Now that the new TV season is in full swing, I’m going to make this a weekly feature (or at least, a feature that will surface every week there is a new episode). Tonight’s episode is the origin of another Superbad, Metallo, played by the Beverly Hills punchline Brian Austin Green (pictured above). Was it good? Was it bad? You’ll see.
We open with Lois visiting the Smallville farm. Which really surprised me because this is a costume away from being called Metropolis. She’s greeted by Clark’s golden retriever, Shelby, and wonders who’s been feeding the pup while Clark has been on his “whirlwind walkabout.”
She then receives a call from everyone’s Corben, who informs her of a crime scene with the iconic “S” seared into the wall. It was a botched jewel heist, foiled by Clark. She actually relinquishes the story to him, because she’s in Smallville. He hits on her some more, using the guise of “celebrating.” She declines, and he mentions his desire to uncover “the dark side” to “The Blur.” He looks at a picture of a girl, and it blows away. It falls into the street, and while he goes to get it, he goes into the street, WITHOUT LOOKING WHERE HE’S GOING, and BAM. Hit by a truck.
Stupid. He wakes up in a warehouse lab, clearly in a lot of pain. Miraculously still alive, he sees removes some bandages to see a new elbow joint added, along with a missing heart. Replaced with a beating rock of Kryptonite.
Rolls title credits. A lot happens in the cold open, clearly. I’m really just sick of the song. “Save Me” by Remy Zero may have been a decent choice when the show first started, but the series is almost a decade old, and the song feels beyond dated. Ugh. Please hear my cries, Warner Bros. Please!
Again I don’t want to give too much away, as a mere transcript would defeat the purpose of actually watching the show. While the show is DEFINITELY better than it has been the last couple of seasons, there were some parts that really annoyed the crap out of me. For starters, the name “The Blur” sounds too much like “The Flash”, and I think that both Clark Kent and Bart Allen(the kid who’s called “Impulse” in the Smallville Universe. Probably a young Barry Allen) suffer, because it oddly puts the two together. And it hurts The future Flash more than it does the Manboy of Steel. I also really hated the resolution of the final battle between Clark and Corben, because it was poorly thought out and executed. I guess it had to happen, but still. The BatSuperboy get up is also really killing me. Luckily it seems liek they might have dropped it. Ugh. And this last one is more of a nitpick than anythign, but I wish that instead of filming on a set, they would film Metropolis scenes in an actual city. They film in Vancouver, so it wouldn’t be THAT hard.
That’s not to say that was ALL bad. I thought all of the performances were really well done, and
I’m starting to love Erica Durance as Lois more than I thought I ever did. Also, the teen angst is noticeably absent. And that’s a great thing. I do also love the references to B.A.G.’s previous run on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, calling him a “Terminator” because of his cybernetic upgrades. I laughed out loud when I heard this, and kudos to Holly Henderson and Don Whitehead for that little gem. I also like how Clark realizes he can’t live a life completely alone, and his humanity IS important. I do applaud not using every character every episode, I wish there had been some Oliver in here.
Overall, it was a mediocre episode. I applaud the ambitious debut of Metallo, but I thought the execution of the battle was lame. It could have been a lot worse, but it could have been a lot better.
Final Verdict: Not terrible, but not great. I would only find it necessary to watch if you are really interested in the origins of john Corben himself.
