Season 1, Episode 10: "O Mother, Where Art Thou?" (SPOILERS)

Not sure how I felt about this one. I did really like Lana here though

 

Unless I missed it, I found it weird that in that lengthy exposition, Lara never confirmed this dude as her son. She just said she was matched to Zeta Rho(sp?).

 

I did enjoy the episode, especially the bits with Lana but damn was that aniticlimatic and a bit unsatisfying. I really wanted more out of Morgan Edge's grand evil plan which was pretty much something Zod would have done anyways, but they could have atleast done more with it. Next weeks episode does look alot more promising and hopefully they do more his character down the line that isn't so predictable.

 

Wasn't a big fan of this one. 6/10.

The last 5 minutes were enjoyable, but the majority of the episode was overly melodramatic and sappy, with no real levity or charm. I'm hoping this series relocates to Metropolis next season for a more upbeat millieu and new roster of engaging supporting characters. Smallville is rather played out after this event.

I did find it really bizarre that Lana was unable to recognize Clark as Superman. That was really awkward. Takes you out of the episode, considering she's supposed to be Clark's 'close friend'

The stuff with Superman's brother has potential. It's a little derivative and predictable, but I like that this show isn't afraid to go full Elseworlds with Superman.

 

I had a sense that this would be Lana centric, but someone called it that Lara Lor-Van would be in it. This marks the first time Lana sees Superman in person.

This is as close we are going to get to a H’el On Earth storyline.

Couple of comics Easter eggs in Dr Dabny Donovan and Eradicator as well as Solar Flare.

Nice to see the children getting involved in the main storylines. We need more episodes like minus some unnecessary drama and exposition. Good episode overall.

 

We needed this episode, imo. Not for the twists/backstory, but for Lana. She was the one character that wasn't quite clicking with me, but this episode changed that, so in that sense, I feel like it did its job. Her fangirling over Superman was adorable even if it is a little crazy that she didn't even remotely recognize Clark or think he looked familiar.

As for the rest, I feel like I need to withhold judgment on the Kryptonian mythos and big picture until we see how it plays out. Because there's still some fishy stuff going on here that I suspect may not be as it seems at present. The Eradicator is more than what they showed here, and I still suspect it will turn out to be before the end (maybe have some sort of sentience at least). Just as I suspect there's more to "Morgan Edge"'s (because I have no clue how to spell his Kryptonian name) grand plan, considering how nonplussed he was about his failure here. I also don't trust who he claims to be, considering Lara didn't seem to confirm it. A part of me suspects that he is a creation of Zeta Rho, and not a biological son, and that the Eradicator will live through him. Or something. IDK. But there's definitely more to it than what we learned here, imo. And I think there's a reason they made a point to illustrate that the Eradicator isn't a computer, it's a brain. That brain's gonna end up in a host, I'd bet money.

I've got no issue with Lara having created this tech, because she was basically trying to create something humans would love to be able to achieve themselves - a way to preserve their consciousness beyond death. There was a Black Mirror episode (or two) about that, lol. It wasn't some nefarious thing. That Zeta Rho guy (interesting name, considering Zeta and Rho were two separate characters from the Bronze Age) is the one who turned it into the Eradicator. It's also kind of a fun nod to Superman Lives, where Jor-El created it (and it was as similar type of device there, I believe). And of course in 90's comics it was Kal-El's ancestor that created it, so it's not too far a deviation, imo.

 

These last four episodes have been great with the first two focusing on Captain Luthor/ John Henry Irons and the other two on Morgan Edge/ Tar-Ro.

Also this episode felt like a season finale.

 

I really enjoyed it. Ok, Lana not even vaguely recognising Clark is a bit off but besides that it was a good episode for me. There's definitely a lot of set up or at least potential set up in there now. I agree with flickchick85, there's more to come with the Eradicator and Edge. Likely it will be a way to defeat him but also a way to bring the actor back (as the physical form of the Eradicator) in future seasons if they want to. Lana undergoing X-Kryptonite could be a nod to her time as Superwoman or a first step towards her becoming Superwoman one day (hopefully not this season though, Steel is the only other person I'd like to see suit up this year). Same for Dabny Donovan, could just be a fun easter egg or it could be setting up more Cadmus in the future.

I'd have liked a slightly different/bigger effect for the solar flare but no big deal. Definitely glad they didn't go down the Zod route or drag out the "will Superman join him even if it's just a ruse to see his mother/bring her back to save everyone".

