if they're real, but they are spectacular.
Lois stood on a small platform on the pier and did a dive facing backward. Just under the water's surface she hit her head on a part of the pier that was jutting out and was knocked unconscious.
Apparently Chloe and Clark had been watching and Chloe said Lois had been under too long and launched Clark after her.
Though Welling doesn't look too bad when running, it's clear he hasn't been working out and has very little muscle definition left. I remember Dean saying that staying healthy and keeping in shape was the hardest part of playing Superman because it required hours of regular workout sessions at the gym along with 16 hour shooting days. Welling is fortunate he doesn't have to wear tights, because they're as revealing as they are unforgiving.
However, as Clark swam towards Lois, he was sideswiped by a much faster swimmer. Clark looked on astonished as a guy took Lois in his arms and whooshed swiftly towards the surface. It was an interesting shot because in many ways it looked like the type of scene where Superman would take Lois in his arms and make a fast takeoff.
The stranger carried Lois ashore and performed CPR. Lois opened her eyes and beheld six pack abs, an impressive chest (as mentioned, Lois is no slouch in that area either) and a handsome square-jawed face. The stranger helped her up. "Maybe you ought to stick to the shallow end till you learn how to swim, gorgeous."
Lois rubbed the bump on her head. "Maybe you ought to try breath mints, surfer boy."
Here's the spot that marks the difference between Clark and our guest hero. Instead of jabbing back with an insult, he simply laughed. "Name's Arthur Curry. Friends call me A.C."
That's why the mutual insults passed between Clark and Lois on Smallville keep them set more in a sibling relationship rather than one that could have sexual tension. Clark on L&C would smile or laugh good-naturedly at Lois's insults, which seemed to rattle her because it was obviously a defense mechanism to keep men at bay. Lois on Smallville seems to use insults the same way. It's clear she doesn't reserve them just for Clark because she lavished insults on Arthur in this episode, but Arthur didn't rise to the bait like Clark does. That kept Lois off balance and more vulnerable than usual.
Anyway, Lana started tugging Lois along. "Come on, we've got to get you back to the farm." Not the overused medical center?
I'm not sure if Lana was really concerned about Lois's well-being, or if she just wanted Lois's hot body away from Clark.
"Wow," Chloe said. "Where did Bobby Baywatch come from?"
"I don't know," Clark replied. "But he can sure swim fast."
"Are we talking Olympic gold medal fast, or meteor freak fast?"
"This is something else. He can swim faster than I can."
For those curious, Clark was wearing a bandage over the area where his bullet wound would have been. So they actually didn't forget it from the previous episode.
Clark finally started attending classes at Kansas Central. That's amazing since he never really attended classes in high school.
"Do you know where the greatest super computer in the world resides?" the professor asked. "Right here," he said and pointed to his head. "It's the human brain, yet we only use ten percent of it." That's a long lived myth, but let's skip it.
Clark finally showed up and the professor noted his tardy entrance. "Good morning, Mr. Kent. Did we start too early for you?"
"Sorry, I kinda got lost."
"If there are any other wayward travelers, this is Introduction to World History and I am Professor Milton Fine."
Fine went on to explain that history isn't about facts, it's about context and about who is telling the story. "So, what is history? What is herstory? What is your story, Mr. Kent? How will you affect the world around you for the generations to come?"
"I'm not sure you can know that at eighteen," Clark replied.
Isn't it amazing how flexible that age is? Last week Clark invoked the magic age of 18 to imply that he was an adult and so he could justify having sex. This week, however, 18 is an age to hide behind because it is such a tender, youthful and naive age.
"Tell that to Alexander the Great," Fine countered. "Or to bring it closer to home -- Lex Luthor. You know he's not much older than you are, yet he's turned his father's agribusiness into a leading defense contract. He's gone from feeding people, to killing them."
The problem with this assessment is that Lionel Luthor was not a decent person at all regardless of what purpose his business served. He was a ruthless businessman whether his business was agriculture, pharmaceuticals or yo-yos, and many among the competition died for daring to cross him. Not to mention he killed his parents for the insurance money just so he could get his business going.
The professor, or more likely the screenwriter, is operating under the false assumption that a business defines the man rather than the other way around, or worse, he's stating that anyone who fulfills a defense contract is inherently evil.
"Lex is not a saint," Clark interrupted after Fine had compared Lex to Hitler, Stalin and Napoleon. "But I don't think you can put him in the same league as those guys."
