What I'm Watching: Smallville

Smallville: Season 9, Episode 5 “Roulette” (C)

This episode, especially at this exact point in the show’s run, isn’t a good idea. This type of story has been explored many times before on this show, with Lionel, Lex, and Oliver at least a few times each. The last time this happened with Oliver was just last week, and it’s way too soon to repeat it. Oliver isn’t a major character, and his plot has little to no relevance for Clark’s development as a hero. I’m happy to have him around because he’s one of the reasons that the show got better after a several-year slump, but it would have been much better if he had picked himself up and gotten it together without the assistance of this arc. The worst part is that Chloe was behind it all, which doesn’t make much sense and hardly seems effective. The fact that she would put Lois in danger, however fake it was, isn’t believable in the slightest. Lois and Clark sitting down to watch a movie with Clark running off to save people while the popcorn was in the microwave is fun, but it doesn’t belong in an episode that’s supposed to be about the relationship between Lois and Oliver. It would be almost as bad Lana coming back again, since Lois and Clark are quite clearly the show’s budding couple now, with Chloe as the third wheel constantly pining for Clark and becoming increasingly jealous of her cousin. What’s going on with those Kryptonians? Chloe seems a bit interested, and it’s probably best if she starts looking into it more closely and actively.