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Smallville 7.10: "Persona" |
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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| This episode had a lot going for it. First and foremost, Brainiac returned, bringing back one of the best villains of the series. Bizarro was also prominent, and far more interesting than one might have anticipated. There was an appearance by yet another exiled Kryptonian named Dax-Ur. The writers even developed two parallel plot structures involving knowledge of the self. So why did this episode leave me so disappointed?
I definitely liked having Brainiac back in the thick of things; James Marsters gives the character depth, which is a welcome change of pace for guest stars of late. He does a great job of manipulating Bizarro, for example. Why the writers would have him do something as obvious as kill people and animals to leach of trace elements, when they should be readily available from other more discrete sources, is hard to fathom, but Marsters does his best to sell it.
Bizarro’s love/infatuation with Lana could have been a lot more interesting if this particular plot thread had been explored over more than a couple of episodes. As it stands, we’re told that Bizarro is treating Lana better than Clark ever has, but we don’t get to see much of those differences. The main thing seems to be Bizarro’s advocacy of her Isis activities, but it’s not entirely clear why that alone would deepen their relationship.
Dax-Ur seems to be an unnecessary addition to the “Smallville” mythology, though this season has already made it clear that the hints of Kryptonian visitation in earlier seasons were just the tip of the very large iceberg. Once again, Dax-Ur and his personal choices, and the meaning they might hold for Clark, would have been a lot more interesting if explored over the course of more than one episode.
Clark’s return to Smallville was also rushed, especially since Jor-El’s punishment seems to have been rather arbitrary, designed simply to toss Bizarro back into the game to mess up Clark and Lana’s relationship. What was the point of Jor-El’s punishment as depicted? It was a plot-mandated delaying tactic, nothing more. Had Bizarro’s presence been more extended, perhaps a more logical reason for Clark’s release could have been conceived.
Bizarro is depicted as Clark’s equal and opposite, implying that Lana is better suited to someone very different from Clark, despite their long history. Considering how often Lex has been Clark’s moral opposite, this latest twist continues to support the Lex/Lana pairing of previous seasons. Similarly, the Lex/Gabriel subplot is meant to parallel the Clark/Bizarro comparison. As with so much else in the episode, this is an idea that would have benefited from longer exploration.
Despite so many good elements, the rushed nature of the story (most importantly, Clark’s return) undermines the effectiveness of the ideas. Lana’s decision to destroy Bizarro would have been a lot more dramatic if we had seen the deepening of their relationship; it might have had the same feeling of inevitability that came with the Lex/Gabriel subplot. I must give them credit for aiming high, but I also must recognize that they missed the mark. |
