Smallville 3.02 - Phoenix

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This is the second part of the story that began in the episode "Exile". It's taken me a long time to get round to it, the delays caused by holidays and a new computer. I'm not a naive computer user who just buys a computer off the shelf, then turns it on and starts using it. I spent weeks defining the specifications for a custom computer, and when I had it I needed days to set it up with the software I needed for my work as a blogger.

In the last episode we found out that Clark Kent has spent three month living wild in Metropolis. Wearing the red kryptonite ring removed his inhibitions, so he was living a life of crime, stealing money from cash machines to fund his luxurious lifestyle. Jor-El gave Clark's father Jonathan strength and speed to match Clark's, so that he could bring him home. Jonathan challenged Clark while he was robbing Lionel Luthor's vault in Luthorcorp.

Jonathan knocks Clark through the window, and they fall I don't know how many storeys into a basement below. After a hard fight Clark hits a stone pillar and shatters his ring. This brings Clark back to his senses, and Jonathan also loses his powers, having accomplished his job. Clark returns home, carrying his father in his arms.

Someone else returns home. Lex Luthor has been rescued from the island where his plane crashed. He knows that his wife Helen was responsible, but he also blames his father. He threatens Lionel with a gun, but Lionel insists that he's innocent. The only thing that convinces him is that he knows that if his father had wanted to kill him he wouldn't have failed.

Lionel might not have been involved with the attempt on his son's life, but he knows who was. His men have been spying on Helen, and he has evidence that she's been working for the crime boss Morgan Edge. It's shocking to see that Lionel and Morgan are friends. At least, they're friends on the surface. When it comes to money they're fast to deceive one another. There's some back and forth with the contents of Lionel's vault. The item stolen by Clark is a metal box containing the blood sample that he gave in the episode "Fever". Lex stole the blood sample from Helen's office in the hospital, but he gave it back to Helen to prove he loved her. Instead of keeping it, she sold it to Lionel Luthor. Morgan Edge wanted to steal it to sell it back to Lionel. How did Morgan know what it was or why it was valuable?

Back on the farm, Clark destroys the vial with the blood sample. Morgan comes to the farm to demand the vial, holding Clark's parents at gunpoint. Clark has to offer a replacement. but his skin is usually too hard to be pierced. He holds green kryptonite in his hand while cutting his arm to draw blood, letting it drip into a jar. Morgan sees that the kryptonite weakens him, so he straps it to Clark's chest and takes him prisoner. Morgan arranges to meet Lionel at the docks. He gives him the blood sample first, and then says that he has the source of the blood in his truck, not telling him that the source is Clark. As they walk towards the truck Clark breaks free and makes the truck explode with his heat vision. Lionel accuses Morgan of trying to kill him, and there's a shootout. One of Morgan's men is killed, and Morgan is possibly killed.

In the podcast there was a discussion about the docks. Metropolis is supposed to be in Kansas, a landlocked state, so there can't be any docks. Tom Welling said that he's read that Metropolis is an alternative name for Chicago. Michael Rosenbaum said that Metropolis represents Cleveland. They said that they need to ask an expert.

I'm sorry, asking an expert won't do any good, because DC itself has never been consistent about the location of Metropolis. When the Superman comics were first written in 1939, Metropolis was a fictional city that represented New York. Gotham also represented New York. It's true that Metropolis was later located in Illinois, either near Chicago or Chicago itself. In the 1990's DC stated that Metropolis was in Delaware. In the comics Smallville was originally said to be located in rural Illinois, but now it's said to be in Kansas, within sight of Metropolis. So where is Metropolis? Nobody knows.

While Morgan was meeting Lionel, he left one of his men in the farm to guard Jonathan and Martha. Lana Lang visited, and the man tried to hold her as well. That's not so easy. She's a feisty 16-year-old. She stamped on his boot and hit him in the face with her elbow. After a sharp knee to the groin he fell back onto a pitchfork and died.

Don't mess with Lana Lang!

Lex tells his wife he'd like to make a new start with her and go on another honeymoon. In the plane he tells her that he knows she drugged him before letting the plane crash. Helen pulls a gun on him, but he grabs it, and in the struggle they shoot the pilot. Lex takes over the control of the plane. When he goes to check on Helen, she's jumped out of the plane in a parachute. He assumes she's gone into hiding, but it's more convenient to tell everyone she's dead.

On returning, Lex tells his father that he wants to accept his offer to run Luthorcorp with him. Is he being genuine? Lionel is suspicious, but they're now partners.

In the last episode we found out that the Kent farm is bankrupt and is up for auction. Lex comes to the farm and tells Jonathan that he's bought the farm, but he 's put Jonathan and Martha's names on the deed. All he wants in return is to be considered part of the family.

When Clark first returns to Smallville after his three month absence, Lana doesn't know if she can trust him. She finally rides to the farm and tells Clark she wants things to be as they were before. He turns her down. He says that he has to protect her, without saying what he's protecting her from. He tells her that a relationship between them can't work. He's not the right guy for her.

Lana rides away on horseback, a parallel to the scene where Clark departed in "Exodus".

Emmanuelle Vaugier takes part in the podcast as a guest star. Michael says that she looks just as young as she did when she played Helen Bryce/Luthor 20 years ago. I disagree. I think she looks younger. Michael and Emmanuelle have been friends ever since they met on the set of "Smallville". It's been a few years since they last met, partially the result of Corona, but they want to get together and hang out again soon.

Does this guy look like he's 51?

(If that question sounds random, watch the podcast).

Always hold on to Smallville.

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