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Reviews
5:10 Fanatic
by Zoomway
This episode was as flat as an open Coke left on the counter for a week and I see Eileen agrees with me. It wasn't a filler episode so much as an episode designed to set upcoming bigger events in motion. Yet it came across as choppy and even illogical in places.
The episode began with a "previously on Smallville" montage of scenes. We were reminded that Martha didn't like the idea of Jonathan running for state senator for fear a reporter would dig up information on Clark. We are also reminded that Clark and Lana have a doomed relationship by showing Lana saying, "Don't worry. Nothing's going to change between us." Then a clip from third season was dredged up to remind us that Martha had worked for Lionel at one time and that Lionel was willing to help Jonathan to become senator over his son Lex. Speaking of the bald billionaire, there was the clip form Lexmas of Lex telling Griff to do whatever it takes to knock Jonathan out of the senate race. Then a clip of Lana telling Lex that Clark is "just like the rest of us," but Lex reminding her that normal people don't rise from the dead. Lastly, a reminder that the life of someone Clark loves will die due to Clark's resurrection.
I'll skip the pre-theme teaser scene because, like the prom episode, it ruins any element of surprise later on and it's misleading anyway.
Instead, I'll start with Lex meeting a group of supporters known collectively as the Central Kansas Students for Lex Luthor.
Lex greeted them by quoting Thucydides, an Athenian aristocrat who was about Lex's age at the start of the Peloponnesian War. "We are either kings among men, or the pawns of kings." Lex no doubt agreed with Thucydides that the powerful were above justice and even above the gods.
However, Lex's pretentious diatribe made it sound like he was running for emperor rather than a senator from America's breadbasket. Either way, the collegiate constituency applauded and then one member stepped forward. "Samantha Drake, president of Students for Lex Luthor."
She asked to have her picture taken with Lex in front of a painting she said had been given to Lex by his father as a reward for sealing the Metro Tech deal. That should have been red flag number one. Lex then noticed she was wearing a necklace with his name on it. Red flag number two. When Samantha saw him noticing the necklace, she said, "I used to wear a cross." Red flags three through ten.
As Lex departed with his campaign manager, his cell phone rang. It was Griff, the guy Lex hired at the end of Lexmas to do whatever was necessary to get Jonathan out of the race. "You wanted a grenade to throw in the Kent camp? I've got an atomic bomb."
"This isn't a secure line."
"Just meet me at Rampart and Broadway," Griff said, but as he exited the phone booth, he saw Lionel Luthor waiting for him.
"Atomic warfare?" Lionel asked. "A little over dramatic for local politics, wouldn't you say?"
Griff pulled out a pistol and leveled it at Lionel. "I got no problem ending this conversation right now."
"I believe in the political weapons trade," Lionel began as he opened his jacket revealing an impressive stash of cash, "the deal usually goes to the highest bidder."
Griff apparently agreed and handed Lionel a manilla envelope. Lionel opened it, looked at what appeared to be one sheet of information and then set fire to it as Griff looked on stunned.
The scene switched to Jonathan dressed in a nice suit standing behind an oak desk surrounded by bookshelves. Even an American flag was sitting in the background. No, the show didn't skip the election and declare Jonathan the winner. Everything was a prop shipped in by Sosnick, Jonathan's campaign manager and former campaign manager for Jack Luke Duke who bowed out of the race in the episode Exposed.
Lois entered and immediately hated the whole thing. "I keep expecting some mobster with a carnation to step out of the shadows and plug me."
Then Clark and Martha walked up dressed to the nines. "You've got to admit it's not exactly us," Martha said.
"Dad, are you sure this guy knows what he's doing?"
Lois held out a newspaper to Jonathan. "If you ask me, he's trying to turn you into a Luthor."
Sosnick stepped up. "Is there a problem?"
Lois turned to face him. "Yeah, I was just wondering if you've ever actually met the Kents."
Clark and Martha exchanged glances in the background.
"You see," Lois continued, "the reason somebody is going to vote for Mr. Kent is because they relate to him. Who is going to believe he supports local farmers if he looks like some big business blowhard ..." Lois cut herself off and turned back to Jonathan, "no offense, Mr. Kent," she said, and turned back to Sosnick, "... who wants to buy them out?"
"That's called bridging the demo gap, dear," Sosnick said in a condescending tone.
"Does bridging that gap also include misquoting a candidate?"
