So this morning, I’m still voiceless (see the entry MUTE) and working on some stuff for an upcoming film I am shooting a 3 minute pilot for (more on this soon). I had just remembered that the anticipated Smallville episode BRIDE aired last night in the states, so I acquired it to take a break out and enjoy.
I enjoyed the episode from start, middle and end.
Of course the main attraction of this episode was the appearance of Doomsday aside from the Jimmy/Chloe wedding, but there was a lot more packed into the 40+ minutes of this mid-season finale.
Lana is back and once again keeping a secret from Clark, A world-wide chase with new leads for Lex has begun with The Green Arrow hot on the trail, plus Clark and Lois grow even closer.
The best part of BRIDE was the reception scene as the wedding itself was already established in a Cloverfield type homage before the credits. This main scene build up is shown after the opening credits and is set 8 hours beforehand with wedding planner comedy from Lois. I felt sorry for the camera kid as he spent his scenes trying to make a good home video, and as if Lois slapping him around wasn’t bad enough he also gets a slap from Doomsday too. Still, this minor characters point of view sets the episode in motion really well. I think he may have been one of Jimmy’s relatives…
Doomsday’s reception crash as expected left a lot of mess and destruction. Clark and Jimmy both end up getting floored too as Doomday grabs Chloe and heads off for the now Brainiac corrupted Fortress of Solitude. Oddly enough Chloe strikes a questionable smile towards her captor in the Fortress, possibly meaning she is still manifested by Brainiac or another reason altogether. The smile is pretty creepy to say the least.
I think the writers are going for an Eddie Brock / Venom approach with this rendition of Doomsday. There obviously was a fair amount of Davis Bloom’s emotion that fuelled the attack on the wedding from his desire for Chloe’s hand, much in a similar way Brock’s emotion is driving force behind Venom in Spiderman canon.
Smallville’s interpretation of Doomsday himself looks like a cross between Michael Bay’s Megatron and the 80’s My Pet Monster toy but… with crystal bones as expected. Yes! Crystal Bones I say. Most of the camera shots of Doomsday are shown in the shade or distanced which help make him look a little less surreal.
Another delightful thing about the recent episode was the return of a soundtrack of sorts. Smallville’s soundtrack was one of the epic elements of the show but has been sadly absent for a while. The song Don’t Take Your Love Away by Vast plays during the final scenes and sets the mood for the ending really well.
One of the key parts of this episode being the last one of 2008 is the final shot at the end. This final shot is something totally different from the other recent events (although it acknowledges them) but is something likely to set conversation off. In the meantime, new Smallville episodes won’t be back until mid-January 2009 when Lighting Lad, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy from The Legion of Superheroes are all scheduled to appear at the kidnap/wedding crash aftermath.
All in all things are really picking up big with Smallville again after a few losses in cast and downsized settings. This show has survived knock after knock and continues to stay strong.
So what if the show is leaning more towards Metropolis? so long as Smallville continues to be Lois Lane’s pet name for Clark that is the what the title of the show will stay as.
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