"An honest opinion," Fine said. "I like that."
Meanwhile, at the Talon, Lois stared off into space as a coffee cup overflowed.
Arthur walked in. "I think it's full."
Lois shut off the machine. "Customers like it that way. More bang for their buck."
"I've got a buck," Arthur said without missing a beat of the innuendo.
"You should use it to get some fashion sense," Lois said as she delivered the coffee. She glanced back and noticed Arthur was still there and still smiling.
Lois looked him up and down and Arthur no doubt thought she was checking him out. She got very close to him. "You know this whole orange and green thing?"
"Yeah."
"It looks like Flipper threw up," she said and retreated back behind the counter.
Orange and green are apparently the school colors of the University of Miami (thanks, Georgia). Keep that in mind later.
"I'll tell you what," undaunted Arthur persisted. "You show me how to dress the way you like and I'll teach you how to swim."
Lois seemed surprised that Arthur hadn't bolted. He seemed completely insult proof.
"I know how to swim, thank you," Lois said and took a tray to another table.
"You're welcome, but next time I might not be there to suck the water out of those pretty lungs."
"Look," Lois said, her tone irritated. "I didn't need you to play paramedic, Fish Stick, all right? I just had a little bit of water down the wrong pipe."
"You were turning blue."
Lois shrugged. "It's a good color on me. It was a freak accident. I practically live in the water."
"Me too, but I can swim."
"So can I. I'm a great swimmer. I can swim like a fish."
Arthur's indefatigable smile grew bigger. "Prove it."
Back at Central Kansas, Clark apologized to Fine for being late and the conversation shifted back to Lex. "How long have you been friends with Lex Luthor?"
"Friends? Who said we were friends?"
"It's just a deduction. Why else would the son of family farmers be defending such a man?"
Oh, I dunno, maybe because Lex paid off the family famers' mortgage while their son was being a jerk in Metropolis robbing banks.
"It's a long story, but he's not the man you make him out to be."
"Well, you know Groucho Marx said there's one way to find out if a man is honest. Ask him. If he says yes, he must be crooked."
"I would think a college professor would be quoting Karl Marx, not Groucho."
"German philosophy is easy. Comedy is hard." Ain't it the truth. Fine offered Clark the job of being his research assistant on a book he was writing about Luthor Corp.
Clark declined. "Thanks, Professor, but I'm not really looking for a job right now."
"You know what's worse than the fear of speaking the truth, Mr. Kent? It's the fear of uncovering it."
Lois, who had picked up Arthur's "prove it" gauntlet, was back at the lake and ready to race. After a bit of last minute heckling, she said, "On three. One, two," and she began swimming without finishing the countdown.
Arthur smiled. "Three," he said softly and sank under the surface. Then, in an effortless curving whoosh, he outdistanced her easily and was waiting for her on the dock.
Fair is fair. Last week I pointed out a bit of background incidental music that I thought was terrible and distracting, but the music in this sequence had a very pleasant dreamlike quality. It may have been used on Smallville before since it sounded familiar to me, but was probably a Lana scene back then.
Instead of being angry, Lois was impressed by Arthur's speed. "Hey, how'd you do that?"
Arthur helped her onto the dock. "Don't sweat it, I'm part fish."
They sat on the dock and Arthur complimented her swimming.
"My teacher was a Navy SEAL." Come on, you knew that was coming.
"I swim with the seals," Arthur said. "They're awesome."
Lois was intrigued. "You're not a military brat, are you?"
"Nope, just a brat."
They smiled at each other and Arthur reached up to push a strand of Lois's hair back, but she recoiled a little. "What are you doing?"
Arthur brushed the strand aside and moved his face closer to hers, but then he cried out in pain. No, Lois didn't deck him, he was hearing some kind of ultrasonic sound wave.
"What's happening?"
"You don't hear that?"
"Hear what?"
He fell into the water and approached some type of device that was emitting the sound waves but was driven back. He staggered out of the water.
Lois ran to him and helped him to shore. "Okay, just lie back," she whispered, but saw his ear was bleeding. "Oh, no." Lois looked over her shoulder and saw dozens of fish go belly up in the lake.
Meanwhile, the source of the sonic disturbance was revealed. Luthor Corp had been working on a weapon called Leviathan. Yet another nameless Lex lackey asked about the harm to marine life. "There are plenty of fish in the sea, Doctor."
