What I’m Watching: Smallville

Smallville: Season 10, Episode 11 “Icarus” (C-)

After an above-average (for this show) installment having to do with an alternate universe, we’re back to the same old ineffectiveness of the VRA plotline. It gets especially complicated when it deals with century-old mythical beings, and I’m convinced I had to have been not paying attention for the few minutes when the existence of people like Hawkman in this universe was explained. In any case, we do have a joke about missing the typewriter, or rather, the telegraph, to remind us that the now-defunct Hawkman is in fact older than dust, and I’m more interested in the fact that he just seems to be able to save the day only when Clark is busy doing something else, making his sacrifice to save Lois feel all the more random. The fact that Clark, Hawkman, and Oliver just parade around inside General Wilson’s office when everyone in the world is looking for them is rather unbelievable. I do find it rather hilarious that Michael Hogan’s character has lost his eye on this show. Lois and Clark’s engagement, like much of their relationship, is inconsequential in the greater scheme of things, since they’re going to have to battle this Darkness that apparently was also responsible, according to Hawkman, for both the Crusades and the Holocaust (such delusions of grandeur can also be found, albeit more cleverly deployed, in CSM-centric episodes of “The X-Files”). Cat not turning Lois in is a bit of relief since these guys need some allies, but overall, this episode just doesn’t cut it.