Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Superman Related Smallville Series - S9 ***SPOILERS***

S9, E16 - "Checkmate" Oh, goody. Another episode without Lois. This is the episode which confirmed my theory that this show wasn't really about Clark and his journey to becoming Superman, anymore. It had been taken over by the Justice League. I finally figured out who these chess players were: that Bureau 39-ish group I'd seen trying to overpower Justice League in the animated JLU show.

Any secret government group bent on treating *anyone* who's different as an enemy isn't a good group and I'm glad The Blur didn't decide to join them. Anyway, any group that requires it's members to die to leave it, isn't a group worth being in. Also, that Checkmate doesn't distinguish between normal humans (like Oliver), meteor infected (like Chloe), and aliens (like Zod) tells me that this group really isn't about the safety of the country, but in controlling people any way necessary. It confuses me why Waller would want the Blur to join Checkmate to assist her battle against the Kryptonians, though. Does she not realize that The Blur is alien? I'm assuming that Checkmate wants Chloe because of what Chloe knows about JL and because of her hacking skills.

I have no idea what's going on with Tess. In one episode she's sleeping with Zod, playing power games. In the next, she's playing bait to capture Green Arrow, proving that she's waist deep in this anti-alien group, which is bent on destroying Zod and the other Kryptonians. So, is she trying to be a mole is Zod's organization for Checkmate? I can't see Waller approving of her methods. Or by re-joining the Checkmate group, is she trying to be a mole there? My theory is that she only cares about herself and she's using everyone for her own game. She wants to have an 'in' with whichever group will win in the end, so she's joining everyone. Still doesn't make me like her very much. I'm glad Oliver told her off at the end of the episode. She deserved it.

I did like seeing John Jones using all his powers. That was cool. I believe that if he had told Oliver and Clark WHY he didn't want to get them involved with his investigation into Checkmate, they would've been more than happy to let him take lead... but communication really isn't JL's strong suit at the moment. At least, Clark realizes this by the end of the episode, proving that one can teach lunkheads new tricks. Although, learning this lesson and actually putting it into practice are two different things.

Yea! For Martian Manhunter for erasing Waller's mind so she doesn't remember Green Arrow's, WatchTower, or The Blur's secret identities.

Who left that red chess piece on Waller's board at the end? Was it the JL group?

But I actually like this episode. It has some intrigue, action, and some character development...

Oliver does finally grow a spine where Tess is concerned. "And if you ever come near me or my friends ever again I will expose you to the world.
Do you understand?" Ouch... but she did deserve it. And yes, she is playing every angle she can. Also with Checkmate, she sort of doesn't have a choice. Either she works for them or they will kill her, was how I understood it. Again, Tess doesn't really become interesting until season 10, IMHO.
Yes, this was well played!
Seriously, it's the LAST person you'd suspect...

Lex Luthor in red heels?

He sure did throw enough diva-like tantrums over the years that you could totally see it though! With hand on hips and a snap in the air!

Al Gough and Miles Miller left at the end of Season 7. The smashing of the Gough/Millar ink bottle was in way before then ... I'm watching Season 3 at the moment and it's there.


Gough and Miller were very anti 'Lois and Clark getting together' (in a proper relationship way - random Red K episodes, etc, were okay) so ... the moment they left at the end of Season 7 ... guess what we get? They were also anti 'Clark working at the Daily Planet'.

Thankfully the producers who took over for Season 8 jumped straight into both of those.

Martian Manhunter is awesome. It was always fun seeing him in an episode, especially whenever he got to use his powers.

I love the comic book style rescue scene where Clark saves Chloe. The way that was done was really cool. It's a scene I enjoy re-watching when re-watching random scenes from the show.

