Episode Review: Rabid

I’m not sure how it happened, but at some point during “Rabid”, my opinion about Smallville fundamentally changed. This series is no longer an even mildly guilty pleasure for me. I don’t have to suspend my disbelief. For me, the world Smallville creates is just as tangible and substantive as the real one I inhabit. But then, for all intents and purposes, it is real. From the purposeful placement of objects by the set designers, the lighting, music score, and unwavering commitment from this fine group of actors, some of whom have spent nearly a decade of their lives to bring this world to life, Smallville is a living, breathing entity. Perhaps everything is orchestrated to be just precisely the way it is, but how is that truly any different than our world (at least if you believe in any kind of intelligent design)? Now, to be sure, if someone had told me last week that I’d begin my review of Smallville’s “zombie episode” waxing philosophical, I’d have told them they were crazy. But there’s something that’s happened with this series at this point that I can no longer simply chalk up to mere coincidence. I think for many, many of us out there, Smallville isn’t really a show about Superman. It’s a show that somehow, through all of its twists and turns, manages to mirror our respective lives in some way. That there’s some comic book mythology woven into that is nothing more for me at this point than a very large perk. But before I spend this entire review talking about all of the underlying implications of my fascination with all things Kryptonian, let’s get into the meat and bones of Season 9’s third episode.

The humor of trick chewing gum really only extends so far.

Our intro begins with what I took as an homage to “28 Days Later”, with Clark waking up on a lab table surrounded by medical equipment and a rather unhealthy-looking needle puncture in his arm. We see that the needle has been dipped in liquid kryptonite and Clark rather disgustedly knocks the tray with the needle out of frame. Now, I know this is a small point here, but I must say, it’s nice to see Clark just chucking kryptonite away for a change. I know the stuff’s deadly to him and all, but there’s been quite a few times in the history of the show where I’ve wondered how he couldn’t just muster enough energy to even nonchalantly discard a piece of meteor rock. So to see him toss that needle aside as if to say “yeah, no, not today” was a great way to open this episode. He finds Metropolis deserted as he leaves the building, eventually using his super-hearing to track down the source of a song. Its origin is The Daily Planet, and Clark arrives to find Lois…severely unhappy about making copies. Now in all fairness, this intro, while cool, did come off as a bit campy. But then, as I found out later, much of “Rabid” is meant to be taken tongue-in-cheek and more as a throwback to b-horror than as a serious scare fest.

Caffeine syphoning has long been one of the more obscure Superman abilities, known only to hardcore devotees.

After the jump, we’re taken back 12 hours in time to see how it all happened. Back at The Planet (with a decidedly more welcoming atmosphere this time around), Lois and Clark are in full-on 50’s serial mode. It is positively thrilling to me to see the cumulative effect of seeing “Savior”, “Metallo”, and now “Rabid” back to back. I can’t express how much it pleases me to see the writers truly allowing these episodes to build organically this year. The humorous interactions that arise out of Lois’s Blur-centric musings and Clark’s knowing expressions are just priceless and, maybe even more importantly after their final scene in “Metallo”, they now actually make narrative sense. Erica is quite obviously having a ball this season, and in letting Lois live and breathe (not simply as an archetype but as a fully-realized individual, complete with what I fully believe to be several of Erica’s own quirky mannerisms), she has transformed her from the person we met in Season 4 to a character I truly adore watching evolve every week. After an alert comes in about a fire across town, there’s a brilliantly-done scene in which Clark super-speeds to put out the flames and comes back fast enough to have Lois questioning how fast he got her cup of coffee. Their back and forth over how fast The Blur actually did his job was just a joy to watch. When was the last time that Clark was allowed to have fun with who he was? We can really begin to see now how Lois gives Clark a reason to enjoy what he does instead of seeing it as nothing but a burden to carry, even if the end result is just a quick flirt for now. And how about that not-so-subtle nod to arctic breath? Finally! But seriously, I was way more excited about that little moment than I should have been.

Let's see how that bike handles with a tractor trailer in your way, Ollie! Muah ha ha!

