Smallville Episode 803 Toxic- Official OSCK Review

By OSCK Moderator Baudyhallee

Caroline Dries wrote this episode. She also penned the teleplay Oracle in Season Five, fondly known as the Harley/piggy bank episode. She also wrote Subterranean (S6) and Sleeper (S7). Nuff said. This is a new season and we’ll see what happens when all the writers get to work with a super Clark.

I’m not sure why this episode seemed a little off. Maybe if we jump right in, we can figure it out.

Metropolis. The Ace of Clubs (first seen in APOCALYPSE AU). It’s a rain forest fundraiser and exotic flowers abound. The rich and stylish are in attendance. And then there’s Clark and Chloe. What were they thinking with that dress? Is she going Egyptian? We know that Jimmy got Egyptian and Kryptonian confused at one point. Hmmmm The waiters and waitresses are showing skin – but not enough that we noticed. Plates are $500 a pop and Clark is wearing a suit and his press pass. (Yummy!) He could always take a quick zip to the farm and have a PB & J if he gets hungry.

Chloe is snidely remarking on why Lois doesn’t have him attached to her hip tonight. “Lois and I aren’t always together.” (On this show, ain’t that the truth!) Chloe tells him he sees Lois more than she sees Jimmy, her fiancé. (Which isn’t saying much because she sees Davis more than she sees Jimmy) And Clark and Lois are working together now. That’s a good eight to ten hours depending. Besides their relationship always started at the DP working together.

Clark asks her to clarify her remark and she tells him never mind. She thought she would be the one to be editing his articles. Clark gets this goofy grin on his face as if remembering something. “Lois doesn’t circle typos. She underlines them two or three times.” He seems amused by that. Lois couldn’t skip out early to attend the party. She’s on Tess’s bad side. Chloe questions Tess’s goodness. Clark says she has been civil and Chloe accuses him of giving her slack because of her attractive looks. Clark expresses concern that Tess may be on the trail of his secret. Chloe says Tess must be handled with extreme caution.

We’re not certain if Clark got in free on just his press pass and we’re not sure why Chloe is there. Did she use Isis (Blahna’s) money to pay for her plate? Were they invited by Oliver? And why would Lois have to get out early to attend?

Oliver and his date arrive to flashing paparazzi and fan call outs. His date walks off and he toasts the crowd. The lights seem to be getting to him. He stumbles and falls. “Ollie’s party started in the limo.” Clark shakes his head and states that Oliver would never show up drunk. Clark sees the good in everyone and he knows Oliver. Ollie falls to the floor and Clark makes his way to him. Always polite.

Clark pulls him from the floor and wants to get him to a hospital. Ollie vehemently refuses. He tells Clark that he’s been poisoned and he has twelve hours to live. Dramatic, but . . what?

Isis Foundation. Chloe’s new workplace and named after an Egyptian goddess, who went to the darkside. Clark is dragging Oliver through the door. Uhh, why isn’t he carrying him? Super strength? Where’s the sense of urgency if Ollie’s getting worse and Clark thinks he needs to go to the hospital? Super speed? I know it’s hard to write for a character that could potentially blow out a star in the future, but c’mon!

“Davis is on his way,” says Chloe who must have contacted the EMT on speed dial. “He needs a doctor, Chloe!” says Clark with reasonable disdain. He and Chloe argue about not taking Ollie to a doctor. Chloe tries to convince Clark that she would do the same for him, following his wishes in a situation. Clark still does not seem satisfied with this reasoning. He wants to check Ollie’s phone to see about the girl he was with.

So Clark is being proactive and thinking on his own. Thank you! Davis arrives and Chloe says, “Thank God. Davis.” Hmmm, is she switching religions? Clark asks if he can help Oliver. The EMT examines Oliver, stating that he seemed stable, but he was going to put him on a heart monitor and take a sample of his blood to the hospital. This was after Chloe told him it was poison. Are any of you buying this?

