Sorry this is late. I do have an ambitious schedule to get some of my reviews caught up; if I can maintain it, we’ll have at least one new review every day this month.
Cast
Tom Welling as Clark Kent
Kristen Kreuk as Lana Lang
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olson
Laura Vandervoort as Kara
Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor
John Glover as Lionel Luthor
Written by Holly Henderson and Don Whitehead
Directed by Todd Slavkin
Original Airdate
Persona originally aired on Thursday, January 31, 2008.
Synopsis
Bizarro makes himself at home in Clark’s life, locating BRAINIAC in a plan to eliminate the sun’s effects on him. Jor-El releases Clark to deal with this threat. Meanwhile, Grant meets Lionel and discloses his origins.
High Point
The full-on return of BRAINIAC.
Low Point
Bizarro doesn’t see it coming?
The Review
This episode undoes some of the originality we’d seen until now, by taking the new storylines they had and wrapping them up the traditional ways. I give it 3 out of 6.
The effects on this show never seem to fail. I give it 5 out of 6.
The story is told well enough, wrapping most things up, if it does depend on the lead characters overlooking a few things. This started out as the season of growth, showing us Clark moving actively into the hero’s role, but he still hasn’t learned from his most common mistakes. It’s frustrating. I give it 4 out of 6.
The acting is strongest in the Luthor plotline, but the main plotline isn’t badly done. McClure does a convincing Dax-Ur, as well. I give it 5 out of 6.
The emotional response would be stronger if we hadn’t seen these mistakes made yet again, particularly with the return of BRAINIAC. I give it 4 out of 6.
The production is also as well done. I give it 5 out of 6.
Overall, it’s not a bad episode, marking a major change in direction for the season, but as that change seems to move a few steps backwards, it doesn’t have the impact it should. I give it 4 out of 6.
In total, Persona receives 30 out of 42.
Sick and tired of the drama
I’m absolutely sick of the Clark/Lana drama. I’ve been sick of it for years now. Last night just reinforced that they MUST either kill her off or end it between Clark and Lana for good. Lana’s exchange with Clark and Bizarro Clark seemed sincere, then I thought maybe she was just playing along, but the end seemed to imply she was serious, but killed Bizarro Clark anyway. It’s just really getting old. We’re supposed to care about these characters, but when you’re just begging the writers to kill one of them off that’s a bad sign.
Any high points in the episode are lost for me because of the constant drama. We know they don’t end up together. They should never have brought Lana back from hiding after last years’ finale, and Clark and Lana should never have been brought together again (and living together!). It’s maddening.
Lana should have stayed in hiding for good and never set foot in Smallville (or on the show) again.
It’s you I’ve lost
Easily the best 10 seconds of Smallville in a while.
When are they going to do a spinoff of just the Luthors? It’s amazing the differences in story lines over the years, with the Luthor acting/story being much better than everything else.