Next up, we get our first Clark / Oliver scene in a while. Now, I do question Clark’s need to get Ollie’s attention by pushing a big rig into the path of his motorcycle. I mean, isn’t that a bit needlessly destructive and dangerous…especially when Clark could have stopped Oliver in pretty much any way he cared to? Then again, that also makes it a rather humorously over-the-top choice, so I’m okay with it. The talk these two have here is a real testimony to how far both characters have traveled from the ones we used to know. Oliver’s obviously in a major downward spiral, but for once, Clark’s lecturing doesn’t come across as condescending or hypocritical. I have a feeling that it’s something of what Clark is taking from his training, but there’s just something different about him now. He’s sure of the course he’s on, and he has no delusions about being perfect or all things to all people at this point. On the other hand, he’s also certain that what he’s doing is right, and there’s a solemn wisdom to his eyes that was never there before. It’s one thing to get advice from someone with their own slew of personal issues (as Clark has always had in the past), but it’s quite another to get it from someone with the life experience to know the bad choices from the good ones. I feel like this is the place Clark is (finally) speaking from, and again, I’m not quite sure how the writers are pulling it off, but it really comes through in scenes like this. It makes Oliver’s condemnation of Clark as a Christ-figure come off as less accurate and more resentful than it once did, and I couldn’t help coming away from this scene feeling like I was truly looking at Superman for possibly the first time.

Back at Luthor Mansion, we find that Tess is still hard at work trying to track down Zod and his followers. But before we can go too far down that road, the zombie plot line kicks into high gear. One of Tess’s security officers is attacked and Tess has a battle of her own with one of the infected, complete with some great sword fighting shots. This leads us straightaway to the hospital, where Lois and Clark are headed to Tess’s room. Lois is, to put it mildly, a bit skeptical about Tess having seen zombies. I had to chuckle at her line “it all adds up to C for crazy”. I know I keep saying this, but I just love how they’re writing Lois this year. And I must admit that there’s just something undeniably iconic about seeing these two walk into a room together as a team. It was one of those moments where I had to think “wow, this show has sure changed…when exactly did we get here”? The Blur banter between the two is carried over again from their earlier scene. I really hope the creative team sticks with this tone for the two of them, because it is pitch-perfect. As it turns out, Tess winds up being infected with the virus after her ordeal, throwing Lois clear across the room when she comes close to the bed. Clark holds Tess down until the doctor can sedate her and then goes to check on Lois. I don’t know if anyone else caught this moment here, but Lois has been written as such a strong character from day one (not a bad thing) that seeing her suddenly vulnerable and even a little humbled and scared was a little bit jarring, but in a good way. I could suddenly see how Clark would feel protective of her in that moment. She’s been written a certain way, but that’s not necessarily who she is deep down. That’s a very real-world attribute to put into a television character, and I was really glad to see that layer added to her.

The years, evidently, have not been particularly kind to Bat Boy.

Back at Watchtower, Dr. Hamilton has a few words with Chloe about keeping secrets from him, but is cut short by Clark’s arrival. He provides them with Tess’s blood sample and super-speeds Dr. Hamilton back to Metropolis General to speak with the “DCA Specialist” about the virus. On a side note, I had a hard time figuring out what to make of Chloe’s reaction to Clark taking Dr. Hamilton with him. Was she saying “really?” because she found the move irresponsible in some way? Or was it just a sarcastic response to Dr. Hamilton’s “no, why?” reaction to Clark asking if he got motion sickness? It was just a strange beat for me. Clark listens in to Hamilton’s conversation and discovers that Tess called the hospital not from Luthor Mansion as he had thought, but from The Daily Planet. I must say, it’s great to see Clark using his powers more this year. Not even halfway into an episode, and we’ve gotten super-speed, (almost?) arctic breath, super-strength, and super-hearing…and every bit of it has been there to serve the story. As Clark races to save Lois at The Planet, we get a terrific zombie fight sequence that’s as intense as anything we’ve ever seen on the series. I know I’ve mentioned this a bit already in the two previous episodes, but the production team has seriously stepped up to the plate this season in making Smallville feel more like cinema than television. After Lois is injured in the fight, Clark tells her that he’s going to get her to somewhere safe and carries her up the stairs in a moment that was thankfully played up to be as big as it should have been.

This is one night you're not shutting me out, Scarlett!

