Smallville Review – “Thirst”

Smallville meets vampires just in time for Halloween.

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 Buffyverse alum Steven S. DeKnight.

Directed by Paul Shapiro.

Original Airdate


Thirst
originally aired on Thursday,
October 27, 2005.

Synopsis

Lana joins a sorority of vampires, while Chloe tries
to get a job from
a rather unpleasant editor-in-chief at the Daily
Planet.

High Point

Bringing the phone conversation to a rapid end.

Low Point

Amnesia AGAIN?!? Somebody
get that girl a
CAT scan! (I know I always lose my memory after a
virus.
Particularly one that helps me heal from a broken
neck.)

The Review

The originality we saw was in the Prof.
Fine / Lex Luthor
relationship. The rest we’ve seen before. I give it
3 out of 6.

The effects were fairly well done. There was
some
inconsistency in the side effects of Clark’s speed,
though, with
blowing papers one minute and nothing the next. I
give it 4 out of
6.

The story with Fine and Luthor went well.
Similarly, the
storyline with Chloe at the Daily Planet, and the
scenes with Clark
and Chloe all played out well. Unfortunately, the
rest of the episode
was the prominent vampire plotline, which didn’t work
out quite as
well. I generally try to avoid spoilers in these
reviews, but some
things need to be said here. The complete lack of
fallout from the
murder of “Buffy” was bad enough, but the use of
amnesia once again
was even worse. Lana must be on the verge of
permanent brain damage
here. (Maybe she’s past the verge; she does seem to
have forgotten
four years worth of terrible treatment from Clark,
after all.) That’s
also one pretty spectacular virus. It almost makes me
want
to go get rabies. The problems and cop-outs are well
below the
quality established by DeKnight in his other work for
this and for
Mutant Enemy. This should have ended differently. I
give it 2 out of
6.

The acting wasn’t bad. The vampire and
regular versions of
Lana were kept distinct for the most part, except for
the immediate
return from the second last commercial, which was
somewhat
misleading. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response was quite varied. The
secondary plots
were as rewarding as the main plot was frustrating. I
give it 3 out
of 6.

The production was well done, in spite of the
script issues.
I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it has its strong points, but the
frustrating points
will just become more exaggerated upon repeated
viewings. I give it 4
out of 6.

In total,
Thirst
receives
25
out of 42.

12 replies on “Smallville Review – “Thirst””

  1. Pretty spot on
    Although the end of the phone call was pretty good, for me the high point was Fine giving it back to Lex — if they can develop the relationship between those two, they promise to be even better than the threads between Lex and his father in the earlier years. They’ll definitely have to work to keep those two from stealing the show.

    Especially if they do more lame vampire plots like this one. Obviously, they *had* to have one, with James Marsters in the cast, and I did find the "slay Buffy the Vampire" and "there’s no such things as vampires" references amusing, but you don’t eat your boyfriends on a regular basis and keep your nature a secret.

    I also thought that the Chloe narration was just filler. If they’d put a little work into it, they would have had her working more with Clark to deal with the Vamps instead. We didn’t need to see that she was working up a story — that’s practically a given, and she wouldn’t have done that until it was over when she knew Unusual Things had happened anyhow. Play more with what happens if Clark gets vamped, bound to be not the same as the others. I was actually expecting them to bite Clark and suddenly be cured. I’m not sure if that would have been better or not though. OK, it would have been better, I’m not sure it would have been good ;-)

    I’m not finding it hard to buy Lana’s feelings for Clark though — by this point, everyone pretty well knows that Clark has some secrets, and those explain the past oddities. Lana has just accepted that, because the one consistent thing is that when it comes down to the real Clark, he’s always done his best to protect her and has shown he loves her and always has. Plus, when she bit him and "became one with him" (or at least that’s what she remembers of it), she got a glimpse of how he feels. Or at least thinks she did.

    • Re: Pretty spot on

      Although the end of the phone call was pretty good, for me the high point was Fine giving it back to Lex — if they can develop the relationship between those two, they promise to be even better than the threads between Lex and his father in the earlier years. They’ll definitely have to work to keep those two from stealing the show.

      Especially if they do more lame vampire plots like this one. Obviously, they *had* to have one, with James Marsters in the cast, and I did find the “slay Buffy the Vampire” and “there’s no such things as vampires” references amusing, but you don’t eat your boyfriends on a regular basis and keep your nature a secret.

      I also thought that the Chloe narration was just filler. If they’d put a little work into it, they would have had her working more with Clark to deal with the Vamps instead. We didn’t need to see that she was working up a story — that’s practically a given, and she wouldn’t have done that until it was over when she knew Unusual Things had happened anyhow. Play more with what happens if Clark gets vamped, bound to be not the same as the others. I was actually expecting them to bite Clark and suddenly be cured. I’m not sure if that would have been better or not though. OK, it would have been better, I’m not sure it would have been good ;-)

      I’m not finding it hard to buy Lana’s feelings for Clark though — by this point, everyone pretty well knows that Clark has some secrets, and those explain the past oddities. Lana has just accepted that, because the one consistent thing is that when it comes down to the real Clark, he’s always done his best to protect her and has shown he loves her and always has. Plus, when she bit him and “became one with him” (or at least that’s what she remembers of it), she got a glimpse of how he feels. Or at least thinks she did.

