Smallville - "Magnetic"

After two weeks of absence, the Kryptonite freaks are back. Oh joy.

Let's start with the positive. After the Chloe/Lionel relationship fell apart quicker than I expected, it's good to see a Chloe/Lex relationship in its stead. That has a lot of promise in it. We're given some more hints as to Lionel's history, further assuring that we'll see Morgan Edge again. Also, unlike the girl in "Slumber" a few weeks back, Seth actually had a novel exposure to Kryptonite, one that both relates to his powers and helps explain why every third person in Smallville isn't superpowered.

But aside from the origin, this employed so many of the standard Freak elements that we've seen before. Decent person turns villainous after getting powers? Check. Villain has a huge crush on Lana? Check. Villain, after seeing Clark use his powers, ends up in a coma? Check. It's all a retread of ground that's been covered plenty of times already.

Clark isn't too smart with his powers when he uses his heat vision to stop Seth's stolen car. Granted, no one saw him there, but melting a huge chunk of highway doesn't strike me as very Superman-like. I'm sure it ruined the car's tires too. And Seth could have avoided the entire trap by simply changing lanes. In the end, it was unnecessarily destructive.

Once again, Pete is relegated to a single scene, this time serving as little more than a messenger. Lex's investigator spends time rummaging through the Torch office, then simply unplugs the computer tower and walks off with it, and Chloe doesn't even try to stop him. But when the investigator dies, who killed him? Hopefully not Lionel, because such a fresh crime would only serve to dull whatever dirt they were digging up on him. But who else would want to? Morgan Edge, perhaps?

Next week: Lex goes crazy. I'm hesitant, but it looks like it could be promising.

Update: A Kryptonsite review offers up some explanation as to the oh-so-standard nature of this ep.