Season 5, Episode 7: Splinter

"Splinter"

Episode 7

Air Date: November 10th, 2005

I honestly think....WOW....this was one of the first Smallville episodes that genuinely disturbed me and for good reason!.  We've seen Clark infected by green, then red but nothing could compare viewers for seeing him infected by Silver kryptonite.  Once again, Tom is given a tremendous undertaking to play far more out of character version than the usual lovable if not bit naive heroic farm boy we've come to love as he unfortunately is cut by said silver kryptonite when it is sent to Lana.  I have to say, Steven S. DeKnight redeems himself immensely after given the travesty of Thirst to work with.  Here he is given a meatier and far more convincing story to explore with Clark being pushed to not only paranoia but damn near insanity as someone seems to know his secret and is trying to do everything they can drown him in hysteria and terrifying delusions.  The way that scenes play out with Clark viewing them are just eerie, shocking, feeling almost like a Hitchcock type sequence being deplayed as we the audience become genuinely confused by how the characters are acting but soon realize Clark is watching and making all of this up in his head.  I love it when this show gets all psychological on us.  Season 3 was truly a tour de fource season because of their mental deconstruction of Lex and I can honestly say Steven's script may almost reach the intense storytelling aspects of Shattered and Aslyum by really exploring how deeply out of his mind Clark would go if he was ever betrayed by the people he loved for telling someone his secret.

Like I sad, this episode may have all the ingredients for a potential awesome psychological thriller but it all comes down to how well Tom can perform and he hits yet another dark performance out of the park.  Not only is the psychotic make-up near flawlessly but the way Tom's mannerisms become so convincingly unhinged and unpredictable is chilling! O_O  I genuinely felt worried, even terrified when Clark would lose it in multiple scenes and attack his parents, then Lex, then finally Lana.  Of course, my only downside is that it was pretty obvious that it was Fine setting all this up and manipulating Clark after he had sent the rock to Lana.  That's kind of the issue with revealing a new character as a dangerous, otherworldly villain from early on.  And yes, even tho Fine would go on to reveal himself as a fellow Kryptonian, clearly it was more misdirection to get Clark to trust him, especially during their final scene in the barn where he tries to convince him of humanity's inferiority and embracing his Kryptonian heritage while Clark is adamant about defending humanity as usual for the great aspects of it.  Idk...it just seems like that last scene where Fine is revealed to have created the silver kryptonite wasn't much of a shock in hindsight so I don't understand why the writers treated it as such.  I mean he did kill Lex's guard a couple episodes ago to protect him secret.....also one wonders, are there cameras in that room??? O_o  Someone like Lex would have that thing monitored 24/7 yet he never sees Fine coming and going from the ship??? Hmmmmm....

But regardless, James Masters is always astounding playing these charismatic villain roles, tho Fine is more reserved and subtle in his villainy than say Spike's more charismatic bad boy persona on Buffy and Angel.  They do set up the mystery behind Fine well enough tho as even tho we know he is something very evil and dangerous, his motives so far are unclear....yet clearly connected to Zod since he is apart of the spaceship that carried his disciples.  Another plot progression this episode is Jonathan finally making his choice to run for State Senator and Clark convincing him to do so despite exposing their family secrets to the world like Clark's alien origins.  I loved how that scene played out with Clark pushing his father into such a position and reminding his parents if anything arises they'll face it like a family as always. Awwwww!!! Then you have Lex finally admitting and showing to Lana the spaceship that landed during the second meteor shower.  Tho clearly Lex has more personal reasons for partnering with Lana on said project, as Lionel so deeply professes to Lex about his feelings for Lana. Also I find it funny how Lana won't even mention the spaceship to Clark after finding out from Lex that it was real.  I'm just saying, you'd think Ms. secrets and lies would be automatically honest but only Clark should know better I guess! o_O WOW!

All and All, Splinter successfully casts a darker cloud over Season 5 by showing Clark's descent into madness in a way that is horrifying, shocking but pushes the story forward by showing more of Fine's machinations behind targeting Clark and having the Senate Race mean more than ever to the future of the Kent family.  Also, creepy delusional Lana staring at Clark is CREEPY!!! Ahhhhhh!!! O_O

 

Final Kryptonite: A-