Smallville 6.8: "Static"
Written by Shintaro Shimosawa and James Morris
Directed by James Conway
This continues to be the most surprising season of “Smallville” in quite some time, and considering that the end of this episode was spoiled by the media long before it aired, that’s saying something. It’s often difficult for a series to take substantial measures to improve storytelling this far into its run, so it’s quite enjoyable to see such a consistent effort.
While this episode focuses on the “classic” cast, the sixth season arc elements are at the center of the story. Clark is beginning to distinguish between those worthy of his attention and heroics, and that opens up some interesting psychological ground for exploration. Clark is definitely responsible for the actions of the “zoners”, so it makes sense for him to make that a priority. But Chloe is understandably surprised that Clark would dismiss Lex’s situation so easily.
Clark does a capable enough job of investigating the situation with the zoner, and it’s fun to see him deal with a threat that’s immediately out of his league. The writers also go in an unexpected direction by having Clark rescued, after a fashion, by a completely unknown hero with abilities that rival his own. Chloe echoes the obvious conclusion: sometimes a hero needs to work with someone else to overcome a threat. Tied in with the ongoing Oliver Queen plot thread, this is an obvious precursor to the formation of a team or, dare I say, “league” of super-heroes.
Chloe is rightfully concerned, because if Clark begins worrying over global issues, it would be easy for him to distance himself from his loved ones. And one of the conflicts of the whole “Superman” mythos is the disconnect between a savior from those being saved. If Clark loses that human connection, he could lose sight of the moral underpinnings of his actions. How he arrives at the right balance is an important stage of Clark’s development.
With Clark out of the picture, Chloe and Jimmy get to play hero and save Lex. Lex’s situation is interesting, because he finds himself in a peculiar state of existence. Oddly enough, in the field of paranormal research, some have noticed that there is a difference between normal human electromagnetic field frequency (50-60 Hz) and apparent paranormal electromagnetic activity (30-40 Hz). This episode may have been based on that idea, especially since Lex seems to be struggling with a ghost-like existence.
Of course, while Jimmy uses equipment to pull Lex’s voice out of video recordings (something done in actual paranormal research), his solution to the problem is an annoying mash of technobabble. Granted, on a show like “Smallville”, solutions are going to be relatively fantastic in nature, but this felt a bit more contrived than usual.
While the media focused on Lex’s proposal, the more interesting development is Lana’s insistence that research be done on those affected by the meteor rocks. Her justification is quite correct, given her experience and level of knowledge. Not being aware of Clark and his intervention, she has every reason to feel victimized by a growing population of mutated threats. This gives Lex a reason to disclose his activities to Lana, and more to the point, she becomes another strong driving force in his somewhat unethical practices. If the writers deal with that development well, then this season should only get better.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Smallville”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10
Directed by James Conway
This continues to be the most surprising season of “Smallville” in quite some time, and considering that the end of this episode was spoiled by the media long before it aired, that’s saying something. It’s often difficult for a series to take substantial measures to improve storytelling this far into its run, so it’s quite enjoyable to see such a consistent effort.
While this episode focuses on the “classic” cast, the sixth season arc elements are at the center of the story. Clark is beginning to distinguish between those worthy of his attention and heroics, and that opens up some interesting psychological ground for exploration. Clark is definitely responsible for the actions of the “zoners”, so it makes sense for him to make that a priority. But Chloe is understandably surprised that Clark would dismiss Lex’s situation so easily.
Clark does a capable enough job of investigating the situation with the zoner, and it’s fun to see him deal with a threat that’s immediately out of his league. The writers also go in an unexpected direction by having Clark rescued, after a fashion, by a completely unknown hero with abilities that rival his own. Chloe echoes the obvious conclusion: sometimes a hero needs to work with someone else to overcome a threat. Tied in with the ongoing Oliver Queen plot thread, this is an obvious precursor to the formation of a team or, dare I say, “league” of super-heroes.
Chloe is rightfully concerned, because if Clark begins worrying over global issues, it would be easy for him to distance himself from his loved ones. And one of the conflicts of the whole “Superman” mythos is the disconnect between a savior from those being saved. If Clark loses that human connection, he could lose sight of the moral underpinnings of his actions. How he arrives at the right balance is an important stage of Clark’s development.
With Clark out of the picture, Chloe and Jimmy get to play hero and save Lex. Lex’s situation is interesting, because he finds himself in a peculiar state of existence. Oddly enough, in the field of paranormal research, some have noticed that there is a difference between normal human electromagnetic field frequency (50-60 Hz) and apparent paranormal electromagnetic activity (30-40 Hz). This episode may have been based on that idea, especially since Lex seems to be struggling with a ghost-like existence.
Of course, while Jimmy uses equipment to pull Lex’s voice out of video recordings (something done in actual paranormal research), his solution to the problem is an annoying mash of technobabble. Granted, on a show like “Smallville”, solutions are going to be relatively fantastic in nature, but this felt a bit more contrived than usual.
While the media focused on Lex’s proposal, the more interesting development is Lana’s insistence that research be done on those affected by the meteor rocks. Her justification is quite correct, given her experience and level of knowledge. Not being aware of Clark and his intervention, she has every reason to feel victimized by a growing population of mutated threats. This gives Lex a reason to disclose his activities to Lana, and more to the point, she becomes another strong driving force in his somewhat unethical practices. If the writers deal with that development well, then this season should only get better.
(As a sidenote: I also have a podcast associated with my various reviews called “Dispatches from Tuzenor”. Current episodes cover “Smallville”, so it might be something of interest. Go to http://entil2001.libsyn.com if you want to listen!)
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 7/10
posted by John Keegan | 14:36
1 Comments:
If you get time, have a read of the following review of Static
http://www.kryptonsite.com/staticreview.htm, it covers some issues regarding Lana's character which I feel are relevant and sometimes overlooked. The series is develpoing well, but Lana is becoming more and more annoying.
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