Jonathan, knowing a cue when he hears one, read from the paper Lois handed him. "It says, 'Jonathan Kent is quoted as saying it is possible to serve corporate interests and maintain public welfare.' I never said that."
Sosnick smiled. "I did."
"You did?"
"Yes, this whole John-Boy thing, don't get me wrong, you're very good at it and it may win over the cowpokes, but there's a healthy pool of voters out there more familiar with vente lattes than they are with digging post holes."
Jonathan put a hand on Skippy's shoulder, er.. Sosnick's shoulder. "What I need here is someone who cares about what I believe in more than they care about winning a race. I'm sorry, Sosnick, you've got to go. You're fired," he said, but with no Donald Trump gesture.
Clark and Martha exchanged glances again. Sosnick gave Jonathan the itinerary list of scheduled appearances and left.
"Not that that didn't totally rock, Mr. Kent," Lois said as she sat on the edge of the prop desk. "But I have no idea how you're going to find a replacement so quickly."
Jonathan smiled. "I do," he said and gave her the itinerary list.
"Oh, me?" Lois became a little flustered. "Um ... what do I know about being a campaign manager?"
Jonathan shrugged. "What do I know about being a state senator?"
Clark and Martha exchanged ... you know the drill. The phone rang and Jonathan stepped into the hall to answer it.
An electronically distorted voice said, "This is your last warning to drop out of the campaign."
"I told you not to call here again," Jonathan replied, letting us know he's had more than one threatening call. He removed a red pill from a small disk-shaped case, stared at it a moment and then took it. I assume it was a heart medication of some type.
Lois began stapling Kent posters over Lex posters on the Central Kansas campus. Spoilers originally had Clark with Lois scolding her for that maneuver, but Clark is nowhere to be seen and I'd have assumed the only reason Lois went to that particular college was because it was Clark's campus. In fact, aside from some cursory "face time" with Martha in the background, Clark seems to have no interest whatsoever in his father's campaign.
As Lois finished stapling another poster, Samantha showed up and tore it from the well-coated pillar. "What are you doing?" Lois protested.
"Sorry," Samantha said as she crumpled the poster. "CKU regulations dictate that all campaign materials can be no larger than 20 by 24."
Lois told Samantha that she was taking the "campus Gestapo thing" way too far, but Samantha countered, "the state's future depends on it, Miss Lane," whatever that meant.
"How do you know my name?"
"Lex says always know your enemy."
"Leave it to Lex to treat this election like a hostile takeover, which is exactly what he's going to do to the entire state, by the way."
"Progress requires sacrifice," Samantha replied flatly.
"Mr. Kent is neck and neck with your fascist environmental annihilator."
While this is good dialogue for Lois, the series has failed to establish where her deep dislike for Lex and his politics are coming from. The prime opportunity would have been in Aqua if Lois had known what Lex's weapon was doing to the sea life, or what Lex himself did to Arthur for that matter. Providing realistic motive for the characters' actions is where Smallville fails time and time again. Oh, well, Samantha stormed off quoting Lex to her silent two-man entourage, "Defeat is not an option."
Meanwhile, Lana was poring over celestial pictures of the meteor shower when someone knocked at the door. We don't have to guess that it's Clark because, as mentioned, he seems totally disinterested in his father's campaign and the only thing that seems to hold any fascination for him, to the bafflement of the free world, is Lana.
Clark gave her a "hi, honey, I'm bored," kiss and then flopped down on her bed.
"It looks like someone has had a long day of campaigning," Lana said and was completely wrong.
"More like a long day of Lois," Clark replied, which made no sense either, but is a further indication of how the script had changed from first draft to execution.
Lana started to crawl next to Clark on the bed. "Well, as much as I'd like to make a fool of myself at the ice rink, we could always stay in tonight." Of course they can't go to the ice rink, that's where Clark and Alicia had a date.
They started to make out, but then Lana said, "Ow!" and Clark hopped up faster than a ... you know what.
"Did I hurt you?"
Lana pulled up a protractor. "Unless you're the one who assigned 6 diagrams on planetary rotation."
"You know, on second thought, maybe we should go."
"Okay, this couldn't be more awkward," Lana said ... awkwardly. "But we haven't been together since I came to Met U."
"You mean ... we haven't had ..."
"Sex." Apparently the writers have finally decided to allow the characters to say the S word. "Clark, you can't tell me you haven't noticed." This line made me laugh out loud. Wearing your hair differently is something you 'notice' or changing perfume is something you 'notice,' but having sex is something you do or don't do.
