Smallville Review – “Heat”

Well, Smallville has entered its second year, and we finally see students actually going to class. Of course, with a teacher like that, I’d be going to class, too.

Cast

Tom Welling as
Clark Kent
Kristen Kreuk as
Lana Lang
Michael
Rosenbaum
as Lex Luthor
John Glover
as Lionel Luthor
Sam Jones III as
Pete Ross
Allison Mack as
Chloe Sullivan
Annette
O’Toole
as Martha Kent
John
Schneider
as Jonathan Kent

Written by Mark
Verheiden
.
Directed by James
Marshall
.

Original Airdate

Heat originally aired on Tuesday, October 1, 2002.

Synopsis

Smallville suffers from a heatwave in more ways than one. At the
center of it all is Lex’s new wife, played by Krista Allen, whom
you may recognize from First Person Shooter, a sixth season
episode of The X-Files, or a bunch of other stuff that you
probably don’t want to admit to watching.

This episode begins three months after the last episode ended, picking
up at the start of a new school year.

High Point

The training sequence in the field was very amusing.

Low Point

Yet again, Clark masters a new power after only minutes of trying, and
uses these powers to take on a krypto-freak-of-the-week.

The Review

How original was this episode? Well, she wasn’t a preying
mantis, if that’s what you mean. Still, it seemed a lot like a
combination of that first season Buffy episode and that first
season Smallville episode called X-Ray. I give it 3
out of 6.

The effects were very good. The heat vision has a nice
affect on Clark’s irises, and it really looked like distortion through
the air caused by heat. The real sources of the flames themselves
were very well hidden, too. I give it 5 out of 6, because the actual
pheremone transfer looked cheesy, and very similar to the same effect
on that first season episode of Stargate SG-1.

The story was one of the strongest elements of the episode.
Yes, we’ve seen it before, but it was still entertaining from start to
finish. I have to give Mark Verheiden credit for taking those old
ideas and keeping them fresh. The only real non-originality related
complaint I’ve got is that we didn’t see the change from LuthorCorp to
LexCorp that saved the plant. I give it 5 out of 6.

The acting was better than average this week. Tom Welling
and Kristen Kruek still have room to improve, but the supporting cast
is excellent. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response produced by this episode was almost
entirely lacking in suspense. The only part that I wasn’t sure about
was the resolution of the Talon subplot. I laughed out loud on
several occasions, though. I give it 4 out of 6.

The production value was its usual high. Apart from the
crane shot at the start of the fourth act, nothing really stood out as
unusual or exceptional, though. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, this was a solid hour of television, that makes we
want to come back next week (even though I always turn it off before
the “next time on Smallville” spots.) I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Heat receives 30 out of 42.

4 replies on “Smallville Review – “Heat””

  1. 3 months later?
    I’m I the only one that thinks it’s very
    implausible that no one notice the craft
    durring the entire summer?

    After a tornado, after the initial few weeks of searching for bodies, and repairing roads/buildings … wouldn’t most farmers go out to check on their crops, see how much was destroyed? Wouldn’t that field have been crop dusted as least once durring the summer?

  2. A couple of things
    1) Doesn’t lex believe in air conditioning? Every scene in his house had the people sweeting like pigs.

    2)Why is Clark sweeting. Isn’t he is nigh invulnerable, from heat as well as bullets?

    -Jack

    • Re: A couple of things

      Isn’t he is nigh invulnerable, from heat as well as bullets?

      Apparently he’s not completely immune to certain types of hotness. I think he was rather, er, preoccupied when we saw him perspire? At least he isn’t succeptible to pheromones.

    • Re: A couple of things

      1) Doesn’t lex believe in air conditioning? Every scene in his
      house had the people sweeting like pigs.

      2)Why is Clark
      sweeting. Isn’t he is nigh invulnerable, from heat as well as
      bullets?

      -Jack

      I know I’m replying a full 2 months later, but hey, I just saw the
      rerun last night.

      So, if you notice, Clark is the only one not sweating when the show
      starts, but he does start sweating once he begins staring at the
      biology teacher while the sex-ed movie was playing : )

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