8.15 - Infamous - Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[Lead Cenobite]

That was awful, bad science, bad time travel theory (going back and changing history like that is a paradox) and the ending made Clark look like a dilweed. Its episodes like this that reinforce the BDA thing. Also I got second hand embarassment from the crowd hero worshipping clark. And what's with not waiting until Lo finished her sentence. He was in that much of a rush or does he consider he words irrelevent?

Bad time travel theory? If you can suspend disbelief that a man can fly and lift mountains, surely you can suspend disbelief for a very common time travel paradox that's present in many time travel stories. There's paradoxes in Star Trek, Back to the Future, Terminator, you name it. Why's it so bad now, because it's Smallville?

 

[The Sarge]

I didn't like the fact that all Linda Lake had to do was just say he was responsible for terrible things, and apparently for some reason, everyone believed her. What proof did she even have, and how did she get it? For the amount of ridiculousness in her accusations, you think they'd need some kind of basis.
"Yeah, and he also gave birth to Hitler"
She might as well have thrown that one in there.

 

[Prison Mike]

yeah I was thinking that clark could have waited to hear Lois finish her sentence before he zapped back in time, but then that would make the next couple of episodes leading up to a Clark/Doomsday fight irrelevant if Clark knows who doomsday already is. Also, when he goes back in time 2 days prior, wouldn't he meet up with himself from 2 days ago or would he merge with his other self? It's not a big deal, but I was just wondering that...

 

[mellyM]

I didn't like the fact that all Linda Lake had to do was just say he was responsible for terrible things, and apparently for some reason, everyone believed her. What proof did she even have, and how did she get it? For the amount of ridiculousness in her accusations, you think they'd need some kind of basis.
"Yeah, and he also gave birth to Hitler"
She might as well have thrown that one in there.

I think the mere fact that he was an alien would make people immediately willing to accept that he may not be what he appears to be.

 

[04nbod]

Bad time travel theory? If you can suspend disbelief that a man can fly and lift mountains, surely you can suspend disbelief for a very common time travel paradox that's present in many time travel stories. There's paradoxes in Star Trek, Back to the Future, Terminator, you name it. Why's it so bad now, because it's Smallville?

As a Doctor Who fan I am attuned to these things, I don't watch Star Trek and have only seen terminator and BTTF when I was a kid. I can suspend disbelief that a man may be strong enough to move a mountain, I can suspend disbelief that a man can time travel, but doing it wrong? Its like being strong enough to move a mountain but using a tiny winch. Then saying its a feat of strength. Sure, but the winch would break,right?

You are mistaking me for a Smallville hater. I love this show which is why its frustrating when it fails on basic levels

 

[RagingTempest]

IGN's review is in and I couldn't agree more with the review!

http://tv.ign.com/articles/962/962340p1.html

"A new Smallville episode has been long overdue. Thankfully, "Infamous" is worth the month long wait and sets the series back on track after a couple of disappointing Lana Lang episodes."t:

 

[The Caped Knight]

"Lois' return was about as long overdue as the show's return. After dealing with the tiresome and childish Lana and Clark relationship it's refreshing to have someone around who is a little more adult. I prefer Lois' straightforward approach with Clark Kent even if she remains silent about her true feelings. There are less "head games" with her and she doesn't carry the nauseating emotional baggage that Lana brings. The chemistry between Lois and Clark has hit its stride. It's clear both Tom Welling and Erica Durance are enjoying the playful banter that's being written for the characters. We're reaching a point at which the Lois and Clark relationship is starting to outweigh the Clark and Chloe one that has been central to the series for years. "

http://tv.ign.com/articles/962/962340p1.html

Word

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

That was awful, bad science, bad time travel theory

Sicne there's no definitive theory or any facts related to time travel, I tend to give TV and movies a bit of leighway as to how it would actually work. I like seeing the different takes on the subject.

