Sorry for not posting last week.  I had some post-operative issues from my recent throat surgery and was not feeling up to it last weekend, so I hope you’ll forgive me the lack of a blog post last week.

Smallville:

The Checkmate episode was a good episode despite being a Tess centric episode.  It really was a good episode for Oliver to have the final scene where he shuts Tess down, shuts the door on that chapter of his life and removes her from his life.  Despite my hatred for the character of Tess, Dan and I both agree that the scenes with Tess and Oliver were much more palatable than the scenes with Tess and Zod.  Those scenes are terrible and make me want to change the channel, or in reality fast-forward because I usually watch on my DVR.  I really cannot wait till the Zod plot line is complete and they kill of the Tess character.  I may even throw a party the day they kill Tess off the show!  Is that terrible to say? Naw.

The last two weeks the blogosphere was all a twitter with the question of whether it was Clark’s or Chloe’s fault that she was captured.  I propose that it was in fact a combination of the two.  It was Chloe’s fault because she would never have been on Checkmate’s radar if she had not been doing all the illegal hacking and surveillance with the Watchtower.  But it also appears that Checkmate knew enough about Clark to know that they could use Chloe as leverage to force Clark to join them.  Thus, it was a little of both Clark and Chloe’s own fault that Checkmate abducted her in this episode.

Speaking of Chloe, Dan and I both agree that we are getting a little sick of Chloe constantly holding a grudge against Clark for turning his back on her and Oliver at the beginning of the season.  We’re over the betrayal, she needs to get over it as well.  Dan loves Chloe, and Alison Mack for that matter, but really does not feel that her character would hold this grudge against Clark for this long and thus the writers need to cut this out.  As a plot device and a means to move the story forward, we feel that Chloe being captured was a good storyline, but there is no need for the bloggers to be assigning blame.

Dan really enjoyed this episode visually and said that the slow-motion flash scenes made it feel like a comic book.  My feelings on the use of the slow-motion was that it was excellent and very well done for the scenes  with Clark and seemed appropriate for him and his super speed and being a superhero.  For that same reason, I felt that the use of the slow-motion/flash scenes for the opening scene with Tess was unnecessary and even inappropriate.  She is not a superhero and thus should not be given the superhero treatment with the special effects.  That being said, the effects were visually stunning and Dan and I enjoyed them greatly.

It was nice to see the Martian Manhunter using his powers in this episode.  I was unaware of his ability to wipe people’s memories, but it was very useful in this episode.  Dan informed me that this is indeed one of his powers that he’s used on two or three occasions in the comic books… yet again exposing my ignorance of comic books.  I was a little concerned with him being aligned with someone other than Clark.  Dan says there is a rumor that it may be that the Martian Manhunter is partnered with Clark’s Mom, which would be awesome.  He should be loyal to Clark, but seems not to trust Clark enough to tell him who he is working with. Martian Manhunter has orders from Jor El to protect Clark, so should he not also trust Clark?  Dan thinks that the clone of Jor El may have contacted the Martian Manhunter and maybe gave him new orders in order to keep Clark safe and keep the other Kryptonians secret and thus safe as well.  This could be a viable theory, but I’m not so sure because the clone of Jor El was not aware of Clark until he learned of him on Earth, so he probably had not given orders to Martian Manhunter or may not even have known of him at the time he was cloned.  I do like the theory that it is Martha Kent that the Martian Manhunter is aligned with and feel that this would be much less of a betrayal to Clark if it turns out to be true. Not to mention that this would give an excellent plotline for the return of Martha Kent later this season.

The Metallo episode last week was excellent and Dan and I both were happy to see the return of Brian Austin Green.  Neither of us was very happy to see the use of Red Kryptonite and indeed I told Dan that when I first saw it, “it really pissed me off.” The show has done this too much already and I am sick of Clark being affected by different colors of Kryptonite.  Dan pointed out to me that every major turning point in the show has involved Red Kryptonite.  After he said this we looked back and indeed this is true:
1) In season 2 it was used to hold off the Clark & Lana relationship from progressing
2) In the season 2 finale it was used to have Clark run off at the end of the season and learn how destructive his powers can be if used incorrectly
3)In season 4 it led to Chloe learning of his secret when he caught the car in front of her
4) In season 6, Lana learns of Clark’s secret when he attacks her and Lex and Lex hits him with the crowbar
5) Now Zod learns of the Fortress of Solitude and also gives the Kryptonians powers… potentially leading to the war we all saw in the future.

