Season 10, Episode 9: Patriot

"Patriot"

Episode 9

Air Date: November 19th, 2010

Meh! It's not that Patriot is a terrible episode, it's just the execution of the VRA portion of the season's overarching story is not exactly the most exciting aspect of the season.  There's definitely A LOT of potential and this type of storyline has been done so many times in the comics between DC and Marvel but on Smallville, it just seems like it's just a minor inconvenience when the REAL threat is Darkseid and his unholy trinity corrupting humans on Earth to turn against superheroes.  Also, I'm not exactly fond of  A LOT of unnecessary story bits in this episode.  For one, Lois comes off a bit harsher than usual and bit to self centered when it comes to Clark considering outing himself for the VRA to stop the new act's persistence on the superhero community.  She makes it about her and jumps to irrational conclusions like Clark has been thinking about this for weeks but he just came up with it during a conversation with Emil and Oliver just as a possible best option to protect the rest of the heroes.  Then her being so violent with Emil to find out where Clark is and heading to Miami to pretty much give Clark a hard time about being in the loop.  The thing is, Lois has a career/calling of her own with journalism and while she is able to help the team this episode in tracking down one of their own, it's not like she needs to be an official member.  Lois already does enough as a growing reporter in the public eye, she doesn't need to be the journalist on the team because of her insecurities of not being all in the know with Clark. Just seems a bit odd and forced to me but whatever.

Then you have the main focus with AC aka Aquaman returning and this time with Mera, his wife.  I remember at the time the writers were making AC a bit darker than usual by bringing him closer to his comic counterpart as he is beginning to rise as Altantis King and all....but it doesn't work for me....at all.  Also, Mera, thanks to her actress and her writing actually, she comes off a bit to stuck up and rude.  Outside of their awesome introduction sequence by blowing up that oil rig in the middle of the ocean, they don't do much beside reminding Clark and Lois of being equal partners like they are as well as giving them relationship advice moving forward.  Mehhhhh!!! Then there's Oliver who volunteers the first hero to sign with the VRA and it ending up being just an elaborate holding cells for superheroes to torture or even dispose of them.  I mean it's all pretty predictable and the heroes manage to defeat the government here pretty easily, once again, making the VRA seem more inconsequential to the bigger picture.  Also, when Clark confronts Slade Wilson, the head of the VRA, he gets trapped in a kryptonite cell and even when the whole facility blows, Clark survives without any problems??? O_o  Ummmmm....I wish we could have seen what happened offscreen to make sense of that.

Although, I did enjoy Smallville's introduction of Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke.  In this version he's just as ruthless but a lot older than expected.  I do like his rouge agenda with the superheroes being captured and held in cells but still, he is just a mere plot device in making Clark and the rest of the team realize that people like Slade are simply pones in the grand scheme of things when it's Darkseid and his forces responsible for the drastic turn the world has now for superheroes protecting them.  I really enjoyed the last scene tho of Clark briefing the team on the larger threat at hand with the darkness and how its the real battle that they need to prepare for.  It definitely set up the REAL stakes moving forward with the season's main story arc.  But even by episode's end, it seems we haven't heard the last of Slade Wilson, as he appears to not only have served the explosion but is growing closer to his rise as Deathstroke; metal eye patch and all! Uhhh ohhh.... Patriot is wayyyy too heavily flawed to get really invested in.  It tries to make this VRA story arc a major threat but only reinforces its just a smaller consequence of the season's darker and more promising story with Darkseid. :(

Final Kryptonite: D+