Ah, Ollie. Only you, sir, could morph a potential citation for reckless driving into a hot date. We get an allusion here to Oliver still having feelings for Lois, a development which is obviously coming at the most awkward time possible for all of these characters. But it’s certainly going to play out interestingly over the course of this year. When Oliver’s date (or should I say arresting officer?) discovers a camera hidden in his belt buckle, he guesses it’s been planted by Tess. You know, maybe it’s wrong of me, but I just had to laugh out loud when she told Oliver not to call or email and he said “don’t worry, I never do”. It was, admittedly, a pretty slime ball thing to say, but she so deserved it for jumping to the wrong conclusions about him. And you know, let’s all take a moment here to acknowledge the truth of the matter: people in freefall, for better or worse, can be pretty darned funny at times. Don’t get me wrong, I hate to see Ollie in such a dark place, but I know it’s only temporary, so it was great to see such a classic Hartley moment come out of it. Meanwhile, Chloe and Dr. Hamilton have discovered that the virus is Kryptonian in origin and that Clark is likely the only matching donor with which they might be able to duplicate the enzyme needed to create a vaccine. Or…lol…something along those lines. I did like getting two mentions of Davis in this episode. Any reference to past events like that really gives this series a sense of linear consistency that, at times, has escaped Smallville in previous years when it has descended into merely episodic fare. No events in our lives are fully self-contained. Everything that happens is always impacted by what’s come before and, in turn, has the potential to change what’s to come. It’s great to see that the writers really appear to get that this time around.

Up next is one of my personal favorite scenes in “Rabid”. Lois and Clark are still holed up at The Daily Planet deciding what to do next, and what follows is one of the most open and heartfelt sequences that I think we’ve ever seen on the series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: what Erica Durance is doing with the character of Lois Lane – this year in particular – is, for me, a joyful and transformative thing to behold. There were times during her confession to Clark that she has a connection with The Blur that’s so strong that she doesn’t want to go back to the way things were that I could have sworn her face was alternating between Lois and Erica again and again. And that’s not to say that the illusion of her being Lois was broken for me. Not at all. I just think that Erica is playing those emotions so straight and so close to her own heart now that the line between the character and the actress seems as if it’s hardly there. I love the contrast between the profundity of what Lois is saying in just a few words to Clark and the comparative emptiness in the long diatribes Lana would regularly engage in about her feelings. There’s something going on inside Lois that doesn’t require pages of inevitably inadequate dialog to get across to anyone who’s felt that same way before in their lives. And even if she had all the words in the world, none of them would say what they’ve managed to pull off here with only the genuine look in her eyes and Tom’s (once again) phenomenally subtle reactions. You can see that he wants to believe her, and that he might even have begun to admit to himself that he feels the same way, but it’s just something he can’t fully embrace without questioning all that’s come before in the process.

Have you guys seen my shades? Oh, and come with me if you want to live.

Oliver shows up just in the nick of time to bust the two of them out and he, unlike Lex, is in fact packing heat…and apparently a whole knapsack full of one-liners. I counted three in about ten seconds, and I’d have chalked it up to camp if Oliver’s character hadn’t already been established as shrugging off all semblance of responsibility earlier in this same episode. As such, his lines came off more like failed attempts at levity than winks at the camera, which I think worked a bit better to be honest. After giving Oliver a pretty strong glare about not letting Lois fall asleep, Clark leaves the two of them in an elevator and heads off to Watchtower. Now, I personally did think that the scene with Clark giving blood was played a bit heavy-handed. I mean, not only do we know that he’s going to be fine, but we’ve actually seen the end result of what happens here before the opening credits. The best thing here for me, though, was seeing Chloe’s response to what happens to Clark. When Dr. Hamilton tells her that he needs her help prepping the vaccine, you can see the conflict in her eyes looking down at Clark on that table. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was seeing Chloe in that moment at a rather large personal crossroads. This is one of the first times that Chloe has had to decide who she is. Is she Clark’s sidekick or something more than that? She has to finally choose for herself between protecting him and protecting the greater good. I loved that dynamic so much that I nearly wish we had been allowed to see that moment for her character by their ending the shot just seconds later with her reluctantly turning and walking out of frame. That would have come with a really great since of finality and decisiveness for Chloe, and it was probably also something Chlark folks needed to see, frankly.

And thus was born the legend of Narcisssus.

