NEXT ON SMALLVILLE 8x01 Odyssey- Sep 19, 2008 8/7c THE JUSTICE LEAGUE RETURNS TO FIND CLARK AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE FORTRESS; THE NEW CEO OF LUTHORCORP COMES TO TOWN — The Justice League, lead by the Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), hits the Artic in search of Clark (Tom Welling), who disappeared after the fortress collapsed. The team immediately has a confrontation with the new CEO of Luthorcorp, Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman). Meanwhile, Chloe (Allison Mack) is being held prisoner by a suspicious group who has discovered she has a new power, and Clark has been stripped of his powers by Jor-El. Erica Durance and Aaron Ashmore also star. Kevin Fair directed the episode with the story by Brian Peterson & Kelly Souders and teleplay by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer QUICK LINKS DI on MySpace: / ZodCast on MySpace: / Fans Around the World / Lois Lane's Daily Journal / Redboots / The Clois Fanfic Archive / Christopher Reeve Foundation / Guestbook FEATURED CLIP TOP AFFILIATES { All Affiliates } BANTER LOG Lois: I'm glad to see we've moved beyond the "clothing optional" stage of our relationship. I'm surprised you even remember who I am. Clark: Chloe's cousin. Nicorette addiction, can't stand uncomfortable silences. { All Quotes } SEARCH FOR SMALLVILLE @ Amazon.com @ eBay.com @ AllPosters.com SITE STATS Clois fans online You are visitor # Since 11/27/04 CONTACT US For any news and information or to contact HappyEnding.Org Staff, you can e-mail one of the following: Webmaster: Jerilee Co-Webmasters Nautica7mk, ZodCast and Arwen DISCLAIMER We are in no way affiliated with Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Smallville or The WB. This site is strictly a fansite and nothing monetary is gained. SUPERMAN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics.

Reviews

5:14 Tomb

by Zoomway

Have you ever watched an episode of a TV show, or seen a movie you felt had been chopped up for commercial TV so that more commercials could fit in? That's the feeling I got watching this episode. I felt a lot of exposition and back story was completely missing. The first scene was a case in point.

For whatever reason Chloe was in Lois's Talon apartment taking a shower. Lois, off camera, said that the kettle was on and that a hot shower and chamomile tea would help relax her. So we're to assume Chloe is somewhat stressed, but there was no setup conversation and like all bad stories, this one started on a dark and stormy night.

"Thanks, Lois, I feel better already," Chloe said and kudos to her being able to hear Lois over the storm and the shower. Lightning zapped the Talon and the power went out. "Great, my night is complete," she groused as a spooky face appeared unnoticed by Chloe behind the shower curtain. "Bet the lights aren't out in Metropolis."

Again there's this feeling that there was an interesting story behind why Chloe was in Smallville instead of Metropolis, but we never got to hear it. "Lois, do you have a candle?"

Too bad you weren't taking a shower when Lana owned the joint. She practically had a tallow factory.

"Look in the little cabinet, bottom drawer."

Chloe fetched and lit the candle and then wiped the steam off the mirror and looked at her reflection. "Blech."

Is it any wonder women empathize with Chloe and her amusing self appraisal, or Lois with her junk food habit rather than Lana, who probably never said 'blech' at her reflection or nearly died for a Ding Dong?

Chloe opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out a brush, but when she closed it, and as expected, a scary reflection appeared in the glass. A ghostly pale girl with blood on her hands reached out to Chloe. "Help me."

Chloe screamed and Lois grabbed a flashlight and headed to the bathroom. She found Chloe on the floor with her wrists slashed. "Help me."

Clark hurried into the medical center. "Lois, where's Chloe? She all right?"

"Well, that's just what we were trying to determine," a stiff actor said. It's weird, he spoke the way a drunk might speak while trying to sound sober. His voice and general appearance reminded me of Barry Atwater, the actor who played the vampire in Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

The theme song of this episode could have been It's Raining (creepy) Men. "And you are?" Dr. Dracula asked.

"Clark Kent."

"How do you do, I'm Dr. Seidel."

Clark shook his hand, but looked at Lois.

"He's Chloe's psychiatrist," she said. "Clark, I found her on the bathroom floor. She cut her wrists."

