Smallville Episode 8.09 “Abyss”

Air Date: Nov. 13, 2008

Check out our preview here.

Jimmy and Chloe are talking wedding party and Jimmy mentions that Lana’s coming. Chloe, undergoing a battle with Brainiac, has forgotten who Lana is. She blows it off but Jimmy is sure something is wrong. She flashes back to their engagement party and her memories are glitching up. When Chloe snaps out of it, she doesn’t remember who Jimmy is and freaks out.

Jimmy goes to Clark for help, concerned Chloe’s meteor healing ability might be causing this. Chloe goes to the hospital to research memory loss. She runs into Davis and apologizes for not helping him find his past yet. After his weird experience with his mom, he doesn’t want to know anymore about his past. Davis knows something’s up when he mentions Jimmy and she doesn’t seem to recognize the name.

Clark goes to see Chloe and finds she has a “crib sheet” of the people she’s supposed to remember. They both realize Brainiac is taking her over. Davis and Jimmy talk as Davis says he can’t make it to the wedding. Davis asks if Jimmy really loves her and he gushes, even quoting Frank Sinatra.  Jimmy asks Davis if he knows what that kind of love is like and he said that he does. Boy, does he.

Chloe tries to stop Clark from using the infamous crystal to summon Jor-El  and rebuild the Fortress but he won’t have any of that. He says everyone that knows his secret goes away and he won’t let that happen to her.  While they talk, she has another blackout but Clark stops it. However, Chloe doesn’t remember Clark’s super powers or anything else about Krypton.

Clark goes to rebuild the Fortress of Solitude and get Jor-El’s help, leaving Chloe with a picture of the two of them together to help her remember. Jimmy tries to get Chloe to go see a doctor but she wants to stay there until Clark gets back. Jimmy wins out and while undergoing the MRI, Chloe flashes back to the first time she met Clark.  This is a cute scene where talks about how boring she expects Smallville to be. She mentions that she lost her favorite book in the move. Clark super speeds to the library and brings her the book. Ah, super crush beginning her. Things start going crazy again. After massive Clark memory delete, all she remembers is Davis. She runs to find him and he promises to help her.

Davis brings Chloe back to Jimmy and Clark, then sedates her before she can run off again. Clark takes her to the Fortress. He asks Jor-El to leave her without any memories of Krypton or Clark’s powers. Something drips out of her ear and into the ground. Looks like it’s time for Brainiac to infect the Fortress.

Jor-El does what he says. Chloe is happy and blissfully unaware of anything Kryptonian. As she steps out, Davis reveals his feelings for Chloe and tells her she’s marrying the wrong man. And there’s a kiss. Clark goes to talk to Jor-El about the Kryptonian symbol for doom. He describes the ultimate destroyer and that the being has apparently made its way to Earth. Clark vows to defeat it. After Clark leaves the Fortress, Brainiac reveals himself and takes over the Fortress, proclaiming that Doomsday has arrived and it’s time for the House of El to fall.

Images: © 2008 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

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A series of murders plagues Metropolis and our intrepid reporter Clark is on the case, which leads him right to Davis. Let’s get ready to – wait, better not. Michael Buffer gets legal on people. Let’s get it- naw, Mills Lane might sue. Gentlemen, start hitting each other repeatedly with Kryptonian strength. There you go.

Image © 2008 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

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We will also learn that Ollie and Tess, the diabolical new CEO of LuthorCorp, have met before. And the relationship dynamic between newly engaged Chloe and her longtime friend Clark continues changing. Chloe makes a decision that is sure to surprise Clark.

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And Davis Bloome, the mysterious paramedic who will become Doomsday makes his first appearance in Metropolis. Also, what is up with Chloe’s latest set of human supercomputer powers? And why couldn’t she heal Clark when Green Arrow made a human bullseye out of him last week? It’s kind of hard out there for a Kent – when he’s tryin’ to make that money for the rent.

Images: © 2008 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

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Smallville

For those not in the know, the Legion is a group of heroes from 1,000 years in the future inspired by the legend of Superman. For them, meeting the Boy Who Would Be Super is an almost religious experience. Geoff Johns, the writer who pens some of the Legion’s comic adventures, will write the episode bringing the Legion to Smallville. He can’t yet give any specifics but did ensure longtime Legion fans that traditions like flight rings will be present.

