Tonight’s episode of ‘Smallville’ brought us back to familiar territory. A minor crisis, some comic relief from Lois, and Clark discovers another power. Typical of ‘Smallville,’ Clark discovers his latest powers via everyday human life. Fans should remember him getting all hot and bothered, then shooting heat rays out of his eyes. This time around he has a cold and sneezes. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who suspected super breath might be coming by episode’s end. While no where near the intensity of the season premiere, “Sneeze” was a solid episode to get us back on track with what we know.
This week’s recap will be brief, as not a whole lot of note happened. Except the introduction of the Green Arrow, which should provide some great storylines if handled correctly. I look forward to seeing more.
The news is calling what happened with Zod “Dark Thursday.” Yeah, that sounds like a typical 24-hour news channel headline created by Captain Obvious. Clark has been out each night clearing the rubble from what happened. It’s making him sick, and when he goes to do some chores he performs the Super Sneeze, blowing the barn door off. Clark officially has his first cold. His mom offers to make him soup, and have him rest with some DVD’s. When Clark tells Chloe about it, she doesn’t realize the magnitude of a Super Sneeze until he lets one rip through the Dailey Planet.
Lex is being followed and isn’t sure who it is. After confronting Lionel he is kidnapped in the elevator. The kidnappers are holding Lex in a warehouse and have him all wired up. They are supposed to be non-violent, but crazy guy McGee wants to find out how Lex swatted away bullets at the Pentagon. Best way I guess is to put a bullet in his arm. After trying the truth, Lex finally just lies and says a serum is what gave him the powers. Lana shows up and gets kidnapped as well. They try to test the serum on her, but Lex head butts Crazy McGee and a fire starts, trapping everyone in the warehouse.
Lionel stops by the Kent’s and tells Clark that he has to find Lex because whoever kidnapped him may be able to discover Clark’s secret. Clark goes to the Luthor Mansion and finds Lana there. He says he wants to find Lex and Lana tells him to do it, but “don’t pretend you’re doing it for him.” Clark leaves and Lana finds a video of Lex talking with a local private investigator telling her where Lex is possibly being held. Clark hears Lana call the PI with his super ears and goes to Chloe to find out where the guy is. They go to the PI’s place and see a secret room through the wall, but he is too weak to pull off the metal. So Chloe suggests he tries blowing, which gives us the next super power; Mega Super Awesome Breath. Clark figures out where Lex is being held, goes there and saves the day by blowing out the warehouse fire like a candle.
Lionel goes to visit Oliver Queen, who he suspects is the one that kidnapped Lex. Queen, of course, is the Green Arrow. So we have another super hero in the ‘Smallville’ universe. His intro was pretty good, and the arrow into the Dailey Planet globe at the end was awesome.
In a minor side-story, Lois is nearly decapitated by the barn door that flew off when Clark sneezed. She spends the episode investigating the incident, eventually writing an article that gets published in some tawdry tabloid. Lois seems to have found her calling.
So, what’s up with Oliver Queen? What were his true motives for kidnapping Lex? And what would happen if he discovered Clark had powers? This episode sets up the season six storyline, and as of now I’m intrigued. Since last season this show has really gotten back on track. If they avoid the tired relationship plot clichés that were relied upon heavily in a few episodes in season five, this could be the best season of the show.