Chloe knows Davis is risking his job to help. “But you can trust me.” Davis, beware. He tells Chloe to call if there are any changes. Clark is still checking Oliver’s phone. Speedy? We have to wait for Chloe to shut the door behind Davis and cross to Clark for their dialogue. Are they trying to kill Ollie? Clark has found out Oliver’s date’s name and is going back to the bar to find her in case she knows something.

All this exposition has to be funneled through Chloe and it just brings the pacing down. This is supposed to be an Oliver Queen focused episode, but he’s lying there like a piece of meat. Clark aka Mister Super Speed and Chloe are standing there having conversations about plot when there should be some action going on. A member of the JL is poisoned, get a move on!!! So Clark leaves and Chloe stares at Ollie and lets out a sigh. (This was her style of reporting, too. No footwork. Maybe if Mr. FastTyper put it on the internet she would have done something!) Where’s the compassion, Chloe, for a man you worked side by side with? Don’t know if this is just bad writing or bad direction or what – but it made me want to scream!

The DP. Lois enters Tess’s office with some printed copy in her hand. They have computers, right? Lois has been working on a story about the ‘grisly murders down on Hampton’ . . .Doomsday, maybe? She’s all proud to be giving this story complete with spellcheck. Unfortunately she doesn’t work for Perry White yet, who would just order her out of his office – after he read the story. She works for Tess who is conducting other business with some guy.

“Lois Lane. I haven’t fired you yet?” Gotta love Tess and great line.

“I guess you’re too busy printing my stories.” Gotta love Lois. She hands Tess the copy, who immediately dumps it on her desk. Lois looks annoyed but then sees pictures of Oliver at the fundraiser. They trade Ollie quips with Tess saying, “Y’know for a renowned party boy, Queen doesn’t know how to hold his liquor.” Lois takes offense to that. “Unbelievable. Metropolis may have its own Jack the Ripper and you’re preoccupied with smearing a humanitarian.” She asks if Tess knows Oliver and Tess answers with “Not like you do. You can’t tell me you don’t get a twinge of pleasure watching your ex take a public nose dive.” Tess obviously doesn’t know Lois, but she is revealing something about her own proclivities. “Look, he’s a good person, who stands up against corruption and social injustice.” Lois’ defense of Oliver pisses Tess off so she swipes the story away from the only reporter in the room. Tess doesn’t want Lois to have an emotional meltdown. Again, does she know Lois? Lois and Oliver were done a long time ago. Tess concedes she can take the story. Lois walks out determined and Tess seems satisfied with how it played out.

This is more like it! There was no physical action but the battle between these two strong female characters just gets better and better. Both actresses made gold from what they were given.

Clark at the Ace of Clubs. He looks around for Oliver’s date. He pulls out the cell phone and speed dials her number. Then he super listens for it ringing. Good! Great effect. He looks down at the street and sees it on a gurney being pushed towards an ambulance. He asks a cop what happened to her. They think she OD’d on something. She didn’t say anything, but she’d be lucky to get to the hospital alive.

Chloe is watching Oliver’s heart monitor. She’s demanding he recover. “C’mon Oliver, whatever’s going on inside of you, you can beat it.” Stop! Maybe she should follow her own advice. I say this now because we’ll see later that she is not fighting her own ‘demon’ but embracing it with delight. Ollie is still breathing, sweating and is beginning to twitch. Florence Nightingale she ain’t. Where’s the compassion? Clark has enough for everyone, but that’s no excuse.

Ollie is dreaming/remembering when he was shipwrecked alone on a deserted island. Rich boy goes for days without eating and he’s squeamish about eating a centipede. He hears some grunting (no, he couldn’t get that lucky) and sees a boar. So he tries chasing it. Rolling eyes. This causes him to develop a weapon. Yea, arrowheads, arrows, and a bow. He makes a hood to protect his head from the sun. The music from the animated Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles plays in the background (Season 6 DVD). Ollie constructs a target and over time practices his archery. Good arrow effects including two shots reminiscent of Errol Flynn’s Adventures of Robin Hood (a Warner Brothers’ picture). Talk about yummy! Justin had the skin boy honors tonight. Thank you!!!

