Smallville 2.21 - Accelerate

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Do you believe in ghosts? That's the question the teenagers in Smallville have to ask themselves. Lana is being haunted by her best friend Emily, a girl who died six years ago.

But first, let me remind you that even though I finished my high school film marathon yesterday, as long as I'm reviewing "Smallville" there will still be high school content in my blog. Clark and his classmates are still 16. That's assuming Clark really is 16. Due to his alien metabolism, he could be any age. Jonathan and Martha Kent made a guess how old he was when they found him in the corn field.

The episode opens with Clark and his friends watching a film in the Talon. The cinema is packed! Those were the good old days before the Coronavirus pandemic. It's noticeable that the audiences have fallen by about 50% since the cinemas re-opened. For years people have been saying that streaming would kill cinemas, but it never happened. Now the Coronavirus has almost killed cinemas. I wonder how long it will take for the cinemas to recover, if ever. My local cinema in Stuttgart is making special offers out of desperation. Cinema tickets usually cost between 8 and 11 Euros, but now there's a special offer of eight films for 22 Euros. Maybe that will lure more people into the cinema, but they'll lose money from me, because I would have gone to see the films for the full prices.

There are a few glimpses of the audience. It's noticeable that they're all young people. Isn't the older population of Smallville interested in movies?

You might not recognise her, but the woman in the yellow blouse sitting behind Clark is Evangeline Lilly. She made frequent appearances as a non-speaking extra in television shows at the beginning of her career. Her big breakthrough was in "Lost", but now she's best known for playing the Wasp in the recent Marvel films. In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum said that he didn't know she was in the episode, and if he'd met her he would have married her. I assume he's saying that in retrospect, because she wasn't well known in 2003. And even if he'd wanted to marry her, would she have said Yes? First he would have had to explain, "Evangeline, I'm not really bald, I just have to shave my head for the series".

I didn't recognise the horror film being shown, but the sign outside the Talon tells me what it is: "House on Haunted Hill", made in 1959. I've never seen it, but based on the brief excerpts shown it's cheesy and trashy, so I need to watch it.

When the film is over, Lana is left alone to clean up. Those Smallville kids sure are a messy bunch, dropping their popcorn everywhere. Maybe the film scared them so much that the popcorn box flew in the air? Lana is approached by a 10-year-old girl. At first Lana doesn't recognise her, but she introduces her as her best friend Emily Dinsmore who drowned six years ago. She hasn't grown any older since then. She disappears before Lana's eyes, so Lana doesn't know whether she's going mad or really seeing a ghost.

Lana tells Clark about it. He's the best person to confide in, because he's seen enough strange things to keep an open mind. The only thing he's certain of is that Lana isn't going crazy. He suggests that they visit Emily's father, because if she really is a ghost, he'll be the first one she visits. Mr. Dinsmore denies having seen Emily and tells them to stay away from his house. But he's lying. A few hours later he's sitting with Emily in his garden, talking naturally. He has to leave, but he tells her to stay in the house while he's gone. She's angry at being locked up and throws a metal spike at him that goes through his body, barely missing his vital organs.

Clark Kent and Pete Ross visit Emily's grave in Smallville Cemetery. With his X-Ray vision, Clark sees that Emily's skeleton is still in the grave. Then they see Emily watching them. Clark tries to catch her, but she runs away too fast for him to follow.

The next day Mr. Dinsmore is in hospital. Lionel Luthor visits him. Lex has an informant in the hospital, his fiancée Dr. Helen Bryce, who tells him that Lionel is there. Lionel tells Lex that Pete Dinsmore was his employee, and he'd visit any employee in hospital, which Lex doubts. After Lionel leaves, Lex goes into Pete's room. He sees Emily sitting in the corner, but he doesn't know who she is. She tells him that Lionel Luthor is a bad man who took away her bunnies. Lex turns away for a second, and Emily is gone.

Clark returns to Pete Dinsmore's house with Lana. He finds a hidden door that leads down to a laboratory in the cellar. They find tubes, each containing a replica of Emily. It's some sort of cloning experiment, using liquid made from the meteor rocks as a catalyst. They report it to the police.

