Smallville 2.22 - Calling

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This episode features the return of the linguist Dr. Walden. I didn't expect to see him again after he was blasted by the cave drawings in the episode "Rosetta". The experience rendered him catatonic, an information overload. I wonder sometimes how much the show runners, Al Gough and Miles Millar, planned in advance. When they wrote "Rosetta", did they already know that Dr. Walden would return five episodes later?

The episode has a few intertwining stories, each so important that they can hardly be called subplots. I'll describe them individually, rather than giving a play-by-play of the episode.

When Dr. Walden wakes up, he's obviously mentally unhinged, but he's also gained knowledge. First he rambles on that "The day is coming", and he's written this sentence repeatedly on the ceiling in Kryptonian. He can not only read Kryptonian, he can write it. He fires a ray blast from his hand that breaks the glass of the room where he's being held for examination. He returns to the Kawatche caves to examine the symbols again. With another ray blast the symbols rearrange themselves to form new information: "The day is coming when the last son will begin his quest to rule the third planet". He recognises that the last son is Clark Kent, and he sees it as his duty to kill him.

Clark hears a ringing in his head that tells him someone is tampering with the spaceship's octagonal key. He rushes to the farm and finds Dr. Walden holding it in his hand. Dr. Walden says that he has to kill Clark before he goes too far, and he fires handblasts at him.

The rays are even strong enough to lift Clark from the ground, and they obviously hurt. Clark defends himself with his heat vision. When Dr. Walden fires again he misses Clark and hits a gas tank, causing an explosion that kills him.

Let's not be too harsh on Dr. Walden. He thought of himself as a hero, defending the Earth against an alien conqueror. Even Clark has expressed doubts in himself. His parents have faith in him that his good upbringing will lead him to make the right choices.

Lionel Luthor visits Chloe at school to tell her that he's arranged for her to write a weekly column for the Daily Planet. In return he wants her to do research for him on Clark Kent. Chloe refuses. Lionel is impressed with her loyalty to Clark, but he obviously won't give up.

Chloe still has feelings for Clark, and she fondly treasures the photos that were taken at the Spring Formal in the episode "Tempest". She knows that Clark loves Lana, but she still thinks she has a chance with him. In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum says that this annoys him and she should move on. Evidently he's forgotten what it was like to be 16. When a young person is in love, he or she isn't rational.

When visiting his fiancée at the hospital, Lex finds Helen's office has been ransacked. The only thing that's missing is Clark Kent's blood sample that was taken in the episode "Lineage". After this she drives to the farm to tell Jonathan Kent what's happened. She says that she kept the blood in case Clark ever became sick, but it wasn't labelled, so nobody else could connect it with Clark. She accuses Jonathan of stealing it, but he blames Lex. She defends Lex, saying that he's not like that.

Is Helen really sure about Lex? Back at the mansion, she searches his desk and finds the confidential medical report about Martha Kent and her pregnancy. She begins to suspect Lex, but he says he didn't do it. Later in the episode we see that Lex has Clark's blood sample.

So how did Lex know that Helen had Clark's blood? She never told him. Has he been spying on her?

It's the wedding of Lex Luthor and Dr. Helen Bryce. He hasn't invited his father to the wedding, so he asks Jonathan and Martha Kent to sit in the place where the bridegroom's parents would traditionally sit. Clark is asked to be best man. I understand this, because Lex and Clark are close friends, but it must have seemed strange to the guests that a multi-millionaire businessman would pick a 16-year-old schoolboy as his best man. Clark makes a short but profound speech.

"I think Lex picked me to be the best man because he knew how comfortable I was speaking in front of people. I've been looking through every book from Socrates to Shakespeare, trying to find someone who can put into words the way Lex and Helen feel about each other. But what I realised is, there are no words for it, that when you have it, you trust it. You believe in it. You take a chance on it. You're willing to sacrifice anything to keep it, no matter the cost".

These words are soaked up by Lex and Helen, but Lana takes the speech to heart, applying it to her own feelings about Clark.

At the beginning of the episode Lana brought Clark a birthday cake, seven minutes before midnight, so that she could be the first person to celebrate his birthday with him. Clark says that it's not really his birthday, it's just a random day his adoptive parents have picked. Lana says that it's still an important day, because they're celebrating the day he came into their lives. In the comics Clark's birthday is 29th February, but this isn't verified in the series. Is it possible that in the series Clark's pseudo-birthday is the day of the meteor shower?

Clark says he doesn't need to blow out the candles and make a wish. He's been wishing the same thing every day since he was five, but now the girl he wants is standing in front of him. They kiss passionately.

So they live happily ever after? Not quite. The next day in the Talon, Lana says that it was a mistake. They need to take things slower. Clark turns to Lex for advice, and he's encouraged to make another attempt.

Clark talks to Lana while she's out riding Donatello. She still feels unsure about what she wants. It isn't until she hears Clark's wedding speech that she realises that she has to hold on to what she has with Clark.

Lana visits Clark after the wedding to tell him how she feels. They share another passionate kiss. Tom Welling was actually paid for this? What they don't know is that Chloe is in the barn watching them.

At the end of the episode, after Lana leaves, Clark hears a voice calling him. A bright light is shining out of the storm cellar. The voice tells him, "Kal-El, it is time".

And the episode ends with the ominous words "To be continued". Next week is the season finale.

In the podcast Michael Rosenbaum presents a limited edition Lex Luthor figure. It sure looks creepy! Tom Welling has also been sent a Clark Kent figure, but he hasn't opened it yet. I don't blame him. If anyone ever made an action figure of me, I wouldn't open it either. I'd hide it in the cellar for 20 years, and then I'd sell it for a fortune on Ebay.

Ryan Tellez should try harder to keep up. The recording of the podcast had to be delayed to give him time to watch the episode. I can understand Tom and Michael being busy, because they visit a lot of comic and sci-fi conventions, not to mention their roles in film and television, but what is Ryan doing? No, I have to take that back. I know almost nothing about him, so he might have a busy schedule outside of the 50 minutes a week he spends on the Smallville podcast. 

Michael says that when he's travelling with Tom they don't sit together on the plane. I hope that's a joke. I thought their friendship is the stuff of legend.

Once more, Tom and Michael admit to not having watched the episode until now. If I understand correctly, Michael never watched the episodes after they were made, and Tom only watched them occasionally. The only exceptions were the important episodes like "Rosetta" for which they were invited to do commentary tracks. When asked about the explosion scene, Tom confirmed that it was filmed with his stunt double. That was obvious. But he also said that he wasn't present for the filming. He always stayed away from scenes with explosions. On the one hand they were dangerous for onlookers, and on the other hand it gave him a few hours off.

Michael remembers this episode because he had problems in the scenes with Rob LaBelle as Dr. Walden. Whenever Rob stretched his hand out and made a terrifying face, Michael couldn't stop himself laughing.

Since they can hardly remember making the episodes, they can judge them objectively. Tom Welling can cheer on his character for finally having the courage to kiss Lana. It's taken him eleven years to get there, not counting the out-of-character kisses caused by red meteor rocks ("Red") and the intoxicating flowers ("Nicodemus").

This week there's no singing by Michael Rosenbaum, but there are pre-recorded jingles for the different segments, such as the patreon questions and Ryan's favourite scenes. They're amusing, once. I hope they won't be used on a regular basis.

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