I have to agree with Dan’s assessment.  In the past, Red Kryptonite was used by Jor El as a training device to show Clark the devastating power of his abilities.  He learned this lesson in season 2 and again in season 6.  So why now?  Was the Red Kryptonite used by the writers because Clark’s confidence in himself was shaken last season when things went all wrong and he needed to get his mojo back?  Isn’t the show past this?  Dan and I felt that it was used to fuel Clark’s teenage angst and he is past the teenage years and is an adult now.  This week’s use of Red Kryptonite was a mistake by the writers.  Red Kryptonite was a teaching tool and Clark should be beyond teaching tools at this point in his journey toward becoming Superman.  If Clark needed to learn something, it should have been how to fly or at this point in his life he should be learning like most adults learn, from their mistakes.  This is how we all learn in our lives, why does Clark need Red Kryptonite as an adult to learn in his life?

Dan and I both loved the first Metallo episode, but felt that the writers made Metallo too much of a hero in this episode.  He was a sympathetic villain in the first episode and we felt that this worked very well for the talented Brian Austin Green, but this episode the writers crossed the line from sympathetic villain too far toward a hero, which Dan and I both feel is too much of a departure from the comic book villain that is Metallo.  One of the most compelling things about John Corbin becoming Metallo was the whole issue of him seeking revenge for the death of his sister and this episode completely ignored this topic.  Red Kryptonite was the culprit for why they were unable to address this matter in this episode.  There were just too many other plotlines going on to focus on John Corbin’s sister, despite it being such a compelling storyline. In my opinion, this was yet another missed opportunity by the writers in this episode.  Dan and I were both disappointed with how small of a role Brian Austin Green played in this episode.  We both have become unabashed fans of him in recent years after his work on Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles as Derek Reese and as John Corbin/Metallo.  His skill as an actor was grossly underused in this episode and greatly frustrated me.

The writers have an opportunity to redeem themselves from the portrayal of Metallo as a hero in this episode because they gave him a Red Kryptonite heart at the end of the episode… the only good use of Red Kryptonite in this episode.  Metallo will become the villain he should be because the Red Kryptonite will corrupt his brain and cause him to do something terrible that he will be unable to live with when he is no longer under the influence of the Red Kryptonite and rather than dealing with the terrible thing he had done, it will drive him insane and he will become a supervillain to escape the guilt.

Finally, The Rumor of the Week:  Lois Lane will learn Clark’s secret before he becomes Superman.  This could be by the end of this season or a major theme/plotline next season.

Fringe:

Two weeks ago episode was great, especially for Dan who loves the Dr. Bishop character.  I do not normally enjoy episodes that do the Time Warp phenomenon, but this episode was very well done and I enjoyed it.

Dan loved the scene where Dr. Bishop was speaking with Dr. Alistair Peck (Peter Weller) about the consequences of going back in time.  We both feel that this may have been the best scene to date in the entire series.  The emotions of both Dr Bishop and Dr. Peck made this scene amazing.  Dr. Bishop expressed that he wants forgiveness from God, which surprised many viewers because they don’t expect a scientist to be a religious man.  As a Catholic and scientist myself, I know that Dr. Bishop and I are greatly in the minority of scientists these days.  Dan really commends the show’s creators that they were not afraid to go the religious route… much like Battlestar Galactica did (which we both loved and discussed weekly when it was still on TV).

The ending of this episode was amazing.  Dr. Peck worked it out that the only way he can go back is to be in a secluded area with no humans around and that he cannot save his fiancé and thus chooses to die with her rather than live without her.  Also, sending Walter the White Tulip was an amazing ending of the episode… got to love time travel episodes for the little things like that.

Fringe may not return this fall and rather we will have to wait all the way until January 2011 for new episodes after the season finale coming up on May 20th.  The show runners for Fringe felt that the momentum for the show this last fall was greatly hurt by the frequent breaks and lack of a consistent schedule due to the baseball postseason and other interruptions to the schedule.  With a January start, the show will be able to run virtually straight through to the end of the season with only a two week break for sweeps.  While this is probably better for the show and building momentum, I’m not sure I will want to wait until January for new Fringe episodes.

