Season 5, Episode 4: Aqua

"Aqua"

Episode 4

Air Date: October 20th, 2005

It's yet another DC hero intro episode and it's none other than the Fishman himself, King of the Seven Seas Aquaman.  Oh and of course, he freakin' ripped as hell thanks to former American Idol contestant Alan Ritchman playing the young ruler of Atlantis to be.  Smallville was usually on or off with their own iterations of classic DC heroes and villains but luckily, they do a fine job with Arthur Curry! Making him a 21st Century college sophomore who happens to be a star swimmer for the University of Miami by day and a marine life saver by night fits enough where it doesn't seem to preachy or going to the sheer corny lengths of the Super Friends show.  Of course, Arthur aka AC (uhh huh) is just your typical stunning surfer boy but can swim faster than Clark during an opening sequence of him saving Lois from drowning.  Once again, the effects are more solid than they've ever been this season and the underwater fights or swimming sequences look gorgeous.  I especially love seeing Arthur and Clark's mini battle in Crater Lake with Arthur unleashing his water ball throwing powers that literally send Clark flying out the waters back onto land.  As for Alan Ritchman himself, his performance is....fine....he fits the bro life of the waves persona well enough but it isn't grating or as forced as I remember it.  Well maybe outside a couple REALLY bad lines like "I'm wet and ready bro!"  Yikes! O_o lol

Also, it's nice to see Lois back and given a chance to have her own little romance with Arthur.  Sure the chemistry isn't the strongest but they both are very attractive people and Arthur's overconfident, self absorb nature is just the right kind of challenge to Lois' strong willed attitude throughout. Also, i absolutely LOVE how Clark is so apprehensive of Arthur that he has Chloe find out his backstory before rudely questioning him in front of Lana and Lois at the Talon.  Later Lois mentioning how Clark seems like he's jealous......mmmmhmmmm.....he just might be Lois! Not to mention, Alan makes Tom look so much buff and brawny when they are next to each other, Jesus! I'd be jealous too, if not a bit intimidated by a fellow super stud! lol  But honestly, the writers could have toned down on the fish puns like Clark's "fishy" line about Arthur.  Oh HAR HAR! O_O But I didn't love the reference to Bart last season when Chloe mentions meeting another superpowered teen not from Smallville. Also, I liked how Arthur is positioned as an active hero, even if his actions are a bit too extreme and borderline terrorist with Clark having to help him curve that need to blow things up to get his point across of saving the world.  Definitely makes Clark's influence on superheros to come like him very strong as he helps them to lead more noble paths of heroism without being too reckless.  Definitely a Superman-ly trait is I do say so! ;)

Then there's Lex who is being more position as the villain of the story these days but having more of a morally gray agenda than upright utter evil dominance like his future self.  His Leviathan weapon is definitely showing the show is moving toward bigger threats that Clark must stop and it was so cool seeing the Man of Steel and King of the Seas take on an enemy together, even if was just seeing them swimming off super fast underwater.  This episode also officially introduces Milton Fine to the series.  One of Clark's new professors at Central Kansas and clearly the man we saw form from Zod's spaceship.  Seems like he has a strong interest in taking down Lex and wanting to recruit Clark as his assistant in a story to expose the secrets behind Luthorcorp.  I like how they had Clark vouches for Lex despite their official distancing from each other since their friendship is pretty much over as Fine clearly uses it to manipulate him into seeing Lex for who he truly is.  By episode's end, after his ordeal with Arthur, Clark finally begins seeing that Lex's on a dark path and doesn't seem to want to stop; leading to him taking on Fine's offer to work for him.  It's an awesome turn of events and having an actor with such caliber as James Masters is a HUGE win for the show.  Tho hearing him speak in an American accent is really hard to take in.  He really perfected that British Bad boy persona that it feels unnatural at times to hear him doing any other accent. lol  So despite the episode handful of iffy parts of it, Aqua is a solid entry in the show further exploring the bigger DC world within their Smallville universe. Not to mention, that last scene between Clark and Lois is just magical foreshadowing that this show does so well.  God, I can't wait to see these two together as the pieces slowly come together nicely. :)

Final Kryptonite: B