"What?"

"I feel so guilty," Lois said. "I should have seen it coming. She hasn't been getting much sleep between school and her job at the Planet." And Clark pulling her away from both to listen to his love life woes with Lana.

"Is there any history of mental illness in her family?"

Clark lowered his gaze. He knew Chloe's mother was in a mental institution, but Lois obviously didn't know and so told the doctor there were no bats in the family belfry.

"Doctor, I don't understand," Clark said. "Why would Chloe do this to herself?"

He replied that it could be a combination of a lot of factors, but when he mentioned the death of a loved one, Lois glanced down a moment and then looked at Clark.

This doctor was so creepy I expected him to morph into Brainiac as soon as Clark and Lois were gone.

Clark visited Chloe's room. "So what happened?"

"I don't know."

"You know, Chloe, if you gotta talk about something ..."

"Clark, really, I don't know. I mean I was showering and the lights went out ... it's just all jumbled. I just woke up on the floor bleeding."

Clark looked away.

"Clark, I'm a writer. If I was going to kill myself, I'd leave one hell of a suicide note."

Clark smiled.

"I think there was someone else in the room with me, though."

"Lois didn't see anyone," Clark said and leaned forward. "You know, Chloe, the doctor asked if you had any history of mental illness in your family. Should we tell him about your mom?"

"No."

"Chloe, she ..."

"Clark, I don't know what's happening to me, but I don't want anyone thinking I'm like my mom. So just don't say anything, all right?"

"Yeah."

We leave creepy Doctorville and enter creepy Lionelville.

Martha was working on a stack of paperwork when Lionel tapped on the kitchen door and then entered. "On my way back to Metropolis. Didn't mean to interrupt. Just thought I'd check on how you're doing."

Was he walking to Metropolis? He had a little luggage dolly with him as if he'd walked to the farm rather than driven there. Either that or he exited his car and, for whatever reason, decided to drag his luggage with him to the door.

"I do have a front door," Martha said curtly. Although Lionel actually knocked before entering uninvited. Most people usually just barge in.

Lionel remained good natured. "Next time I'll come to the front."

"Maybe you should call first," Martha suggested, but when she rose from her chair, she knocked all her paperwork on the floor.

As Lionel helped her pick it up, he noticed papers describing budgets, fiscal projections, public works, "Everything a potential senator would need to know. You considering taking his senate seat?"

"I don't know. It's complicated."

"I know how hard it is to get back any sense of normal after you lose someone you love," Lionel said, giving kind of a rehash of what he'd said last week. "It will get easier, Martha. I know it will. You just have to give yourself time."

Back in Transylvania ... uh, the medical center, Chloe started hearing voices. One voice said, "Help me," and whispery distant voices said, "We have to find him."

Chloe got out of bed and followed the voice into the bathroom. "Hello?"

Then pale Ghost Girl appeared again. Chloe jumped backward and bumped into Lana. Did she teleport into the bathroom? "Lana!"

"Chloe, I got here as fast as I could. Is everything okay?"

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

"The girl," Chloe said and looked around frantically. "She was just here."

Then Chloe talked about blood being all over the place and started to follow bloody footprints, but Lana saw nothing and so tried to get Chloe back to bed.

"No, I have to find her, I just saw her."

Then Chloe darted out of the room, but was grabbed by Doctor Dracula. "Relax, Ms. Sullivan. Orderly!"

Chloe became hysterical talking about the blood. "It goes all the way down the hallway!"

"There's no blood," the doctor assured her as he and the orderly got her back into bed. "Nurse, take her arm."

Chloe saw the hypodermic. "No! Please, you don't understand! She needs our help! Lana! Make them listen! Lana!"

Lana stood in the doorway, but said nothing. I'm not sure what Lana could have said other than some words of comfort, but considering how many weird and horrible things have happened in Smallville, Lana should have at least wondered if Chloe's mental malady might be a mutant manifestation. Say that five times fast.

Lana entered Luthor manor while Lex was on the phone trying to locate the missing Professor Fine. He put the phone down and approached Lana. She had that bewildered look that has gotten her through four and a half years of Smallville.

"Lana, what's wrong?"

"Chloe ... she's in the hospital. She tried to kill herself."

