Smallville: "Odyssey" Review

September 19, 2008 - What amazes me about Smallville is that no matter how bad the storylines may get or how tiresome the narrative becomes, there is always this glimmer of hope that pulls us back in year after year. Maybe we're just asking for punishment or our love for future men in tights gets the better of us, but this show keeps us coming back for more. Ok, maybe I'm being a little too harsh, and let's face it, any show that has been around for seven seasons must be doing something right. The Superman universe has a wide range of stories that the series can pull from and even though we are through seven seasons, the potential for another great season is still there.

Here we are again, but this time there have been a few notable cast changes that have genuinely made me excited for this season. Gone are Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) and Lana Lang (Kristen Kreuk). Replacing Lex is Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman), a beautiful and hard-edged Luthorcorp executive who is overseeing the estate in Lex's absence. Also, Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley) is now featured in the credits as a series regular. Davis Bloome/Doomsday (Sam Witwer) is also featured in the credits but does not appear in the season premiere.

"Odyssey" starts off with a fairly long recap and then jumps into the story about four weeks after last season's finale. Tess and a team of Luthorcorp employees are searching for Lex, but Green Arrow, Aquaman and Black Canary foil their expedition. It's a great opening sequence that features a decent amount of action and some bad special effects that Smallville is well known for.

In classic season premiere style, the story jumps from character to character, revealing what has happened to them over the course of the last few weeks. Chloe's predicament is the most interesting as we discover she's being held against her will by Department of Domestic Security (DDS) agents. Well, we eventually discover that they aren't DDS agents but a band of Luthorcorp employees who are exploiting Chloe's newfound ability. This new ability is the most intriguing development to come out of this episode. Last season, Chloe had a run in with Brainiac and it now appears that some of his abilities may have transferred into her. She is now able to decipher complex code at a lightning fast pace. This is a far more appropriate ability for Chloe than that healing power which she seems to have lost for now.

We catch up with Clark in Russia and, guess what, he's lost his powers – again. Apparently this was Jor-El's way of keeping him under control. Hopefully this is the last time Clark becomes "human" because we've seen this gimmick used a couple of other times and it has become tiresome. Without his powers, Clark is held captive by a bunch of Russian thugs until Oliver shows up to bail him out.

From here, the episode moves at a fast pace until the thirty-minute mark and is actually pretty exciting. The use of Moira Sullivan's spinal fluid as a mind control serum was a great touch and turns friend against friend. Chloe is used to track down Aquaman and Black Canary who are captured while Green Arrow is turned against Clark. This leads to a climactic moment when Oliver fires an arrow right through Clark's heart. Clark's life flashes before his eyes in a serviceable montage of the series thus far. Of course, the star of the show can't die and thankfully Martian Manhunter shows up, flies him towards the sun, which miraculously restores his powers. Yes, this is a little convenient, but far better than having Clark run around without his powers for the first few episodes of the season. While having the sun strip Manhunter of his powers was disappointing, it does fit into the DC universe as he does have a weakness to fire and intense heat. The sun would essentially be a giant ball of Kryptonite for him.

With Chloe saved and Clark's powers back, the episode concludes with a rather long epilogue. Chloe reunites with Jimmy and she says yes to his marriage proposal. This relationship grew tedious by the end of last season and I think this could be a sore point of this year as well. Clark and the rest of the Justice League meet and discuss the disappearance of Lex, each agreeing to continue searching for him. Finally, Clark agrees to take a job at the Daily Planet. This is the second biggest development of the episode and while the way it happens doesn't fit into the classic Superman mythos, it is a welcome addition to the Smallville universe. Now all we need are the glasses.