Season 1, Episode 8: Jitters

"Jitters"
Episode 8
Air Date: December 11th, 2001

What's this??? A special guest star in the form of Mr. Candyman himself??? O_O Boy is it always a delight and wonderful sight to see ole Tony Todd in ANYTHING!  Seriously, those Final Destination films only crowning achievement were when Todd popped in with his masterful perfection of the art of nuance and haunting subtly. While Earl Jenkins himself is a good character on paper and even better onscreen thanks to Tony's amazing execution, the episode fumbles about mostly thanks to the incredible silly and stupidity of Jenkins's aforementioned in the title of the episode jitters.  It's 2021 now and those early 2000s effects on the WB hit didn't age well....AT ALL!!! O_O One could say it's too be expected but it's also the added ridiculous and absurdity that a young Superman going face to face with a psychotic, accidentally made junkie with very sporadic shaking powers...yes...the power of shaking is made into Clark's clashing of powers this week and of course, being meteor infected, getting close to Earl makes Clark significantly sick and weak...yet the ending conclusion of him saving Lex and Earl from falling to their deaths with one hand makes no sense considering he's literally touching and pulling up what can kill him! This is gonna be a recurring problem for this show: the hilarious inconsistency of the effects of kryptonite on Clark....but we'll get there trust me. ;) lol

The other thing to really take from this episode is the wonderful building of the Kent family and Luthor family dynamics, especially that heart shattering stare Lex gives the Kent as they truly embrace Clark with unconditional love despite being adopted while Lex's father can't help but feel so empty and dead inside knowing his father pretty much left him to die yet hugs him in front of the media cameras and mics like a politician running for office despite both of them being flesh and blood.  It's great to see John Glover back in a guest spot since the pilot and he does a sensational job as using making Lionel so cold and precise in his delivery toward Lex yet deceptively warm and comforting to the Kents.  He truly is a master of his craft and I can't wait to see more of him as a proper season regular instead of his various Season 1 one offs.  One the lighter side of things, the Kents are proving to be more than just heartwarming sitcom-y clan as the scenes and chemistry between the three actors is truly growing fast at this point.  That scene of Clark superspeeding around the house to clean it up after an all night catastrophic house party....only for his parents to be smugly behind him.  Jonathan's slow clapping at Clark's expense is just priceless! I already really cherish and love these versions of the Kents. :)

There's really nothing more to say besides some non-sense teen drama between Whitney and Lana as well as seeing Chloe's dad for the first time.  Ole corny Gabe Sullivan you! ;)  The evil machinations behind the Luthor name get further exposed with the whole level 3 plot is touched upon enough to provide intrigue but still, the script doesn't really do much with it besides hinting at darker days ahead as Lex releases how truly evil his father's work is.  But seriously, meteor infected plants to make them grow faster isn't much of a scheme but more Earl's sudden accident and the cover up. You'd think Lionel would want to capture and study him, would have been much better to see Clark trying to save a family friend he literally can't get near at the Luthor Plant while Lex finds out his father is studying him....better than routine hostage situation with not much stakes that we got. :(

Final Kryptonite: C-