TV Talk - Smallville: "Blue"

Supergirl, meet Supergirl.

Next up for the month is the Kryptonian matriarch of the El family: Lara-El  or Lara Lor-Von. Like Jor-El, she too first appeared in 1939. Her name was even a little different too. While she is the wife of Jor-El, that hasn’t been her only occupation. Yeah, she mostly stands around in the movies/TV shows, but the comics tried to make her more than the standard house wife. She’s been a scientist, an astronaut, a historian, and a skilled fighter. Let’s thank Scott Lobdell for the fighting part since that’s probably one of the only cool things he brought to the table. In some iterations, she even helped Jor-El build the ship that Kal-El traveled to Earth in.

Outside of her times with Jor-El, I don’t think there have been many solo stories with her. I could be wrong on that, though. So, it’s to season 7 of Smallville, an okay season for the most part. At this point, Clark is on the farm alone since Martha’s gone to the Senate or something. Luckily, he’s not lonely since he has Lana, Chloe, and a distant cousin named Kara. Yep, we got Supergirl on the show and she can also fly unlike her supposedly younger cousin. Anyway, Lara does show up a couple of times this season, once in a flashback (“Lara”) and once for real (“Blue”). Today, it’s “Blue,” the eighth episode of the season and Lara is being played by Helen Slater (Supergirl).

Previously on Smallville, Clark found out that a crystal contained the DNA of his mother, Lara. Apparently, Zor-El, Kara’s father, had some unrequited love for her, so he created it and gave it to Kara right as Krypton was being destroyed. He also wasn’t a nice guy either. Clark hides the crystal from the others. When he hears his mother calling to him from the crystal, he decides to use it at the Fortress. A.I. Jor-El warns him that this might not be the best move, but Clark does it anyway. He brings a clone of Lara to life, but unbeknownst to him, he also brings a clone of Zor-El to life.

Zor-El, aka "Fake Neo," always loved sneaking up on unsuspecting nephews.

Clark shows Lara the farm and they bump into Kara. It’s here where Clark realizes me may have messed up when it’s revealed that Zor-El made this possible. Meanwhile, Zor-El tries to threaten Lionel (he was used as a “vessel” for Jor-El) but Clark saves him. Clark takes Lara to Lana’s loft in order to keep her safe. Lara even gives Clark a keepsake: his father’s ring. Unfortunately, this plays right into Zor-El’s plans since the ring had blue Kryptonite embedded in it. This takes away Clark’s powers. Zor plans on eradicating humanity with the Fortress and takes Lara with him. In other lighter news, Lois Lane is having a fling with the Daily Planet’s Editor-In-Chief, Gabriel Grant. All that comes from this subplot is that Gabriel has some interesting ties with Lex Luthor.

Zor-El makes it to the Fortress and has Kara waiting for him. She finds out about Zor-El’s plan and isn’t happy. She and Lara try to find a way to stop him. Luckily, the depowered Clark is on the way through the Kawatche cave portal. He somehow uses green-K (eh?) to halt Zor-El’s plan. Lara tells him to destroy the crystal knowing that she’ll disappear. Clark reluctantly destroys it and the day is somewhat saved. Kara suddenly disappears and ends up in Detroit with no memory and powers thanks to her father. As for Clark, Jor-El isn’t pleased and tells Clark that this decision is going to have consequences.

Chloe: Clark, did you go and elope? Again?

Clark: Chloe, I know it's been a few years, but it's still too soon to bring Alicia up!

*Note: Alicia (Sarah Carter) was kinda hot but a little crazy.

I thought this was a fine episode for the most part. I don’t remember too much of this season, but I kind of remember having an okay feeling about this episode. There are good things here, though. While it felt a bit rushed, I did like the Kryptonian side of things. Clark gets to meet his mother for the first time and that was good. I liked Helen Slater in the role as Lara and seeing her with Kara (Lara Vandervoot) was nice. It would have been nice to have Annette O’Toole here too, but I guess that wasn’t possible.  I also thought Christopher Heyerdahl was also good in the role of Zor-El. He may have been a little hammy, but he was trying to destroy the world, after all.

Once again, we got Clark being kind of rash and doing something stupid. Hey, I know that feeling. Like all the other mistakes, it’s an understandable one and I liked what Jor-El does at the end. I may not like “The A.I A-hole,” but he had a point there and Clark needed some chastisement. While I didn’t say much on the Lois/Gabriel subplot, I thought it was okay. I did think it was weird that Lois was hooking up with yet another male supporting character. Then, I remember that this is the CW.

Lex: I may not be in this episode much, but I'm gonna have my moment, dang it!

As for the dislikes, I did feel that the Kryptonian plot was rushed at points. Even if you take “Lara” as a part one, it still feels rushed. The Lois/Gabriel subplot was also okay, but the ending did make it worth sitting through. I also felt like there needed to be more action. I think I felt this way back in 2007. Even though I still feel that way, I know that the production team did what they could on that front. We did get some impressive effects. Other than those things and small nitpicks, this was a fine outing.

In the end, this was a fine episode. It’s not their best but it's far from bad. My feelings for Lara mirror my feelings for Jor-El. She’s there to be the mother who must let her son go and not much else. Even if she gets to do little, she seems to be good. Heck, she’s the birth mother of Superman, so you can’t go wrong there. Well, I think it’s time to move to another woman in Clark’s life. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t jab things into things. There may be consequences.

NEXT TIME: LANA OR LOIS?