"She all right?"

"I don't know. I tried talking to her, but she wasn't making any sense." That's true, Chloe's speech pattern was devoid of its usual pop culture references. Not even a mention of checking into the Bates Motel.

"Who's her doctor?"

"Some psychiatrist at the med center. It's actually why I came to see you. When you were in Belle Reve, the doctors helped you when you were having problems, right?"

"I'll make the call," he said, avoiding the subject of shock therapy. "She'll have the best doctors this side of Vienna within the hour."

"Lex, thank you. I didn't know who else to go to."

It's odd Lana asked about Belle Reve because in the episode Mortal, one of the trio of mutants who held her hostage talked about Clark being a legend at Belle Reve. That they had been inmates said a lot about the quality of care.

After Chloe's freak-out, she was put in an isolated room and strapped down. As Clark looked at her through the small window, Lex walked up.

"Lex, what are you doing here?"

"Lana came to see me. She told me what happened."

"Well, thanks for coming by, but we have it under control." We have it under control? That seemed like a weird line. It's like he was talking about a gas leak.

"Clark, this is a local med center. If Chloe scraped her knee, I'm sure she'd be in good hands, but something like this requires a more delicate touch. I'll make sure she gets the best care possible."

"You're gonna transfer her?"

"The helicopter's en route," Lex said. "She'll be in Belle Reve before she wakes up."

"Chloe doesn't belong in Belle Reve."

"Lana thinks so," Lex said, obviously for the needling value. He told Clark that he'd take good care of Chloe.

It's amazing how many people can just step in and designate what's best for Chloe. Where's her father?

Clark, not trusting Lex, or Belle Reve and perhaps fearing what Chloe might say during treatment, kidnapped Chloe and brought her back to Lois's apartment.

"What are you doing?" Lois asked. "She should be in the hospital."

"Lex wanted her transferred to Belle Reve."

"Well, Clark, maybe that's what she needs right now."

"Lois, you don't know what goes on in there and do you really want Lex and his doctors getting inside Chloe's head?" Clark asked, and again it seemed his primary fear was Lex getting information about him from Chloe.

"If it makes her feel better, I don't care if Daffy Duck whacks her with a mallet."

"Guys," Chloe interrupted. "I'm drugged, not deaf."

Lois glared at Clark and then turned to Chloe. "Hey, how ya feeling?"

"Thirsty."

"I'll get you some water," Clark said, but Chloe stopped him and requested a cappuccino.

"I'll go downstairs and whip you up a double," Lois said, then turned to Clark. "Can you not do anything ridiculous for five minutes?"

Chloe watched Lois leave. "Not too happy about the breakout, huh?"

Clark walked over and sat on the edge of Chloe's bed. "She's just worried about you. We all are."

"Clark, I know what I saw. I didn't imagine anything and I didn't hurt myself, I wouldn't do that. I'm not my mother."

"I know."

Then, as if to mock her newly established sanity, Chloe heard the voice whisper, "I have to find him."

"Did you hear that?" she asked Clark.

"Hear what?"

Then Ghost Girl appeared next to Clark asking Chloe to help her.

"She's here!"

Chloe got up and followed the girl into the bathroom. By this point I'd think she was a ghost with incontinence problems.

Clark followed Chloe and asked if she was okay. She's hearing voices, has bandages on her slit wrists and just now chased a phantom into a bathroom. She's obviously fine.

"She's in the wall."

"Who?"

"The girl I keep seeing. We have to help her."

"Chloe, just calm down, all right? We'll get her out of the wall." Reminds me of when Uncle Jed was picking up invisible kittens to humor Granny.

"No, Clark, I'm not crazy! She's in the wall. Please, just look. Please!"

Clark used his x-ray vision and sure enough there was a skeleton in the wall. That's the only time his x-ray vision was really any good because all he can ever see are skeletons anyway.

He smashed through the wall and uncovered the skeleton, but it just happened to be wearing a kryptonite bracelet, so Clark staggered back out of the room. Chloe stepped forward and touched the bracelet and was zapped with green light.

Lois walked back in and overheard Clark on the phone calling the sheriff.

