A Case of the.... Smallville - Episode 10-3

So wait, this guy got a book published in three weeks?

First and foremost: How great was it seeing Laura Vandervoort on Smallville again? Much like Nina Dobrev, who I first saw on Degrassi, I feel a certain sense of personal attachment and happiness when I see Laura Vandervoort achieve recognition and success on a national level. I was first exposed to her through Instant Star, and I’m really happy she’s been able to make a name for herself here in the United States as well. And not for nothing, but she’s pretty much the perfect person for the Supergirl role. She fits the part like a tee.

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Along with that, Kara’s return brought a bit of humanity to Jor-El’s earlier coldness. It seemed apparent that Jor-El wasn’t treating Clark with tough love – he legitimately seemed disappointed and disgusted with his alleged lack of development. Yet we would come to learn this episode that Jor-El disavowing ownership of Clark was actually, in a twisted way, for the safety of the human race. If Clark went up against Darkseid unprepared, the villain would be able to use Clark’s abilities to take over or destroy earth. Sure, the fact remains that Jor-El is still selling his son short, but nonetheless his motivations were more or less pure. I do hope, by the end of the series, Jor-El is revealed to be a loving, supportive father (like the clone we met last season).

I’m also glad this episode brought attention to the whole flying thing, and I’m happy that Clark is taking steps towards achieving that ability. And, admittedly, it was pretty funny seeing his facial expression change as he stopped soaring through the air and realized he would plummet back to earth (why didn’t Kara catch him, by the way?) But I stand by what I have always said: Clark flying should NOT be held off until the finale. Sure, they shouldn’t give it away in an anticlimactic matter such as him jumping off of a windmill, but it shouldn’t be the final moment of the last episode, either. CW shows tend to go on a month hiatus towards the end of the calendar year, so why not build anticipation for its return by having him fly in the last episode of 2010? Or build up the 2011 return by advertising that he’ll fly in the first episode?

I’m intrigued to see where things are going with Oliver revealing himself as the Green Arrow. This goes into the category of one of those things they just can’t “undo,” so his character has pretty much changed forever. I do have to wonder, though, how much longer Clark can realistically continue buying that Lois hasn’t figured out his secret. He now knows she knows about Kara (her cousin), and he now knows she knows about Oliver (pretty much his only guy friend). Wouldn’t he expect her to be able to put two and two together at this point? And speaking of the characters growing into their future, familiar superhero selves, how about Oliver grow that goatee in?

Also, is it me, or did Lois not seem all that concerned about the news that her cousin vanished, has no intention of returning, and nobody knows where she is? I mean, I understand that she empathizes with Chloe’s situation – she did, after all, run off to Africa herself – but there just wasn’t much in the way of reaction.

One thing that concerned me about this episode, however, is that it made me worried that we haven’t avoided the Davis Bloom situation of Season 8. We were all pretty excited to see the monstrous Doomsday appear on the show as its central villain, and much of us were disappointed to discover that instead of the jagged, gnarly beast, we’d be seeing an Abercrombie model instead. I certainly hope we’re not going to see a season’s worth of Darkseid portrayed as short bald men with black eyes.

Actually, there’s another thing that does irk me as well, which is the sometimes ridiculous levels the show goes to in order to avoid uttering “Superman” or “Supergirl.” Like, given the opportunity to coin a name for Kara, who would instinctively say “Uber Girl” or the highly uncatchy “Mega Girl”? I recognize that “Supergirl” probably only sounds “right” because that’s what we’re used to hearing, but honestly, wouldn’t “Super” be the natural inclination any time you’re referring to a hero of some sort?