What I’m Watching: Smallville

Smallville: Season 9, Episode 14 “Conspiracy” (C+)

So now we’re finally on to something real and progressive for this show, but it doesn’t play out especially well. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be remembering and identifying all the specific Kandorians, but their incorporation here finally made sense, where those responsible for torturing humans get a taste of their own medicine. The idea of Clark and Zod as different kinds of saviors for the Kandorians is interesting, and their rivalry for the position of hero to their people also works pretty well. Unfortunately, the dialogue works to counteract the effectiveness of the story here, with everything that comes out of Lois’ mouth serving to derail the legitimacy of the guy trying to expose the Kandorians. Clark’s style of investigative reporting also threw me for a loop. His method of intimidation, where he purported “that’s what reporters do, make up the rest and cite you as the source,” doesn’t strike me as remotely correct or fitting for his do-gooder character. Luckily, thee coroner in question was quite easy to intimidate and therefore Clark didn’t have to resort to anything completely out of character. There was something suspicious about Zod just walking in to rescue the Kandorians and getting shot right away, and it seemed likely that he had a master plan all along. The last scene was almost great, but the need to keep Zod evil is endlessly frustrating. Why does he have to be evil? And now he can fly? It’s sort of cool, but it’s just annoying that everyone always has to have an ulterior motive.