"The sheriff? What did you do now?" she asked and then walked to the bathroom and saw the skeleton. "Holy crap."

Chloe stood there with an odd smile on her face. Lois asked her if she was all right. I should have kept track of how often Chloe was asked that in this episode.

"Yeah," Chloe replied and looked in a mirror where the reflection was that of Ghost Girl, not Chloe. "I feel much better now."

The mirror stunt worked for years on Quantum Leap to show Sam what the person looked like that he had leaped into.

Then Chloe was transferred to the Kent farm and where the heck Martha was, I have no clue.

"Maybe what you saw wasn't in your head," Clark suggested. "Maybe it was this girl's spirit trying to contact you."

"You mean when the lightning hit the Talon, it must have jump-started her body?" Ghost Chloe asked. How would Ghost Girl know about the lightning hitting the Talon?

"Not to mention the kryptonite in her bracelet."

Ghost Chloe chomped on her fingers. "Yeah, the krypto thing. That poor girl sealed up in that wall all that time, all alone."

Clark sat down. "I just hope she didn't suffer."

"I think she did ... a lot."

"You should get some rest."

"No, I've slept enough. We have to find him."

"Find who?"

"The man who did this. He needs to suffer like she did."

Clark again suggested she get some sleep and that they'd talk about it in the morning. Once he left the room, Ghost Chloe dumped out Chloe's purse and found her driver's license and a permit to carry a stun gun. Maybe that's finally a clue how Chloe gets sources to tell her what she wants to know.

Downstairs Lois arrived from the Talon and apparently a scene with the new sheriff was cut out. Lois said the dead girl's name was Gretchen Winters and that she wasn't the only girl who had ended up on the wrong side of drywall. Lois also said the new sheriff was green 'literally' which seemed to spark theories that maybe the new sheriff is a disguised Martian Manhunter. I'm not getting into the story of J'onn J'onnz unless there's more proof 'green' meant Martian green and not nausea green from seeing a dead body.

Ghost Chloe showed up at the Met U dorm room and started rifling through the drawers until she found the stun gun. Lana woke up.

"Chloe."

"Hey, roomie."

"Where have you been? Lex and I have been looking for you all night."

"I just ... um ... had some stuff I had to get to," she said and held up the stun gun. "Can I borrow this?"

I'm not sure why she asked that when she already looked at the permit for the stun gun.

"It's yours."

"Oh, I've got some pretty cool stuff. See you around," she said and left the room.

"Chloe, wait, where are you going?"

Ghost Chloe ran smack into Lex. "Sorry."

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

Lana came up from behind. "Because we're worried about you, Chloe."

"Don't be. I'm fine."

"Chloe, I know you think you're better, but it's just a trick your mind's playing on you. You need help."

"No," Ghost Chloe said. "What I need is for you to move out of my way."

Lex put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, but I'm taking you to Belle Reve."

Ghost Chloe zapped Lex with the stun gun and ran away. Lana helped him up just as Clark rounded the corner. "What happened?"

"You tell me," Lex sniped. "How did Chloe get out of her restraints at the hospital?"

"Chloe was here? Where did she go?"

"I don't know," Lana said, "but she was acting like a completely different person."

"Now she's out there with a weapon," Lex added. "Nice work."

Lana said nothing in Clark's defense. She didn't even ask Lex why he was implying Clark had anything to do with breaking Chloe out of the hospital.

Meanwhile, back in her apartment, Lois was doing a little aura cleansing, which seemed to involve a candle, mortar and pestle and a sage smudgestick. For some reason I found this facet to Lois amusing, but not really out of character. I recall another Lois Lane putting aluminum foil on her head to keep a psychic from reading her mind.

As Lois spread her sage smoke around, she discovered it wasn't a good creep repellent because one showed up at her door.

"Sorry, I was just about to knock."

"Do I know you?"

"Yeah, I mean we did a pass-by at the hospital when they brought your cousin in," he fumbled. "Michael."

"Right, the nurse."

"Or..orderly, actually. Nurse is a whole other thing."

Lois excused herself to put her smudgestick away since Michael was bending her aura. He walked in uninvited, which is the custom in this quaint village. "Have you seen Chloe?"

"No, I haven't," Lois replied. "I didn't know orderlies made housecalls."