Oliver hears an engine and starts running to the shoreline. We hear, “Get off the boat. Give me a hand with this, will ya?” He sees two men putting large crates and equipment up on the forested bank (which would indicate a river or a lake, not the ocean. Hello Crater Lake!) Ollie has scratched his hand on a flowered bush. It covers half his palm! Geez! Oops. Ollie passes out.

Isis Foundation Hospital. Chloe by Oliver’s side doing nothing, hears knocking at the door. We watch her cross to the door and she opens it. Apparently Lois is the only person who knocks on this show. “Hey have you seen Ollie, apparently he’s boozed his way into . . .” She spots Ollie lying on a chaise lounge like the hunk (of meat) he is. “Whoa! Who’s he been partying with? Motley Crue?” She’s marching into the room and taking off her jacket. Finally! Someone is doing something! She tells Chloe to find an overnight market so she can whip up her hangover recipe . . . which for some obtuse reason includes a dill pickle. “Let’s go! Tick Tock!” Thank you, Lois, for expressing a sense of urgency. I thought your cousin was going to let the guy die.

Chloe tells her he’s not hung over. Only after four lines of exposition she finally says the fateful words . . . ‘he’s been poisoned.” Dut Da Duh!!!

“Ollie. It’s Lois.” She’s not crying but he does react to her voice. She gets up and grabs Chloe. “What’s he doing here? He needs a real doctor.” Yea, Lois can’t believe it either. Chloe tells her that Oliver specifically said no doctors. Lois is not going to let that stop her. “Well, I’m conscious and I say he needs one.” Chloe starts spouting some crap about Oliver needing people he can trust. . . and this is what he wanted. Chloe protector of all the super heroes secrets – how is that going to work when Brainiac grows up and becomes a big boy while hibernating in Mother Teresa’s (not likely) body?

Lois capitulates. Rolling eyes. I’m having a real problem with this plot anchor. Your audience is not half stupid, y’know. Some of them work in the medical field. You could have let them in on why Oliver would say no docs, no hospitals, no medical treatment for poisoning whatsoever. It’s twelve and a half minutes into the show! Jeez!

So dead man lying down gets his wish as he mumbles another woman’s name. “Mercy.” I know I should be more excited about this. Mercy was Lex’s bodyguard and personal whatever in Superman: The Animated Series and then crossed over into comics. She has had multiple backgrounds so the SV writers could do pretty much whatever they wanted with the character.

Lois is trying to figure out what he’s saying. He sees Lois and then she turns into Tess, who is on the island with him. He’s in a tent now lying on a cot. He’s got leeches on his chest, who don’t seem to be too hungry. They’re wiggling around. Some things don’t know when they’ve got it good. (smile) Tess is whispering. Oliver sees another woman lying on the ground inside the tent and there’s a guard outside with a rifle. Tess introduces herself and tells him she can save him. Leeches actually produce an anesthetic (so you can’t feel them on you) and an anti-clotting enzyme. He’s been poisoned by a highly toxic plant. She says she’s a marine biologist. If she hadn’t treated him, he’d be dead in twelve hours. Ohhhhh that’s where he got the 12 hours thing (from ten years ago). A hospital would misdiagnose him and pump him full of adrenal killing him instantly. That could be debated. Poison victims are monitored for cardiopulmonary compromise – that’s why Davis put the heart monitor on him, but a shot of Heparin might have cured him too. Either way, Lex obviously didn’t write a paper for the JAMA otherwise the protocol might have been set up in regards to this particular plant poison. Evil Lex. Evil Tess.

She tells Oliver that she and her friend have been kidnapped. Dut Da Duh!!!