The only issue you could bring up with last night would be this:

1. If Clark goes back in time by 2 days, there should be another Clark running around.

2. Granted current Clark was nowhere near where past Clark would've been although

3. If current Clark stops Lake from trying to out past Clark, then past Clark never has the incentive to time travel to the past to do over the events of outing himself

4. Does that mean there are two Clarks running around? Or if the timeline changes and past Clark never travels, does current Clark just disappear from the past, leaving past Clark to go in the timeline where he never time-traveled to ebign with?

5. Teh show instead made it seem more like he got a time "do over" similar to Epsisode 100 where he was the only Clark aroudn 2 days earlier.

I now have a headache.....

 

[Ghostvirus]

That was awful, bad science, bad time travel theory (going back and changing history like that is a paradox) and the ending made Clark look like a dilweed. Its episodes like this that reinforce the BDA thing. Also I got second hand embarassment from the crowd hero worshipping clark. And what's with not waiting until Lo finished her sentence. He was in that much of a rush or does he consider he words irrelevent?

Thank you!! Lois was like, "Chloe just called" & Clark was like "Whatever b*tch". & Then put the ring on. What the hell!?

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I didn't like the fact that all Linda Lake had to do was just say he was responsible for terrible things, and apparently for some reason, everyone believed her. What proof did she even have, and how did she get it? For the amount of ridiculousness in her accusations, you think they'd need some kind of basis.
"Yeah, and he also gave birth to Hitler"
She might as well have thrown that one in there.

the general public is dumb and believes anything the media tells them in most cases. As for the cops, the lead detective said to Clark that a lot of her 'accusations" checked out...

 

[Prison Mike]

I was thinking the same thing about 2 Clarks running around at the same time. I thought they would eventually merge though. Oh well, it seems that the producers and writers don't care too much about the specifics, so why should we?

 

[Chris Wallace]

"Infamous" felt like a rip-off Spider-Man story to me, between the public outing, being embraced then hated, & the whole "They'll eventually turn on you" speech that Linda gave-while, ironically, wearing green. I half expected someone to get seriously hurt or killed before Clark undid everything.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I was thinking the same thing about 2 Clarks running around at the same time. I thought they would eventually merge though. Oh well, it seems that the producers and writers don't care too much about the specifics, so why should we?

like I said, its time travel, no one knows how it actually works, so they basically can do whatever they want with it. There's not really any specifics to adhere to.

 

[Lead Cenobite]

As a Doctor Who fan I am attuned to these things, I don't watch Star Trek and have only seen terminator and BTTF when I was a kid. I can suspend disbelief that a man may be strong enough to move a mountain, I can suspend disbelief that a man can time travel, but doing it wrong? Its like being strong enough to move a mountain but using a tiny winch. Then saying its a feat of strength. Sure, but the winch would break,right?

You are mistaking me for a Smallville hater. I love this show which is why its frustrating when it fails on basic levels

What is "doing it right"? The way I see it, the only kindof time travel that doesn't create a paradox is time travel to the future where there's no return to the past, and time travel to the past where there are no changes made to history.

 

[RagingTempest]

Did anyone consider that maybe time reversed around Clark when he put the ring on instead of him just jumping back into time?

 

[Lead Cenobite]

It did seem like time rewound, kindof like in the Butterfly Effect, but that would mean only being able to time travel within the traveler's lifetime. That would make it impossible for the Legion to time travel to our time, since they don't exist in it. I guess it can be assumed that the rings work both Back to the Future style and Butterfly Effect style?

 

[boog_spin]

i had a problem with it to..and then i remembered it was smallville...

that being said, i enjoyed the episode and thought it was nice to actually get a pretty damn good look at doomsday this time

 

[Zorex]

Finally got to watch this morning. I enjoyed it, but it still had some bumps. I agree with 04nbod, I was feeling some secondhand embarrassment during the hero praise scene. Chee-zay. Tori Spelling was pretty bad, despite that being expected.

The time travel "logic" or whatever you want to call it doesn't annoy me. I'm glad they had Clark actually use the ring that he had, instead of sitting on it and being... dumb. I understand they had to have the public turn on Clark pretty quickly to keep the story within running time, so no big problem there.

