10.05, Isis (spoilers)

Here we can talk about tonight's 5th episode of the season.

Well tonight was the 201st episode of the series, Titled "Isis" written by Genevieve Sparling and directed by James Marshall. It was once again a possession episode. Which smallville has done many times over. But it was farly well done episode. It was homage to the dc comics goddess isis and the acient egyptian goddess isis. It would have been fun to do the comics isis. But still a solid episode.

Sparling writting was pretty good all around tonight. Tess, isis/lois had good dialougs. The plot was pretty fairly common too. But it played with what was going on with lois and clark's love life. I liked that they both wanted to tell each other. Before the isis issus happened. Also the side plot of cat returning and thinking lois was the blur was pretty good too.

Cat was actually pretty good tonight. Her actress did well with the storyline tonight's episode. I enjoyed what went on with her. Totally loled when she thought lois was the blur. Then wanted to tell tess and the world. Also the cat fights at the start and the end of the episode with lois were pretty good.

Oliver story about missing chloe is moving along nice too. And his interactions with clark about going public were done well. Same with his scenes with tess about love and lost and superhero stuff.

Speaking of tess its nice to see whats going on with her. We havent had much of her in the season so far. Plus continuing the storyline of the little lex clone going on. I am curious to see where it goes.

The fights with isis and her wanting to resurect her dead lover were pretty good. I liked how they took isis out. Also the special effects were pretty solid tonight.

Also i really happy they had clark and lois come out to each other. The scene was done very well. Tom and erica acted great in that scene. I am glad he knows she knows and he told her. Glad it wasnt going to be dragged out much longer.

Marshall as direct was pretty good. He is one of my top directors on the show. Always enjoy his direction. The lighting, the camera movements were all good. Also he got some good work with all the regulars/guests.

So all an all a pretty good episode. Thought it was going to just be a filler like others thought. But it turned out to be much better then expected. Also with the reveal at the end totally puts this episode at a higher mark. Next week episode looks to be a pretty interesting one. Cant wait to see what happens there.

I was skittish about the entire "Lois knows The Secret" subplot. Some folks argue that this destroys the Lois/Clark/Superman triangle. But (A) I've never really cared all that much about that triangle and (B) I'm not entirely convinced that triangle even exists. You go back and read those Pre-Crisis issues and you see Lois crushing on Superman but you don't really see Clark concerning himself much about her beyond friendship. Sure, you can find instances of a triangle but by and large, Clark regards Lois as a friend, Lois regards Superman as her (hopefully) husband and Superman regards Lois as someone he'd be interested in under different circumstances. Not much of a triangle there. And that goes through a lot of the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age issues I've read. Again, it's easy to find instances of a triangle but as an ongoing plot point and part of the mythos... people seem to be imagining something that just isn't there.

So Lois sharing The Secret with Clark, while certainly a departure from the canon, isn't as destructive as it seems.

Dug the continuity to previous episodes. I also like how subplots are constructed and developed this season. Typically, SV just introduces things de noveau, as though they'd already existed when they've only really been implied or hinted at. As it goes for this episode, it makes sense that Clark would see the future where Lois knows his secret and want to reveal it to her in the modern day once he had the chance. He'd seen an alternate reality where she fiercely stood by him in season 8 and last episode he saw they had a true partnership. His actions in this episode absolutely make sense.

And again, while Lois and Clark sharing The Secret before he becomes Superman is definitely a Smallville innovation, the idea of Lois helping define Superman isn't entirely without precedent. In L&C, while Lois didn't officially find out about Clark's secret identity until the opening of the 3rd season, she still did a lot to shape who Superman was. When the series started off, it's pretty clear that Clark thought of Superman as little more than a disguise he could use to help out once in a while. It was Lois who, from Day One, began making him think of the Superman identity as more than just an alias he could use; he could use that to reach out to people, be a role model and inspire them. Lois became an unwitting co-conspirator in crafting who Superman is.

That's the function she's going to serve in a much bigger way in the SV'verse... and I'm not as pissed off about it as I thought I'd be.

4/5? Sounds about right.

Forgive the immediate follow up but I trade SV reviews with a friend via e-mail. Below is a (slightly edited) e-mail I sent a while ago. I thought it was worth posting here.

SV has really been something else this season. The writing seems a lot stronger. Even disposable episodes are strong because they tend to have been set up in advance. Two years ago, it would've been revealed in Isis that Lois accidentally took the amulet during her trip to Cairo a few episodes earlier. It would've been, forgive me, a retcon. Here, it was set up in advance. Somehow, that makes it play better. This style has characterized a LOT of this season and I hope it continues.

