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This gets a B from me: OK but not great. A definite improvement from last week but then I hated Toxic so that's damning with faint praise. I also only got to see it once since I was on the road because of Canadian Thanksgiving and my sister doesn't have all the channels I've gotten used to. Sometimes the episodes do improve on second viewing.
Starting with the bad, too much Chimmy, although for the first time if seemed like a real relationship. The Fever letter played a huge role in the episode by sparking Jimmy's jealousy, leading him to the bar and Maxima and thus leading her to Clark. Chloe showing it to Clark at the end just felt all WRONG, though I did like how even that served a purpose by making Clark realise that he IS rather oblivious to a lot of human interactions. I've always explained that to myself as due to his alien nature: he's not hard wired the way humans are to detect the nuances of body language.
As far as Maxima goes, she was good enough but nothing spectacular. My main problem was that the climax was definitely anti-climatic for me. The writers should have made it more difficult for Clark to be able to send her away. I get that she was playing on his loneliness, but the writers sabotaged this approach by talking about how Clois have a deeper relationship then they realize. To really make Clark about leaving, Maxima should have said how he could help her bring truth and justice to Almerac. Of course, she doesn't know him well enough to realise that helping people is his main trigger.
Is it shallow to curse Lois for having cut the elevator scene short? I'm sorry, I wanted to see just a bit more TW. However, I enjoyed Lois's OTT reaction: she got a bit blind sided and she doesn't like feeling that way. Yes, it felt like they were trying to foreshadow the Clois too ham-handedly, but we got that as early as Gone from Lana so I'll deal with it. As long as Clois stays at this level of sometimes barbed bantering combined with random bursts of attraction and admiration for their developing journalistic partnership - well, I'll be a happy camper.
The other cool thing was the disappearing crystal. Pretty bizarre for Tess to be carrying it around town and showing it to Clark so openly: I expected him to steal it then and there on general principal. So who is the mysterious X? Hard to think its anyone other than Lex, but if so what's he up to? Regardless, this is another promising angle for the rest of the season to play out.
The Chlark was in much better balance this week. He was concerned at her accelerating Brainiac-ness, and this time she acknowledged the concern was warranted. Her attitude is there's nothing he can do about it, so why worry. But, surprise, Clark comes up with what looks like a viable plan: getting the Jor-El AI in the crystal to help. Which gives him a compelling reason to find the crystal and resurrect the AI, which otherwise given their past history he'd probably just as soon let go.
Starting with the bad, too much Chimmy, although for the first time if seemed like a real relationship. The Fever letter played a huge role in the episode by sparking Jimmy's jealousy, leading him to the bar and Maxima and thus leading her to Clark. Chloe showing it to Clark at the end just felt all WRONG, though I did like how even that served a purpose by making Clark realise that he IS rather oblivious to a lot of human interactions. I've always explained that to myself as due to his alien nature: he's not hard wired the way humans are to detect the nuances of body language.
As far as Maxima goes, she was good enough but nothing spectacular. My main problem was that the climax was definitely anti-climatic for me. The writers should have made it more difficult for Clark to be able to send her away. I get that she was playing on his loneliness, but the writers sabotaged this approach by talking about how Clois have a deeper relationship then they realize. To really make Clark about leaving, Maxima should have said how he could help her bring truth and justice to Almerac. Of course, she doesn't know him well enough to realise that helping people is his main trigger.
Is it shallow to curse Lois for having cut the elevator scene short? I'm sorry, I wanted to see just a bit more TW. However, I enjoyed Lois's OTT reaction: she got a bit blind sided and she doesn't like feeling that way. Yes, it felt like they were trying to foreshadow the Clois too ham-handedly, but we got that as early as Gone from Lana so I'll deal with it. As long as Clois stays at this level of sometimes barbed bantering combined with random bursts of attraction and admiration for their developing journalistic partnership - well, I'll be a happy camper.
The other cool thing was the disappearing crystal. Pretty bizarre for Tess to be carrying it around town and showing it to Clark so openly: I expected him to steal it then and there on general principal. So who is the mysterious X? Hard to think its anyone other than Lex, but if so what's he up to? Regardless, this is another promising angle for the rest of the season to play out.
The Chlark was in much better balance this week. He was concerned at her accelerating Brainiac-ness, and this time she acknowledged the concern was warranted. Her attitude is there's nothing he can do about it, so why worry. But, surprise, Clark comes up with what looks like a viable plan: getting the Jor-El AI in the crystal to help. Which gives him a compelling reason to find the crystal and resurrect the AI, which otherwise given their past history he'd probably just as soon let go.
