What I’m Watching: Smallville

Smallville: Season 9, Episode 3 “Rabid” (C-)

A weekend guest of mine saw me watching this episode and asked the obvious question, “Why is she fighting zombies? Isn’t this show about Superman?” It’s a sensible thing to ask, and there’s no good answer. The rationale behind the virus that created the zombies is explained in one line at the end of the episode by Zod and his now-deceased henchman, but there’s still no reason zombies should be on this series. It was executed fairly well, however, for what it was, and Clark’s new superhero identity is really enhancing the show. Still, there’s not much that can really make a random zombie episode good, especially when it involves a bizarre cure in the form of Clark’s blood and a whole lot of jibber-jabber from Chloe and Emil. Clark using his powers to fight zombies isn’t exactly the best use of his particular extraterrestrial talents, but it’s still sort of cool. The best thematic element of this series is the developing relationship between Clark and Lois. The way Lois talks about her rapport with the Blur is fantastic, especially in its layered meaning and the way Clark so slyly reacts to everything she says with such surprise. At first it seemed like their love would never come to be, but it’s clear now that they’re destined to be together and it will happen. The presence of Zod and his hunt for the similarly stranded-on-Earth Jor-El has yet to really come to fruition, though I like the fact that Zod thinks that Clark is actually Jor-El, and I look forward to their inevitable eventual meeting. Zod has quite an anger problem, and I’m eager to see how such a super-villain who hasn’t been driven so completely insane by power will interact with the far more mild-mannered Clark. It’s about time the time-warped, stranded Kryptonians cross paths with the Kryptonian who’s been on Earth for quite some time now.