The show continues to be the best in the Arrowverse. I wish it had a bigger budget to do some of the action scenes with but it looks great considering when they do have.

 

I actually think that in seeing Superman up-close for the first time, Lana had a revelatory moment and was finally able to deduce that he and Clark are one and the same. She just played it off like she was still in the dark. I could be wrong, but I really hope I'm right. lol

 

Well the writer of the episode addressed one of my earlier questions in this thread:

 

Helpful, but then it also raises the question on why those bodies didn't create several craters upon landing on the streets.

Also, I wonder why Morgan Edge didn't revive his mother right away like Superman and company had done in this episode.

 

Oooh, this supports my "he's not really Lara's son" theory!

Also, on re-watch, I'm thinking bringing the Eradicator to the Fortress (right before passing out) was maybe not the best idea.

And thanks to my Amazon copy and its captions, I can now spell Tal-Rho. Realized I'm looking forward to seeing Kyle eat some crow next week, as Lois was just vindicated in front of the whole damn town. Hopefully they'll be a bit more open and trusting with her now, and not treat her like such an outsider anymore.

 

Throughout the whole episode I kept thinking of Man of Steel when Clark said Krypton had its chance. Lol

 

I liked "There is no 'us or them'" a lot better, personally.

 

Based on how Edge’s evil scheme was unfolding, I was starting to think that the events on the alternate Earth were a kind of foreshadowing. So just as an army of super soldiers led by a superman destroyed and took over that world, the same peril was now threating Earth-Prime. Therefore, JHI’s presence (experience and knowledge) would be both relevant and valuable.

But now it seems that all the new “Kryptonians” have been deactivated (except for Leslie Larr). So I guess there are other plans for JHI…?

Also: I get why Edge/Tal-Rho would call a nasty weapon the “Eradicator.” But why does Lara use the same name? As explained, she designed and built it for a benign purpose...

 

She called it “Resurrection,” then Zeta-Rho made it into the Eradicator. She then used that name for its current form, because that’s not her version.

 

it seems to imply that like in Man of Steel, Jor-El & Lara Lor Van actually convinced Kal-El naturally instead of genetic birthing sequence.

Tal-Roh is a genetic child of Zeta Roh and the genetic dna of Lara the way I understood it from the explanation. Meaning Lara wasn’t unfaithful to Jor-El.

 

Also reminded me of the Krypton series where two people are “matched” and then have their child in a test tube.

 

I enjoyed it for the most part. I understand why people don't like the Kryptonion heritage ("matching") with Morgan Edge. I'll wait to see how it plays out, but the character did end up feeling very Zod-ish in this episode. I agree, it still does feel very fishy.


I did when they were all flying together attacking Superman with heat vision. Looked like it was ripped straight out of a comic book panel.

 

@flickchick85 Whelp, it seems that my interpretation of the scene where Lana meets Supes was a bit off if this recent Kryptonsite interview with Chriqui is anything to go by. Here, she describes the encounter as being analogous with "... meeting your biggest celebrity crush", which perfectly jibes with your earlier "fangirling" comment. Sigh. That was such a perfect opportunity to have the character put two and two together.

Oh well.



However,

 

And presumably, the Smallvillian subjects retain no memory of the their Kryptonian personas...

 

Yeah, that was where my thoughts first went to. Hell, Tal-Rho's story is almost the reverse of what was going on with Seg-El and his kids.

I enjoyed the episode. Would have liked to see Lara meet her grandchildren, but I understand how that would have been weird with Sarah around.

They resolved the army of revived Krytponians fairly quickly, but I am fine with that. I think the show will do better with a more one on one type villain, with Edge and Lar still loose. The suddenness of the ending of the army probably explains why they didn't show any potential for the humans to fight the Krytonian consciousnesses. Oh well, missed opportunity.

I did laugh at Lana saying how there hasn't been anything strange in Smallville for so long. Smallville as a show will always live on in my memories, sex cult or no.

With the Eradicator fully named now, **** it. Bring in David Harwood, stick Jordan in a leather jacket, and lets do a freaking Reign of the Supermen arc.

 

When Superman called Lana by name ("You're the hero right now, Lana."), the way her old boyfriend used to, her face changed. Either she realized just then, or in that moment she was no longer able to pretend she didn't recognize him.

 

I sort of like the idea that while Jor-El was smart, Lara Lor-Van was the genius one of Kal-El's parents, who ran off with bad-boy Jor-El to live a counterculture lifestyle.