This brings us to the elevator scene with Oliver and Lois, also one of the better moments in the episode for me. I really came away from this sequence with a much better appreciation of Justin’s acting chops. Maybe it was the exceptional Febre piece that underscored the scene, but the moment that Oliver looks into that mirror had such a great impact. I kept thinking about how attached I’d unknowingly become to Oliver in a mere three seasons. I think that more than any other, this was the scene that made me come away from “Rabid” feeling as though Smallville had become more than a TV series for me. I’ve grown not only to like these characters, but to know and care about them. And in watching Oliver here, I felt what struck me as something very near to real-world empathy for him. I love how the powers that be are permeating even a show with a hook like “Rabid” with smaller, character-driven moments like these that remind us why it is that we’re still watching a prequel after eight years. That Hartley would choose to play this scene so bare was simply fantastic for me. His feelings for Lois are really heartbreaking in this context. I was so personally invested in what Oliver was saying, in fact, that the big reveal of Lois being asleep came as more of a surprise than it had any right to. And with that, Lois is infected and escapes the elevator, which serves to bring us back full circle with the opening of the episode…and the Clark / Zombie-Lois smack down we’ve all been waiting for.

But before we can enjoy the carnage, we get one more Chloe / Dr. Hamilton scene aboard Oliver’s jet. While they’re attempting to saturate the air with the vaccine (and I won’t get into the pseudo-scientific nonsense that would have to be plausible for that scenario to be remotely effective because it will undoubtedly make my brain hurt), Dr. Hamilton confronts Chloe about her attempts at covertly tracking the members of The Justice League. She explains that she’s doing it for their protection and that it’s now a secret both of them have to keep together. I’m not exactly sure where they’re trying to take the relationship between Chloe and Dr. Hamilton, but I’ve gotten the feeling for the past few scenes they’ve had together that the writers are attempting to lay some sort of groundwork here for something. Again, in what capacity I can’t be sure…but right now, I’m not sure what to make of their arrangement. It certainly doesn’t come across at this point as the strictly business relationship that one might expect of the two of them. It may be my imagination running away with me, but I get the feeling that he’s got a little more invested in Chloe than we’ve seen just yet.

I'm just saying it's rude, Lois. When I see public displays of affection it annoys me, so I'm just being considerate. People are looking at us. And, oh great, now it's raining, too. Can we move?

I have to say, Smallville handles people being thrown through plate glass like no other show out there. It’s happened so many times now that it’s kind of the obligatory bread and butter of Smallville actions sequences. Even while making a mental check mark in the box for when this happens to Clark, I was still completely loving this entire fight sequence. I haven’t made too much mention of it thus far, but the effectiveness of the zombie sequences in “Rabid” was extremely impressive. Each time these scenes began even for a moment to come off as hokey or a bit too Halloween episode-like, a quick cut or moment was there to make me shift in my seat a bit. I have to imagine that it takes a great deal of effort (and perhaps even a small amount of luck), from the music to the acting and editing to make a premise like zombie fighting come off with any degree of seriousness, but they managed to pull it off really well at virtually every turn in this episode. Clark grabs hold of Lois as the rain pours down on them, and she gradually begins to calm in his arms. Now, the following shots here are just the stuff of classic Lois and Clark. The one moment that really stands out for me more than any other, though, was the look on Clark’s face when Lois rests her head on his chest and smiles. He’s happy, yes, but there’s something else there, too. I felt as though Clark really wasn’t one hundred percent sure he believed he felt exactly as Lois did earlier. That some part of him knew that by acknowledging that truth within himself, he would also have to admit that what he’d felt in the past wasn’t really the kind of lasting love that he’d ever really been after. I don’t know if he was ready to make that leap back at The Daily Planet. But here, as it so often happens in life, that realization is too tangible and undeniable to ignore. It can also be terrifying to know how much of yourself truly resides in someone else, and I think Clark came to sudden and unexpected terms with that in this scene. And it was beautifully done.

I really appreciate how this episode was book-ended with scenes involving Clark and Oliver. This one toward the end serves to solidify the initial impression I had that perhaps the show runners really are trying to show us now that Clark is in a different place than he was, even at the end of last year. He was right about Oliver, and now even Oliver himself has to acknowledge that. Now, as we see at the end of this scene, what he takes from that knowledge is the opposite of what he should but it’s good to see Clark in a place of uncorrupted higher moral authority that simply isn’t being questioned for the first time. Oliver knows that what Clark’s telling him is right, but he’s too lost right now to find a healthier way out for himself. He’s on a dark road, and burning the Green Arrow suit really makes me want to know what rock bottom is going to look like when Ollie gets there in the episodes to come.