Clark just kind of shrugged.
"Things haven't been the same between us since you miraculously came back from the dead." This line made me laugh, too, just for the absurdity of it.
"Lana, I can't explain that anymore. It changed me."
"Maybe I'll never understand what you went through," she said, but that line indicates she doesn't really care what he went through. "But you're still the same person, aren't you?"
This is where Clark should have just told her the truth and gotten it over with, but he said nothing.
"Clark, I don't know, it feels like you're afraid to touch me anymore."
Clark said nothing.
"Did something happen ... Clark? Okay, is this where I have to remind you that you're the one who said we wouldn't keep anything from each other anymore?" Pssst, Lana, you gave him a blood-covered stone and told him to trust you about it and you're working with Lex behind his back on the spaceship project.
Clark went into sulk mode. "Why is this about me? I mean you're the one who pulled away first. You moved to Metropolis two weeks after we got together and now you spend every moment with these books. Why astronomy?"
"It's homework."
"It's an obsession," he countered. "And that thing about honesty, it works both ways."
"Nice deflection," she said, even though he was right. "I don't fall for that anymore. I need to go get some air."
If nothing else, they finally had some real conflict and confrontation. Though it did bother me that they were about to have sex in a dorm room Lana shares with Chloe. That seemed very insensitive, but in a later scene it's clear Clark doesn't have Chloe's feelings at heart most of the time anyway.
Jonathan was doing some work in the barn and was beaten up by Samantha's two-man entourage. Martha, unfortunately, wasn't home, she was taking trash out to the dumpster behind the Talon. She looked at a campaign poster of Jonathan and sighed.
"It's obviously true what they say," Lionel said, as if he teleported to that location. "Behind every great man is a great woman. The campaign must be taking up a lot of your time."
"Yes, it is, but fortunately Jonathan and I have a lot of help," she said and began to walk away.
"Unfortunately, not enough to win. You know Lex is entering the last stretch of the campaign with infinite resources and I believe you are down financially to ... nothing."
Martha turned back to face him. "I'm glad to see you're finally behind your son," she replied, obviously misinterpreting his point. "But I thought you knew me better than that, Lionel. I would never give up on my husband."
"You misunderstand me. Lex has deep pockets and Jonathan needs the money to at least match that," he said, and pulled a check out of his Wells Fargo jacket.
Martha looked at the check. "This is more than money to match."
She handed the check back and said they had been running the campaign on Jonathan's beliefs and that's what would win him the election. Plus, Martha was sure Jonathan would never accept the money.
Lionel conceded that Jonathan likely wouldn't take the money, but, "I was hoping you'd be more savvy," he said and then stepped closer to her. "Perhaps you have your own personal reasons for not wanting Jonathan to win." Martha gave no reply, because Lionel was right.
Then this endless night switched to the Daily Planet where Clark asked Chloe how far she wanted to cross their friendship boundary.
Chloe laughed. "Since when did we have boundaries?"
"Well, everything was fine between Lana and I when I was human." Lana and me, Clark. You'll never be able to correct Lois's copy in the future with such a poor grasp of basic grammar skills. "It was great." Don't exaggerate. Your relationship had less passion than Ozzie and Harriet and none of the humor.
"Okay, Clark."
"But now that I have my abilities back, it's like our ... sex ... life has been on hiatus."
"Oh ... uh ... I know I'm going to regret asking this question, but why?"
"Because it just takes some time for me to adjust my abilities to new ... situations."
"Wow ... uh ... uh ... awkward factor 8, um ... so basically what you're saying is that you're afraid that in the heat of the moment you might ... please don't make me finish this sentence, Clark."
"Well, that's the thing," Clark admitted and lowered his voice. "I'm not sure what would happen. I mean if I couldn't control myself ..."
"Okay, Clark," Chloe interrupted. "Right there, that is something that can never be unseen."
"It's not funny."
"No, it's not, it's just that this conversation cements me as your Krypto-hag."
Apparently 'Krypto-hag' is analogous to the term 'fag hag' meaning a gal pal to a gay man, or sometimes a 'beard' for a gay man who he keeps company with so no one will suspect he is gay.
"Look, Clark, you can shake my hand without crushing it, right? You don't exactly incinerate everyone you look at with your heat vision thing, so it's pretty much the same thing. I mean metaphorically."
