This season is actually getting better every week.
How often does that happen in a show’s final year?
Cast
Tom
Welling as
Clark Kent
Kristen Kreuk as
Lana Lang
Michael
Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
John
Glover
as Lionel Luthor
Annette
O’Toole as Martha Kent
John
Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Erica Durance as
Lois Lane
Allison Mack as
Chloe Sullivan.
Written by Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders.
Directed by Whitney Ransick.
Original Airdate
Hidden
originally aired on Thursday,
October 13, 2005.
Synopsis
A mortal Clark has to deal with a human villain with
access to nuclear
weapons and a gun he’s perfectly willing to use.
High Point
“Huh. Wasn’t I creative.”
Low Point
The big, touching hug struck me as comical instead of
romantic when
her feet were lifted that far off the floor.
The Review
This felt like a new and original episode,
with the
post-credits opener, the villain who is not only
willing, but
successful when attempting to kill people, the “I
should have listened
to him” implications, and other such moments. This
show still has a
lot of ground to cover to turn this Clark into
Superman, and I think
they’ve started the planning needed to get the job
done before the
season’s out. I give it 5 out of 6.
The effects were pretty good, with one
particular effect that
harkens back to the fourth season premier. It was a
subtle touch, but
one that could mean things are going to get very
interesting this
season. I give it 5 out of 6.
The story was nicely done. This week’s
episode was almost
told in real time, with some people finally pointing
out how lame and
incredible Clark’s excuses can be. We had some tense
moments the only
way they could really create them: implications for
characters in
future episodes. We know the day will be saved,
especially in a plot
that would make the entire title of the series
meaningless, so we have
to go by what will happen down the road, and that’s
what we got. Many
new implications, new relationships, and return to
some character
primes. I give it 6 out of 6.
The acting was very good all around, with
some great work
from Glover once more. The final portion after the
last commercial
was excellent. I give it 5 out of 6.
The emotional response was surprisingly
strong this week.
Some moments nearly had me cheering out loud,
generally related to the
character who delivered the dialogue chosen as the
High Point this
week. I give it 6 out of 6.
Whitney Ransick did a great job on the
production this week.
The lighting, the cameras, and the music was all in
play. (Mark Snow
did reuse some of his X-Files stuff, which
normally bugs me,
but as this was a 10/13 episode, I’ll forgive him.)
This was a well
assembled episode, with great pacing from start to
finish. I give it
6 out of 6.
Overall, this is a great episode. This
season kicked off
very well, and I see no need for them to slow down.
The pieces are
falling into place. I give it 5 out of 6.
In total,
Hidden
receives
38
out of 42.
re: realtime
Personally, I wasn’t all the impressed by their attempt to make everything happen in an hour, it left a few rather large holes.
Major hole #1
– Clark gets shot
– Clark arrives at hospital, along with parents, and has been stabilized, if not treated within 15 minutes of getting shot.
Where did they find the time to ID the dieing boy and call mom and pop while enroute to the hospital. I’m sorry, but even in the smallest town you can possibly imagine, it’s going to take more than 15 minutes for all of this to happen.
Hole #2
Lionels escape. he’s in a mental hospital, given the regularity that people escape, I’m sure the place has atleast 10 cameras to every corridor, Lex would know just how daddy happened to escape and would be VERY curious when he arrived at home about the apparent strength and speed his dad suddenly possesses.
Re: re: realtime
This one left me cold right from the start: I don’t care if daddy did have secrets and a willingness to share them with sonny boy, the kid’s *not* getting into the control room of a nuclear missle. And especially not coming and going at will. His getting in in the first place would have alerted everyone in the military *exactly* which silo it was. Not to mention actually activating the missile.
And after all he’s been through with Lana, I just don’t believe that he wouldn’t be able to trust her with The Secret.
For me, this was their first major stumble this season.
“For everything in nature, there is a balance”
…or whatever it is Lionel said. After that, I was waiting for a short, long-haired blonde guy and a giant suit of armor to step out from the shadows. ;)
Jor-El is going to have to explain himself by the time this season is out, and it better be good. So far it’s just been hints, but not quite enough to draw any real conclusions.
Re: “For everything in nature, there is a balance”
Uh… don’t get the reference…
Re: “For everything in nature, there is a balance”
Linky
It made me think of the following quote from that show:
Re: “For everything in nature, there is a balance”
Duh! Amazing how much meaning a short phrase can carry
Re: “For everything in nature, there is a balance”
One of my quibbles is about how powerful Jor-El is, especially for a dead guy. He can remove or restore Clark’s powers and give Kryptonian powers to humans, with or without them having control of their own bodies. He can also make the human bodies he strengthens strong enough to avoid being damaged.
There was no real need for Clark to have “died” (or have had his powers removed) imho.
Re: “For everything in nature, there is a balance”
For the Jor-El thing, I’ve got three words for you: Deus Ex Machina. Although I agree to the lack of real need (other than plot advancement and some really solid episodes) for the removal of Clark’s powers, I was irritated by the fact that, from what Lion-El said in the Fortress, it sounded like Clark was going to get his powers back anyway – “your destiny is inevitable” or some such.
The one thing that did throw me though, with respect to the ‘loss of someone you care about’ is how touchy-feely Lion-El got, almost as if he was preparing his son for him to leave forever, you know, like he was going to die. Again.
Nitpicks
So ya these are nitpicks but still the writers need to try harder.
1.Why do they have to search every silo in the county? Can’t they just call the
ones with people in them and ask "are you some crazy kid?" If he for some
reason had taken over the ones with out people (and missiles) it would not
have mattered much.
2.Why did not the military deploy planes to the air space above the silo’s to
destroy the missile while it was launching?
Still a good episode but the writers assume so much incompetence on the
part of the cops and military I would have just assumed that they not be
shown, it would have been more believable that they took an hour to figure
out there was a problem then fumble things as badly as they did.
Re: Nitpicks
And spread Uranium all over Kansas? Do you know what kind
of freaks would grow up in a community covered with that
much radioactive material?
Joking aside, the Uranium would be an ecological disaster.
Clark should have met the intercepters on the way out of
the atmosphere, not on the way out of town.
Re: Nitpicks
Compared to a thermonuclear explosion in the tens of megatons range. I think I
would take the uranium any day. Leaves things a lot less crispy ;)
Early onset Alzheimer’s
And I’m only 25!
But my questions was, did we ever get a final resolution to the whole Isabel Thoreu/Lana alang thing?
Re: Early onset Alzheimer’s
Er… I think the witch took over Lana and stabbed that woman to death with the soul-switching kryptonian artifact of convenient-sharpness… and…er… the witch got transfered in that body right before she died. I think…
Re: Early onset Alzheimer’s
I’ll run with that, as long as it means we don’t have to see any more purple-glowing-eyes Lana.
Yea Gods, I hated that storyline.
Re: Early onset Alzheimer’s
Storyline Sucked, I Agree, But They Looked Hot as Witches.
Final season?
Is there any confirmation that this is the final season? I’ve never heard anywhere but here that this is the last season. An official link would be nice.
Re: Final season?
There are interviews that I can’t track down, and the ad
campaign on YTV, one of the Canadian networks that runs the
show. I’ll keep an eye out for something more official I
can link to.
Re: Final season?
Thanks for checking! I just figured if it was the final season they would be saying something on Thursday nights before each episode about it being the final season. I’ve Googled it but can’t find a thing.