It’s a little interesting that the Legion shows up the same season as the Doomsday character that kills Superman in the books. As Legion fans know, the group can perform a ritual in which one member of the team sacrifices their life so that someone can return from the dead. I have no inside info, just noting an interesting coincidence.

The WB/James White  Photo 2004  The WB Network

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TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello reported last month that hit CW show Smallville has cast the character that murders Superman, at least in the comics. Sam Witwer is an actor with rock solid sci-fi ties, formerly playing Alex “Crashdown” Quartararo on Battlestar Galactica. He also provides the voice for Darth Vader’s apprentice in the much anticipated Star Wars game The Force Unleashed.

The ladies tell me Witwer is quite the dreamboat, as well. Smallville plans to capitalize on that with its most radical departure yet from a character’s comic book origins. Witwer is definitely not the Doomsday DC fans know and love. You see what Smallville’s Doomsday looks like above. Here’s what the comic book character looks like:

As you can see, this pair was clearly separated at birth. The change in design merited a change in backstory as well. The comic book villain is a hulking monster that took down Supes and every other important hero in the DC universe. This is what CW has to say about Smallville’s incarnation:

Real name: Davis Bloome. He’s in his mid-20s. He works as a bartender at the hip new Metropolis lounge Ace of Clubs. He plays down his smoldering good looks with a self-effacing wit and down-to-earth soulfulness. But he has long felt like an outsider (hence his nickname). And beneath his charismatic, easy-going demeanor lies a brooding sense of isolation and insecurity. When he begins to delve into the haunting mysteries of his true origins, a darker truth begins to emerge, one of blood and serial murders, one of survival and utter destruction – one in which he is forced to confront the true evil inside of him.”

Smallville’s Clark is not yet the Superman he will come to be, or even the Superboy that once appeared in comics, but most of Clark’s villains have borne some resemblance to the ones in the books. Lex Luthor is a diabolical genius who started out as Clark’s friend. Brainiac is a power-hungry machine with Kryptonian heritage. This Doomsday is a different animal. It will be interesting to see if Smallville viewers embrace him.

Image by JayJay79 licensed under Creative Commons.

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TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello keeps the Smallville scoop coming. He’s now reporting that Battlestar Galactica alum Sam Witwer, better known as Alex “Crashdown” Quartararo is joining the Season Eight cast of Smallville.

Apparently Witwer will play Doomsday, the villain that in the comic books eventually kills the Man of Steel. Don’t worry, he comes back. Since Smallville doesn’t exactly follow the plot of the comic books, it’s not a shocker that Doomsday’s origin is a little different. OK, way different. In the books Doomsday is an alien creature with strength matching Superman’s.

According to the press materials from CW, Doomsday starts out as Davis Bloome, a charismatic paramedic with a dark side. I’ve long since stopped bashing Smallville for not following the book plots, I get that it’s an entirely different take on the Super-mythos.

Besides which, it’s much easier to kick Smallville now because the creators and some of the stars have left. I don’t have a whole lot of hope for the show with Lex Luthor and Lana Lang gone. But if they’re going to “kill” Clark this year, that could certainly provide a ratings spike. I wonder how far they’ll go with it though. In the comics and even on the animated DVD of Supes’ death, things get pretty graphic. Will CW run promo posters with a bloody, beaten Clark Kent? And how will they handle a fight that logically, seems it would attract enough attention to reveal Clark’s ID?

Image courtesy of Newscom.

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The post-apocalyptic thriller takes place in a Scotland overtaken by a virus, causing British authorities to quarantine the whole nation and leave its inhabitants to die. Is there any film outside of the James Bond series where the British government isn’t diabolical, villainous and generally shows no regard for human life?

Instead of dying, it seems the Scottish degenerate into pale ripoffs of every dark future movie of the 80s. I can’t say I didn’t see this one coming. Doomsday has all the classic signs of a movie you dump before the summer season starts and pray you catch enough bored moviegoers to make some of your cash back.

Miminal star power? Check. Bob Hoskins is the best actor here and he’s got Super Mario Bros. on his resume, proving there’s no check he won’t take. Rhona Mitra carrying a movie? Not in this Hollywood. She’s smokin’ hot, but her poor man’s Kate Beckinsale didn’t get anybody excited this weekend. Well, Universal took the shot anyway. Wake me when Iron Man opens.

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