Smallville 3.01 - Exile

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It's been a long wait. The season two finale was discussed five weeks ago. I thought I'd miss a few weeks while I was on holiday and have to catch up when I returned, but the podcast was suspended while I was in England.

Season two ended on a cliffhanger, or should I say two cliffhangers? Clark Kent left Smallville, wearing his red kryptonite ring. Lex Luthor was in an airplane that was hurtling downwards over the ocean. It's been at least 15 years since I watched these episodes on DVD, so I couldn't remember what happened next. The suspense was killing me, but I waited patiently to continue watching when Tom and Michael resumed their podcast.

Imagine my shock when the episode began with the words "Three months later". I expected an immediate transition like the one between the first two seasons. What's happened in these three months? Clark is living in a luxury apartment in Metropolis, financed by a life of crime. We see him stealing money from ATMs to buy a Lamborghini for $240,000 which he gives to a nightclub doorman a few hours later. Clark just doesn't care. As long as he's wearing the ring he has no sense of responsibility.

Lex Luthor has been living on a small island for the last three months, accompanied only by another shipwrecked man called Lewis. Or so we think. After an argument Lex kills Lewis, but then realises that Lewis never existed. He was just a figment of his imagination. I've been told that prolonged isolation combined with a poor diet can lead to strong hallucinations, but I can't imagine what it would be like. I've never been in such a situation, fortunately.

After three months of searching in vain for the plane's wreckage, Lionel Luthor assumes that his son is dead and a funeral is held for him. We're shocked to see that Lex's wife Helen is at the funeral. We assumed that she was also lost, because she was in the plane with Lex last episode, shortly before it crashed.

We should have known that she'd be at the funeral. There was a spoiler in the first minutes of the episode. There was a newspaper lying in the road with an article about Lex's funeral. Below the headline it's written, "He is survived by his newly wed wife Doctor Helen Bryce and his father Lionel Luthor". That text is hardly legible even on Blu-ray, so I doubt anyone noticed it when it was on television 20 years ago.

Shortly after the funeral Lionel and Helen meet in the Luthor Mansion. Lionel mocks Helen for saying that she fell asleep in the plane and woke up to find the pilot had left the plane, leaving only one parachute; Lex told her to use the parachute. We already know from watching the last episode that this isn't true. This shows us that Helen was in some way responsible for an attempt on Lex's life, but it isn't clear to what extent Lionel was involved. He seems to be talking innocently, but he's not overly concerned about losing his son. The only thing he admits is that he was paying Helen to spy on Lex. I hope that this is resolved in next week's episode, because it's not something I'd like to be left open for months.

One thing I don't like is the change in Helen since last season. She always seemed sincere, genuinely in love with Lex. Now she's cold-hearted and hypocritical. She wears black at the funeral, but on the way home she goes on a big shopping spree. She's a completely different woman. Yes, she was faking her affection for Lex in the second season, but there were no clues.

One person who hasn't changed is Lana Lang. She's spent months trying to find where Clark has gone. She's at the funeral grieving for Lex. She doesn't need to put on mourning clothes, she shows her feelings through her face.

What about Chloe Sullivan? She's not been completely honest, but we can forgive her. She missed Clark when he left Smallville, and she tried her best to find him. She has greater investigative skill than Lana, so she found him after a month. Clark threatened her, saying that if she told anyone, even his parents, where he lived, he'd leave Metropolis and move so far away that nobody would ever find him.

Now that Clark has gone, his parents' farm has gone bankrupt. They're planning to move into a small apartment. But how can they survive? How can they make money without a farm? Maybe they've received enough money to get by for a few years.

There's no lack of action in Metropolis. A bank is robbed by men in clown masks. Clark bursts in and stops the robbery. Is he the city's new super-hero? Hardly. He walks out of the bank with the money. The police try to stop him, but what can they do against a man who's bulletproof?

The police are led by Captain Maggie Sawyer. She was an underused character in the series. This is the first time we've seen her since the episode "Insurgence". In the comics she played a more important role.

Clark gets even more action at night. He's a regular at the nightclub Atlantis, and he's with a different woman every night. This is his latest conquest, if you can call it that. It's hinted that he never takes girls home. He just enjoys the thrill of teasing and kissing. Is Tom Welling using his tongue? Probably not, it would be unprofessional.

But Clark is having problems. The symbol that was burnt onto his chest in the last episode sporadically starts to glow, hurting him. My guess is that it's a side effect of prolonged exposure to red kryptonite, because whenever it happens he takes off the ring. Not for long. A few hours later he puts it on again. It gives him a rush that he can't do without.

Morgan Edge is the owner of Atlantis, and he's also the boss of the clowns whose bank robbery Clark interrupted. Is that a coincidence? Probably. Morgan says he's the biggest crime boss in Metropolis and he appreciates Clark's abilities. He wants Clark to steal a box from a vault on the 60th floor of the Luthorcorp Tower. No information is given as to what's in it, but it must be worth a lot, based on the amount Morgan is willing to pay.

Chloe finally breaks down and tells Lana where she can find Clark. Lana asks Clark to return to Smallville, but he refuses and says she can stay with him instead. They share a kiss in Atlantis. It seems cooler than his kisses with his random lovers. Definitely no tongue.

Lana rings Jonathan Kent to tell him where Clark is. Jonathan realises that it would be too difficult to bring Clark back home, so he takes the octagonal key to the Kawatche caves, hoping to be able to speak to Jor-El. He can't find the slot for the key, so he throws it on the ground in frustration. It rises and is sucked into the wall. Jonathan asks Jor-El for help bringing Clark back. The two come to an agreement, although we aren't yet told the terms of their deal.

Jonathan goes to Metropolis and interrupts Clark while he's breaking into the Luthorcorp vault. Clark throws his father at the wall, but Jonathan has evidently been given super speed and strength by Jor-El. Jonathan pushes Clark out of the window, and the two men fall together.

It's good to see the Talkville podcast team back in the studio. I missed them over the last five weeks. Watching the episode and listening to the podcast has become an important part of my weekly schedule.

Welcome back, Michael, forever single. He says that his sister has been married and divorced four times. That's enough to put any man off marriage.

Welcome back, Ryan, as pensive as ever.

Welcome back, Tom, participating by video link from California. He was only ever in the studio for the pilot episode. It would be good to see him back in the New York studio again.

There's no guest star in this week's podcast, but Michael speaks to Al Gough on the phone for seven minutes. The main topic is Allison Mack's hair. She turned up to play Chloe with a new hairstyle. This was unexpected, and Al admits that he was annoyed with her for making changes to her appearance without consulting him first. Personally, I don't see what the problem is. If you look back over the the last two years, she frequently changed her hairstyle from one episode to the next. The problem for Al was probably that she cut her hair shorter, but I still don't think it's a big deal. There was a three month gap in the story, which is enough time for any changes.

Twice in the podcast the message is flashed onto the screen, "This episode was recorded before the SAG-AFTRA strike". Why is that relevant? I thought it was an actors strike, not a podcasters strike. Or is it a union thing? I hope there won't be an enforced delay in future episodes of the podcast.

Always hold on to Smallville.

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