      I almost hope they don’t run with it but if the writers wanted to they could say Lana has retained a bit of Clark’s powers for a few episodes… We get a few eps of someone else doing the super hero stuff, then in about 3/4 weeks Clark catchs Lana red-handed. If it is well written the tension could excede BTVS’s Hush.

      Lana: I guess the Meteor Rock vampirism was the last straw. All those years around glowing green rocks gave me super powers. Go figure.

      Clark: Actually, no, you have powers becaus I’m an alien and when you sucked my blood you absorbed some of my powers.

  2. Princess Leia?
    Wasn’t that Carrie Fisher as the Daily Planet editor-in-chief, or whatever her title was, that gave Chloe the job?

    • Re: Princess Leia?

      Wasn’t that Carrie Fisher as the Daily Planet
      editor-in-chief, or whatever her title was, that gave Chloe
      the job?

      It was. She even had a “special guest star” credit.

  3. the side effects of Clark’s speed
    Was inconsistent because the first time he was going full speed without needing to be carefull about hiding his speed, and the other time he was doing it ninja-style.

  4. Other high point
    I really liked Clark’s comments about the costume he wore to the party. Specifically not liking the mask, but liking the cape.

    I do have to agree though, that they really wrote themselves into a corner to have a “vampire” angle, so they really needed the plot devices to get out of it, even the …amnesia.

    • “I hate costumes”

      I really liked Clark’s comments about the costume he wore to the party. Specifically not liking the mask, but liking the cape.

      I do have to agree though, that they really wrote themselves into a corner to have a “vampire” angle, so they really needed the plot devices to get out of it, even the …amnesia.

      Indeed, then again, the amnesia thing is in, what, every single episode? They even had an amnesia-man freak o’ the week. It’s more of a meta low point about the series than a comment on this episode.

      “Don’t you think the cape is a little much?”
      “I kinda like the cape…”
      Hehehe… I love this show.

      • Re: “I hate costumes”

        I really liked Clark’s comments about the costume he wore to the party. Specifically not liking the mask, but liking the cape.

        I do have to agree though, that they really wrote themselves into a corner to have a “vampire” angle, so they really needed the plot devices to get out of it, even the …amnesia.

        Indeed, then again, the amnesia thing is in, what, every single episode? They even had an amnesia-man freak o’ the week. It’s more of a meta low point about the series than a comment on this episode.

        “Don’t you think the cape is a little much?”
        “I kinda like the cape…”
        Hehehe… I love this show.

        I thought it would have been really really funny if Clark dressed up as Batman.

        • Re: “I hate costumes”

          I really liked Clark’s comments about the costume he wore to the party. Specifically not liking the mask, but liking the cape.

          I do have to agree though, that they really wrote themselves into a corner to have a “vampire” angle, so they really needed the plot devices to get out of it, even the …amnesia.

          Indeed, then again, the amnesia thing is in, what, every single episode? They even had an amnesia-man freak o’ the week. It’s more of a meta low point about the series than a comment on this episode.

          “Don’t you think the cape is a little much?”
          “I kinda like the cape…”
          Hehehe… I love this show.

          I thought it would have been really really funny if Clark dressed up as Batman.

          That would have been classic… pity they didn’t think of it, or maybe did and thought it would be too much.

          • Re: “I hate costumes”

            I thought it would have been really really funny if Clark dressed up as Batman.

            That would have been classic… pity they didn’t think of it, or maybe did and thought it would be too much.

            They couldn’t have. Since they’re about the same age, Batman hasn’t happened yet in that universe.
            But he was dressed as Bat’s inspiration, which is close enough : )

        • Re: “I hate costumes”

          I thought it would have been really really funny if Clark dressed up as Batman.

          It almost was, except for the bat hood. He even vanished out the window in the
          middle of a conversation like Batman does. I think that was an intentional
          reference, seeing that the camera lingers on an ornamental bat at the end of the
          scene.

          • Re: “I hate costumes”

            I thought it would have been really really funny if Clark dressed up as Batman.

            It almost was, except for the bat hood. He even vanished out the window in the
            middle of a conversation like Batman does. I think that was an intentional
            reference, seeing that the camera lingers on an ornamental bat at the end of the
            scene.

            Not To Mention Lana Looking A Lot Like Cat Woman, Even In The Fall through the Window Scene.

            And Did Anyone Catch The ‘Project 1138’? I Wonder If It Was Labelled THX…

Comments are closed.