Episode 511 - Lockdown Review




"Lockdown" Review

Written by Coleen

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.

In Lockdown, Lex has been forced into a panic room at Luthor Mansion by two officers of the SV Sheriff"s department, one of whom was present and severely injured when the black ship landed in Smallville"s second meteor shower. He witnessed Lex and his men arrive and remove the spaceship, and now he wants it. Lana is kidnapped by these same villains, and winds up in the panic room with Lex, who has now sustained a gunshot wound. She also learns from Lex, while she"s in there, that the spaceship has disappeared. Jonathan discovers that Lionel Luthor is the main campaign contributor to his senatorial race and is deeply disturbed by this news.

Tom"s Performance: Despite this episode not being focused on him, Tom again gifts us with his beguiling portrayal of Clark Kent. In the barn scene early on with Lana, he longs to kiss her the way she wants him to, but is too afraid to get carried away and hurt her. We see Clark"s anguish at his inability to be himself with her, and his despair at not being able to talk to her about the black ship, when she is consumed with wanting to know more about it, especially when he discovers that she is turning to Lex instead.

Throughout the episode, we see his fear for Lana as he tracks her down with Chloe"s help, his shock when he first sees the stricken sheriff on the floor of the Luthor mansion, and his concern for Lex lying shot in the panic room. He is not so concerned for Lex, though, that he doesn"t badger him for information as to Lana"s whereabouts once he regains consciousness, under the care of the paramedics. Tom looked especially good in the episode with his longer hair, despite his now constant wardrobe malfunction of the red jacket/blue t-shirt combo.

The Good:

Clark and Martha: Clark expresses his doubts to his mother about Lana accepting that he"s an alien, while at the same time, he"s angry that she"s kept it from him that she"s been working with Lex for the past several weeks studying the spaceship. Martha points out that he hasn"t been very honest with Lana lately either. She hints that maybe Lana isn"t the one that Clark is destined to be with, and in an ironic and humorous bit of foreshadowing, just as Clark tells her that he can"t imagine ever loving anyone else, Lois pulls up in her car at that very moment.

Lana and Lex: With Lana trapped in the panic room with an injured Lex, we see her falling more and more under his spell. She believes he took a bullet for her, although she was the one who went on the offensive with the two kidnappers, and what happened after that appeared to just be Lex trying to save his own skin. Lana, though, clearly sees him as a hero.

Martha and Jonathan: Martha confesses that she allowed Lionel to contribute to her husband"s campaign, and when asked why by a furious Jonathan, her reply that she knew how much the campaign means to him, to be able to make a real difference in the world the way their son does every day, proves how well she really knows her husband, and the lengths she"s willing to go for his happiness. She"s able to reason with him enough to get past his hatred and distrust of anything to do with the Luthors, and to make him see that realizing his dream must come at a price.

Clark and Chloe: Clark and Chloe head to the psychiatric unit of SV Medical Center, to track down info on Flynn, one of the kidnappers. Chloe has managed to connect him to Lana"s disappearance, based on her discovery that it was he who purchased the GPS tracking device used on Lana"s car before she was kidnapped. Chloe is talking a mile a minute to Clark, telling him how they will break in, what she"ll do, what he"ll do, but Clark very endearingly takes over in his unassuming way without any fanfare, and gets them into the unit using a very simple method of distracting the guard. He was adorable.

The final scene of the episode, when Clark tells Chloe how much he loves Lana, was bittersweet. Chloe still harbors feelings for Clark, and it"s obvious she needs to brace herself to hear those words. But she tells him the truth, that by his silence he is pushing Lana away, and that if he wants things to change he needs to tell Lana the truth about himself.

Lois: It was sweet how Lois attempted to take the blame for accepting Lionel"s campaign donation, in an effort to maintain the Kent"s marital peace. Lois as a senatorial campaign manager, however, still requires a certain suspension of belief.

Goodbye Sheriff: Nancy Adams, the caustic, skeptical and no-nonsense sheriff who quickly learned respect and admiration for Clark in her dealings with him over many episodes, was shot and killed in a chilling scene in the Luthor mansion. Camille Mitchell will be missed in this role; it"s a shame they have done away with this interesting and often funny character.

The Bad:

Lana at the warehouse: We see again that even in its fifth season, the writers are still relying on hackneyed plot lines to move the story forward: the convenient device of knocking someone unconscious so they don"t know what"s happened to them is trotted out when Clark uses his powers to save Lana in the warehouse explosion. It was actually painful to watch when she later states to Clark that Lex saved her life earlier at the mansion. She totally disregards the fact that she woke up in Clark"s arms after what had obviously been a major catastrophe, and doesn"t connect the dots. Shouldn"t the fact that Clark is standing in front of her with his jacket burned in multiple places be a clue?

Lana and Lex: Another painful scene for Clark fans to watch was the tender scene in the hospital between a whispery Lana and an earnest Lex, when they forge their "friendship" and hug. We only get a glimpse of Clark"s face when he accidentally witnesses this moment, but it"s enough to see his confusion and sense of betrayal.

I gave Lockdown 3.5 stars out of 5.

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