Michael shrugged and said he just wanted to see if Chloe was all right, that she seemed like a sweet girl. Lois assured him she'd call Dr. Seidel if Chloe showed up, but Michael kept taking a slow grand tour of the apartment. He glanced in the bathroom, as everyone did in this episode. He said his dad ran the Talon when it was a movie theater and that he hadn't been back for nearly ten years.

Lois finally said she had to get back to her aura cleansing and promised Michael that she'd tell Chloe he dropped by. She closed the door, but unfortunately didn't lock it. That's probably why she ends up with four locks on her door in the future. She took a business card out of her pocket and dialed the number.

As she walked forward waiting for an answer, Michael came back in with a chloroform soaked hanky. She dropped her cell phone and the voice on the other end said, "Smallville Sheriff's station." Not department?

Yet again I got the feeling of a scene gouged out of the episode. Apparently the new sheriff gave Lois his card and his voice was probably supposed to be at the other end of the line.

Fortunately for Lois, Ghost Chloe knew Michael's address. She schlepped up to the front door looking like a drowned rat. Last week there was a 24 hour night and this week it never stopped raining. She knocked on the door and then chewed her fingernails so we'd know it was Gretchen, not Chloe.

"Ms. Sullivan."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go. I need your help."

He invited her in and said he'd help her.

"Like you did with Gretchen?"

"Who?"

"Gretchen Winters. You remember her, don't you? You were so nice to her at first. You gave her a pretty green bracelet and you held her when she cried and you listened to all her problems. All the things that were tearing her up inside. Then you told her your problems and it made her sick." Hey, quid pro quo. "Then she tried to leave and you wouldn't let her go and you grabbed a knife ..."

Michael decided that Chloe was sicker than he thought and pushed her against the wall. "This is going to hurt a little bit."

Ghost Chloe reached into her bag and pulled out the stun gun. "This is going to hurt a lot!" Zap. He hit the floor and then she picked up a metal vase and began beating him with it until she heard Lois calling for help.

She ran downstairs and began to untie Lois, but the freshly beaten creep showed up and knocked out Ghost Chloe.

After the commercial break, she regained consciousness. "Let them go," she said.

"Them?" Michael asked. "Disassociated? Removed from what's happening? You really are sick."

"Look who's talking," Lois snarked.

He knelt in front of Chloe. "There are things that squirm just beneath the skin, but I can make them stop."

"Hey! Get the hell away from her!"

Michael looked at Lois. "I'm just trying to help her before she ends up in an asylum like her mother."

Lois looked at Ghost Chloe. "Your mother?"

"It's one of her squirmy things. She didn't even tell her doctor, but I get inside my girls. I find out things," he said and pulled one of the kryptonite bracelets out of a toolbox.

He explained that his father used to make them and that he'd watch his dad for hours and listen to him tell stories about his mother and that she wasn't very nice. How Freudian. He said his father loved his mother anyway and finally gave her peace, which I assume is the everlasting kind.

Michael said he did the same for his girls and slipped the bracelet on Ghost Chloe's wrist and she spit in his face.

"You always hurt the ones you love," he said and then picked up a knife and headed for Lois. He cut a rope freeing her left wrist and told her to take the knife. Does this sound like a stupid plan to anyone else? In the future most villains would know better than to untie Lois Lane and certainly wouldn't give her a weapon. He told Lois to slit her wrist.

"Screw you, Shortie."

Since Lois was being uncooperative, he picked up a pistol and pointed it at Ghost Chloe's head. "Do it!"

The scene shifted briefly to the Daily Planet where Clark seemed to have no problem using the magic computer by himself. He brought up a story about Gretchen Winters' death and recognized the orderly. He found his name and address and whooshed off.

Back at casa de creepo, Michael once again told Lois to do it, or her cousin's face wouldn't be so pretty anymore.

Lois yelled and threw the knife ... in slow motion. It buried itself near Michael's left shoulder. He screamed and kicked Lois's chair over, which knocked her out. He pulled the knife out of his shoulder. "Are all the women in your family crazy?" he shouted. I actually thought that was pretty funny.

