Remember Dr. Walden? He’s back.
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 Kenneth
Biller.
Directed by Terrence
O’Hara.
Original Airdate
Calling
originally aired on Tuesday,
May 13, 2003.
Premise
Dr. Walden wakes up, complete with superpowers.
High Point
John Glover. He’s a magnificent actor, perfectly cast as the
Magnificent Bastard. Just listen to how much information, emotion,
and manipulation he put into a simple “Hmmm” in his first scene
tonight.
Low Point
The “shootout” with Dr. Walden. That’s about as uninspired as
superbattles get.
The Review
Dr. Walden’s inevitable fate was pretty unoriginal, but it’s
been a while since a character like that actually had lasting
implications. The realization of the Clark-Lana romantic relationship
is a nice move too, allowing the writers to go somewhere new with the
characters, while still leaving time for the anticipated split that
leaves room for Lois Lane. I give it 5 out of 6, for setting up so
many new directions.
The effects were good, until the final confrontation. That
looked cheesy. (I think my main problem is that Clark was hanging as
though he was being supported by his armpits, not his chest.) I give
it 3 out of 6.
The story was a bit of relationship development, and a bit of
foreshadowing and developing Clark’s purpose on Earth. It was setting
up next week’s season finale as well, so the story wasn’t complete. I
give it 4 out of 6.
The acting in any episode with John Glover is incapable of
scoring below a 4. Well, it might score a 3 if the rest of the cast
just reads the pages on screen with no inflection, but that’s what it
would take. Allison Mack has also shown great talent, and their scene
together was excellent. Kristen Kruek and Tom Welling are still
unconvincing at times, but the rest of the cast holds it together so
well that it’s not terribly obvious. I give it 5 out of 6.
The emotional response this produced had its ups and downs.
My temporary sympathy for Lex was made more apparent by the complete
reversal moments later. Other scenes, like most of Dr. Walden’s
stuff, just coasted by. I give it 4 out of 6.
The production, apart from that overlong long, awkward pause
at the start of act one, was very well done. The lighting in the
Torch office scene, as well as in the rehearsal scene, was very well
done. The overhead crane shot in the pasture was excellent. I give
it 5 out of 6.
Overall, this was a very good epsiode, well suited to sweeps,
that promises a lot for next week’s season finale. I give it 5 out of
6.
In total,
Calling
receives
31
out of 42.
Us Lex’s Have To Stick Together.
My temporary sympathy for Lex was made more apparent by the complete reversal moments later.
I Loved that Scene. I Was Expecting Him To Have It.
Also, to Dose The ‘Evil Lex’ Thoughts, I Would Assume He’d Taken It To Keep It From his Father, Sensing Something Clark Wanted To Keep Secret.
Questions
I’m having trouble with this whole “Native American cave paintings depict Kryptonian writing and Clark’s destiny” thing.
So, does this mean there were Kryptonians on Earth centuries ago? If so, how would they know about Clark? Or his “destiny”?
I think this plot is weak and raises more troubling questions than it’s worth, quite frankly. TPTB will have to pull off one hell of a resolution to it in order to satisfy me.
But I’ll gladly keep watching as long as the Magnificent Bastard is gleefully menacing the residents of Smallville. :) And here’s hoping Chloe joins him on the dark side! They are really the two most interesting characters.
Re: Questions
Chloe just gets hotter and hotter every time I see her. I can hardly contain myself! I’d watch the show just to catch glimpses of her.
Missed the episode, but will catch it on the Sunday showing.
Re: Questions
Yes, there was one Kryptonian on earth centuries ago. His name
was Jor El.
I’ll let you figure out the rest by yourself…
Re: Questions
I watched an animated video a couple of weeks ago that did a decent job of explaining Superman’s origins. It was called Superman: The Last Son of Krypton. A little search of Kazaa or a trip to Blockbuster should hook you up. In short: Superman’s father knew to send his son to Earth because he had surveyed the planet.
The Final Battle
As I watched that, I assumed that they had him up there like that in order to make it look like he was being crucified, thus giving a savior / christ child allusion to his life (something to balance this ‘rule the world’ plot line). I thought it was nicely done – just subtle enough that most people wouldn’t even notice.
Re: The Final Battle
Re: The Final Battle
I don’t think I’m reading too much into it, as stuff like that is usually gone over by the people in charge, and if something can have religious meaning – in any way, intentional or not – it must be important to be included. I would think that if they didn’t want people like me thinking something along the lines of crucifixion, they would have had Welling hold his arms in a different way.
But, hey, I could be wrong. Anyone else want to weigh in on this?