Smallville Review – “Exposed”

Lois goes undercover by becoming almost entirely
uncovered.

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.

I could swear that the on screen directorial credit
was given to
Jeannot Szwarc, but the official website credits Brad
May.

Original Airdate


Exposed
originally aired on Thursday,
November 3, 2005.

Synopsis

Clark, Chloe and Lois all end up investigating the
death of a stripper
tied to one of Jonathan Kent’s oldest friends.

High Point

The rooftop sequence.

Low Point

There are only so many times a viewer can hear
conversations about
what makes a hero before the episode moves from
“amusingly subtle” to
“irritatingly preachy.”

The Review

How original is this episode? Did you see
the sixth episode
of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of
Superman
, in which
both Lois and Clark infiltrate a strip club? Yes?
Then you’ve seen
most of this. Throw in some Dukes of Hazzard
and mix in some
of Superman: The Motion Picture, and you’ve
got the complete
package. I give it 2 out of 6.

The special effects were somewhat limited
this week. We had
the early collision, and the later high point, both of
which were well
done. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story wasn’t badly written, but some
moments could have
been smoothed out. It really felt like it was trying
to combine
elements of previous shows and movies rather than
attempt to do
something new. The plot points were all there, and it
would have been
quite enjoyable had I not seen those previous
incarnations. (Then
again, how many people older than 20 who watch the
series
haven’t seen the movie, Lois and
Clark
, or Dukes
of Hazzard
?) I give it 3 out of 6.

The acting was well done. Lois was clearly
very
uncomfortable with her performance, which was amusing.
Tom Wopat did
well as the Senator, probably because he and John
Scheider really are
old friends. Welling was often unconvincing this
week, in his
discomfort at the club, as well as in his interactions
with Lex. This
may be due in large part to the significant portion of
straight
exposition that he had to deliver this week after a
few weeks of more
emotive scripts to work from. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response was high in places,
but mostly rooted
in disinterest since we’ve seen this stuff so often
before. I give it
4 out of 6.

The production was good. The Dukes of
Hazzard

scenes mimicked the photography and music of the show,
while the
Metropolis scenes left that feeling behind. This
distinction might be
part of the reason it felt so much like it was a
reference to
different things; they mimicked the production styles,
too, which were
very distinct entities. If felt uneven when it
switched from one
story to the other. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it was fairly well done, but not as
good as previous
weeks have been. (Bring back Milton Fine!) These
homage rich
episodes should be early in a show’s run, not late in
the run. I give
it 3 out of 6.

In total,
Exposed
receives
25
out of 42.

6 replies on “Smallville Review – “Exposed””

  1. Got some laughs
    I had some fun with this episode. Seeing Bo and Luke tear up the street for a bit in the blue “General Lee” was a lot of fun, since that was my favorite show when I was little. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t transition Lois’s strip scene from horribly awkward to amazingly good like every other show that has done something similar.

    It wasn’t a great episode, but it was fun.

    • Re: Got some laughs

      I had some fun with this episode. Seeing Bo and Luke tear up the street for a bit in the blue “General Lee” was a lot of fun, since that was my favorite show when I was little. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t transition Lois’s strip scene from horribly awkward to amazingly good like every other show that has done something similar.

      It wasn’t a great episode, but it was fun.

      I loved, LOVED the Dukes jokes. LMAO the whole time.

      Especially when Pa Kent looks at his buddy as he gets in the car through the window… that was an awesome inside joke, and frankly, inside jokes are what this show is all about ;-)

    • Re: Got some laughs

      It wasn’t a great episode, but it was fun.

      Not that anyone will see this, as I didn’t get around to watching the episode until tonight ;-)

      I never got into Dukes of Hazzard, though I could tell they were playing off that. But I think the lack of “in-ness” is why this episode fell flat for me.

      The rooftop was my low point, however. Unless Clark has got some gravity control or those were *damn* sticky shoes, there’s no way he’s pulling a helicopter down. Climb up the rope maybe, but not pull it down…

  2. vigilante
    Lex’s new power grab is interesting, and will definitely add more evilness to the upcoming plots. Mmmmm…. evil.
    But, what was that whole deal with Lois thanking Clark for almost-saving her? There’s been a ton of times where Clark’s saved the day, and she’d give her rant that she can take care of herself.

  3. Them Kent boys is in a world o’trouble
    It took me a bit bit to feel anything for the ‘Dukes’ parts, but the production did match pretty well and that was a good poke at the old show. I really have a high point. The roof top yes but the point was the yank. I could almost hear the “yoink!” The production was so great because they did almost nothing for it. Very simple actions with cuts that gave an exact feel. The way he keeps jumping around, you know he’s going to fly this season.

  4. GRRRR
    Forgot to change the VCR for daylight savings time. Got an hour of Friends. I didn’t even watch Friends when it was on prime time.

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