Smallville 9.07 "Kandor"

[emeraldstag]

I've tried to let it roll off my back and just enjoy the show. The fact that I've kept watching I guess shows that I haven't minded that much or enough to stop watching, but I'm really getting tired of the hypocracy from the show's producers about what has to take place in Smallville and what can't happen in Smallville because they have to tie it into the Superman Mythos. Especially since they're part of a creative corporation that uses multiple interpretations/universes yet they try to have this hardline with this show (despite the differences with Pete, Lana, Chloe, the Kents, Lois, Lionel Luthor, Jimmy) and now they don't even do a good job of following their own show's continuity. I'll still watch but it's getting frustrating.

• Zod. I have to admit, the way they've told his story so far, and with Callum Blue's performance I can see how easy it is to understand Major Zod's loyalty, pride and passion. If there's something about Smallville that seems to carry throughout the seasons is their desire to make characters at odds with eachother or "rivals" start out almost like a brother-like relationship. Jor-El refusing to bend his ethics to give some hope for Zod's dead family, hard not to see why Zod would turn on him after everything he had done for Jor-El.
• Tess. I don't know how I feel about the obvious tension that's building between Zod and Tess. I had thought we'd see more Tess/Clark interaction this season with him knowing that she knew his secret and him being resigned to that fact, but the reality that it takes this episode for them to have their first scene together just doesn't bode well for that angle at all. It really feels like Tess is a character that thinks she is in control but will eventually discover she is in way over her head.
• Jor-El. As i brought up in last week's review, I talked about Season 3's "Relic" and Tom Welling playing Jor-El when he came to Smallville 40 years ago. I gave Smallville the benefit of the doubt that with the new actor playing Jor-El looking nothing like Tom, that perhaps there was enough time to have passed for Jor-El to have aged. Clark had been almost 20 in season 3 (probably 17) to be exact and krypton had blown roughly 20 (probably 15 years before that). Considering that Jor-El appeared 40 years before S3, that would give 20-25 years before Krypton blew and when he visited Smallville. So there was a chance they'd get this right. What do they do? In the first scene of "Kandor" they put on the screen 20 years before Krypton's end. Pretty much the exact time that he went to Smallville or just a little bit afterwards. That killed me right there at the beginning. Can't they try a little harder to not ignore their own show's continuity?! (Let's not even go into the creation of Stones of Power either)
• Clark. It's a sign of the direction the show is going but I'd really wish they'd switch the roles Oliver & Chloe have in Clark's life at the moment. Clark is all about the search for his father and Zod with Chloe leading that and then later on he's talking about his feelings with Oliver. Shouldn't that be the other way around? And where was Shelby? There were enough farm scenes in this episode to warrant a little cameo by everyone's favorite pup.

Next week comes Smallville's version of the Wonder Twins. Knowing how apt Smallville is to be very liberal in their interpretations of characters I'm not expecting a lot in similarities to the Superfriends version outside of them being twins and the color purple. I like the idea of copycat rescues being inspired from the blur's actions (CAN WE BRING BACK THE RED & BLUE ALREADY?!) and how Clark will deal with that. Also let's see if they even talk about the kiss from "Crossfire" or we'll just have more Lois ignoring reality like they had her do with her skipping town during "Kandor". Lastly It's probably impossible but I'd love to see Kara guest in an episode this season again and even return as a regular. I think the cast is just too tiny and too focused on Clark's battle against evil when he isn't even a public hero yet.