Season 5, Episode 8: Solitude

"Solitude"

Episode 8

Air Date: November 17th, 2005

Solitude is an episode that has a lot to do and almost feels like a mid-season finale because of the immediate stakes at hand and how Clark is pushed to his emotional limit with the weight of Jor-El's warning seemingly coming to fruition sooner than he ever expected.  I have to give credit to Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer's excellent script that brings so much heart and suspense at the same time throughout the episode that makes this storyline far more engaging than you were prepared for.  Not to mention, James Masters is a masterful (no pun intended!) villain as always as Fine orchestrates all of this and of course, using Clark's greatest weakness against him, his love of humanity, to deceive him into thinking Jor-El is behind Martha's shocking, otherworldly illness and exploiting the warning that Jor-El gave to Clark to use against him.  Tom does a fine job of putting forth all of Clark's emotions from frustration, anger, pain, grief as well as guilt for keeping this from his parents.  I'm glad he finally told Jonathan what was up but it's hard seeing the Kent men so powerless while looking after Martha as he condition gets worse.  Even more painful is Jor-El telling Clark he is unable to do anything and that whatever is happening is out of his control and all about balance. 

Another aspect of the story that surprisingly works is Lionel pushing Chloe toward a story about Milton Fine and him having abilities beyond comprehension.  It's really intriguing how the writers are portraying Lionel since he's been upgrade to Jor-El's vessel. But it's not clear if Lionel knows Clark's secret and is aware of his new calling or if it's Jor-El pulling the strings...hmmmmm??? It does lead to a fun sub-plot of Chloe tracking down Fine to Lex's warehouse and seeing him materialize out of the ship.  Also, it's not bad having Lois tag along and the writers manage to not just stick Lois with Chloe because they have nothing for her to do at the moment, they make her very driven by using Lex's cruel political hazing of Lois to want her to search for the truth and expose dirty politicians as well as other powerful men from corrupting the world.  It was just Lois looking at the Daily Planet sign with hope but it really speaks so much volumes in her own journey toward her ultimate destiny as the Daily Planet's most prolific reporter. :)

But like I said, the heart of the episode is the Kents dealing once again with such a potential tragedy, especially that powerful, heartbreaking scene of Martha's highly potential final words to Clark.  It's so sad yet I love how Martha is so strong even when her body grows so weak.  I loved her words to Clark about him being a man and that her job as a mother is done because of it.  Ewwwww this show just really gets the Kents in a way that I think other media never got to explore them so in-depth like Smallville did. Of course, with his Martha's life on the line and desperate to save her, Clark continues to feed into Fine's lies about Jor-El being the destroyer of Krypton and Zod being the only hero who stood in his way even tho we know it's all false.  Oh poor Clark, when he takes that crystal Fine gives him to destroy the Fortress before Fine quickly reveals with kryptonite in his hand he was using him all along to get him to release Zod from the Phantom Zone! Seriously, YIKES!!! O_O  Poor Clark but this was such an awesome thoughtout plan by Fine by using what he knows about Kryptonians, Jor-El's plan for Clark as well as Clark's love for humans to set all of this up for his victory.  Luckily, Chloe manages to find the octagonal key in the cave to transport herself to the Fortress as well as help Clark.  Didn't see that coming did you Spiky! :P

The final fight is....ok, if not too short but the sight of Fine being impaled by those crystal at the console....really disturbing! While Martha is cured, the ship has now vanished from the Warehouse...leading to a chilling scene of Lex confronting his father about its whereabouts.  My god, Lex is becoming more and more unhinged.  Michael is just so fantastic! That moment Lex just holds his father's head and stares at him before walking away is just.....inspired and scary honestly!  Like he could kill him but chooses not too....not yet anyway! ;)  So the episode wraps with Fine's true identity being a mystery despite Clark finding out he's an Kryptonian A.I. but not knowing what his ultimate goal was or if he is even really gone.  Martha and Clark share a beautiful scene during a rain shower but it's the last scene between Clark and Jonathan that feels especially disturbing; as the episode abruptly ends with a dark tone even when the last shot is of Jonathan smiling with such hope at Clark.....implying that maybe.....GASP! O_O  Solitude is a spectacular outing for the show's overarching storylines involving Fine, Jor-El's impending warning of loss for Clark and eeriely foreshadowing what's to come. :)

Final Kryptonite: A