Met Gen. Davis is grabbing some adrenaline vials which are not under lock and key. Just sitting out in the hallway on a cart. Not even in a pharmacy. Hospital’s gonna lose their certification for that one. Clark walks in sans jacket for some reason. What? He asks about Oliver’s date. She’s just been admitted. They’re in the ER, not on a floor. Davis says he’s bringing Oliver in. Of course we’ve seen his protocol for poisoning. Hook him up to a monitor and pump him full of adrenaline. Whatever. Clark says they need more time. (Chloe hasn’t quite killed him yet.) Davis shows him Oliver’s date is alive because they pumped her full of adrenaline. (How many times are we gonna hear that phrase?) She’s sitting up in ‘bed’ drinking from a real glass. Davis pontificates about the wonders of modern medicine when they hear a monitor start beeping. Oh no! Oliver’s date is going to die! (If she was admitted to a floor – and that’s what a floor room looks like? She needed better insurance. She’s in the ER!) Okay, I must be getting board. I’m getting nit picky. Sorry.

Clark is still trying to find answers but gets stymied by ‘well intentioned’ people (and a poorly written script). Good to see Clark being proactive. But what happened to his suit jacket? Dut Da Duh!!!

So Clark and Davis are in the ER, Davis rushes into the room while the woman is convulsing. He tells the nurse to get a doctor. Okay, let me get this straight. ER nurse, let’s an EMT take over care of an ER patient to go get a doctor. Don’t they have buttons for that? A nurse comes in with a stethoscope around her neck. Davis screams at her to go get nitroglycerine. (He’s going to blow up her heart apparently.) Well no time for that, she went into shock as Clark looks on. And then she dies. Probably should have went to the Met U hospital. It’s at least a teaching hospital. Don’t have EMT’s who are monster Jack the Rippers at night caring for patients. Damn, somebody is gonna get sued!

Clark knows that Oliver could share the same fate. Well apparently not since he is being taken care of by an alien computer embedded in a super hacker and a budding intrepid reporter. Gotta keep those pesky doctors and nurses away from patients don’t ya know.

Back to the tent on the island. Ollie is bare-chested allowing Tess to dab his ‘wounds.’ Lucky girl. “It’s not quite the scenario I pictured if I ever ran into a woman on this island.” Oooo Ollie. Go for it, dude! We need some action in this episode. Tess looks a little unsure about his comment. Not the dynamo we see in the present. Maybe she’s like Lois in that she guards her heart . . . well, if she had one.

Oliver asks what happened to her and the other girl. Tess begins telling him they were in Fiji doing marine research when a speed boat came and attacked them, killing their guide and three of her classmates. There’s a tear on her cheek. Oliver wants to know how many ‘kidnappers’ there are. The guard and a guy named Marcos. They were on their way to Thailand when the boat started taking on water so they landed on the island so they could fix it. (Does that mean Ollie was in Bangkok before he got shipwrecked? Just curious!) He asks about her friend. Who is tied at the wrists and looking lethargic. She hasn’t even moaned during this episode. Maybe she’s mute.

So Marcos comes in, knowing it’s Oliver Queen he’s looking at. Mute girl is sitting up. Tess and her friend look at one another when Marcos talks about how Ollie got shipwrecked. Ollie pulls a macho and gets a knife at his throat for his trouble. He tells Marcos to let the girls go. He says, “I have a different idea,” as he tosses Ollie to the ground and then promptly shoots mute girl in the head. She’s dead. Tess leaps across the tent to get to ‘Megan.’ Even the guard seems a little dismayed at this action. Marcos declares that they’ll ransom Ollie for millions. He points the gun at Tess and Ollie jumps between them. He’s not going to allow him to shoot Tess without shooting him first. “I’ve been on this God forsaken island for TWO YEARS. So if I die, at least I die for something.” Noble Ollie. Justin needs a medal dealing with the dialogue though.

So Marcos puts away his gun, mumbles a line and then they’re out of there. (Doesn’t even deserve the trumpet blare thing.)

Okay, we’ve sat through some pretty cheesy plotting and some dialogue that Hartley would probably like to forget, but then we get this gem of a scene. Executed elegantly. Durance is amazing. Lois touches Ollie caressing his forehead. She cries. You know she’s hurting because some one she cared about is dying. It doesn’t mean they will get back together (if he lives), but some things need to be said when someone you loved . . .won’t be around anymore.

