Caleb's late to the party, but luckily it's a pretty good party...

"Homecoming"

"This episode performed marvels in speeding up the pace of the season, and I hope that this will keep up"

I have been slacking as of late. In my defense, the last two episodes of Smallville really weren’t as good as they could have been. New characters were introduced, but not in the best way (let’s just say I was more than a little disappointed in how they presented Deadshot). Some old characters returned, including Kara, who is now publicly known as a superhero, and in her blue top and red skirt (although, no cape or shield yet). And At the end of episode 3, Oliver publicly came out. Big things have happened, but the pacing went back to the old snail’s pace. Which all sets an interesting stage for the rest of the season, Smallville’s last.

We open with Clark still in doubt. Hero-haters are growing in numbers, and Kara informed Clark that Jor-El has renounced him, going so far as to disown him. To pull him out of his funk, Lois has decided that they need to attend their class’ five-year class reunion. Which seems to have caught the attention of a resurrected Brainiac, and soon, we get the feeling that the show is going to fall into past traps of re-treading storylines and on top of it, give us nothing more than a clip show. How wrong I was to think that.

Everyone, of course, remembers Clark, but no one remembers Lois – Clark reminds her that of the twenty-some days she was enrolled, she only attended five – much to her frustration. We see in the crowd Greg Arkin, the Bug Boy from season one. Things are starting to look like the reunion will end up as a horror show. But when Clasr is crowned King, time stops. Clark walks through to frozen crowd, only to be confronted by Brainiac. He informs Clark that he’s on a mission from the future, and that now he’s Brainiac 5, and working with the Legion of Super Heroes. He takes Clark on an It’s a Wonderful Life-style replay of some of the most important times in his life. He sees that the what’s really holding him back from being Earth’s hero is the past. Clark blames himself for too much, and holds on to his failures. When he sees the present, he sees Lois’ doubts about their relationship, and he notices Bug Boy. Trying to get back to help, he inadvertently throws himself into the future, only to get a glimpse of what could be if he just lets go of his past, and lives in the now. There’s also a brilliant exchange between present and future Clark (Our Clark asks his future self “When did I get to be so uptight”). He realizes that Brainiac wanted to show him all of this to make him understand that he will be the hero mankind needs, if only he can forgive himself and learn to put the past behind him.

Clark gets back in time to see that Bug Boy merely had a message for Clark: Thank You. Clark sees that even with some failures, there have been successes. He unfortunately misses the dance with Lois. In the end, he visit’s Jonathan’s grave to thank him for everything he did to shape him into the man he has become, he goes to show his support for Oliver, who has taken a pubic beating over his decision to come out, and sets the barn up for a dance with Lois. She stands on his feet for him to lead, and soon, they’re floating. Maybe now, Clark will break free of his earthly binds.

This episode performed marvels in speeding up the pace of the season, and I hope that this will keep up. It’s only a short time before this show comes to an end, and there’s a lot to get finished. But I think that this, the final season of Smallville, definitely has the possibility of being the best.

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