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Smallville
"Metamorphosis"
Season 1, Episode 2
Directed by David Nutter
Written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Before we begin, let me just say that Remy Zero's "Save Me" is really working for me as a theme song. Now, on to the review. Tonight's episode give's me renewed strength in the potential of this series. We get some character development, some nice FX, and quirky little comic moments. The first thing that caught my eye tonight was the little details about Lana. Lana comes across as a pretty stereotypical cheerleader/homecoming queen at first, but the first thing she does with that tiara is toss it in the bottom drawer of her dresser. Nice.
We also learn that Lana's got a secret admirer. A secret admirer that likes to leave little boxes in her room when she's away. Personally, I'd start locking my windows at night if I found something like this on my bed, but I digress. The box was put there by tonight's nemesis, a young man named Greg Larkin, better known as Bug Boy. You can call him Bug Boy for various reason. First, there's the bad skin, and the green Beetle he drives. Yet, it's probably the more obvious bug collection he has. Greg strikes me as your typical lonely loser. The kinda kid that ends up climbing a clock tower one day, you know?
You see, Greg loves Lana. Well, he's obsessed with her. He likes to follow her around and leave her little presents filled with live butterflies. Your normal highschool crush kind of scenario, only creepier. We're talking major league got-the-video-tape-collection-to-prove-it sort of stuff here. When Greg's mom finds his secret stash of Lana Lang's Greatest Hits she threatens him with military school. That'll really get Greg to straighten up and fly right. Yeah. While fleeing the prospect of communal showers and saluting the flag every morning, Bugsy manages to wreck his car and get stung a whole helluva lot by his best friends. Normally, calamine lotion would soothe these wounds, but I guess when you keep little glowing green chunks of Kryptonite in their cages, the bugs become little harbingers of wacky mutation. Greg's powers provide some much appreciated eye candy. He pulls of some gravity defying leaps, climbs walls, and spits gobs of spider-webbing.
In other character news, Lex proves his cool factor by trying to help Clark out. After giving Clark Lana's necklace, he advises him on how to win her away from Whitney. Double L doesn't stop there, though. He manages to put Lana on the scent of boyfriend Whitney the Uber-jock. I felt sorry for Whitney during this episode. Well, not really, but I came close. When Lana finds out about the Scarecrow incident, she all but dumps Uber-jock on the spot. Not only that, but his truck suffers further damage (see last week's ep) when Bug Boy tries to kill him. The producers must really hate Whitney's truck. Clark, of course, manages to pull Whitney from the wreckage in time to show off his invulnerability to his mother. She takes it rather smoothly. People in Kansas must be used to strange things happening.
Clark is making this rescuing thing a regular habit, prompting Lex to utter one of the best lines of the night, "Save any lives on the way over? Better watch out, or you'll end up making a career of it." That's not the only reference of things to come, either. Turns out, Papa Kent likes to call Clark's hayloft hideaway "the Fortress of Solitude". Sweet.
The weakest link this week was Chloe Sullivan. She was the weak link for me during the premiere, too, but hopefully they'll develop some meat for this character and break her away from the obvious Lois Lane clone she started out as. Pete was practically invisible this week, and he needs some face time, too. Otherwise, I really dug "Metamorphosis."
Episode Rating: 8 out of 10
- drenball
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