Smallville 3.15 - Resurrection

This episode was first broadcast on 25th February 2004.

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In today's podcast Michael Rosenbaum bluntly asked Ryan Tellez whether he liked the episode. Ryan answered No. That was a relief. So it wasn't just me. I've been rewatching all the Smallville episodes, 59 so far, and this was the first episode that bored me. I'm not sure what was wrong. Michael blamed the poor script, but it was more than that. The whole episode is lacklustre. If this had been the first Smallville episode I watched, I would never have watched a second episode. That's how bad it is.

Even the podcast was uninteresting today. Michael gave a recap of the story, and that was it. It was a knock on effect. There was nothing exciting for him to talk about. The only thing that interested me was that a dog was barking in the background for the first ten minutes. I hoped Michael would say something. Was it his own dog stuck alone in the next room?

There are two stories in the episode that are so closely interwoven that it's impossible to divide them into the main story and the subplot. Jonathan Kent is still in Smallville Medical Centre recovering from his heart attack. The doctor recommends triple bypass surgery. At first Jonathan refuses, but Clark persuades him to change his mind.

At the same time a young man called Vince Davis is in hospital with a rare liver disease. His brother Garrett is in the same class as Clark, although we've never seen him before. Vince passes away, and his body is immediately flown away by helicopter to Dr. Lia Teng's laboratory. Vince receives an injection in the chest, and he comes back to life.

Still in hospital, Garrett is told that the crematorium wants to know what he wants to do with Vince's ashes. Vince had supposedly left instructions for organ donation, which is why his body was destroyed so quickly, but Garrett doesn't believe it.

Since Vince and Garrett were orphans, and Garrett is a minor (16), Martha offers to let him stay at the Kent farm for a few days. Vince arrives at the farm, still alive. (Note: this would have been more interesting if we hadn't already seen him come back to life). Then Vince begins to bleed out of his eyes, so Clark takes him back to hospital. At the hospital Clark sees Lana, who's visiting his father. Clark mentions the bleeding eyes, and Lana tells him that she saw the same thing happening to Adam Knight, a man who had also been registered dead.

Chloe does some research and discovers that the only organ donors the previous day were both female. Clark finds the helicopter pilot who had transported Vince's body and threatens him for information. The pilot flies Clark to the rundown building that houses Lia Teng's laboratory. Clark overhears Lia being questioned by Lex Luthor. She's working on a serum that looks the same as the one Adam was using. Clark super-speeds into the building and steals the vial of serum.

Meanwhile, Garrett has put on a suicide vest and is threatening to blow up the hospital if his brother isn't given a replacement liver. It's a special bomb that Vince used for his demolition business. It contains fluid meteor rocks to be more effective. Wow, those meteor rocks can do everything! The Smallville police are surrounding the hospital when Clark returns. He persuades Sheriff Nancy to let him go in and administer the medicine. I know that Clark has already crossed paths with the sheriff several times, but it's still strange that she allows a 16-year-old boy to pass through the police cordon. It's even stranger that Clark doesn't just super-speed into the hospital without anyone noticing. The script writers really messed up this episode.

Jonathan Kent is currently lying on the operating table. Garrett says that he wants his liver. Clark brings the vial and gives it to Garrett. When Garrett holds it close to his suicide vest it changes colour. The doctor takes the vial and injects Vince, but it doesn't work. A police sniper shoots Garrett, but Garrett pushes the detonator just before he dies. Clark super-speeds into the X-Ray room, grabs a lead blanket and covers the suicide vest. He pulls it off his chest and carries it outside, where it explodes without doing damage. Even at high speeds, the mechanics of this operation seem doubtful. I'm trying in vain to suspend disbelief.

The next day, Jonathan is discharged from hospital. That seems very soon after open heart surgery. He's supposed to remain in the wheelchair, but he stands up to walk to his truck.

Lex is with Lia Teng again, threatening to have her deported to North Korea if she doesn't tell him everything. She informs him that Lionel Luthor wanted Adam to die, as we saw in last week's episode, but she took pity and has been keeping him alive with small doses of the serum. She says she doesn't have enough platelets to make more serum. She doesn't know where they come from.

Clark has a theory. After seeing the way the serum reacted when in close proximity to the kryptonite in the bomb, he thinks that the serum was made using his blood, which was taken by Morgan Edge in the episode "Phoenix".

Later in the day Clark speaks to Lana in the Talon. She asks him what was in the serum that he brought to the hospital. Clark says that he has no idea, but Lana is convinced that he's lying.

That's the end of a messy episode. It has so many loose ends. For instance, wasn't Sheriff Nancy suspicious about the bomb exploding outside the hospital? Let's hope next week's episode is better.

Always hold on to Smallville

and...

Bring back the Blu-rays.