“Look at us the noble couple. I let you go and in return you were supposed to save the world. This Ollie. . . this isn’t saving the world, is it? This is you backing out on your end of the deal. Maybe we had it wrong. Maybe our story ends and neither of us are heroes. Because you’re not the only one who couldn’t hold up his end of the deal. The truth is . . sometimes I wonder if I ever should have let you go.”

We hear the door behind her open and shut. Footsteps, and Clark says in a soft voice, “Lo-is?” Lois blinks her eyes so he won’t see her crying. She tries to hide wiping away a tear. “How’s he doing?” Clark asks. She doesn’t look at him. She shakes her head silently and gulps. Clark takes the few steps between them and places his hand on her shoulder trying to give her comfort. The camera pans up and we see a pained expression as Clark watches Lois. He feels her pain. He wishes he could make it all right. The camera pans to where his hand is on her shoulder and then . . .

Cockblocker Chloe interrupts. Dut . . . DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! Tosses kryptonite at the trumpeters. Stomps off.

Returns. Takes a deep breath. Before we go into the next scene… let’s look at this last one. I could actually watch it a few hundred more times. Clark putting his hand on Lois’ shoulder is reminiscent of the end of AQUA. When Lois wondered if she would ever find the love of her life. Also, this line in particular stands out: “I let you go and in return you were supposed to save the world.” Well, Blahna won’t be able to say this to Clark. Because he is keeping his end of the deal. He’s saving the world now. So she can just stay away. She won’t because she always reneges on her deals – so . . . so not looking forward to that.

Welling and Durance make this scene magical. They ARE Clark and Lois. Oh yea, Clark didn’t look too happy about leaving Lois alone to suffer, but he went into the Chloe command center anyway. Chloe has LOTS of papers lying around. “The hospital couldn’t identify the poison,” says Clark probably wishing he was back comforting Lois. “That’s because the profile doesn’t match any public database.” Chloe is on a roll. Her brain’s a poppin. Clark is a little perturbed with her insistence.

You have to give Allison credit. She’s spouting out these scientific terms like a pro. Add also Chloe’s enthusiasm for her mind orgasm as she shuffles papers and rambles on to Clark. Well done, Mack.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she says in confusion. “You mean like I’m at a Met U lecture?” he retorts sarcastically.

Okay, the Chloe is the smartest person Clark knows . . . just has to go. It’s a totally stupid concept . . .well now it’s probably not, but when he said that Chloe was smarter than him and Kara combined. Huh uh. So Brainiac is reconstructing and soon will be rebooting inside little Miss Mary Sue. Clark sees her delight in becoming smarter than . . . well anyone on this planet. She dismisses him as she goes to her Command Center keyboard.

Stop! The light on Chloe when she is going to access all those lovely databases is INDIGO. Have they ever done that before? Brainiac, Indigo. Look it up! This may be the SV version though.

She tells Clark that LuthorCorp has the most comprehensive collection of organic material on the planet. Clark watches as all the monitors flash mega data in seconds. He realizes that Chloe is reading it all. He’s worried. “This is all because of Brainiac, isn’t it?” She tells him of her abilities and how extensive they are and then she starts this swagger to the printer reminiscent of Marsters. “Now I now that right now you’re making a list in your head of all the possible ways this could be your fault, but please. . . DON’T!” Clark doesn’t think any good could come of it. Chloe thinks that for once good can come from . . .evil? She wants to see it as a gift and asks him to trust her. (shouldn’t there be a siren going off warning of Armageddon or something?) She hands him the info about the plant and tells him to see Tess.

The DP. Top Floor. Clark enters Tess’s office. “It does bring out your eyes,” she says looking at something else. “That tie.” Boss flirting with employee. Yea, Clark probably got hired because Tess had the hots for him. Rolling eyes. Clark presses on with the mission. “I was wondering if you could help me with something.” Tess looks disappointed he’s not taking the bait. He explains that LuthorCorp may have the antidote that is killing his friend. “Believe me, my heart goes out to your friend, but I don’t have some secret stash of toxins or antidotes.” Stop. Tess is evil. Could she have orchestrated everything, including what happened on the island?

