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Smallville
"X-Ray"
Episode 1.04
Air Date: November 6, 2001
Written by: Mark Verheiden
Directed by: James Frawley
Guest Stars: Sarah-Jane Redmond (Nell Lang)
Due to the crap-fest that was the first thirty-five minutes of Smallville, this review will be somewhat abbreviated this week. I don't really want to get into the particulars since I only want to do this once. Take a deep breath. It's okay to not like an episode of Smallville.
Alright, now that that's overwith, let me tell you that Lex Luthor has saved the day once again. In spite of being forced to watch the first 30 minutes, this show managed to achieve a certain level of near orgasmic titilation after that. Lex Luthor might not be the nice guy many were hoping he would be. You see, folks, Lex gets the shakedown from a sleazy tabloid reporter. Instead of paying the guy off to keep quiet, Lex threatens to make the man's whole life disappear. All the reporter has to do is work for Lex and print what he wants. Also, he wants the man to look into a little mystery involving a car accident in a bridge.
It seems our man Lex is really curious about what really happened when he hit Clark back in the pilot episode. Jeepers. Could Lex have been screwing with Clark the entire time? Maybe. I hope they don't turn him into a villain too soon, but hey, any direction is good compared to the first half of "X-Ray".
That said, I guess I should discuss what happened in the first half. Here goes. Lana is, once again, the damsel in distress this week, but this time it's not just an obsessed stalker. No this time, it's an obsessed stalker that can shapeshift. Not only that, but a stalker that likes to rob banks disguised as Lex Luthor. That explains the shakedown from the sleazy non-journalist. To make a very long story short, Tina (this weeks stalker) wants Lana's life and decides that Lana doesn't deserve to live it. I think you and the rest of the grade schoolers of the world see where this is going. Once again, the writers use Kryptonite as a means of making the villain a threat to Clark. Blah blah blah, Clark saves the day and doesn't get the girl.
Did that hurt you as much as it hurt me? Anyway. I have two recommendations. First, stay away from crazy stalker storylines. I like Lana. She do be pretty, but you can't have half the town obsessed with her. Secondly, don't ever let Mark Verheiden write another episode. All in all, the first half of this show gets a 4 out of 10, the second half, though, gets a much better 8 out of 10. Tallying that up, we get a final score of:
Episode Rating: 6 out of 10
- drenball
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