As he approached Lois with the knife, Clark whooshed in and stopped him, but the kryptonite made him weak and Michael knocked him out. If you're keeping score, there are now two unconscious people in the room and two conscious people and one of them is possessed by a dead girl.

"Mikey! Mikey!" Ghost Chloe shouted as Michael approached Clark ... or her ... the directing was so bad I couldn't really tell who he was headed towards.

"What did you call me?"

"Mikey. It's what your dad used to call you, little Mikey. Remember that? You hated it."

"How do you know so much?"

"I know all your secrets, Mikey. It's me. It's Gretchen."

"Gretchen?"

Then Ghost Chloe told Michael she needed his help to take away all her secrets and make it stop hurting like he did before. He was more than happy to oblige, but when he leaned down to slit her throat, she touched the kryptonite bracelet to him and Gretchen transferred her sprit into him.

The now unoccupied Chloe watched as Gretchen forced Michael to plunge the knife into his gut. Just another carefree episode of Smallville. As soon as Michael died, Gretchen's spirit was free and I assume transferred to the limbo trailer park in the sky. Then Lois and Clark revived at the same time. Those synchronized consciousness raising classes really paid off.

Lois untied Chloe and Clark asked what happened.

Chloe rose dramatically from her chair. "I guess Gretchen got what she came back for."

The next day the sun returned as did a freshly scrubbed and sparkling Lana. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Chloe told me what happened."

"Yeah, how's she holding up?" Clark asked as he continued tinkering with the tractor.

"She's okay, considering that she was possessed and almost chopped up by a psychotic orderly."

Clark turned and faced her. "Why didn't you tell me you went to Lex?"

"Why didn't you tell me you broke Chloe out of the psych ward?' she asked, dodging an explanation. "We should have come together, Clark. That's what couples do when these things happen. They turn to each other."

"Why didn't we?"

"I love you," she replied, again avoiding anything really confrontational. "I love you with all of my heart, but I don't know how to talk to you anymore."

Clark said nothing, not even an acknowledgment of the 'I love you' goop.

"I guess we all have our secrets."

Clark, again, said nothing and so Lana departed.

Clark and Lana don't and never have spoken to each other like a real couple. What happened to the "break from us" that Lana instigated? That's what Clark should have reminded Lana of when she asked why they didn't come together as a couple. The break was her idea, not his.

When Clark asked why she went to Lex, she should have said because he had the money and resources to give Chloe the best care possible. Instead we get sappy soap connected to nothing real like all their conversations over the years. They were never a happy couple even when they were allegedly happy because Clark wasn't just dishonest with Lana, he was dishonest with himself. He felt he had to be something he wasn't (human) in order to have a relationship with her.

As for Lana, she had to know Clark's secret or else and that was even before she was in a relationship with him. Clark and Lana have always been the toxic waste dump couple. Nothing good has ever come of their affiliation to one another. That's why Lana accepting Clark's secret and accepting his proposal in Reckoning was as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny. It's as if the secret could have been anything and she'd have been fine with it as long as he spilled the beans. Sheesh, even Lois Lane, the ultimate love of his life had to grapple with the truth and get to know him for who he really was before accepting his proposal. Oh, well, the scene shifted to a conversation with Martha and Clark and it at least had sincerity.

Clark encouraged Martha to take the senate seat. She protested saying it wasn't a part time job and she had a farm to run. Clark said he'd take care of the farm and she could take care of the state. Martha also revealed she'd been a 'corporate animal' in her younger days. Their conversation was sweet and mutually supportive, everything that Clark's relationship with Lana isn't.

There was the repetitive CGI shot of a helicopter going past the Daily Planet signaling a scene change. Chloe looked at an article about Michael committing suicide with a byline by Ted Biddleman. He was the nebbish reporter that Ms. Kahn was raking over the coals in the vampire episode.

"I can't even get a byline when I'm part of the story." This indicates that the 'headline' last week didn't pan out.

Clark told her it was better than being in the obituaries and she said it was better than wearing a straitjacket.

"You know, I had a couple of moments there where I actually thought I was losing my mind. I mean I understand how Gretchen's spirit was released and all that, but why was I the only one who could see her? I mean why did she choose me?"

"Maybe because you care more about other people than anyone else I know."