Speaking of fish, Lois had taken Arthur to the Kent farm to recuperate. "You know, we really should get you checked out at a hospital."
"No, I'm cool."
"Is that surfer talk for 'there's blood coming out of my ears,' because on dry land that's usually not a good sign."
"It's probably just an ear infection or something. Could we just drop it?"
"Sure," Lois said, but put a hand on his forehead.
"What are you doing?"
"Seeing if you have a fever."
"You really don't listen, do you?"
"No, I try not to. I find it distracting."
Arthur removed Lois's hand from his forehead and placed it on his chest. "Well, what's the verdict, Doc?"
"You actually feel a little cold."
"That's weird, I'm feeling kinda warm right now."
Lois laughed. "Does that line actually work on anyone?"
"I figured it was like a one in ten shot, but you're worth the risk."
Lois's expression became serious. "You don't even know me."
"What's to know? You're abrasive, sarcastic, you never shut up."
"And those are my good qualities." (barroooom ching!)
"Oh, I know," Arthur said and pulled Lois into a kiss.
Lois pushed him away. "Look, just because you saved me when I wasn't really drowning, does not give you the right to slobber all over me."
"I'm sorry."
"You should be," she said and then plastered Fish Boy with a kiss. She broke the kiss again and took his face in her hands and looked at him a moment and then continued the kiss.
Clark entered at that moment. "Lois!"
Lois turned. "Hey, Smallville."
Clark said nothing and then glowered at Arthur.
Clark decided to have an emergency powwow with Chloe in the loft. "Lois was all over this guy," Clark grumbled. "And all we know about him is that he can swim faster than I can."
Let's examine how Lois was "all over" Arthur. They were both standing. They both had their clothes on and they were kissing, but not even breathless passionate kissing.
Could it be that the green eyes in the green-eyed monster are made of kryptonite?
Clark's comment was similar to a first season comment he made when he was jealous of Whitney kissing Lana. He said Whitney was giving Lana a tongue bath. He failed to mention that Lana was a willing participant in the tongue bath.
Chloe looked Arthur up on her magic laptop. "He's a sophomore at the University of Miami majoring in Marine Biology. Oh, and here's a shocker," Chloe added sarcastically. "He's on the swim team leaving all his competition in the wake."
Clark ignored the good news. "Does he have a criminal record?"
Chloe easily called up the confidential data. "Yeah, last year he broke into the Ocean Village resort."
"What did he steal?"
Chloe smiled. "Eight dolphins. He busted open an underwater fence and released them back into the ocean. I don't know, Clark, it doesn't sound like FBI most wanted material to me."
"Maybe it's the only thing he's been caught for," Clark said, looking on the dark side as usual.
"Maybe, but according to all this, he has never dipped a fin in Smallville until now. It sort of shoots down our meteor freak theory."
"He's not the first I've met who didn't get his abilities from meteor rocks."
"Really?"
"There was this kid last year. He kinda ran too fast for his own good." That was a reference to Bart (Kid Flash) from last season.
"Well, so far all we have on Arthur Curry is that he saved Lois from being permanently waterlogged," Chloe said as she leaned back from her computer. "Clark, are you sure you're not just upset about someone else stealing your hero thunder?"
That was an odd suggestion from Chloe considering she knows better than anyone how much Crybaby Kent hates being a hero.
"I don't know what it is about this guy," Clark said, "but I get a bad feeling."
That "bad feeling" is jealousy, Clark.
Clark's "bad feeling" continued in the Talon.
"You should have seen this guy. It was amazing," Lois said, her voice filled with admiration. "I've never seen anyone swim so fast."
"Or drink so much water," Lana added. I'm starting to get the feeling if you dangle string in front of her, she'll perk right up and take a swat at it.
"How do you like the University of Miami?" Clark asked.
Lois looked surprised. "You go to school in Miami?"
"Yeah," he replied and turned back to Clark. "How'd you know that?"
"I'm a big fan of college swimming."
Lana turned and looked at Clark. "Really? Since when?" Her tone made it clear she knew Clark was lying.
"Since Arthur Curry started dominating the sport," Clark replied, but all of his questions and replies were rather waspish. "So how'd you learn to swim so fast?"
