Smallville “Supergirl” 

If you are a Smallville fan you have to face the cold, hard truth: there just aren’t that many of us out there in the real world.  Sure we can chat it up online and post on forums, but really we have to be honest with ourselves, Smallville just isn’t a “social experience” show.  So when I realized that one of my friends actually watches the show and we had never talked about it before, I invited him over to watch it and it dawned on me that this was the first time I had ever watched this particular show with a friend. I didn’t know if watching it with somebody else would affect my opinion of the episode, but I think it’s safe to say it most certainly did. 

Right from the cold open we saw how this season’s big bad (Darkseid) is going to work for the time being when part of his spirit possessed a local AM radio talk show host who was hell bent on getting The Blur out of Metropolis.  When he holds a rally and a billboard crashes of course you think The Blur is there to save the day…BUT NO!  It’s Supergirl!  That’s right…not Kara…but Supergirl!  My friend and I let out a collective “Holy S***!!!” as the woman of steel hovered on screen and took us to the first commercial break.  This is when I realized the social element of this show.  Would I have jumped out of my seat screaming in joy had I been watching this by myself?  With somebody else there cheering along with me it forced me to put aside the whiney, snobby, critical fanboy in me and truly embrace the show with fresh eyes.

Lois is back from Egypt and she’s not too pleased that this talk show host is making life rough for her vigilante friends so in typical Lois fashion she takes matters into her own hands.  It all culminated in her tracking him down to some fetish S&M club where the final battle culminated with Lois trapped in some weird bondage trap.  Whoever on the Smallville staff thought it would be a good idea to have Erica Durance in tight black leather revealing massive cleavage at an S&M club…God bless you sir.

Kara came to tell Clark about the darkness coming and how Darkseid works like a virus that can possess anyone unless they are pure of heart, and apparently Clark is not pure of heart.  I’m still not sure why Jor-El all of the sudden is disowning Clark and why Clark is not pure, but I suppose it has something to do with self doubt and not understanding he’s Earth’s savior, not it’s God.  The highlight of Kara coming back (besides getting to see the intensely attractive Laura Vandervoort) was when she tried to teach Clark how to fly and for a brief moment he appeared to be well on his way.  My friend and I both jumped out of our chairs when we saw him soaring and both plopped back down laughing when he crashed landed in the barn.  It was definitely one of those defining moments on the show and will most likely be in my top ten moments of the season at the end of the year.

And what about Oliver you say?  Well for most of the episode he is largely in the background.  At first I was frustrated as he is my favorite character and I don’t like it when he gets the shaft.  However at the end of the episode Oliver brings in the press and announces to them that he is indeed Green Arrow ala the end of the first Iron Man.  This no doubt will have MAJOR ramifications for not only him, but the entire Justice League.  Hopefully this means much more Oliver in upcoming episodes.

So was it the best episode of all time?  Probably not, but it didn’t matter.  This episode proved why Smallville has been on the air for ten seasons.  People love these characters and we want to see them grow into the icons we all know.  We connect with them and most importantly, we care about them.  Sitting there with my friend cheering for Supergirl saving the day, gasping when Clark quasi-flew, and jumping up when Oliver announced he was Green Arrow I realized that this show isn’t perfect and yet it doesn’t have to be.  Forget the whining about no Superman suit or CGI effects.  At the heart of it all, it’s the story of how one of the greatest superheroes of all time became that way, and that’s pretty damn super in my book.