Creepy happenings at harvest-time, and Clark finds himself powerless to help...

“Harvest”

It was brought to my attention by a reader last week that a certain website that has dedicated themselves entirely to all things Superman has started banning users based on their comments about the new season of Smallville. Apparently, there are some viewers who have been quite upset with the new political jabs that the show has taken. I had no idea the show had become quite so political as of late, or perhaps it’s my own political leanings that kept me from noticing. Either way, having learned of this, I wondered what reactions this week’s episode would get. So far, I haven’t seen anything on the web, but it’s still early.

This week, Smallville gets in the Halloween spirit with a horror-tinted tale that takes cues from Children of the Corn and The Wicker Man (just to prove how awesome that movie is). Clark has taken it upon himself to get Lois away from Metropolis because she wants to cover a rally for the Vigilante Registrations Act (Wait, this is DC, not Marvel’s Civil War, right?). He feels she’s too close to all of this having dated an outed superhero, and now dating one who has yet to go public. She is furious when she realizes what he’s done, but soon bad goes to worse when they wind up with two flat tires in the middle of nowhere. As they discuss what to do, a young Mennonite-looking girl pops up out of nowhere. She says she’ll wait with Lois while Clark goes and gets a tire fixed in the next town. When he gets back to the car, however, Lois and the mysterious girl are nowhere to be found.

Clark soon realizes there is more wrong than he first thought. As he goes to open the trunk, he notices his hand is cut wide open. A police officer shows up on the scene, thinking Clark has done something to Lois, but is soon persuaded to help him find her. Lois has been taken back to the young girl’s village, where a small group of religious nutters – erm, devout followers all live. The girl’s father is the leader of the congregation, and insists that Lois join them for supper. It is at supper that Lois comes to realize that all is not right in this town that time forgot, and she tries to leave, only to find out that the father’s eldest daughter had died in a meteor shower, after which there had been good farming.

They have spent the last twenty years sacrificing a woman on the anniversary of the daughter’s death. And this year, Lois is to be the sacrifice for a bountiful harvest. She finds Clark unconscious, who has discovered why the community has had good harvests and no one ever gets sick. The land is riddled with Blue Kryptonite, and he has to find a way of saving the day while mortal. As they try to escape, he is killed and buried, and Lois is tied up and prepared for sacrifice. Clark breaks through his grave, and comes to save Lois, only to be burned by the Blue Kryptonite flames himself. He, however, lives, and Lois uses this as proof that they should be wary of Clark, lest he destroy them. They make the mad dash out of hell town, and just in time.

A side story is the ever growing little Lex, now aged twelve years. Tess throws a birthday party for him, having children his own age there to interact with him. He passes out, only to have drawn Superman’s shield on a paper plate. Having Lex the First’s memories, he feels afraid of the man with this symbol. Tess has been having her people try to find a cure for him, but in the end, she tosses the new found cure into the fire, knowing he will die without it. She knows now that he’s not an innocent little boy – he’s Lex, and that’s bad. Oh, and Lex shaves his head, which doesn’t make much sense since he always wanted hair. But I digress.

In the end, Lois and Clark still end up scooping the rally by writing about the villagers. Clark wonders why so many would follow a lunatic like that, but Lois explains that more than ever, people need an icon, a beacon of hope to look up to (hmmm, reminds me of this really great blog someone wrote here). I hope this means that we’ll be seeing more heroics from our hero, but seeing as it’s still a CW drama, they’ll drag it out as long as they can (especially if rumors are true that producers are trying to get everyone to come back for an eleventh season).

The story is really pretty good, other than a few plot-holes: The blue flame is never really explained, nor is it really effectively explained why Clark miraculously heals from the burn so quickly if it is Blue Kryptonite. However, the creepy, religious fanatic townsfolk and horror references make for a nice story. And after seeing Tess learn to love last week, it is painful to see the heartache she feels this week when she realizes that Lex can’t be saved. But overall, the speech that Lois gives to the townspeople as she’s about to be killed about how blind following and misplaced faith are wrong is wonderful. It makes me curious to see how many will misconstrue that as “Christian-bashing”. Still, effective creepiness throughout the episode, and a message to boot (don’t be a fanatic – unless it’s about Doctor Who). I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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