This episode was first broadcast on 25th February 2004.
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.
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