Let's see...Ann, Britney, Cindy, Jennifer...ah, here we are...Lana.

I hope I’m not alone here, but I’m really engaged lately by how Smallville isn’t just wrapping up episodes in the traditional places anymore. “Rabid” went on for a scene or two here after I thought it would end, but that was a decidedly great thing for me – especially when one of these additional scene wound up being probably my favorite of the entire show. I really want to spend a bit of time on this farm scene because I think it’s one of those moments that’s going to be overlooked by a lot of people and its significance really shouldn’t be underestimated in my opinion. When Clark’s cleaning out his wallet and he looks at that picture of Lana, pay particular attention to Tom’s acting choice for that moment. First happiness, and then a bit of a shadow. Now, I’m sure some are going to come away from this and think that he was smiling because he was looking at Lana’s face, but then felt regret over how things ended. But what I took was entirely different. I think Clark looked at that picture and immediately, before he thought of what he was doing, reacted in a way that you can only react when you’re truly over someone: with nostalgia, fond memories, and no pain. I think that right then, Clark just remembered the good that Lana brought to his life and how close they’d been. But then, we have to keep in mind that this is the same Clark that, in my opinion, truly and unconditionally fell for Lois two scenes ago, whether fully aware of it or not. And no matter how pleasant a memory Lana might be for him, that’s all she is now. And no matter what anyone thinks of Lana, saying goodbye to someone who ever meant that much to you is always hard. But Clark knows what he has to do, and putting that picture in the book was such a masterstroke for me…although I do fear that by going the subtle route and having such a changing of heart scene for Clark’s character playing out without dialog or deeper explanation is going to go over a lot of people’s heads. But make no mistake; this was a huge moment for Clark. And in any case, this is why we have reviews to read.

I adored the scene with Lois and Clark here at the end of the episode. I’m not even going to comment too thoroughly on it except to say that the chemistry Tom and Erica have is quickly becoming one of my favorite aspects of watching this series unfold. The one thing I think that stands out for me above all else is the difference in Clark. Compare how he always was with Lana and how he is now. He’s, at the risk of being overly-simplistic, happy for a change! No strings, no overriding burden about him. These two are just playful, amorous, and effortlessly electric in ways that, frankly, no two people ever have been on Smallville. And I just think it’s great that Lois isn’t only falling for The Blur anymore. She’s falling for Clark and doesn’t even know it. It’s actually a bit healthier of a romance than the one presented in the films for that very reason. Lois loves the man, not some romanticized, heroic ideal. Love, after all, is actually less in the end about the things we dream of having than it is about the things we see in someone else that become our dream. And Lois is seeing those things manifest in Clark, which is really wonderful to see play out. While we’re talking dreams, the scene ends with another of Lois’s nightmarish flash-forwards, though I’m pretty sure there was nothing new added to the scenes this time around. Pandora seriously cannot get here fast enough.

It probably should have been a red flag for Zod's disciple when he found out that the hideout was underneath the Silvercup logo.

And finally, we get our big reveal that the so-called “DCA Specialist” was actually a Zod disciple all along. He explains that releasing a hostile virus into the population was the most effective way of forcing Jor-El to reveal himself. He shows Zod the symbol of the House of El and promises that they now have the means to track him, handing Zod the vile of Clark’s blood. Zod is as grateful as Zod gets, which is to say he slaughters the man mercilessly. But wow. Just wow. What a simply astounding way of tying things all together! This impressed me to positively no end, and this is precisely why I have such high hopes for Smallville this season. If they can pull this kind of an episode out of their hat when it had no business being anything other than a throwaway entry, then each and every week is going to be vital this year, folks. I mean, we got zombies this week, yes, but we also got a lot of terrific character moments, including some potentially game-changing Clark / Lois / Oliver / Zod scenes. And to get those moments in an episode like this one was so completely unexpected, at least for me. And now on top of all of that, we’ve got the seeds planted for Jor-El’s arrival and for Zod to start down the path of vengeance with Kal-El that we all know he’s destined to travel? This is all just wonderful. I’m positively stoked now for “Echo”, and based on the strength of the last three episodes, I have more faith in this creative team to maintain a consistent, engaging quality and mythological relevance now throughout Season 9 than I probably ever have before.