But the other thing, have you noticed how many 4/5 episodes we've had so far? This is unprecedented in SV history. I didn't begin logging my ratings until season 7 but, all the same, check this out.

-- Season 07
7x01- Bizarro; 5/5
7x02- Kara; 3/5
7x03- Fierce; 3/5
7x04- Cure; 3/5
7x05- Action; 3.5/5

-- Season 08
8x01, Odyssey- 4.5/5
8x02, Plastique- 4/5
8x03, Toxic- 3/5
8x04, Instict- 4/5
8x05, Committed- 2.5/5

-- Season 09
9x01, Savior- 5/5
9x02, Metallo- 4/5
9x03, Rabid- 3/5
9x04, Echo- 4/5
9x05, Roulette- 3/5

-- Season 10
10x01, Lazarus- 4/5
10x02, Shield- 4/5
10x03, Supergirl- 4/5
10x04, Homecoming- 5/5
10x05, Isis- 4/5

Do you see it? Usually a given season starts off with a strong premiere, hits a mediocre episode in #3, maybe bounces back in #4 and then #5 might suffer a little bit. But that hasn't happened this season. The episodes are stronger and more consistent. Not every episode is a 5/5, to be sure, but (A) all 5/5 episodes have never happened before anyway and (B) there's been nothing below a 4/5 this entire year. This. Whole. Year. I'm very much a "shoot from the hip" kind of reviewer. I stand by my feelings and first impressions, which is why my ratings tend not to change too much over time (except for Reckoning and other rarities).

Going strictly by the numbers, SV has never been this strong. Of course, it's too early to call but I can say this is the strongest series of opening episodes we've seen in recent memory. Hell, even The Mighty Season 3 had 3x04- Slumber (a 2 or 2.5/5 if ever there was one).

There's simply no room for debate, the SV writers are putting their best into every episode so that they can go out on a strong note. I couldn't be happier.

I didn't catch the entire episode of Smallville but plan to watch it online. Nevertheless I DID see Lois in her 'Isis' outfit. Verdict on ENTIRE episode? Not 100% certain. Erica Durance in her 'Isis' outfit? PRICELESS!

yea i thought it was g oing to turn out to be mostly fillerish. But in the end the isis stuff played into the love story of lois and clark and worked. Plus getting the reveal from the both was great.

Isis Ratings are Up:
www.twitter.com/mattmitovich

#Smallville 'Isis' draws 2.48 million viewers (-22%)/#2 in demo (1.1.)
half a minute ago via ÜberTwitter

Not to bad of a drop from last week's ratings and we are still doing good in demo numbers.

Hate to burst anyone's bubble but duh apologists over at duh Homopage are ALREADY classifying this episode as FILLER.

I guess you have to actually like GIRLS though to appreciate it huh? Wonder what Fagley & Terminal think?!

oh sure the plot of the episode you can say filler, plus their overused clicq of possessions and all that. But it actually turned out better then expected.

Geeze, the people who use the word filler as a negative need to catch every STD known to man and die a slow death.

I'm sure I read ages ago that Erica Cerra was going to play Isis in an upcoming episode, then nothing, then the news that Durance was going to do it via a "possession" storyline......and then lo & behold, there was Cerra in a bit part.....

Considering how they promote virtual "nobodies" appearing on the show in upcoming episodes made me wonder if this ep was rejigged or rewritten somehow. It certainly seemed an episode of two distinct halves, and again, Cerra's appearance was almost a surprise, and she was quickly out of the way. I bet it was originally Cerra's character that was possessed, hence her character literally vanishing, but for whatever reason Durance did it, perhaps just to involve her "love interest" more directly??

Whatever, she did another good job. Have to give Durance her credit, she did a fun job playing Chloe and she put in another fun job here. I actually forgot I was watching "Lois" again.

People who complain that it's too early for Lois & Clark to be together miss the point. Like the recent "Star Trek" reboot, "Smallville" is not your Dad's version of Superman. Clearly "Smallville" exists in it's own continuity universe, and always has done. By criticising it for not complying to another version's continuity is pointless and just plain stupid.........I'm talking to Fagley,Terminal and their sheep here, of course. Although, it must be said it is an ever dwindling flock of nay sayers at the Homopage.

Too late did they realise that "Smallville" was nothing more than well made, entertaining escapism.