"I don't know. I guess it runs in the family. My dad operates a lighthouse down south. Swims like a lead weight," Arthur said and laughed. "Must have been my mom with the skills, but she died when I was a baby." Of course. Moms don't last long in the Smallville universe.
"A.C., I'm so sorry." Lois said.
"I'm not gonna say it doesn't suck." That was so tenderly put. "But growing up by the water was awesome. I probably spent more time in it than out."
"Then what brings you to the most landlocked spot on the map?" Clark asked and Lana looked at him again.
"Crater Lake. Last few months a bunch of fish have been dying off. The EPA blames it on temperature changes, but I think that's totally bogus." For sure, dude.
"Smallville's a long way to go to check on temperature changes," Clark snarked and this time Lois glared at him.
Arthur's smile disappeared. "Not if you care about the world you live in. See, people think that what happens in oceans and lakes doesn't affect their lives, but it does. It's all connected."
Lois looked at Arthur adoringly, hanging on every word. Clark looked at Lois and rolled his eyes. "Do you really believe that, or is that a pickup line for the girls?"
"Clark!" Lana snapped.
"Smallville, can I talk to you a minute? There's a cinnamon bun I need your opinion on," Lois said and dragged him from the table. "What are you doing? I already have an overprotective dad, I don't need an overprotective brother. Especially one who isn't really my brother."
"Am I the only one who thinks there's something fishy about this guy?"
"Yes! Now quit being a jerk."
Lois walked back to the table. "I'm sorry about that," she told Arthur.
"No, it's cool, I gotta bounce." A surfer translation guide will be sold in the lobby.
"You need some company?" Lois asked.
"No, I got a few things I need to take care of. I'll just swing by later."
"You know, you were right, I was being a jerk, I'm gonna go apologize," Clark said and departed.
Lois took a seat at the oounter. "I don't know how you put up with him, Lana."
This was to be an ironic line and Lana said nothing, but it was a fair question. This Clark who whines and is now outright lying to Lana after his "No more secrets, no more lies" declaration, is not really likable. Lana seemed to know what was going on at the table and wasn't happy about it. This was a testosterone battle, but for once Lana wasn't in the center ring of the battle. Lois was.
Clark, who actually had no intention of apologizing to Arthur, followed him to a grotto type lab. There were several Luthor Corp files conveniently strewn about. Arthur removed an explosive device from his pack, set the timer and prepared to depart, but Clark whooshed in. He grabbed the explosive and held it next to his body as it detonated.
Clark swam after Arthur who stopped and faced him. He began swirling water into a ball and launched it at Clark, which knocked him backward. Clark then swam forward and hit Arthur in the chest with his fists. Arthur made an even bigger ball of water and literally blew Clark out of the lake with it.
Hey, it's an action sequence. That's as much effort as I'm going to put into describing it.
Lois followed Clark down the loft stairs. "Thanks for dropping the A-bomb on my date, Smallville. Did you apologize to A.C.?"
"I didn't get a chance to."
Clark came down the stairs buttoning his shirt. I won't guess what the significance of that was.
"Why not?"
"He was too busy playing terrorist."
"What?"
"Lois, I saw him trying to blow up some sort of lab."
Lois crossed her arms. "You really don't like him, do you?"
"This has nothing to do with the way I feel."
"No? Attacking A.C., making up stories. You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say somebody was jealous," Lois said, no longer oblivious to Clark's motive.
A moment after Lois stormed off Arthur entered. "Was she great or what?"
He was impressed with Clark's powers. "The way you flak jacketed that C-4, that was awesome, bro." Gnarly.
"I was just trying to stop a bomb you were trying to set off ... bro."
"Yeah, thanks to you the oceans are one step closer to becoming a graveyard."
"That thing you were trying to blow up, it has something to do with all the dead fish?"
"No, not something, everything," Arthur replied and went on to explain that it was some type of sonar weapon with enough impact to rip a submarine in half and that Luthor Corp was stamped all over the files.
"You mean Lex is trying to develop some kind of weapon?" Gee, ya think?
"One that also happens to kill all sea life around it, even when it's on standby."
"I'll go talk to Lex."
"There isn't enough time. Come on, Superboy. With you on the turf and me in the surf, we could stop this thing cold."
"By blowing up his lab?"
"Well, I'm not going to sit back and just let this happen, Clark. I was born with an amazing gift and I plan to use it to help protect this planet."
Oh, dear, a guy with special abilities who sees them as a gift rather than a burden. How did a real hero sneak onto this show?