FlashForward:

It has been a while since I talked about FlashForward on the blog, so I will merely hit the high notes today.  First off, the two moles was a brilliant move both from a writers standpoint and from a strategic standpoint of the bad guys.  Brilliant!  When I saw the mole episode, however, my first thought was that maybe Janis was not really a mole, but had somehow learned that Simon had killed his uncle and was messing with him to get leverage on him and that she was not truly a second mole.  Dan thinks that this is a possibility, but not likely.  Either way, it made for a great discussion point and because Janis is one of the few characters that Dan and I actually care about, sort of turned us on our ears.  I really enjoyed this twist.

Mark was better in the episode two weeks ago and Dan and I both loved his speech to the new agents on their first day.  It was also great to see how Demetri and Mark became partners; very cool that Demetri respected him so much that he traded to be his partner.  Had a very Lost-ish feel and thus, I loved it.

Dan and I both agree that we would not be opposed to the writers writing Olivia and Simco off the show.  I actually yelled at the TV, “Oh! You stupid slut,” when she kissed Simco.  I loved Sonya Walger as Penny on LOST, but am not liking her as Olivia on FlashForward and really would not bat an eye if they wrote her off the show… this also stems from my feeling that besides Janis, Aaron Stark and Demetri, I am not really vested in any of the characters on this show and they could kill any of them off and I would not care.  Also, the line about Simco being Lancelot and Olivia being Guinevere was pure cheese.

Dan thinks (prior to this last week’s episode) that Demetri is the father of Janis’ baby.  I think that this would be great for the story, but do not think it is actually the case.  I think this because when Janis told Demetri about her being pregnant, he was still offering his services (as it were).  As I said, it would be great for the plotline to push the story forward, but I’m not so sure it is going to happen.  Can’t wait to see where they go with this plotline.

V:

Dan and I are becoming more and more convinced that Lisa is going to turn against Anna.  Our theory that her relationship with Tyler was causing her to have true feelings was all but confirmed this last week when she failed Anna’s emotions test.  Dan really wants to see Lisa turn against Anna and “really stick it to her.”

Dan asked an important question that I could not answer.  Can the Vs make their human skin appear like an actual living human (clone themselves to look like someone on earth)?  Dan was proposing that maybe Tyler’s dad was replaced by a V that looked exactly like him for the night in which Tyler was conceived and that is why the blood work comes back that Tyler’s dad is not his true dad but Erica has never been with anyone else.  I love this theory that Dan has come up with and think it is a great explanation of the situation.  This theory builds on our earlier theory that Tyler is a hybrid.  There are some holes in this theory, the most glaring one being that Erica was the human mother and to our knowledge was not dosed with the necessary potassium to bring the birth to full term… like Ryan and his fiancé.  We’ll just have to wait and see where this storyline goes in future episodes.

Dan and I both are big fans of the Doctor Joshua character on the V ship.  He is the defacto leader of the Fifth Column aboard ship and Dan and I both fear that he will eventually become a martyr to the cause.  He will only be able to keep his actions secret for so long before he is exposed and Anna will make an example of him for his betrayal.

As for Georgie, I felt that he needed to die in the episode before this last episode to show the Vs really mean business and cast them in a scary, evil light.  The death of Georgie also acted to accelerate the conflict on the side of the resistance.  Ryan, Fr. Jack, and Erica were enraged by the torture and death of Georgie and decided that “the next blood to be spilled will be theirs.”

Dan and I have a theory that since the show is called V, there is the potential for the death of many characters without hurting the entire concept of the show.  Despite that, we believe that Erica, Fr. Jack, Lisa, Tyler, and probably Anna and Chad Decker will be around for the long haul.  Ryan, the terrorist, Ryan’s fiancé, etc could all die to progress the show forward.  I wonder if Anna could die before the eventual series finale… I hope not, because Morena Baccarin is amazing as Anna.

Well that is entirely too much for a single blog post, so I’m going to end it there.  Keep up with the emails, tweets, voicemails, and comments.  Until next time, NO MORE RED KRYPTONITE!!!!