Sheriff Nancy hurries to the house, but by the time she arrives the cellar is empty. I think she believes Clark's story, but it's not 100% clear. It's only a brief appearance by Sheriff Nancy, but I'm always glad to see her. I hope Camille Mitchell was paid well for her three lines of dialogue. Many of the minor characters are hardly seen, but when they appear their performance is top notch.

Clark returns to the Dinsmore house, and he finds Emily reading her diary. Clark talks to her briefly, but they're interrupted when Lex arrives. He says that Pete Dinsmore was working on accelerating cell growth, and he could grow a rabbit embryo to an adult animal within hours. Evidently he was working on more than rabbits, without Luthorcorp's knowledge.

In hospital Lex offers to protect Emily. What he means is that he'll protect her from Lionel Luthor. He says that she's physically and mentally on the level of a 10-year-old, but she has no conscience, so she's dangerous.

Emily visits Lana and says that she wants to visit the bridge where she died. Emily only knows about her death from her diary and what her father has told her, so Lana tells her exactly what happened. When they were together on the bridge, Lana fell into the water. Emily jumped in to save her. Lana managed to pull herself out of the water, but she was unable to save Emily and has blamed herself ever since. When Emily hears this, she's angry and says that Lana isn't a good friend. Emily pushes Lana off the bridge into the water. Clark arrives just in time to save her, but Emily is already gone.

Lionel Luthor finds Emily and takes her to a new laboratory. How does he catch her? Maybe she was asleep. Emily has a beautiful new playroom, but she still doesn't like Lionel. She warms to him when he gives her a new rabbit.

What I like about this episode is that it's very straight forward. The subplots are kept to a minimum. Lex is arranging his wedding ceremony. Lionel tells Lex that Luthorcorp has been given the conservatorship for the Kawatche caves. Lana tells Clark she needs to trust him more. These little stories only take up a few minutes of the episode.

What's the meaning of Michael Rosenbaum's shirt? He doesn't have a wife. Is it some sort of a joke, or a statement against marriage? It's true, if you don't have a wife you're free to make your own decisions.

For the last few weeks Tom's webcam has been set up in a different toom. I regret it, because we can no longer see the Smallville DVD boxes stacked in his cabinet. This week Michael finally asked him about it. Tom said that he's being visited by a friend who's staying in the other room for a few months. Wow! That must be a good friend. Then again, before I was married I let refugees from Ghana stay in a room in my apartment for more than seven months. First it was two men called Charles and Kingsley. That's when I learnt how to distinguish between refugees. Kingsley had fled because he was threatened by the government. Charles was a fake refugee. He wasn't in any sort of trouble, he just wanted a better life in Germany. He'd been trained what to say to be given asylum in Germany. After six weeks they left, moving into their own apartment, and another refugee called Samuel moved in. He was a wonderful person, deeply spiritual. He wasn't at all political, but the police in Ghana wanted to arrest him because he was a bus driver and he'd taken a bus full of protestors to a demonstration. I made an arrangement with him that he didn't have to pay rent if he cooked for me. He was a very good cook.

Getting back to the podcast itself, this week was the first time that Tom and Michael had ever watched the episode. That's amazing. It's no wonder that the Smallville fans all know the episodes better than they do. Nevertheless, Tom has some memories of filming the episode. He remembers that the bridge was close to Toronto, and it was difficult to film because of bad weather. Lana was actually pushed into a water tank, not the river itself.

Tom also remembers the scene in the cemetery. He was freezing in the cold (artificial) rain, but Jodelle Ferland, the actress who played Emily, didn't complain at all. She showed a professionalism that has helped her in her further career. She might not be a household name, but when you check her on Wikipedia you can see that she's had a busy career. She's been acting since she was four, and she's had a mix of bigger and smaller roles over the years. She's only 28, but her wealth is estimated to be $4 million. Maybe her big breakthrough is still to come. She deserves it.

I enjoy watching the podcasts every week. They're the encouragement I needed to rewatch the series itself. I wouldn't say I was ever a big "Smallville" fan. I watched all the episodes on DVD, but I wasn't one of the crazy fans who knew every detail of every episode. Maybe I will be. Ask me again after I've rewatched the next eight seasons.

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