Tuesday, May 15, 2007


SMALLVILLE
Season 6
Episode 21
(WARNING:
SPOILERS)
“Prototype”

Time for another of my semi-regular visits to Smallville. The reason this time out: January’s a ways off, and the TV movie this fall is about the Pegasus, so it’s probably mostly gonna be about that psycho b*tch, Admiral Cain.
I just wanted a Battlestar Galactica fix. Sue me.

Karl “Helo” Agathon himself, Tahmoh Penikett, plays Wes Keenan, an Army brat-turned-war hero, who happens to have been the first boy Lois ever kissed, and is now Ares Mark IV, the prototype for Project Ares, Lex’s little science project to create his own super-soldier.
And wouldn’t you know it, the witness to Wes’ assassination of the crooked Senator Burke (who’s threatening to shut Project Ares down) is one Lois Lane. Of course, plot conveniences and contrivances are nothing new on Smallville, so let’s just roll with the punch, shall we?
At any rate, the episode actually allows some of the cast to shine; Erica Durance, pleading with Penikett (who has been ordered to kill her), “Remember me!”; Tom Welling, telling Annette O’Toole that she should become Kansas senator in the wake of Burke’s death. (Isn’t there a line of succession here? Aren’t there Junior Senators or something?)
Penikett meanwhile, is underutilized, though is at least given something more to do than some other past Smallville guest stars (like WWE’s Batista).

In the end, “Prototype” isn’t a horrible episode, though also isn’t any indication that Smallville is a better show than when I last checked in.

(Image courtesy of supermanhomepage.com.)


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