S9, E 17 - "Upgrade" - John Corban is back! Clark proves he's still a hypocritical male and a lunkhead, by not trusting Lois (for keeping secrets from him - really?) and not listening to Chloe when she says "stop stalking Lois!" Clearly, Mr. Kent didn't listen, and what happened? He got himself dosed with Red K. Instead of going all kinky like last time, it made him all buddy-buddy with Zod. Chloe really needs to put a leash on that man. (The Blur, not Clark.)

The juxtaposition between Clark/Zod relationship and the Lois / Metallo relationship was interesting. Clark is trying so hard to redeem Zod and make him a valuable member of society. Clark is failing because Zod doesn't want to be a member of society, he wants society to bow down and kiss his boots.

John Corban tried to kill Lois previously (when he went crazy with his first green K heart) to get at the Blur, but with his brains returned, he's actually not that bad of a guy. He wanted to redeem himself and it seems that Lois's convert to the side of good worked out better than Clark's.

Of course, it was Tess's Frankenstein labs which have been holding John prisoner and trying to mold him into their own super solider. I was glad to see that the "do what I say" chip doesn't really work on him. He only uses it to block his emotions (as the outtake scene implied), but is able to make some decisions on his own. Like to trust Chloe and not Tess.

It seems a little dose of green K still removes the red K from Clark's system. Only now, Zod knows about the green K and the ice fortress with the Kryptonian library in it. The only good that came from super stalker Clark following Lois was that he learned that Zod was now super powered.

I'm not quite sure what the whole "let's make it snow in Seattle" scene was about. It sounded more like they had air to fill and a free special FX guy handy. Plot wise it made no sense.

The whole truce partnership between Tess and Chloe was weird. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but I'm glad it was Chloe who got the upper hand. John had enough brains left to know better than to trust Tess. I was worried about the whole knock out Lois scene towards the end, but then Lois ended up with the red K heart anyway, so I'm guessing that Chloe helped her out and just knocked her out so Tess wouldn't hurt her, because those two are like oil and vinegar. (That's not the right saying, is it? Darn idioms! Foil me again!)

I have to say, again, I really do like having Brian Austin Green at Metallo much better than the LnC version. He brings so much more to the character. Then, again, the LnC version was written as someone big and stupid. The Smallville version wasn't. I wonder if we'll see red K Metallo again and what affect he might have on Clark.

The whole scene between John and Lois at the end, where he asks her to run away with him, felt like echos of the Chloe and Davis scenes from a season previously, mixed a little bit with EVERYONE falls for Lois theme (which got a little old) in LnC. I'm glad she set him straight, but I'm sorry he ended up with a broken heart.

I believe if they had built up the John Corban character as an experienced reporter at the Daily Planet opposite Clark as the newbee reporter with both of them vying romantically for Lois, S8 would have had a much better vibe to it than this whole "Zod wants to take over the world" A-Plot, which I have to say is pretty yawnsville. LnC proved that one doesn't need an over-arching bad-guy theme to every entire season. The earlier seasons of Smallville were better at this. True, they did have their crazy themes with the whole everyone is Kryptonite infected, Lana is a witch reincarnated theme (ugh), the stones, the bad, bad psycho asylum, the caves, but at least they (usually) weren't so much in our face as Zod and the cloned kyrptonians. I sure hope Smallville does better with it's A-plots in S10.

The way you put this is hilarious!

No kidding! I wish that Clark and Lois had crossed paths in this episode while he was on red K... that would have been very interesting...and perhaps a little wicked.
This is as good an explanation as any. I've tried to come up with a reason as well... the best I've managed -- and it's still weak -- is that red K Clark is 'mischief' Clark. And maybe as 'bad' as Clark can go is playing with the weather?

I think that idiom works -- cause oil and vinegar can't mix... but if you think about it, they actually are more alike than not. Both Tess and Chloe have their secrets, and both have gone to some lengths to protect them. Chloe hasn't always acted 100% on the right side -- and we all know what Tess has been like.

