Smallville Review – “Zod”

I’m back, and so is Smallville on the CW network. Also, expect reviews of Civil War #4 and Cable / Deadpool #30-32 this weekend.

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
Erica Durance as
Lois Lane
Allison Mack as
Chloe Sullivan.

Written by Steven S. deKnight.
Directed by James Marshall.

Original Airdate

Zod

originally aired on Thursday,

September 28, 2006.

Synopsis

Clark tries to escape the Phantom Zone in time to save Earth from Zod, who is in control of Lex.

High Point

The superbeing knockdown. After five years, I’m ready to see the training wheels come off and the hero emerge.

Low Point

Is it just me, or are the phantoms just a little too much like the ring wraiths?

The Review

The originality is boosted by the introduction of the Phantom Zone and Jimmy Olsen (both of which were previously referred to but not seen). It’s also nice to see a few more steps taken toward Clark choosing to assume an active hero role. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were, for the most part, pretty good. While the interactions between Clark and the phantoms early on were somewhat weak, some of the other effects (including most of the fight and the “stabbed through the hand” scene) were very well done. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story was a nice way to wrap up last season, and move this season forward. There was a bit of a deus ex machina moment, but it wasn’t terribly overdone. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was quite well done. Welling is comfortable with the deliberate hero role, just as Rosenbaum is a great fit for the villain. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response wasn’t quite as strong as I was expecting. I don’t know if I was just expecting too much coming into this after watching the movie this summer, but it didn’t quite grab me the way a Smallville season opener usually does. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production has never been an issue for this show. They nicely play with colour, composition, and editing to keep the series moving. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a season opener that may be marking a shift from the more passive “I’ll help out when I hear about the problems” role to the “I’ll go find out if there’s anyone who needs my help” role. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total,
Zod
receives
34
out of 42.

11 replies on “Smallville Review – “Zod””

  1. One thing that is getting old
    The whole "let’s have a character pass out or get knocked out before Clark does anything "super". That gets really annoying after 5 seasons, especially since it’s always Lana! The poor girl must have major brain injuries by now. No wonder she’s such a wreck most of the time.

    • Re: jimmy olsen

      Did anyone else go "What the hell is Iceman doing in Smallville?"

      I did before I ever saw the episode. Turns out that actor’s twin plays Iceman and was in two episodes of Smallville a few seasons ago.

  2. Mr. Grumpy starts a new season
    Well, Clark is out of the PZ, Lex is deZodded, and the world is back to normal,

    but

    nothing in this episode makes sense!!!!!

    Let’s start with a minor thing – Clark’s clothes in the fight with Zod (meaning Zod in Lex’s body). He is thrown through the ground and yet his clothes are not even dirty. I guess he got them at El-El-Bean.

    In that same fight (aside from imitating the dialog in the movie), how did Clark know that the S-gizmo would get rid of Zod? Why did Clark leave it in the fortress? (Probably so it would be hard to get to or used by someone else in a future episode.) Also, where did Zod go? IMWTK!!!

    In the PZ, how come the bad guys had their powers and Clark did not?

    How come nobody mentioned Kryptonite as a method for defeating Zod?

    It has never made sense to me that Jor-El (or whatever manifestation of him that is there) could so easily remove and restore Clark’s powers and provide them to others. I would like to have seen Martha with them.

    How did Zod know how to fly? How come Clark expressed nothing about flying? My guess is that Clark will begin flying soon.

    How did Zod’s instant anti-virus work?

    Where did Zod’s dreidel come from? How did it control the laptop? How did the laptop control the satellite?

    Oy!

    This is what happens when you take this stuff even semi-seriously.

    Martin Cohen

    • Re: Mr. Grumpy starts a new season

      How come nobody mentioned Kryptonite as a method for defeating Zod?

      Wasn’t it last time that it’s because he’s in a human body?

      How did Zod’s instant anti-virus work?

      Oh come on, when was the last time (only time) TV has shown computers working in a reasonble manner.

      Where did Zod’s dreidel come from?

      He took it out of the ship! The hard drive (dreidel) came from the ship. Then the ship disappeared. Remember right after a commercial?

      How did the laptop control the satellite?

      The laptop was the satellite controler from the Pentagon. Some doomsday weapon is my guess.

      Oy!

      Gavalt!

      This is what happens when you take this stuff even semi-seriously.

      whups ahhh I guess I do too

      hck==geek :)

    • Re: Mr. Grumpy starts a new season

      how did Clark know that the S-gizmo would get rid of Zod?

      Gizmo was used to defeat the phantoms, Zod is a phantom in Lex’s body.

      How come nobody mentioned Kryptonite as a method for defeating Zod?

      That’s a good one…

      How did Zod know how to fly?

      He’s ZOD man! A true Kryptonian soldier! Come on!

      How did Zod’s instant anti-virus work?

      Kryptonian tech rocks.

      Where did Zod’s dreidel come from? How did it control the laptop? How did the laptop control the satellite?

      The spaceship.
      Kryptonian tech rocks HARD.
      Pentagon tech is also good.

    • Re: Mr. Grumpy starts a new season
      I’m grumpy for a different reason: for some reason, the audio pulses like someone was twisting the volume knob back and forth about once a second. It was a local feed off DirecTV (Portland, OR’s CW channel), and it’s pretty much unlistenable, which makes it unwatchable…

  3. New and Improved Lana
    Is it me or should we change the name from Lana Lang to "Lara", as in Lara Croft?

    She was stone cold! I lost track of how many times she went up against Zod, before she got the Kryptonian letter opener. And de-skewering her hand… OUCH!!! I’ll wager most people would have passed out from the skewering.

    I hope we see some more of this upgraded Lana. Maybe she’ll need a bit less rescuing.

  4. Girls
    I for one was hoping Clark would get together with Chloe for at least a little while. He could use a normal relationship with a normal person who knows him, instead of these games with Lana and the inevitable games with Lois down the road. But I can see now that that isn’t going to happen. Jimmy’s primary purpose at this point is obviously introduced to steal Chloe’s heart from Clark, and Clark and Chloe are ridiculously noncommital about the cliffhanger kiss.

    But hey, as long as they don’t go back to Clark+Lana it’s still improvement.

    I’m looking forward to more hero development and it at least looks like we’ll get some.

  5. So quick
    This is the second season opener that I think really deserved to be (if not a two parter) at least a 90 minute length. I just thought that it seemed like they were compressing everything to finish.

    Whatever.

    The loss of Johnathan was the most glaring thing here – I really thought that final speech that Martha gave was pure Pa Kent. Slightly cliched, a little uplifting, and with serious overtones of ‘be responsible with your powers’.

    Here’s a question for you too: Why wasn’t Lex grabbed by the Pentagon at the end of the episode?

    • Re: So quick

      This is the second season opener that I think really deserved to be (if not a two parter) at least a 90 minute length. I just thought that it seemed like they were compressing everything to finish.

      Whatever.

      The loss of Johnathan was the most glaring thing here – I really thought that final speech that Martha gave was pure Pa Kent. Slightly cliched, a little uplifting, and with serious overtones of ‘be responsible with your powers’.

      Here’s a question for you too: Why wasn’t Lex grabbed by the Pentagon at the end of the episode?

      Stick around for next week ;-)

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