Smallville Review – “Eternal”

The last new episode until April 23 aired this week. When it returns, the series will run straight through to the season finale.

Cast

Tom Welling as Clark Kent

Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan

Erica Durance as Lois Lane

Aaron Ashmore as Jimmy Olson

Cassidy Freeman as Tess Mercer

Sam Witwer as Davis Bloome

Justin Hartley as Oliver Queen / Green Arrow

Written by Brian Peterson and Kelly Sounders

Directed by James Marshall

Original Airdate

Eternal originally aired on Thursday, April 2, 2009.

Synopsis

Tess has been reading Lionel’s Veritas journal. She concludes that Clark is the Traveller, and that Davis Bloome is the prophesized Destroyer. Her original plan is to eliminate the Destroyer herself, but that proves harder than expected. She soon changes gears.

High Point

Tess’ new role in the mythos. This has a lot of potential.

Low Point

Potentially dropped threads. Clark was still in earshot for Tess’ final dialogue. He’d better react to that down the line. Also, Oliver had better notice what happened to those details he was taking care of.

The Review

This is an original take on the Doomsday character. Hell, in the comics he barely qualifies as a character; there’s no history or motive I’m aware of. This interpretation of Doomsday as the device inside the man makes a lot more sense, and makes him far more interesting for a long term story arc like this. Tess is also in a new role for the series. I give it 4 out of 6.

The effects were well done, as usual. Most were effects we’ve already seen (sometimes literally; there was a lot of footage from the pilot included here) but it all worked. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story moved forward nicely, establishing a clear direction for the last four episodes of the season. There’s really only one direction this can go from here, but it’s an interesting one. Can we say “collision course?” The logic holds up for this week, and it sets up some nice stuff for the future at the same time. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting from the adults was pretty good, with some very strong moments (including the one with the hand hovering over the lever.) The child actors, sadly, were not very good. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response was good. The episode turned out to be much tamer on the action side than I expected from the ads, but I think the action I expected was simply postponed. (The season finale is titled “Doomsday” after all.) If I hadn’t seen the ads, I’d have probably found this much more engaging. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production was solid, as it so often is on this series. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a pretty important piece of this season’s puzzle, and is likely leading to some much bigger things down the road. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Eternal receives 32 out of 42.

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