Smallville: Isis

Posted by: Andrew Burns  •  October 27, 2010 @ 12:52am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

After the poor intro, campy music, and yet again mediocre writing, the final scene between Clark and Lois still put a big smile on my face and made that whole hour worthwhile. Spoiler Alter folks: CK tells LL his big secret (and no I'm not talking about Lex Luthor or Lana Lang), but you will need to sit through 50 gaudy minutes to see it.

The story line for "Isis" is about as ridiculous as they come. Oliver, for some random reason, is having a museum exhibit on the Egyptian Goddess Isis but a key piece of the exhibition has gone missing (Isis' necklace). Turns out Lois pocketed it, accidently of course (back in "Shield" earlier this season) and when she touches it Lois becomes possessed by the magically supercharged goddess, Isis. Also from "Shield" the overly chipper cub reporter, Cat, is back and after Lois is possessed Cat believes she is the blur. So with some help from Tess, Clark and Oliver try to exercise Isis from Lois before she can do any damage or Cat exposes her.

If you've been a fan of this series since the beginning you know that either one of two things is going to happen when James Marshall's name comes up as the director in the opening credits. It could mean the episode is going to pull out all the stops for an unforgettable hour of television, or its going to be a fun, yet very campy, filler of an episode. Since its not swipes week and Marshall has no middle ground "Isis" falls into the ladder category.

Even fully accepting what kind of an episode "Isis" was going to be, I still have a few objections. One being that quite a bit before Lois is possessed by this magical goddess, Durance is already dressed head to toe in a fully authentic Egyptian outfit, which the reason why is only half explained. Another being the fact Clark, Oliver and Tess don't really need any proof of this ancient prophecy, they just buy into this Isis legend a hundred percent. That might be fine if the legend was something believable not the underworld raising, hell on Earth, or a full on Apocalypse. The episode is way too playful for any audience member with a brain to think anything seriously dangerous is going to come out of this poor excuse for a plot and pose any actual risk to any of the characters.

What this episode really is is a vehicle to future episodes. A plot may not seem to be present here but "Isis" acts like pawns moving into place so that the big players can make their move later on. It patches up anything that might have been between Clark and Oliver. It positions Tess back into the main storyline and sets up a new angle for her in the show. It brings back Cat for a possible side story as well as comic relief. But most important thing this episode gets out of the way is [Spoiler Alter]: Clark finally telling Lois he is the 'Blur'.

With Clark officially coming out to Lois I'm hoping there is a good chunk of story devoted to him explaining his actual origins, not just her believing he is a 'meteor freak' or her suddenly knowing the full story by the next episode. If the writers do this over time, just as they did with in season 5 with Chloe, it shouldn't be a problem. With 17 episodes left there is no need for the producers to rush this honeymoon phase for Lois & Clark. With the scenes between Welling and Durance being the best parts, by far this season, it would be a waste to skip ahead rather than watch Lois enjoy a little Kryptonian 101.

Tags: Smallville, Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Justin Hartley, Cassidy Freeman, James Marshall, Keri Lynn Pratt

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Andrew Burns loves film and comics, and can be found writing about when those worlds converge. You can follow him on Twitter at @myAndrewBurns.

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