After last week’s Halloween-ish episode, Thanksgiving comes to Smallville a few weeks early as Lois’s father and sister come for a visit. I’ve been a fan of Michael Ironside since I first saw him in Scanners (and he somehow seems to have not changed one bit in the nearly 30 years since that film’s release) so it was a real treat to see him as Lois’s father again (his last appearance was during season four). This episode seemed like it was going to be another throwaway episode with dad dropping by to grill the boyfriend and make life difficult for the couple. And he did, with the help of Lois’s sister Lucy. Both of them put Clark to the test, but if I was Lois and saw my sister smacking on my man I would have smacked her right across the face. At least she knew Clark wasn’t complicit in the kiss but, wow, with a sister like that who needs enemies?
I wasn’t sure how that interrogation scene was going to play out. I kind of thought it was going to be a Meet the Parents kind of thing where Clark would have to be really creative with his answers, but I really liked that it turned out to be much more dramatic and how Clark stood up to the general even at the risk of completely alienating him and possibly causing a rift between he and Lois or Lois and her father … or both.
But with all of the family dynamics and dysfunction, the episode really set up what I hope will be some more really dramatic stories that will push the series to an exciting conclusion. We’ve been teased so far with Darkseid in the season premiere, but now that Clark has faced the darkness inside of him it seems that Darkseid has gone off the radar. We’ve also been introduced to Rick Flagg and the Suicide Squad and tonight this mysterious group resurfaced and brought along a few surprises. While Lois’s father has been pushing the Vigilante Registration Act through Congress, the Suicide Squad has been bagging and tagging superheroes in an effort to band together and take back the freedoms and liberties that are being taken away from them. I really had no idea the Squad was working on behalf of the superheroes and it was quite a shock when Flagg’s target was not Clark but General Lane. In a scene that could be seen as the beginning of the end of the series, the Squad launched a missile that completely destroyed The Talon! That really took me by surprise.
I really liked how in the end the general and Clark had a nice heart to heart and cleared the air, and that the general acknowledged that he’s really okay with Lois having her own personal protector — it almost seemed as if he might have had a clue that Clark is The Blur. I also liked that Oliver and Tess have finally buried the hatchet, but what’s going to happen to Oliver now that he is stepping away from Watchtower in order to protect the others who have not willingly come out of the superhero closet? Overall, I thought this was a pretty well-written episode in that it, like great science fiction and fantasy does, addresses events, issues and problems facing society today. There are so many ways that we can see the superheroes/vigilantes reflected in our society as well as things like the Vigilante Registration Act. With this week’s elections and all of the rhetoric from all sides, this episode really made me angry at times because we have so many people with so many biases claiming they are working to better our nation, but in the end they just seem to be doing what they can to protect their own interests while leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. I doubt anyone will ever consider Smallville a great TV show, but anytime a show can make you look at real life through the fictional events portrayed on TV, that certainly elevates it a bit closer to greatness.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Nov 06, 2010 @ 09:19 EST5EDT
Am I the only one who thinks that the anti-superhuman rhetoric sounds too much like Marvel’s Civil War and looks too much like the Watchmen?
This entire arc, which includes Darkseid and his minister of propaganda Glorious Godfrey, is based very loosely on the 1986 DC Comics miniseries “Legends,” during which President Ronald Reagan outlawed superhero vigilantes and Amanda Waller activated the Suicide Squad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_%28comics%29
Yes, I am a geek. Why do you ask?
Thanks Tony. Oddly enough, I just had a very long phone call with a friend who is an expert on all of that and filled me in on Darkseid and Glorious Godfrey! I’m a little more up to speed on the comic lore now!
What exactly does the Vigilante Registration Act even do?
Not sure, but it sounds like something that was in the X-Men movies.
The “Superhero Registration Act” was a major part of the Civil War series Marvel ran a couple of years back … I think this is supposed to invoke that a little.
In the Marvel run, there was a serious accident and many deaths stemming from a super hero/villain fight. The US Govt passed legislation requiring all superheroes to register (including their real names) with the Govt and work at its direction. Many complied, many didnt, thus Civil War.
While I enjoyed the episode, incorrect pronoun usage by two “journalists” irritated the crap out of me. (Or perhaps I should say “out of I,” to mimic Lois and Clark.)
I know it’s nitpicky, but they do it all the time.
As for the Registration Act, passing an act is nice and all, but it is pretty unenforceable unless the superheroes *want* to follow it. Oliver is the only one whose identity is officially known, as far as I know.