Season 7, Episode 5: Action

"Action"

Episode 5

Air Date: October 25th, 2007

WOW!!! O_O  In hindsight, Action holds up a lot better than I ever thought it would.  Outside that MySpace reference (Omg! My millennial heart breaks! :_(, this episode is hilarious spot on with its satire of superhero internet fandom and how intense it can get when fans lose sight of reality by overstepping their boundaries to make Hollywood adaptions of their favorite comic book be more accurate adaptions! I mean just look at cancel culture and how some fandoms, like the recent Sonic the Hedgehog fans, got the entire studio to redo the animation of Sonic himself after such major backlash on how awful he look in initial trailers.  Yes, an entire fandom's outcry was strong enough because of social media to make Sonic look more authentic to his game counterpart.  It's really bizarre but shows you just how powerful fandoms are and how it can seriously effect the status of an upcoming film almost over night.  Here, the writers use their "comic within a comic" fictional Warrior Angel to make a statement about Hollywood adaptions and how fans can take their love of their heroes too seriously.  It's really hilarious and clever actually having a Warrior Angel movie being made in Smallville and I'm glad the writers waste no time in using Clark as the major catalyst to tell the audience how his destiny is in limbo because of the same thing that Warrior Angel faces in the comics.  I mean considering at the time, the comic boon superhero renaissance was so alive and well but pre-MCU seemed like the perfect time to make comments about the relationship between the fans and the people in charge of telling one of their favorite comic stories.

You have crazed fan who is adamant about keeping the origin of Warrior Angel intact by killing off his girlfriend in the movie since she dies in the comics instead of Warrior Angel saving her as Hollywood wants a happier ending instead.  It becomes even more hilarious when the crazed fan discovers Clark is a real, living breathing superhero and soon targets Lana instead of the lead actress in the film so he can finally go after his destiny.  It's priceless because this is the writers parodying the Smallville fandom at the time as well, who in fact at this point (like me!) HATED how Lana was clearly the main reason for Clark never moving forward toward his destiny.  I mean from the crazed fan telling Lana she has to die so he fulfill his destiny to the too on the nose dialogue at the end of the episode where Lana feels like she's talking for the fans by saying she's standing in Clark's way of actually being the hero the world needs..........HAHAHAHAH! Jesus, how I remember those frustrating days and the fact Clark opens Rachel's gift, which turns out to be a long red cape but just leaves it on the fence to literally and metaphorically walk away from his destiny is.......O_O  As a fan that hurt but give the BDA some more time, he'll get it by next season, trust me! ;) Rachael Davenport, who was also a nice fun addition to the story, is played by actress/singer Christina Millian (really Smallville has A LOT of musical guest stars as characters on this show! o_o)  I liked her making Clark so nervous with how confident and sexy she was, but also seeing the hero in him and wanting to bring that hero out of him more. :)

Meanwhile, after 4 episodes, we finally catch up with what happened to Lionel....who apparently is stuck in some twisted new version of freaking "Misery" but instead of a psychotic looking Kathy Bates, we get a bizarre woman named Merilyn who's been keeping him captive with a bear claw attached to his hand.  YIKES!!! Honestly, it's such a jarring contrast to the most lightheartedness of the main plot especially during two extremely graphic scenes where Lionel forces his hand out of said bear trap to escape and out of nowhere beating Marlyne to death right in front of Lex.  Jesus, those Luthors are brutal!!! But of course, the most shocking is suppose to be the fact that Lana is the one who set the whole thing up for months, continuing to show the psychological ramifications of her time as Mrs. Luthor and being Lex as well as Lionel's pans for their own agendas.  I'm glad that Lionel is no fool and immediately confronts Lana about the whole thing but the way she just casually lies about it and almost seems like she enjoyed torturing him for that long! Jesus and the way Clark is going to handle all this information.... *HEADDESK*  I'll save my ranting for those episodes to come. -_-  Oh and now the writers are clearly building a romance between Lois and Grant (No way! You mean that's why he hired her in the first place instead of being qualified to work at the Planet!?? O_O.....-_-)  Enough about that! But while this episode was mostly fun, it's a clear indication that Clark is at his lowest in terms of motivation and insight.  He's content with life on the farm with the girl next door when there are far more important things going on in the world that he could be doing.  The writers clearly know that and it almost feels like their expressing their frustration of not being able to move Clark forward because the tired a$$ showrunners wanting him to just be Smallville's savior as well as Lana's devoted follower! It's Season 7 and it's no wonder this year of the show suffers so much because enough is enough!  Time to grow up Clark! -_-

Final Kryptonite: A-