This actually isn't a good comparison for Chloe to use. All of us, even without super powers, gauge how much tenderness or strength to use in given situations, but sex also involves involuntary reactions, but please don't bring up Man of Steel Woman of Kleenex. Another problem specific to Smallville, since the show had the bad taste to link heat vision to Clark's testicles, is the possibility of a sex partner being barbecued.
"But you didn't need me to tell you all this," Chloe continued. "So what gives?"
"I think I got used to lying to Lana when we were friends." You were never friends. "But now it's different."
"Yeah, you know, Clark, I'm playing my best on defense, but I think you're in denial territory about how much Lana knows. I mean she's studying astronomy, the meteors, the fact that the 'undead' topic comes up daily."
"I can't tell her, it's too risky." He didn't tell her even when it wasn't risky.
"Okay, fine, Clark, then don't tell her, but your game needs to switch from defense to offense because sooner or later Lana's going to start asking all the wrong people all the right questions."
Chloe's "I'm a big girl now" qualifier aside, it seemed a cruel subject to broach with a girl who admitted to having romantic feelings for him.
Martha and Clark, who must have been shopping at the midnight market, showed up with groceries.
"Mom, you didn't say much on the ride home. Are you sure everything's okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll just be glad when the election's over."
This snip of dialogue was to let us know that Martha didn't confide in Clark about Lionel's offer and that Clark didn't confide in Martha about his troubles with Lana.
Shelby began to bark and Clark and Martha went out to investigate and found Jonathan hanging upside down from the rafters. "Back out while you can" was painted on the cross beam.
It's this kind of scene that will make it hard for me to believe Jonathan's death, assuming it happens. He, along with everyone else, endures such severe cartoon violence that they seem as invulnerable as Clark.
At the medical center, which is inescapable on this series, Lois approached Jonathan's room saying she moved the rally to next week so Jonathan would have time to recover. However, when she, Martha and Clark walked into the room, Jonathan was getting dressed.
"Dad, what are you doing?"
"I can't let them stop me."
"I'll tell them the rally's a go again," Lois said and left the room.
Martha stepped forward. "I thought the doctor said he was going to keep you over night."
"Then they'd have exactly what they want."
"Something tells me, it's not the first time 'they' called, is it, Dad?"
"Jonathan, how could you keep this from us?" That's nice coming from Martha who didn't tell him about Lionel's offer. "We're in this as a family."
"Are we? You've never been happy about me running and now I'm guessing you want me to quit."
"Maybe you're willing to risk you life over this, but I don't think I'm willing to stand by and watch."
"I have got to see this thing through, Martha."
Martha stormed out in a Lana-like fashion.
"Do as I say, not as I do, huh, Dad?"
I have no idea where this line from Clark was coming from. It's as if we missed something earlier in the episode.
"I never taught you to buckle under pressure. Especially from Lex Luthor."
"Lex? You think Lex would go this far?"
"There's no limit to what Lex Luthor would do, son."
Then Clark left the room and ran into ... Lex Luthor.
Lex told Clark he had nothing to do with the attack, Clark didn't believe him and Lex began to leave.
"Lex, why is some state senate seat so important to you?"
"It's a stepping stone."
"To what?"
"That's like Apollo asking Icarus why he was building wings."
"Huh?"
"It's like Thucydides ..."
"Who?"
"It's like Sun Tzu ..."
"Is that a DVD player brand?"
"It's like Ren asking Stimpy why he has a booger collection."
"Oh."
Okay, I made all that up except for the Apollo and Icarus reference, but Lex pours the historical, biblical and literary references on so thick that he's no different from Chloe and her cultural reference-laden speech patterns.
"Look, Clark, you have everything you ever wanted. I'm sorry if I'm still searching."
Yes, forget about a career, or a clear grasp of his place in the future. Clark has Lana, which is everything.
The scene ended with Lex leaving, but promising they'd find out who attacked Jonathan. Speaking of the culprits ...
Samantha read a blurb in the paper which stated the attack on Jonathan had caused voters to rally in his favor.
"We failed him," she lamented.
One of her male cohorts told her to chill out. "We already went too far and it backfired."
"We need to turn ourselves in," the other piped up. "Before somebody blames Lex."
When Samantha suggested that there was one thing Jonathan couldn't bounce back from, both of her companions began to leave, but she whipped out a pistol and killed them.