“There must be something you can do. Lex never abandons a project.”

Tess gets all dewey thinking about Lex. “He doesn’t, does he. I’m still catching up on the ones named after constellations (these are usually Greek Gods/Heroes), but if this lab exists. I don’t know about it.” Clark shows her the flower info and she asks him, “Who exactly is your friend?” She isn’t facing Clark. She seems to recognize the flower. He tells her Oliver Queen and she looks taken aback. “I’m not going to stand here and lie to you, Clark. But I can’t help you either. The lab was . . .” Okay didn’t she already lie to him that she didn’t know about any such lab. “relocated to Campo Grande Brazil.” So it’s not humanly possible to get the antidote to Ollie in time. But then not everyone is human. (smile)

Isis Foundation. Ollie on ice. Lois holds his hand. Davis bursts in. (Yea, Lois is the only one who knocks.) “You must be Lois,” he says as she looks at Ollie. “You must be the only one qualified to do this.” Doomsday says, “He’s dying.” Ew! That just gave me the creeps, but in a good way. Poor Lo! This guy will kill her future husband and now he’s giving her ex a death sentence. She looks at him in horror. “I’m sorry.” Davis is still a nice guy . . . for now.

She grabs his arm and drags him away from Oliver. Go Lois! “Here’s what’s going to happen, Dimples.” Bwahahaha “You’re going to reach into that little tackle box of yours and pull out a miracle. Oliver Queen does not die today.” Ahhh, reminds me of when Clark says, “No one dies today” in the future. So Lois is further up on the iconic ladder than Clark . . . but he’s making great strides. Lois wants Ollie to have every chance to live. Again with Davis doing the eye checking! Rolling eyes.

Ollie is on the island again. He takes what looks like a curtain hook and McGivers himself an arrow. Tess is crying over her friend’s dead body. Ollie draws near to console her. “I gave this bracelet to Megan on her birthday. She was my best friend. . . . she said she’d wear it til the day that she died.” She tries to take the bracelet off and Ollie tries to help her. He hands it to Tess who sobs and Ollie holds her. “I’m so sorry.” He takes the band from her ponytail to help with the arrow setup. “I said if I ever got off this island, I’d change. I wouldn’t waste my life.” Tess for some reason is looking at him in horror. “It starts now.” Tess nods. Meaningful look. The boat is ready. Ollie beats up the guard near the poison plant and then throws his makeshift arrow setup at Marcos. Who lands with a thud. Ollie takes his rifle and tells him to go to the leech pond if he doesn’t want to die.

Curious moment. Tess pushes Ollie away from Marcos and takes a set of keys from his belt. Ollie takes her hand. “Ready to go home?” She nods but there’s something else going on in her expression.

Ollie’s monitor at Isis. Do they have temperature on those monitors now? EMT ones? His temperature is 106F. That means his brain has started to fry. Davis runs to get more ?isotones? Lois tells Ollie to hold on. He starts to convulse. She’s shouting for Davis. Ollie flatlines. So they start CPR – doing about everything wrong. We hear Clark’s whoosh and he arrives with a syringe. “Clark, he’s dying.” He hands Davis the syringe and tells him to use it. Clarkie just did something that only Clark can do!!! YEA!!! So needle in Ollie’s chest. They wait. Ollie’s eyelids flicker. They breathe easier. Davis is confused, the antidote wasn’t supposed to exist. Clark tells him it’s from a nearby Queen Industries lab. (big fibber) Ollie still is saying “Mercy” with Lois at his side. Can this woman get any respect from her supposed love interests ex or otherwise??? Hello!!!

Ollie tells Clark to go find Tess Mercer, his Mercy. The poisoner will be going after Tess next. Clark is confused. “You know Tess?” Hey Clarkie, don’t sweat it. You’ll be a bigger man whore with the alien sex goddess (rolling eyes) Maxima next week. Then you can be more of a man than Ollie, well at least for one episode. Ollie begs Clark to go find Tess.