Yes, I like him too. My favorite line, and just the way he delivers it: "You're a real dame... Lois Lane."
Never made the Chloe/Davis connection to Lois and John, but I guess you're right. Though I would say things were much more on the up and up -- well, despite Lois stealing the red K heart for him -- than anything with Chloe and Davis.

I smell fanfic...

I find it at least better than the Season 8 Doomsday plot, which was really yucky, just all the way around. And he killed Jimmy! I think by the end of this Season, you'll appreciate Zod's role a bit more.

In some ways it does -- and in some ways not.

Can't wait for you to review the next one, Charade!! One of my favorites!!

In Smallville it was EVERYONE-falls-for-Lana theme. As I read once in a fanfic, she must have been a meteor infected and her power was making every man fall for her. This explained why Clark was the most vulnerable to her power.

I didn't make the connection, too. I guess I never found something so abhorrent as the Chloe/Davis relationship. Lois saved John's life, but he was not a monster in a killing spree. And she went as far as stealing the red K heart to save him, while Chloe hid the monster in her house, led victims to him (they were bad guys, but even so she led them to be murdered and afterwards she dumped the remains). She was accessory to Davis's crimes. As I've said before, I could never forgive her after her involvement with Davis.

From this episode I love the scene with Clark waking Lois and the almost-kiss that was interrupted by the phone - again! Somebody smash that damn thing, please!

Clark, Zod and his baddies atop buildings making it snow had no appeal to me. It reminded me too much of City of the Angels:

Insert Clark's face here.


City of Kryptonians.

Clark on red-K would have been so much more interesting with Lois... Ah, the missed opportunities!

Andreia

I love this explanation for Lana! I noticed that Lana also seems to have this association to Green K for Clark and Lois a red K connection. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But still... Lana is like Green K to Clark (i.e. death) and Lois is like red K (i.e. passion). Makes sense to me.

There was just something about that scene which reminded me (had the vibe) of the scene where Davis asks Chloe to run away with him (or maybe it was the scene where he tells her that he loves her). Yeah, I could totally see that Corban fell for Lois because she went out of her way to help him and seemed to accept him despite his mechanical heart.

Oh, totally. Hated that movie.

There's also a comparison, which I like EVEN better, that Lana is Green K (as above), therefore his weakness, and Lois is the Sun, therefore his strength. There are lots of visual examples of this, but the one that really comes to mind in at the end of Pandora when Clark returns to Watchtower, steps into the sun and replies to Ollie's question of why he's so happy: "The sun is shining, Lois is going to be alright."

Ooh, I like this imagery! And now that I think of it, I can recall several scenes with this sort of juxtaposition... but I also think there is something to the Green K/ Red K. How often is Lois wearing red, and when she suggests with a sort of *wink,wink*, for Clark to try a little Wild Cherry -- obviously that's about her. Perhaps the Red K/passion association is why Clark never encountered Lois when the Red K went in the opposite direction, when he became 'the bad boy every girl dreams about -- in her nightmares,' as Chloe had put it.

Season 10 reference-->

Clark would stumble and fall near Lana because of the green-k pendant that she wore.


Lana made him WEAK. He felt weaker when she was around.

In Pandora he tells Lois that she makes him STRONGER:


Clark: you can lean on me for strenght. I feel stronger when you're around, anyway.



Andreia

Virginia, where are you on your episode watching? You're not slacking off, now are you? Especially when you're getting to the real good stuff!

Slacking off? I wish. Actually, watching Smallville is what I do when I slack off... or procrastinate. I've been really busy trying to finish up my current arc on Wrong Clark and write that Auction piece for KK (I'm about 10 pages in), plus being slammed with end of the school year RL stuff. I doubt I'll have time to get back to Smallville before July. Sorry. Also, what does that say about their current A-Plot with Zod?

A-plot? Zod who? Just go for the B-plot. It's worthy it.

I second that! Can't wait to see what you think of Charade!!

A pic that hints at what's in the ep...