Season 5, Episode 6: Exposed

"Exposed"

Episode 6

Air Date: November 3rd, 2005

I'm realizing this show REALLY loved putting their actresses (except for Allison surprisingly! O_O) in very provocative and skimpy clothing to the point where it's like the showrunners and writers are living out their perverted fantasies through the show itself.  I noticed this with A LOT of shows during the WB era of television as we say hot young actresses put front and center for some contrived, over the top storyline just to get them into outfits that would even make a prostitute frustrated by the competition.  I just say that because it seems the writers don't seem to know what to do with Lois....and it's REALLY bothering me! -_-  She keeps being shipped around between staying with her dad or traveling with him, shaking up with Chloe or the Kents and now she's living in the Talon now that Lana has moved in with Chloe.  And of course, they force her into a storyline seemingly to just capitalize on Erica's sex appeal.  Don't get me wrong, seeing Lois awkwardly dancing at a Gentlemen's Club is priceless, especially when she sees Clark is there and watching.  Seriously, they should have canned Smallville and just made a spin-off with Clark and Lois! Tom and Erica are always on with their scenes together; building on the Clark/Lois dynamic like it was ripped from the pages of the comics.  Also, that last scene between them is just the icing on the cake of how awesome these two are as usual.  Lois threatening Clark before Clark embarrasses her with a sharp and unforeseen comeback! HA! :)

Meh....other than that, Exposed is generic Smallville plotting with a title that clearly has a double meeting.  You have the tragically killed underage stripper mystery that leads to the Gentleman's Club with even more underage strippers working there. Then you have the story with Jonathan's old friend, Jack Jennings who comes into town looking to catch up with his old friend just as he begins his campaign for Kansas State Sentor.  It turns out he was involved with the killed stripper aka Melissa and frequently went to that club before falling in love with her.  It's nice bit of character work from guest star Tom Wopat as he reunites with his Dukes of Hazard buddy and Jonathan finds out from an unlikely source that his old friend hasn't been completely honest with him.  Hard to believe it was Lex who made Jonathan aware of Jack's hidden affair but at the same time, I'm actually glad Lex got a chance to put him into his place for once.  Jonathan has been hard on Lex for too long and I honestly feel Lex is going down this path because of people not believing in him like Jonathan himself. But I love how this storyline was a segway into one of the main story arcs this season with Lex running State Sentor and Jack pointing Jonathan in the same direction;feeling he's a far more noble candidate that the state of Sentor than he can be moving forward.  It's a wonderful set up and I remembering thoroughly enjoying this storyline this season. Also, hints at Lex's much bigger ambitions of one taking the oval office for himself...hmmmmmm....:)

But honestly, the plot of the episode with underage strippers being sold to the highest bidder and smuggled out of the country my Mr. Lyons, a very prolific foreigner isn't really that exciting or engaging outside of Lois taking charge even when being a damsel in distress and Clark managing the usual special effect spectacle of a last minute save to stop Lyons from taking off with Lois in a helicopter.  But it does lead to Chloe finally getting her own byline at the Daily Planet, so at least the sluggish story had some merit in the end.  I mean that "Aye, Aye, Sailor" line definitely was worth the poorly conceived story and seeing more of Maggie Sawyer is always nice I suppose. But seriously, coming to and back from Smallville and Metropolis is starting to seem more and more contrived unless everyone has superspeed like Clark! Isn't it like a 3-6 hour distance?!! No short distance at all! O_O  Anyway, Exposed may establish a new story arc with the Senator election and it was fun seeing both Tom and John together again just for some throwback country racing sequences but the strippers being chosen to be kidnapped and taken to other countries illegally isn't exactly enough to hold up an entire episode sadly. :(

Final Kryptonite: C-