Kneel…before Justin!
With Smallville’s curtain call rapidly approaching, Justin Hartley got to pop his directorial cherry, entrusted with calling the shots in tonight’s fourth-to-last episode, “Dominion.” While Hartley isn’t exactly at Martin Scorsese’s level yet and though he did borrow some pointers from the Zack Snyder School of slow-motion action shots, he impressively took us on another ride through the bleak recesses of the Phantom Zone, reintroducing Krypton defect Zod (Callum Blue) in the process.
Who wasn’t a bit irked that they basically neutered Zod (of his powers) for what seemed like the entire ninth season (save the awesome future-based episodes)? In Dominion, we got the real General Zod, the type that creates his own empire and entertains himself with gladiator-style death matches. Blue delivered an inspired performance, demonstrating how deliciously evil Zod was meant to be, especially with his pact with Darkseid. Zod’s hatred towards the House of El and Clark in particular was especially palpable. It’s no stretch to say that he’s spent every waking moment in the Phantom Zone thinking of ways to bring the pain to Clark’s world. I really got the sense that he utterly detests the goodness that resides deep inside Clark, especially after he delivered the Cain and Abel analogy. Of course, in typical Clark fashion, he retorts, “I would never murdered you. I saved you.”
Meanwhile, on the Earth side of things, Lois (Erica Durance) was having a bit of a conniption fit with Clark missing, but showed she has what it takes to be the wife of a superhero. To the wise: never tell Lois Lane that you’re going to close the portal on her husband-to-be, trapping him in neverland for good, she might just pull a gun on you. This would’ve been a great time for one of those scenes where Lois’ blows Tess away, only to backtrack and show it was just a thought in her head. Humor aside, this interchange proved that Lois sticks to her guns (sorry, bad pun) when it comes to Clark. She doesn’t accept Tess’ mumbo jumbo about putting the safety of the world before Clark; she tells her that being the wife of a hero means never accepting defeat. They say opposites attract, but in this case, Lois has the same degree of stubbornness that Clark does.
Back to the Phantom Zone, though Zod led with his theatrics, the main issue at hand Clark and Oliver’s relationship. Trust has been an ongoing battle between these two since Oliver showed up on the scene. The sheer fact that Clark didn’t trust Oliver to come with him to the Phantom Zone (um, why didn’t Olly bring his Green Arrow gear???), shows the deep down lack of faith Clark has in his human buddy. On the other hand, Oliver is harboring some serious anger deep down inside and has been infected by “the Darkness” (let’s just call him Darkseid people). And Zod knows this, doing his best to manipulate Oliver into killing Clark. Such a feat is easier said than done though, the tag team outsmarted Zod with their slow-motion sword battle, and got themselves out of Dodge just as fast as they came.
And these days, we’re getting quite the ritual for the denouement, which has been featuring some great Lois and Clark moments. All of Lois’ crazed antics earlier in the episode were contrasted by her heartwarming speech to Clark that she’s his better half. Durance did a great job with this transition from gun-weilding madwoman to doting fiance. I wasn’t a fan of these two a few seasons ago, but they’ve really demonstrated the chemistry that the two iconic characters should have. And now that they’ve left the farm behind and graduated into their own apartment, you get the sense that we’re close to the end of this chapter in Clark’s ascent to becoming the Man of Steel.
Loading …Thought I fancied tonight’s episode for its direction and acting, I wish it would’ve had that sense of urgency one would expect with an impending series finale looming. There was some good tie-in (finally, and thank you) to the Darkseid plan, though it’s starting to look like a case of “too little, too late.” I guess we’ll have to see how Oliver’s search for Hawkman’s Quest (with Supergirl Kara, Laura Vandervoort) turns out next week. Nevertheless, there’s a great amount of hype going into the finale and I can only hope that the sendoff matches it. Sure, we’ll get the obligatory scenes Smallville fans have been lusting after for years (Lex’s return, Tights and Flights), but it would be great to see things end in super fashion.