This season, I think, has me liking Lois more than ever before, and this episode was great for her. Her speech to Clark in the barn was moving, very nicely executed. Clark's standout line delivery to me was when he was justifying the time travel to Chloe (before it happened), saying that if he stays exposed and feared like this, he can't help the world. It was very believable, sincere, and not forced or overplayed.

Davis coming to Chloe and Doom-ing out on her was pretty exciting. I was disappointed it got cut short! Maybe a preview of things to come...

 

[Mike_D202]

I missed the eppy, does the network let you watch the episode online after it airs?

 

[Syncos]

I thought the episode was pretty good. I wish the producers would have had the balls to keep it going until they could have found a non time travel way around it. (perhaps a magic spell from a certain magician coming up). but oh well. It'll do.

 

[ny_gambit]

Wow, this show makes me sad. I used to love it, but it has slowly descended into a pit of suck-titude. And last night was the final straw.

Stuff that made me go "Really?!"

1. Wow the world sure embraced the alien from another world no questions asked. As a matter a fact that whole article was written rather quickly. And the stupid little girl throwing herself off a fire escape was just really annoying. I said to myself "this has to be a dream (it could have been the Black Mercy.)"

2. Wow Hydro-girl sure turned the world against Clark REALLY quick. I know this was all supposed to be done in 40 minutes, but seriously the people in the Smallville universe must have no free will. Again I was like, "This has to be dream cause these time frames are just ridiculous."

3. Chloe: "Unless you can fly around the world and turn time backwards, we're screwed."
Clark: "I can't do that, that's stupid. BUT I can do something just as stupid and poorly developed: I have a time traveling ring."
Chole: "Why haven't you used it already to stop any of the other bad things that have happened since you got it. OR go back and fix something from before... like stopping Lex from turning Lana into a Kryptonite battery?"
Clark: "Shut up."

Time Traveling Ring = stupid cop out.

4. I really pounded my head as Chloe pointed out "HEY DIDN"T YOU ALREADY TRAVEL IN TIME TO UNDO THE REVEAL OF YOUR SECRET IDENTITY ONCE IN THIS LIFETIME."

If you need to do that more than once on your TV show, YOU SUCK AT COMING UP WITH IDEAS.

5. As Lois clearly has something life-threatening to say to Clark he... puts on the Time Traveling ring without blinking an eye. Is Clark really the dumb!?

6. And yes, if you're watching a show with people running around with super powers you should be able to suspend belief for time travel,
BUT
anybody with a pulse and who's seen any form on entertainment involving time travel (Terminator, Back to The Future, Lost, Heroes, SUPERMAN COMIC BOOK for Pete's sake) could point out problems with how Smallville handled it.

When I watched it 3 people almost simultaneously said, "Shouldn't there now be 2 Clarks?"

Smallville writers: GO WATCH AN EPISODE OF "LOST."


Good Lord there is so much more I want to say, but got a train to catch.

The writers for this show have given up.......................... and they've been signed for another season?!?

Man this show makes me sad.

 

[Brainiac 8]

"Infamous" felt like a rip-off Spider-Man story to me, between the public outing, being embraced then hated, & the whole "They'll eventually turn on you" speech that Linda gave-while, ironically, wearing green. I half expected someone to get seriously hurt or killed before Clark undid everything.

Hate to tell you, Spider-Man wasn't the first one to do that either.

In Sci-fi and comics, there are rarely original ideas and plots.

 

[Rain]

1. If Clark goes back in time by 2 days, there should be another Clark running around.

Another Bizarro perhaps ?

Not really a good way to bring him back IMO

 

[D-Man22]

This episode was crap plain and simple. Any episode to do with time travel always leaves the puzzling question of why didn't he go back to X time and fix X problem from happening in the future.

 

[Metamorpho1977]

It did seem like time rewound, kindof like in the Butterfly Effect, but that would mean only being able to time travel within the traveler's lifetime. That would make it impossible for the Legion to time travel to our time, since they don't exist in it. I guess it can be assumed that the rings work both Back to the Future style and Butterfly Effect style?

It's the Quantum Leap theory.