Smallville review – “Visage”

Smallville is back for the first of seven new episodes.

Cast

Tom Welling as
Clark Kent
Kristen Kreuk as
Lana Lang
Michael
Rosenbaum
as Lex Luthor
John Glover
as Lionel Luthor
Sam Jones III as
Pete Ross
Allison Mack as
Chloe Sullivan
Annette
O’Toole
as Martha Kent
John
Schneider
as Jonathan Kent

Written by Todd
Slavkin
and Darren Swimmer.
Directed by Bill Gereghity.

Original Airdate


Visage
originally aired on Tuesday,
January 14, 2003

Synopsis

Whitney returns to Smallville with no memory of the John Doe video.

High Point

The battle. The best scene in Superman III will look a lot
worse from now on.

Low Point

Why didn’t Clark get any warning? If Pete was unconsious that long,
don’t you think there would have been some discussion about it?
Nobody seemed to notice he was gone, and they should have.

The Review

This episode wasn’t original in terms of specific events, but
I haven’t seen this combination of them before. It felt new for this
show. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were well done, and outdid the similar scene in
Superman III. I give it 6 out of 6.

The story was well written. We saw the clues early on, but
couldn’t put it all together much sooner than Clark. (By this I mean
we couldn’t tell if it was a returning character or a new one yet.)
The rest of the story held together, if we ignore the Pete thing. I
give it 5 out of 6.

The acting surprised me. Eric Johnson didn’t really impress
me before, although he was capable. This time it was clear that
something was off as soon as the reunion ended. There was more
subtlety in both of his performances than I originally gave him credit
for. Similarly, the other actors showed some nice range. Kristen
Kreuk in particular showed that she can act well, provided she’s not
acting at all like Lana. The kitchen scene also showed that there
are times when she still needs help. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response this produced was fairly good. My
interest was held, and there were a couple of surprises. (The start
of act three was something that struck me as new, for example. I like
the implications; it seems to me that the stuff could just be a toxic
fuel, which explains what happened tonight, and why it came along for
the ride.) I give it 5 out of 6.

The production was excellent. The directing of most of it
was good, and the scene in Indonesia was extremely well done. The
only nagging point was the music during the slo-mo reunion. It just
didn’t seem to fit, in my opinion. One of those instruments was
entirely too chipper. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, this was a very good episode, and a nice way to kick
off a run of seven new episodes. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Visage receives 35 out of 42.

5 replies on “Smallville review – “Visage””

  1. John Doe?

    Whitney returns to Smallville with no memory of the John Doe video.

    Got Fox On The Brain?

    I Think You Meant ‘Dear John’.

    Overall, I have To Agree With You, On All Counts, From Wondering Why No One Noticed Pete, To Whitney Acting Funny.

    Next Week Supposedly has Lex Turning Evil. I Think It’s Way To Soon In The Show To Do That, Because It’s Pretty Much Down hill From There. I Do Think It Should happen Eventually, But Only When They’re Going To Start Wrapping Up The Show, And I Think It has Potential For A Few More Seasons Yet.

    And While I’m Posting: Is There A ‘Web Button’ For This Site? I Was Going To Put A Link To It On My Homepage.

    And While Looking For One, I Saw That I Was The Top Non-‘Site Author’ Poster. Neet.

  2. Ignore the situation
    Clearly, in Smallville, when you see the token black kid bleeding on the floor, you just walk by and pretend you didn’t see anything.
    “Hey, it was probably the shellshocked marine/quarterback that did it…don’t want to uptset him!”

    • Re: Ignore the situation

      Clearly, in Smallville, when you see the token black kid bleeding on the floor, you just walk by and pretend you didn’t see anything.
      “Hey, it was probably the shellshocked marine/quarterback that did it…don’t want to uptset him!”

      Nah, they just confused him for Travis Mayweather from Enterprise… no one notices him.

  3. tina??
    is tina a new or old character? b/c clark said that she has declared her love for lana before, but i never seen her in the past episodes..soo just wondering if shes new.

    • Re: tina??

      is tina a new or old character? b/c clark said that she has declared her love for lana before, but i never seen her in the past episodes..soo just wondering if shes new.

      She first appeared in X-Ray back in early season one.

Comments are closed.