Then, after shaving her hair off, she paid Lex a visit. When he entered the room, she dropped her robe. "I wanted to show you how devoted I am to you."
Lex laughed uncomfortably. "Well, you certainly have."
After Samantha admitted to being behind the attack on Jonathan, Lex said, "I would never hurt the Kents." Right, hiring a guy to do "whatever it takes" to knock Jonathan out of the race had an addendum against beating him up and hanging him from the ceiling.
"You're losing your edge, Lex."
"And you've clearly gone over it," Lex said. "My security will escort you to the police station."
Naturally the moment he turned his back, she knocked him unconscious. "You're just having a moment of weakness. That's why you need me."
We switch back to the Daily Planet. "Lex Luthor going Godfather on your dad?" Need I say Chloe delivered that line? "I don't know, Clark. Lex seems like the kind of guy who goes for the fight as much as the victory."
You'd think if that were true, Lex wouldn't have hired Griff to dig up dirt on the Kents.
Clark presented a list of calls logged to their telephone number, but pointed to one in particular. "My dad pawned that one off as a wrong number, but it's blocked."
"It's not like your dad to keep something like this a secret." How would she know? Besides, the Kents keep secrets all the time. Even from each other.
"He's kind of turned into a different person lately, like he's got something to prove to everyone." Naturally there has to be an ulterior motive.
"Maybe just his son."
"What does running for senator have to do with me?"
"Think about it, Clark. It must be kind of hard being a role model for a guy who pulls people out of a burning building and stops nuclear missiles all between chores and dinner."
I really hate this kind of reasoning. Traditionally Jonathan is a role model for Clark simply by being a good, decent man who has integrity. I truly hope Chloe's peerless teen psychological profiling is off the mark with this because the only reason for it to be on the mark is to add to any upcoming tragedy and guilt. Anyway, Chloe told Clark the mystery number belonged to the Students for Lex Luthor.
Clark whooshed to their campaign room and found Samantha's two dead cohorts wearing Lex Luthor masks. He also found the photo of Samantha and Lex, as well as a poster of Jonathan covered in slash marks. I assume after he found all that evidence, Clark went to the rally, but he sure took his sweet time getting there.
The rally was in full swing as Lois and Jonathan walked back stage. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Lois asked. "I know we have extra security and everything, but it's not too late to postpone."
"Lois, what kind of a leader would I be if I let some pranksters make me back down?"
Lois smiled. It's fairly clear that in Jonathan Lois sees a hero. Clark may do his surreptitious rescues, even in this episode, but until he has the attitude Jonathan has, he doesn't have the heart of a hero yet. Lois straightened Jonathan's tie and brushed off his jacket. "Knock 'em dead, boss."
After Jonathan took the stage, Lois confronted someone in a red baseball cap. It was Nutzo Rizzo AKA Samantha Drake. She smacked Lois in the head with her pistol. Lois rubbed her head and noticed Samantha's shaved dome. "Talk about an initiation gone wrong."
"Get up," Samantha commanded. "Those basic training skills are looking a little rusty. Like I said, know your enemy."
"You are not going to shoot Jonathan Kent."
"You're right," Samantha agreed. "You are."
Lois stood behind the sniper rifle. "No one would believe I'd shoot Jonathan Kent."
"Really? A beautiful girl comes to live under his roof, his wife gets a little too busy at that coffee shop, suddenly he fires a seasoned political consultant and takes the girl on the campaign trail until it all goes wrong and the spurned lover gets her revenge. Now just aim at Jonathan's head and shoot. Didn't General Lane teach you anything?"
"Actually, he did," Lois said, and a brawl ensued, but Samantha got the rifle and smacked Lois in the head with it. What are the odds of being hit in the head with two different guns in the same episode?
Samantha placed the rifle back on the tripod, took aim and fired.
Clark finally showed up just as the gun was fired. There was the slo-mo run to beat the bullet and Clark leaped up and grabbed it just inches from Jonathan's forehead. It was actually a cool effect because the bullet passed through a balloon on its way to Jonathan.
As Samantha got ready to take another shot, Lois knocked her down and pinned her to the floor. When Clark burst in, Lois said, "Don't sweat it, Smallville, better late than never."
Then the episode shifted to the Luthor mansion where father and son indulged in their usual adversarial palaver. Lex claimed to have read the Art of War three times before he finished high school, but Lionel insisted he needed more study because Jonathan had surged ahead in the polls.