Metropolis street. Tess finds a knife in her tire. It’s Marcos. He’s off the island! “You left me on that island to die.” Hey, Ollie survived two years! “You’re not an easy person to track down.” He’s holding a knife to her neck. “You’re still the scared little girl I remember.” Tess takes offense to that so she kick boxes him in the gut. So she’s spewing out the smackdown. “You’re one of the men in my life that taught me how to fight back.” Marcos manages to knock out Tess (who is still wearing the Megan bracelet) and starts to go after her with the knife.

Clark arrives in a super blue streak. He heat visions the substation they are under and transformers fall and hit Marcos. Tess starts to recover and Clark takes off. Doesn’t want to take any chances she’ll see him there. She sees the damage and Marcos unconscious and wonders what happened.

So Ollie’s ‘Billionaire Bender’ is on the B Section of the Daily Planet under Joanne Totten’s Daily Dish. Looked up Joanne, she works for the Art Department of Smallville. Major props to her!!! Cool piece of business that. He visits Tess at Lex’s Mansion. “What ever happened to that guy who hung up his beer bong so he could do good in the world?” says Tess to a disgusted Ollie. He tries to convince he’s not that boy anymore. She makes fun of Ollie’s samaritan life. “And I was your first save.” He sees Megan’s bracelet on her wrist. “You know you were much more than that.” A lot of hot eye talk. “I’m glad you’re okay, Oliver.” And Tess looks sincere. More eye talk. She makes some crack about wanting Oliver alive for competition with LuthorCorp. He’s wondering how she got to be CEO of LuthorCorp after being a marine biologist and trying to save the whales. “I found out how ruthless you were a long time ago,” says Ollie. Oooo history! “After what you did to me did you really expect me to sit around and eat ice cream?” Uhh was that a Lois crack? Oliver replies with “No, you’d rather work for my greatest enemy . . . and then you take over and start running his company.” So Tess tries to put his little “I’m the center of the Tess universe” to rest. “Everything I did, I did for me.” So apparently in the past, Oliver left her without saying goodbye. Does this have anything to do with — I let you go so you could save the world? – did Oliver have that going on with Tess, too?

Apparently Tess called Oliver to give him a folder that Lionel Luthor had. He turns his back to her to read it while she watches him. He looks upset.

Daily Planet. Clark comes into the office wearing a suit and tie carrying a coffee cup – which Lois quickly confiscates. She thanks him, too. He makes a feeble attempt to tell her it’s his. She’s typing away. With his hands folded, he begins to tell her, “I spoke to Chloe and she said you didn’t come home last night.” His eyebrows go up on the last words. He blinks while waiting for her to talk. “So not what you’re thinking. I might have played nurse with Oliver but it never progressed to doctor. I’ve been working here all night.” Ahh, Clarkie was worried that she was going back with Ollie. He seems a little relieved to know she isn’t.

He picks up an article she’s been working with. “Kitten adoption fair on Sunday. You gave up your article on Oliver for this? Doesn’t sound like you, Lois. Is it possible you’re more shaken up about last night than you realize?” Again with the worried eyebrows. “Ya think?” she says as she walks away. “I was practically a three shot martini.” He follows her. Clark tells her not to bury her emotions in her work and even though the relationship is over, it doesn’t mean the feelings go away. Oooo Clark giving Lois relationship advice. What a shocker! They talk about him and Lana being a roller coaster. So Lois is not cut out to date a guy with a hero complex (and apparently neither is Tess). “He’s practically an icon, The Man of Tomorrow. And I’m just, Lois Lane, the girl that writes about it.” Erica is adorable delivering this anvil. And it’s good to see Tom really be able to stretch is emotional base from angst and unconfident. His and Erica’s scenes are full of chemistry and fun.

