Episode 505 - Thirst Review




"Thirst" Review

Written by Chris

DISCLAIMER - Please remember that this review does not represent the opinions/viewpoints of everyone; it is the personal opinions of the reviewer only. Thank you.

Thirst was Smallville"s first attempt at a Halloween themed episode, in which we have Chloe doing a voice over. The main story is a re-telling through Chloe"s narrative. The main plot of Lana enrolling at Met U last minute, joining a sorority for housing purposes and being turned into a vampire was just filler written for entertainment value, but the vampires were over the top, grating and didn"t keep my interest. Thankfully the B storyline was more interesting and gave the episode some merit. We find that Professor Fine is thoroughly investigating Lex and Lurthorcorp"s doings and we get some great scenes of the two of them sparring back and forth trying to one up the other. In the end, Chloe writes the story about a sorority house of meteor infected vampires and lands a job in the basement of the Daily Planet.

Tom"s Performance: Tom Welling was excellent in this episode and his scenes were all well done. Tom plays Clark"s insecurities with Lana going away to college perfectly, along with his concern as Lana begins acting unusual. His expressions were absolutely adorable as he melted into Lana"s kisses and he was jaw dropping gorgeous in his Zorro costume at the sorority party. Once again we have Clark affected by Kryptonite and Tom"s ability to show long drawn out pain is an attribute to his talent as an actor.

The Good:

Clark: Once Clark finds Lana acting unusual he is proactive in investigating the sorority Lana has joined. Zorro was a great costume choice for Clark to wear at the costume party and his comments about liking the cape, but not the mask was a nice nod to his future choices as Superman. I especially liked his uneasiness with wearing a mask, since we know that Clark chooses not to wear a mask as Superman because it makes him feel dishonest and the open nature of his appearance allows people to instill trust in him.

Even when affected by Kryptonite Clark is completely heroic. In excruciating pain from the Kryptonite and having been bitten by Lana, he still fights through the pain and holds onto the Kryptonite based antidote, later plunging it into Lana"s heart, curing her of the meteor infected rabies virus.

Clark and Chloe: It"s nice that Chloe is now a keeper of Clark"s secret and during their phone conversation, Clark super speeds into Chloe"s dorm room. It"s a fun scene as we hear swoosh, some papers fly and Chloe is startled at his sudden appearance.

Chloe and Pauline Kahn: Pauline Kahn, Editor-in-Chief at the Daily Planet, played by Carrie Fisher, is introduced as Chloe interviews for an internship. Nice continuity as we find that Kahn isn"t impressed with Chloe. She points out that Chloe once had her own column obtained through the influence of Lionel Luthor and quickly lost after Lionel had her fired. Chloe stands up to Kahn fighting for the position and in true Perry White fashion" Kahn gives Chloe a chance to write a story to prove herself.

Chloe: I enjoyed Allison"s voice over and felt she did an excellent job. The ending scene of Chloe getting a job in the Daily Planet basement was fantastic. Her comment about the Daily Planet being the record of kings, presidents, prime ministers and future superheroes, was a nice nod to Clark Kent"s future at the DP, but the comment left me a little confused. Now that Chloe knows Clark"s secret are we to believe that she foresees Clark in a superhero"s role in the future? I was unsure where the comment stems from but the following scene where her voice over says, '"Up, up and away'" and we are taken out the window and to the top of the Daily Planet was a nice touch.

Milton Fine: Fine"s classroom lecture was brilliant as he depicts the Roman Empire and an evil man destroying their world. Fine addresses Clark making him feel uneasy by using Lex as example. He asks: '"What would you do if Lex Luthor were a dangerous, unstable, megalomaniac bent on destroying your world?'" Asking Clark, '"Would you have the courage to stop him?'" His point is delivered smoothly and deliberately as Lex is looming in the background of the classroom. It"s as if Fine draws the first sword against Lex and the viewers are treated to a wonderful foreshadowing of the future ongoing battle between Superman and Lex Luthor.

Milton Fine and Lex: Michael Rosenbaum and James Marsters are superb actors and have a great onscreen chemistry as we see Fine and Lex challenging each other. We get two great scenes between them. In the first scene, Lex tries to put Fine in his place by threatening to use his financial influence at the university to have Fine fired. Fine fights back by paying Lex a visit at the mansion. This time Fine gets the upper hand, even going as far as to threaten Lex, telling him not to play a game he can"t win. I thoroughly enjoyed their scenes together and look forward to more as the season progresses.

Nods to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: We get some nods to this series, since Steven DeKnight wrote this episode and also previously wrote for Buffy. Chloe names the head sorority sister Buffy Sanders, similar to Buffy Summers and it was also fun to see Clark explain to Fine that he believed that a vampire bit Chloe. Fine"s reaction and stating that there is no such thing as vampires was humorous since James Marsters played a vampire on that series.

Mixed Reactions:

Clark and Lana: In the ending scene Lana conveniently doesn"t remember what she learned about Clark from biting him, but I really enjoyed how what she did remember she equated to warmth, love and an overwhelming feeling of inner strength within Clark"s heart. It was nice emphasis to the goodness in Clark. I just felt the scene was tainted when she told Clark that she"s missed him and we get that same looming feeling of angst since Clark is unable to be completely close and honest with Lana now that his abilities have returned.

The Bad:

Lana: Lana choosing not to share with Clark that she had enrolled at Met U gives us the impression that she doesn"t care about Clark"s feelings. Going away to college is a life change and should be shared with the person you are involved with, especially coming from a character that has repeatedly stated she doesn"t like secrets. Her excuse that she applied late and didn"t expect to get in doesn"t hold any merit. It doesn"t take much to tell your boyfriend that you are considering going back to college. The worst part is once she got accepted, she still didn"t bother to share the news with Clark and he has to find out by walking in on her packing for school.

The whole storyline of Lana becoming a vampire wasn"t appealing to me and came off as too campy. I know it was a theme-based episode played for fun, but seeing her getting slapped around by the other vampires, jumping though windows at the Luthor mansion and descending on Clark and Lex was laughable. She instantly obtains Clark"s heat vision after biting him and conveniently uses the heat vision on Buffy causing her to suddenly disintegrate. Once again Lana has killed someone that could have been treated at the end with the antidote. Lana"s character tends to be worshipped on this show and one of the sorority girls goes so far as to say, '"Come on Lana, you"re amazing'".

I give '"Thirst'" a rating of 2 out of 5 stars.

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