Clark whooshed forward and blocked Arthur's exit. "I'm not going to let you put innocent lives at risk."
"Like your buddy Lex Luthor?"
"He's not my buddy, not anymore, but I think we can get him to listen ..."
"You think he doesn't know what this thing does? He doesn't care."
"You want to work together, then we go clear this thing up with Lex. That's the deal."
"All right, we'll try it your way, Boy Scout. Let's go have words with the cue ball."
While "boy scout" is a reference to Superman's reputation as "the big blue Boy Scout," that doesn't really apply to this version of Clark Kent at all. Unless the boy scout motto "be prepared" means having a condom handy.
Clark and Arthur showed up at Lex's one room mansion. There's not much to tell other than Clark and Arthur accused Lex of creating a weapon that kills marine life and Lex denying it. Though it was funny when Arthur called Lex a tool. Okay, Lex didn't exactly find it funny.
After Arthur left the mansion and headed back to the lake, he was shot with a dart and taken to the aquatic lab where Lex had a good time taunting him with a glass of water.
"Why are you doing this to me?" a very dehydrated Arthur asked.
"One, you called me a tool," Lex replied. "And two, most people I know need scuba gear to breathe under water."
Lex then asked Arthur what group he was with. "Guardians of the Sea?"
"I don't travel with an entourage." This was an inside joke since Aquaman has been mentioned on the HBO series Entourage.
Arthur begged for water.
"I usually don't deny my guests a drink, but something tells me if I give you water, you'll bust out of those restraints before the glass is empty."
Then Lex was told that the Navy was ready for his demonstration. "I guess we'll have to pick this up later," Lex said as he poured out the water.
"I don't care what you do to me, but please destroy that weapon." I picture Tempus somewhere asking who writes his dialogue.
Let's just say Lex wasn't cooperative and left Arthur to ... flounder.
Clark whooshed in as soon as Lex left and turned on the overhead sprinkler system to re-hydrate Arthur.
Then, as Lex put on his demonstration, it flopped because Clark and Arthur destroyed it ... I guess. I mean I couldn't really tell what happened other than an admiral watching the demo said the weapon self-destructed.
Clark paid Lex a visit and Lex admitted the project was destroyed by "a couple of misguided vandals." And when you think about it, Clark, who had called Arthur a terrorist for wanting to blow up the lab, was a willing accomplice in destroying Leviathan.
"Lex, do you ever stop and think where your life is heading?"
As opposed to you, Clark? Is whining a way of thinking about where your life is headed?
"All the time," Lex replied.
"You know, the other day a professor of mine accused Luthor Corp of being evil and you just being short of the devil."
Then a large sardonic grin spread across Lex's face as he delivered a line that thrilled hoyay fans (homoerotica fans). "Well, you didn't tell him about my pitchfork, did ya?"
"I defended you," the spurned maiden said. "Guess I am naive."
Clark left Lex and went to Professor Fine as he swapped one villain for another. "You were right about Lex."
"Of course I was. I'll never lie to you, Mr. Kent. After all, I'm an educator. Truth is my life's work."
"It might be too late, but I was wondering if the research assistant job was still available."
"It is, but I'm not interested in hiring someone who changes their mind as often as they change their clothes." No problem there. Clark only seems to have three outfits.
"Professor, I can't just sit back and watch anymore. If your book is going to expose the truth about Luthor Corp, I want to be a part of it."
"I expect my research assistants to be smart, thorough and show up for each and every class." Wow, three strikes.
"I can guarantee it."
"All right," Fine said. "You know history shows us that every decision a man makes has an effect on the sum of his life. You made the right decision, Mr. Kent."
Arthur paid a farewell visit to the farm. "You got some awesome stuff in here, bro."
In a barn? Arthur must have been smoking the hidden cash crop.
"I have a feeling the ocean floor is a little more interesting."
"And it'll stay that way now, thanks to you."
"Well, I did have some help," Clark said as he pretended to tinker with a piece of farm equipment.
"We did make a pretty good team, huh? Maybe we should start up a Junior Lifeguard Association or something."
"I'm not sure I'm ready for the JLA just yet."
Did you get a headache from that giant anvil of foreshadowing? Though I guess it's only really foreshadowing for comic book fans. JLA stands for Justice League of America, which Superman is a part of, but Aquaman no longer is, so there's a tiny anvil of irony.