“Lois, there’s nothing wrong with that.” You better say that! Hehehehe “You just have to trust your gut and realize you broke up for a reason,” says Lois waving a coffee cup around. “Exactly,” says Clark looking a little stunned. “That was on the house, Smallville.” She gives better advice. She tells him she’s allergic to cats and hands him the kitten fair article. “Get to work. Chop. Chop.” She sips her coffee as Clark gives a little grin.

Isis Foundation. Chloe enters with the mail. She sees someone in the inner sanctum. She thought she closed the doors. Davis found them opened. He says he was checking in on Oliver. He begins to notice Chloe’s nest of info which she quickly tries to pick up. “You must have done well on your SATs. I thought you said you took journalism. Are you a genius or something?” She starts babbling about when seating charts start looking like Euclidian algorithms (ancient Greek algorithm). So we get mentions of the wedding. But where the heck is Jimmy? Davis finds out Jimmy doesn’t know about her sudden burst of smarts. Nice one, Chloe. She wants it to be their secret. “Chloe, I think in some weird way there’s a part of us that we hold beneath the surface. I know I do.” Yikes! Doomsday confesses to Chloniac.

Shotglasses on the bar of the Ace of Clubs. Ollie tying one on for real this time. Clark in a bar. “Tess Mercer’s attacker was arrested last night.” Clark with his hand in his pockets. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Tess Mercer before?” Ollie explains it was in the past. He’s not proud of the way things turned out. Clark points out that she knew the guy who tried to kill Ollie. Good thinking, Clarkie!!! Ollie says he thinks the guy was trying to take them out because they’re the big industrialists in town. He’s either hiding something from Clark or he just doesn’t know what Tess is up to.

Clark is concerned about Oliver’s drinking. “Why don’t you just stick to your milkshakes?” LOL. The Boy Scout gets all the smart ass remarks thrown at him. They’re just jealous, Clark. Ollie tosses Lionel’s folder at Clark. “Lionel Luthor killed my parents.” They discuss how it might have happened. “Did you know about this?” asks Oliver. Clark is closed mouthed. “Look, Oliver, I was afraid you’d do something you’d regret.” Ollie gets pissed. “You thought I was going to kill him? I wouldn’t have killed him.” Poor Justin gets dialogue about how Oliver survived through treacherous conditions on the island for two years culminating in the greatest menace of all. “There were mosquitos! That ate me alive!” Bwahahaha Man, don’t go to Alaska. They’re like B-52’s up there!

“But that’s okay, it made me strong. You may be invincible, but you are not fearless, are you? You’re afraid to trust your friends and you’re afraid to face who you were really meant to be. You’re afraid of everything. Maybe you haven’t been put to the test yet. Maybe your island is still out there, Clark.” Ollie walks away. I love Ollie’s kicking Clark’s butt speeches. My fav is still, “When are you going to get off your ass?” Well the answer to that is two years, which is a long time in tvland. Clark is silent and thoughtful in this scene. And we wonder if Doomsday is Clark’s island – let’s hope he’s bigger than Clark’s previous seven years of inner demons.

A Taxi. Marcos is going to the airport. Before he can close the door his hand is scrapped with a flower. Guess who? Tess paid his bail and just murdered him. She tells the taxi driver to take him to the hospital. Tess is standing in front of the movie theater where now playing are Stolen Intelligence and Confidential Ultimate. She drops the flower in the street and runs over it with her car. License plates say NOMERCY as she drives through dark Metropolis.

Rating: A little too much cheese for me. The main plot premise was flawed. There were some good scenes though – however intermittent. The actors did well with what they were given. Clark is still super. Used several powers in just this episode. He and Lois are maturing nicely. They are more than enjoyable to watch no matter what the emotion of the scene. Their scenes are saving this show! I’m missing Jimmy in these DP scenes. Tess is great and I’d really like to know about her and Ollie’s history. I’m going to give it a 3.75 cause a 3.5 is probably too low for the actors’ performances, but I really can’t give it a 4.

Next week: Maxima – the sex goddess (rolling eyes) puts the love whammy on Clark so he can be a ‘sweet’ man whore. Let’s hope Lois bails out that episode and keeps Clark’s character out of danger. Go Lo!!!

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