SV: 7-2 "Kara" Review

Whoa! This was an excellent episode but not because of the title character – although Kara was okay.

Warning: The episode is jam-packed with anvils – Smallville: As the Anvil Drops. A breakdown of the "Kara" ILL anvils can be found here.

Clark and Lois are walking around amidst the devastation around the dam. Lois spots Kara’s ship and begins to take pictures. Clark tries to convince her that the ship is actually a Styrofoam prop (ha, it probably is!). Kara comes out of nowhere and knocks Lois out.

Clark and Kara super-speed toward each other (much like Bizarro and Clark last week) and Clark goes flying (alas, not the good flying)?! The effect is fantastic but since when is Supergirl stronger than Superman? Especially as Kara’s been in suspended animation in her ship for 18 years while Clark’s been charging under the “yellow sun”. Kara warns Clark to stay away and flies off.

At the DP Clark tells Chloe about Kara. Chloe refers to the blond Kryptonian that is terrorizing kids at different pre-schools as “Supergirl”. Cool. Chloe names another superhero.

Clark zips off to Kara’s last known sighting and drags Kara away. Kara tries to fly off, but Clark catches her by her feet and slams her on the ground. Not bad for a guy who can’t fly. Kara realizes that Clark is not human. Clark spots the House of El insignia on Lara’s bracelet, offers Kara a hand up and tells her to trust him. Kara explains she’s looking for a baby named Kal-El. *cue Supeman theme*

Back at the jail, Lex is told that he has been cleared of all charges. The authorities have caught the killer - a disgruntled LuthorCorp employee who believes he has cancer because of the chemicals he’s been exposed to. They found his fingerprints at the scene of the crime and he’s confessed to the murder. Lex is not convinced because he doesn’t believe Lana is dead. Lex asks to meet the employee.

Chloe is at the loading dock of the Planet and comes across Lex. What is Lex doing at the Planet? Chloe asks how Lex got out of jail. Lex says his father arranged it before he went missing. Lex tells Chloe he believes Lana is alive. Chloe responds that Lana’s remains were positively identified. Lex says that Lana got her hands on classified data and if anyone knows what Lana is up to it’s Chloe. Chloe tells him he needs his head examined. Ha! I love the interaction between Lex and Chloe (even if it’s all about Lana – I’ll take what I can get).

At the DP, Chloe tells Lois that a story about a spaceship won’t do her reputation any favors. Grant Gabriel, the hot new DP editor who looks to be in his teens, overhears them. Chloe starts to introduce herself but Grant already knows all about Chloe Sullivan. He says that the DP is interested in Lois’ spaceship story and offers Lois a job working at the DP if she delivers a story that sells papers. *sigh* Once again Lois get handed something on a silver platter – this time it’s a job at the DP. Lois isn’t even looking to work at the Planet and is perfectly happy handing her stories to the Inquisitor. I’m sorry but how am I supposed to root for this Lois when she gets handed opportunities that she doesn’t deserve and doesn't even want? Grant hands her a DP job not because of her credentials but because of some perceived “attitude" she has.

This had better lead to something good for Chloe (Chlois!) and not be more gratuitous Chloe-bashing.

Back at the farm, Kara tells Clark that her mission was to watch over baby Kal-El. She is the daughter of Zor-El, Jor-El’s brother. The brothers did not get along – the El’s were a dysfunctional family. I think we had a hint of that already. She left before Krypton exploded and is not aware that Krypton is gone. Clark tells her about Krypton and warns her about Kryptonite.

Kara tells Clark that humans have her spaceship and if anyone but her opens it, it’ll self destruct causing a nuclear explosion. Huh? Why a nuclear explosion? For the added drama?

Cut to a lab somewhere – Kara’s ship is about to be opened. Main honcho tells minions to prepare extraction protocol and that they don’t have much time. As I recall in S5, Lex was unable to open Brainiac’s ship but I guess, two years later, they have the technology.

Back at the DP, Lois tells Grant that Chloe should write the story. Grant responds that Chloe has lost her “mojo”. What??? Lois tells him that Chloe’s feelings mean more to her than a story. Grant taunts Lois with feigning moral outrage to cover up the fact that she’s got nothing. Lois shows Grant pictures obtained from an army contact (she's the General's daughter, you know) showing something being moved from the dam.