"Unless you promise to stop blowing things up," Clark added, glad that he just melted Leviathan with heat vision, or pulverized it with his super strength.
"As long as Luthor sticks to dry land, I'll keep the sea floor to myself, but if anyone messes with my home ..."
"I don't think Leviathan will be a threat again, but Lex might, he's seen your abilities. He'll turn the world upside down looking for you."
Arthur stated the obvious about the world being three-fourths water and that he'd pretty hard to find. Then Clark told Arthur to stay out of trouble and Arthur told him to try and get into some and to "Stay super, bro." He was totally stoked.
Then it was time to bid Lois adieu. The dreamlike music returned. "You haven't learned, have you?" Lois asked as she approached Arthur on the pier. "Orange and green, totally hideous together."
"I didn't think you were gonna show. I just wanted to say good bye."
"Going back to Miami?"
"No, I think I'm going to take some time off. Float around for a while. See where the currents take me."
"If those currents ever bring you back to Smallville," Lois said, which was kind of odd to me, like Lois had decided at some point to make Smallville her home.
"I don't think that's gonna happen. Not for a while."
Lois was disappointed. "Oh."
Then they shared a parting kiss. Yes, Clark, they had their clothes on.
After the farewell, Lois went to the loft and apologized for being "thorny" when Clark raised the red flag on Arthur.
"I was just trying to look out for you."
"And I appreciate it. I've just never had someone to help guide me through the shark infested ocean of romance. Not that I can't fend for myself."
Lois, this Clark couldn't navigate you through guppies in an aquarium considering his romantic misfires.
"You know, I think I was wrong about our friend A.C. He was a little misguided, but his heart was in the right place."
"Yeah, he was definitely unique," Lois said a bit wistfully.
Clark lowered his gaze.
"I've met a lot of guys who want to own the world, but I haven't met very many who want to save it."
Clark's head literally snapped back up when she said this and he looked at her thoughtfully.
Lois turned and walked to the railing. "How am I ever going to meet someone like that again?"
Clark followed her and stood behind her, but she seemed unaware that he was there until he spoke. Lois had an interesting reaction. She kind of looked startled by his closeness, but having walked to the rail, she had no place left to distance herself from him.
I'm not sure if they were depicting Lois as uncomfortable being that close to Clark because she has an attraction to him that she doesn't want to act on due to Lana's and her own cousin's feelings for him, or if they have given Lois a general skittish nature with guys when the situation turns to intimate proximity.
That might be a dubious assessment since she'll be playing a stripper soon, but when Arthur tried to brush her hair out of the way, she withdrew from his touch. When he pulled her into a kiss, she pushed him away, but had no problem being the one to initiate the kiss. It's like she doesn't want to feel out of control. Either way, we got the red shirt on Clark and the blue blouse on Lois and yellow highlights in the barn. Hmm, I wonder what they were hinting at?
"Lois, I promise, some day you'll meet someone even more special," Clark said and put a hand on her shoulder.
It's tempting to say "look behind you, Lois, he's right there," but with this Clark, he really isn't there at all. The excuse that he's not the adult Clark and Superman we "all know and love" is irrelevant at this point when he's 18 years old and attending college.
What we want to do in the future might still be murky at that age, but who we are morally and ethically is pretty much set in place and this Clark has already done a lot of bad things including committing felonies. I don't expect to get a Superman vibe from this guy any time soon.
Also, it's unclear if Clark and Lana are still having sex after he got his powers back, but their furtive glances over the news that Lois was moving back in at the Kent farm would tend to indicate they are. So we've gone past the point of Clark kidding himself when he had no powers and thus felt he owed Lana no explanation. Now Clark is being completely deceptive with her and that will no doubt be what breaks them up, but I hate the idea that it's all supposed to be Clark's fault. He's supposed to be the hero, not Lana.
As for the episode itself, it was mainly about action and a hint of romance and foreshadowing, but it was nice to have a hero who wasn't whining about his "burden" of special abilities for once. The actor playing Arthur didn't do too bad ... for a former American Idol contestant.
As a final note, this episode did better in the ratings than the previous three. It's true that FOX was caught short without baseball that night, but there was no baseball the night Thirst aired either and it had even less competition for ratings with NBC showing reruns, yet did poorly by comparison. In fact Thirst had a half million fewer viewers, but I'll get to that when I review the Draculana episode.
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