Smallville Review: Mercy Episode

Yeah, I know, this is a comic book blog. However, anything related to comic books is fair game and that includes any TV shows or movies based on comic books. So, with that, I had to put down my review and impressions of the latest episode of Smallville.

Holy crap! What an ending! I’ll admit that for the first 45 minutes of Smallville, I was highly unimpressed with the episode. It felt like a standard villain of the week episode. And to top it all off, it was a rip-off of Saw which is a movie that I thought totally sucked.

Here is the episode in a nutshell:

Lionel Luthor is captured by a cheesy “Saw” type villain who puts him through various deadly “games” designed to teach Lionel various lessons in morality. The villain even captures Martha Kent and makes her a part of the games. In one game, Lionel has to figure out a phrase while Martha is trapped in a tank that is being filled with water. The final game consists of Lionel and Martha in a freight elevator with explosives strapped to the elevator cable. There is a gun on the elevator with one bullet. Once one kills the other, the timer on the explosives will stop. If neither shoots each other then the timer will continue and the cable will be blown apart and both die.

Meanwhile Clark, Lex and Chloe have been searching for Martha and Lionel. Clark and Lex investigate a location that Chloe has traced the villain’s signal from. It turns out to be a fake location. There is a TV at that location broadcasting what is happening on the elevator between Martha and Lionel. Both Clark and Lex watch. Lionel grabs the gun and puts it in Martha’s hands and tells her to kill him. Lionel says that Martha is a good person and Clark is a very special boy and needs her to help him become the man that the world needs him to be. Martha can’t shoot Lionel. So, Lionel takes the gun and puts it under his chin and pulls the trigger. The gun isn’t loaded. The timer stops. The villain then appears outside the elevator. He pulls of his mask and it is an ex-employee of a company that Lionel used to try and take over LexCorp. The failed take over cost this villain his job. Lionel apologizes and asks the villain to let Martha go. During this, Chloe calls Clark and Lex to tell them the location of the villain’s signal. Clark blasts off in super speed and Lex turns around to tell Clark that they need to go and Clark is gone. The villain presses the button and blows up the elevator cable. Lionel and Martha fall to their sure death. Clark appears at the villains’ hideout. He busts through the wall to the elevator shaft and catches the elevator before it hits the ground. In that scene, Clark is looking up through the grate bottom of the elevator into the eyes of Lionel Luthor. Clark rips the elevator door off. Lionel thanks Clark and says it is a miracle and then stumbles off.

Later, Lex confronts Lionel about why he said Clark was a special boy that the world needed. And how Clark suddenly disappeared from where he and Lex where. Lex says Clark saved them. Lionel told Lex to let it go. That Clark is a simple farm boy. And, that his comments about Clark being special was that Clark is the type of son that any father would want. Ouch.

The episode ends with Clark visiting Lionel at his office. Lionel tells Clark that he can trust him and that he is Clark’s friend. Clark threatens Lionel and tells him to stay away from his mother. Clark leaves and then Lionel starts to have some sort of seizure and starts to scribble something on a piece of paper. End of episode.

The first 45 minutes was not so great, but the last 15 minutes were jaw dropping awesome! First, Lionel finally sees with his own eyes that Clark has super-powers. Second, Lex definitely knows that something is up with Clark and that Lionel knows about. Third, Martha thinks that they can trust Lionel after seeing him sacrifice himself for her during the final “game.” Fourth, Clark threatens Lionel and then Lionel receives some type of mental message that causes him pain and has him write something down.

I loved it! The storyline with Lionel knowing about Clark is going to be highly entertaining. I can’t wait to see where they go with this. It is pretty obvious that Lex is going to kick his interest in Clark up to an entirely new level. It is also obvious that Lex and Lana are going to become an item. That is going to just kill Clark. And could it be that Martha is starting to develop feelings for Lionel!? Oh my.

Smallville is the Clark Kent that I wish was in the Superman comic books. I find the characters on Smallville much more engaging then the ones in the Superman comic books. Overall, I enjoyed this episode. Just when you think Smallville couldn’t get any better, it cranks it up to an all new level.