Grant gives Lois a speech about being at fork in the road – in 12 years Lois Lane can be a star reporter whose name is synonymous with the Daily Planet or she could be Lois Fill-In-The-Blank with 4 kids in the suburbs. Lois goes for option 1 and promptly forgets about Chloe’s feelings.

Clark goes to Chloe for help in locating Kara’s ship. Chloe says she has nothing. Kara dismisses Chloe as just a human. Clark, in one of my favorite moments on SV ever, tells Kara that “that human is smarter that the both of us combined”. Chloe mentions AM/FM radio frequencies being disrupted. Clark realizes that Kara’s ship could be emitting an alarm.

Clark brings Kara to a roof top and explains about super-hearing. In another excellent scene, he coaches Kara to use her ability to find her ship. I love smart, mentor Clark. I hope we get to see more of him.

Lois meanwhile goes to the grain silo armed with a camcorder. When she touches the ship, she is knocked unconscious (that’s twice in the same episode but who’s counting?). Clark and Kara show up and Kara somehow contains a nuclear explosion and the ship disappears. How would a 5’8” woman suspended over a nuclear explosion be able to contain said explosion? Furthermore, the improbability of the scene was not helped by the crappy special effects.

Lex finds Lana in Shanghai. She pulls a gun on him. He apologizes for hurting her and tells her that he knew she was smart (we are talking about Lana here aren’t we?) but he didn’t realize she was brilliant (is he still talking about Lana?). I have to hand it to MR. He pulled off this scene very well. He truly is a brilliant actor to be able to spew that crap with a straight face.

Lex tells Lana to return to SV and live her life any way she sees fit (i.e. shack up with Clark). He tells her he’ll never hurt her again. Well isn’t this a nice twist - Lana is off scot free again; she feels no repercussions for any decisions she’s made and she has Lex’s blessing to run back to Clark. Just peachy.

Now bear with me: how is Lana going to explain the body found in the burnt SUV? How will Lana explain how the person's DNA is identical to hers? Why would the authorities presume that Lana didn't kill the person (her twin!) whose body was retrieved from the SUV? And even if they buy that Lana didn't commit murder and the body was already dead, Lana is still guilty of desecrating a dead body. Furthermore, faking your death is a prosecutable offense which carries jail time - how is Lana going to get out of that? It seems to me that the writers have once again written themselves in a corner for cheap melodrama. And in true Smallville fashion, it's going to be dropped - never to be mentioned again. Ugh!

At the Planet, Grant is impressed by Lois’ article – her “prose leapt off the page like a Bengal tiger”. If that’s the best analogy he could come up with, I could see him liking Lois’ article. He however won’t print the article because Lois didn’t have an accompanying picture. Chloe tries to defend Lois but Grant cuts her off and hires Lois; telling her if she plays her cards right, she’ll be out of the basement faster than her cousin. It’s crap on Chloe day – again. Chloe is suitably shocked – as am I. In this day and age, who's to say that a picture is proof? What with Photoshop, anything is possible.

Clark and Kara have a convo in the loft. After 6 years of Clark/Lana loft scenes, I tend to tune out loft scenes – but this one was welcome. Clark tries to cheer Kara up (there must be something about lofts that attracts moping Kryptonians, I guess – kidding) about Krypton and asks that she tell him about his family. Kara mentions Lara, Clark’s mom. It’s a very touching scene. The strangest thing about this scene is that Clark appears to be wearing a green t-shirt (that matches his eyes)!! Wow! Maybe the powers that be are getting a clue that it’s not necessary for Clark to always be wearing Superman colors (on second viewing - it's a trick of the light).

Kara mentions that a crystal containing all her directives and power to help her is missing. It appears that the “Main honcho” that has Kara’s missing crystal is an agent of the US Department of National Security. Interesting – so the government is aware that an alien has landed on Earth.

At the FoS, Clark talks to Jor-El about Kara and says he’s ready to start his training. Jor-El tells Clark that his training begins with Kara; he is to watch over her; she poses a greater threat than he believes.