Smallville jumps back into the task at hand with little Alexander being revealed to be Smallville’s version of Connor Kent. A very horny, psychotic, schizophrenic Connor Kent, but still Connor Kent. It was nice to have a little bit of a break from the overly dark story so we could kick back for an episode or two. The downside to this is that we forget just how dark this show can get. Not that I’m complaining, I loved this episode, but even I was a little weirded out.
The relationship between Clark and Connor was very much a throwback to the season two and three days. Similar dialogue that was shared between Jonathan and Clark (who we’ll see next week) is shared between him and Connor. I always had a theory that if they ever brought Connor onto the show, he would be a really crazy version of his comic book counterpart with all the Luthor DNA inside him. Yes, in the comics there was a story were Lex took him over and he nearly wiped out the Teen Titans, but they haven’t done as much with that as they could. They should have taken Connor and made him more of a Luthor in the beginning and then a Kent and had him learn his lesson over the course of his story (which we can assume will only be this episode unless he comes back in the end). But I honestly loved what they did with Connor, and Lucas Grabeel did an amazing job as crazy and not crazy Connor.
That being said, there was stuff in this episode that genuinely disturbed me. When you see Connor go off with heat vision when he sees Lois, you know it’s a reference to season two when Clark discovers heat vision on his own and you start laughing because of it. Then it goes to creepy town when Lionel gives Connor the red kryptonite ring and starts getting hands-on with Lois. I knew he wasn’t going to do anything like rape her, but it was looking like he was thinking about it. It almost makes me nervous about what Lex will do when he actually comes back.
Speaking of Lionel, he kicks ass. That’s really all you could say about him. He is the most underrated actor in Hollywood and he needs to be recognized for this at some point. While we’re on the subject of Lionel, that ending was freaky. Seeing Darksied come back right in front of Lionel confirms my suspicion that those two are going to team up in some way. The special effects also look improved as well. I have to say that in the past ten years, that was probably the only computer generated effect the show has had that looked movie quality to me. Unless that was a real guy, in which case, bravo to the costume and make up department -- you deserve an Emmy for that.
Turning to the side of Tess, she didn’t have as much to do as I would have liked to see her do in this episode, but Cassidy always delivers a great performance. I’m really looking forward to seeing how her story arc comes to an end before the end of the series… Although, with the deferent return of Rosey’s Lex Luthor, I can’t say the future looks bright for our favorite redhead.