Smallville Review – “Reunion”

We get a glimpse of how Oliver and Lex knew each other before Ollie came to Metropolis this week.

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 Jeannot Szwarc.

Original

Airdate


Reunion
originally aired on Thursday,
October 26, 2006.

Synopsis

Lex, Oliver, and others from the same prep school are victims of unusual attacks.

High Point

Improving on the boxing glove.

Low Point

Naturally, anyone who may witness something unusual gets knocked unconscious.

The Review

The only original aspect this week was the ambiguous source of blame for Duncan’s accident. In this type of story, we usually know exactly who to blame at all times. I give it 4 out of 6.

The effects were minimal this week. Ollie’s new arrow is the only effect seen that the effects team hasn’t had considerable practice with. Still, they were well done. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story had a few twists, showing some characters in a new light and avoiding the usual expectations for this type of plotline. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting is pretty good all around. Once again, putting the focus on the Luthors ends up with better work in this respect. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is weak, with a pretty standard story setup, brief unusual moment, and then a predictable ending. I give it 3 out of 6.

The production is pretty good for a Swzarc directed projected. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t live up to the episodes that came before it. I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Reunion
receives
31
out of 42.

13 replies on “Smallville Review – “Reunion””

  1. what’s up with season 6?
    hi there, i have been following smallville since the first episode that ever came out, and i am dieing to know if there will be a season 6?
    Tmaster

    • Re: what’s up with season 6?

      hi there, i have been following smallville since the first episode that ever came out, and i am dieing to know if there will be a season 6?
      Tmaster

      Season 6 is the currently airing season in the USA on The CW Network. Episode 5 of season 6 aired last night, which is this episode. It’s probably still to early to guess about season 7 though it is one of the higher-rated CW series so it might stick around.

      Good places to check on information like this are IMDB – http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0279600/ and The Futon Critic – http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch.aspx?id=smallville

  2. What about the driver?
    Sure the boys may be partly to blame, but what about the wacko driving 60mph in a school zone? Maybe he was in India…

    • Re: What about the driver?

      Sure the boys may be partly to blame, but what about the wacko driving 60mph in a school zone? Maybe he was in India…

      I wondered about that too, my guess is it’s either a really big coincidence, or Lionel somehow orchestrated the whole thing. They’ll probably never mention it again.

      It honestly didn’t surprise me. It was cool when they did it in Final Destination. Then it happened on Nip/Tuck a couple weeks back and I sort of wondered before it happened if that’s where they were going with it. Then last night when I saw the kid backing slowly away into a road, I knew it was coming.

      I guess "backing into a street only to be hit by a vehicle with a blind driver going way too fast" is going to be a new cliche.

      • Re: What about the driver?

        Sure the boys may be partly to blame, but what about the wacko driving 60mph in a school zone? Maybe he was in India…

        I wondered about that too, my guess is it’s either a really big coincidence, or Lionel somehow orchestrated the whole thing. They’ll probably never mention it again.

        The official website says that Duncan "jumped off the roof" as a student. I’m guessing the creative team decided at the last minute that suicide made it too hard for the others to assume blame, and changed it to something that required the minimum modification of existing footage while removing Duncan’s choice in the matter.

  3. handy dandy arrow
    how handy that oq’s new arrow just happened to be the one that duncan (donuts) grabbed and that it just happened to be the one that could kill him and that oq just happened to have two of them (or else he replaced the used one).

    I guess the writers want to get JLA stuff going, but it seems to me that Clark is too casual about revealing his abilities to non-super-powered people like oq.

    Also, Lex really went off the handle beating up Duncan.

    Also^2, it looks like we will get to see more of the Kryptonian secret decoder ring next week.

    • Re: handy dandy arrow

      how handy that oq’s new arrow just happened to be the one that duncan (donuts) grabbed and that it just happened to be the one that could kill him and that oq just happened to have two of them (or else he replaced the used one).

      I have a vague recollection of there being multiple arrows in the box. And it was sitting out and looking rather lethal, so Duncan could have assumed it would’ve been the best one to kill with.

      I guess the writers want to get JLA stuff going, but it seems to me that Clark is too casual about revealing his abilities to non-super-powered people like oq.