Lionel accused Lex of running for the senate seat because it was a power trip, but Lex said he was running because it was something he actually had to work for. Lionel laughed. "Yes, and your noble efforts include employing hired guns to dig up information on the Kents that could destroy them."
"So much for your fatherly pride and support in this campaign, huh, dad?"
What a bizarre reply. Then Lex mentioned that Griff was dead and asked Lionel, "Would it have killed you just this one time to actually be on my side?"
"You're slipping, son. First Professor Milton Fine vanishes from your radar, now Griff," he said and sighed. He handed Lex the Art of War. "It might be time to dust this off."
At the Kent farm, Lois was giving Jonathan last minute instructions about his itinerary. "And don't ..."
"I know, I've got the firefighter's breakfast in the morning. Don't worry, Lois, I'm not gonna forget."
"Mm, firefighters," Lois said dreamily. "I might have to tag along for that one. There's got to be a few perks to this job." Heroes again.
Jonathan laughed and then Martha entered and gave him the good news that he was up 10 points in the polls.
"Wow," Jonathan said. "Looks like we could win this thing after all." He kissed Martha and left.
Martha approached Lois. "It's great to see him so optimistic."
"Yeah ... I hate to be the one to burst his bubble?"
"What do you mean?"
"Lex is running eight hundred ads and dropping three mailers in the next two weeks. We may be ahead now, but that much coverage will make Mr. Kent a distant memory by election day and as far as I can tell ..."
"We're out of money. I've been trying to figure out how to tell him for a couple of days."
"Well, if we don't find some major green, he can kiss that fancy leather chair at the capitol good-bye."
Martha hesitated for a moment. "There is one other option, but you have to promise me never to tell Jonathan."
Lois nodded.
Then we switch from two people wanting to help Jonathan, to two people who only want to help themselves.
A loft scene for old time's sake. Lana said she couldn't leave things the way they were and Clark said, "You were right, I was pulling away. It's because I've been wanting to be with you for so long ... I feel like I'd just screw it up." Uh, isn't the real reason because you won't tell her the truth and therefore you're already screwing it up?
"Clark, I would never let you go that easily." This sounds like a rerun of her relationship with Jason when she offered sex to him after he pulled away. "Maybe we just need to slow down and get back to where we were."
"I freak out. I screw up and I blame everything on you, but you forgive me. No questions asked." That's called avoidance, or being a doormat, Clark. You're a match made in heaven.
"Maybe that's because it's not all your fault. What you said about me running off to Met U and getting all caught up in my homework is not entirely false. Clark, I've been studying the meteor showers."
"You said you were going to leave that in the past."
"I know, I did and I tried to, but those meteors changed my life (yawn) and now with the second shower ... Clark, there is no way that they're random," Lana said, her eyes almost as nutty looking as Samantha's.
"What are you saying?"
"Okay, you know that spacecraft that I saw during this last shower? Well, I was looking into the satellite imagery from the first shower. The one that happened when we were kids (in case you forgot that one, Clark) and there's something that doesn't crash the way the other meteors did. It um ... well, it kind of lands," Lana said and walked up stage. "Clark, what if a ship came down in the first meteor shower as well and whoever was in it has been here with us this entire time?"
Okay, we're to believe someone who has taken astronomy classes for a couple of months found something that real scientists with years of experience didn't see? Never mind, I forgot she's the Chosen One and learned martial arts in a couple of days.
The episode ended with Martha getting into Lionel's limo.
I don't really have any added comments. As I said, for an episode with so much going on, it was pretty flat. It seemed they wanted us to know certain things, like Clark and Lana haven't had sex since he got his powers back. Though oddly enough, Clark seemed mainly concerned with how to have sex with her without ripping her to shreds, rather than not having sex with her because she has the right to know she's having sex with an alien. His integrity is still in the trash heap.
They also avoided any interaction between Clark and Lois aside from her one line to him, which lately is probably for the best. The nice scenes with spark from early episodes last year have been replaced by what comes across often as mutual loathing, but particularly from Clark. There's a rumor that Lois will get a love interest who is seen in more than one episode. I hope that's true, because the writers have completely botched up the Lois and Clark fun that used to exist.
Lastly ...
Here's a bonus picture and I thank Georgia for the scan. This is from a 1980 comic where Lex found a nice bald bride. Who knows, if Lex was into stalker chicks like Clark, he and Samantha could have gotten warm and fuzzy for each other.
Next week, the spaceship ... again.
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