That line is kind of a spin on something Lois said to Clark in Chip off the Old Clark, "You're the most caring person I ever met."

"Or maybe there really is something wrong with me, like my mother," Chloe said, but in a humorous tone.

"What is wrong with your mother, exactly?"

"I don't know. She left when I was twelve, so that was before ... I don't know."

Before what? What was Chloe going to say there? Also, this doesn't jive with Chloe's original story. She said her mother left when she was five and the next morning her dad made waffles. Last year in Scare, Chloe said she had found her mother, but that she was in a mental institution with a hereditary mental illness.

Back then Chloe was the one obsessed with Clark's secret because of her rescue in Jinx and thinking Clark must have saved her using some kind of extraordinary powers. She said, "Look, you know what? You don't have to tell me. I know I gave you my word that I was going to stop all this prying, but in these last few months, I really got a taste of what it was like to keep my mom's secret and I've never felt more alone." And added, "I'd hate to live my whole life like this, but after fessing up, it's amazing how quickly that feeling of loneliness disappears. I mean if you can't tell your best friend, who can you tell? Right, Clark?"

She confided in Clark about her mother's mental illness in hopes it would lead Clark to tell her his secret in exchange, which didn't happen, but courtesy of Alicia later that season, she'd see Clark's powers first hand.

"Why haven't you gone to see her?"

"Because I'm afraid. I mean what if I look into her eyes and see myself?"

"What if you wait too long and never get the chance to look into her eyes again? She's your mother. She always will be. It's not going to change no matter what."

The next day (I guess), Chloe went to the mental hospital, which was humane looking compared to the Plexiglas and metal nightmare of Belle Reve. In a brightly lit dayroom, Chloe crossed the floor to a woman standing by a window. She stepped in front of her and said. "Mom?"

The woman, whose face we never see, touched Chloe's cheek and then they hugged. Unfortunately this scene lacked the poignancy of last week's episode of Clark looking at his dad on the videotape because we know nothing of Chloe's mother. We've never met her, never seen her, never heard her. We have no emotional investment in her and so even though it was nice that Chloe went to see her mom, it's hard to get caught up in the moment.

That was the final scene of this rather pointless and gory episode. Nothing really resonated here. I guess it was a filler to show Lex and Lana getting closer and Clark appreciating Chloe for once, but Lois was pretty much wasted. I liked some of her scenes and I liked her mouthing off at the villain, but otherwise she had no solid purpose in the episode other than her interaction with the new sheriff, who we never saw. That at least provided exposition on the murdered girl.

The directing was all over the place. It was all right in some scenes and then a confused mess in others. Some scenes were out of frame and some scenes were so dark that it was hard to see what was going on even if they had been in frame. Speaking of the darkness ...

I'd always thought Smallville used special lighting techniques for their very dark scenes, but apparently that isn't true, or at least not true of this episode. The picture on the left came from the "if you're just joining us" midpoint portion of Smallville where they show a short montage of scenes that took place in the first half of the episode. Notice how bright and colorful the scene is? In fact, a harsh dark shadow is cast on Chloe by the orderly crouching down next to the bed because a very bright light is off to the right.

The picture on the right, complete with the WB logo bug, is how the scene actually looked in the episode. Even someone using the brightness control on their TV would see a difference between the midpoint montage picture and the "as aired" picture on the right. Apparently the show is given its atmospheric lighting in post-production. Someone must be standing at the digital editor saying, "Darker, darker, it's still too colorful." Post-production light manipulation also covers up some of the errors made during filming.

The harsh dark shadow on Chloe isn't nearly as noticeable when the whole scene is made murky and dark. In fact, I bet the lightning flashing is merely the scene shown for a moment at the brightness level it had actually been filmed at and then the sound effects were added later.

A few last comments on the episode itself ...

Who is paying for the chronic care of Chloe's mother? Whether she was locked up since Chloe was five or twelve, that's a lot of money. Is it a state run facility? And again, what was Chloe talking about when she said "that was before" and then cut herself off? When Lois was surprised by the information, was it because she'd been told something else about Chloe's mom?

Of course there's a Lena Thorul theory, but I'll let Eileen or Georgia explain that one.

Next week, sufferin' cyborgs.

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