      The producers have said that if Clark flies, it’s no longer "Smallville" Perhaps if they retooled the show into a Justice League show instead of just focusing on Clark, they’ll finally let him fly and use the rest of his abilities.

      I’m eager to find out how they plan to pull off his Clark Kent "disguise" since so many people know him already and there are no glasses in sight! Perhaps Superman will be the one who wears glasses in this universe. :) Or maybe he’ll super-speed and put on some hair dye or a wig.

      • Re: handy dandy arrow

        The producers have said that if Clark flies, it’s no longer "Smallville" Perhaps if they retooled the show into a Justice League show instead of just focusing on Clark, they’ll finally let him fly and use the rest of his abilities.

        I’m eager to find out how they plan to pull off his Clark Kent "disguise" since so many people know him already and there are no glasses in sight! Perhaps Superman will be the one who wears glasses in this universe. :) Or maybe he’ll super-speed and put on some hair dye or a wig.

        I was thinking (back when season 5 was coming to a close) that they could have stayed true to flying thing, and renamed the show "Metropolis", then they wouldn’t exactly be breaking their word… Although JLA would be a good show too.

        About the disguise, Superman’s never really had one other than the glasses, I say thats what they have to go with, even if it is trivial to figure out.

      • Re: handy dandy arrow

        I’m eager to find out how they plan to pull off his Clark Kent "disguise" since so many people know him already

        I can’t agree more — there’s no way that, as well as Lois knows Clark and the odd things that happen around him, she’d *ever* be fooled by a suit and glasses (or lack thereof). The only thing I can think of would be to do some sort of temporary duplicate thing so that "superman" can be explained as an alternate universe version of clark trapped here. But when they’re never in the same place at the same time afterwards, that would be pretty hard to buy.

        This may be blasphemy ;-) but I think they’ve stretched the mythos so far now, they need to do a split and give up partially on maintaining canon. Keep as much as they can of course, but, some of this is just too unbelievable and such things should be updated.

        • Re: handy dandy arrow

          I’m eager to find out how they plan to pull off his Clark Kent "disguise" since so many people know him already

          I can’t agree more — there’s no way that, as well as Lois knows Clark and the odd things that happen around him, she’d *ever* be fooled by a suit and glasses (or lack thereof). The only thing I can think of would be to do some sort of temporary duplicate thing so that "superman" can be explained as an alternate universe version of clark trapped here. But when they’re never in the same place at the same time afterwards, that would be pretty hard to buy.

          This may be blasphemy ;-) but I think they’ve stretched the mythos so far now, they need to do a split and give up partially on maintaining canon. Keep as much as they can of course, but, some of this is just too unbelievable and such things should be updated.

          I forsee this….

          Future Episode

          Low Point

          Superman has a mask now??!!!

          or…

          Low Point

          What no mask for Superman??!!!

          Either way I think this is an issue where theres no way to win. I say stick with the albeit lame disguise that Superman’s always had.

          • Re: handy dandy arrow

            I forsee this….

            Future Episode

            Low Point

            Superman has a mask now??!!!

            or…

            Low Point

            What no mask for Superman??!!!

            Either way I think this is an issue where theres no way to win. I say stick with the albeit lame disguise that Superman’s always had.

            I don’t think he’ll be able to fool anyone. I don’t think he needs to, though. The current state of the comics is that everyone but Lex that we see on the show knows who is under the mask. They either deviate from the comics and let Lex know, which I’d prefer, or just wipe Lex’s memory alone.

            • Re: handy dandy arrow

              The current state of the comics is that everyone … that we see on the show knows who is under the mask.

              That would be an acceptable resolution to me… I don’t even see the point of keeping Lex in the dark forever.

          • Re: handy dandy arrow

            I forsee this….

            Future Episode

            Low Point

            Superman has a mask now??!!!

            or…

            Low Point

            What no mask for Superman??!!!

            Either way I think this is an issue where theres no way to win. I say stick with the albeit lame disguise that Superman’s always had.

            I never did read comics, but apparently (According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman#Clark_Kent ) over the years they’ve tried to say a few different things such as "super hypnosis" that he uses subconsciously and also things like spinal compression and acting. Still seems kinda lame to me :)

            Perhaps his disguise will consist of causing everyone within sight to faint just as he uses his powers, it seems to be work well for him now…

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