After a ridiculously long absence of 3 straight episodes, a complete wasted opportunity, we finally get back to the Kandorians at almost 1/3 of the way through the season. It should never have taken this long to start getting to the point, but now that the Zod story is moving along, it's at least refreshing.
This is really 3 stories in one episode. There's Oliver discovering a girl named Mia (a take off on comic book character Speedy). The negative is that it's a terrible plot, and one of the worst/most pointless adaptations yet of a DC comics character on this show. It's like the movie Pretty Woman with mafia thugs and fight clubs. Doesn't exactly scream superhero entertainment, although at least they stuck pretty close to her comics origin here. The positive is that Oliver is finally sober and showing some charisma and energy again. The second story with Tess and Zod is, as I said, a step in the right direction. There's nothing special here, only a couple of brief scenes, but it actually establishes a clear plot, and gives Tess and Zod something to do for a change. As has become normal in the last 2 seasons, the best part of the episode is the interactions between Clark and Lois. I don't know how realistic it is that they can hold a 5 day a week job as talk show hosts while still working full time at the Daily Planet, but it made for some entertaining scenes, so I'm not going to complain.
Some of the weakest episodes of Smallville come when they try to combine unrelated stories, like has been done here, but the writing and direction here is solid enough to make this watchable. "Crossfire" isn't a perfect episode, but it's a step in the right direction.
On a side note, fans of Superman comics should watch for the poster shot cameo of Cat Grant in the final scene.
This is really 3 stories in one episode. There's Oliver discovering a girl named Mia (a take off on comic book character Speedy). The negative is that it's a terrible plot, and one of the worst/most pointless adaptations yet of a DC comics character on this show. It's like the movie Pretty Woman with mafia thugs and fight clubs. Doesn't exactly scream superhero entertainment, although at least they stuck pretty close to her comics origin here. The positive is that Oliver is finally sober and showing some charisma and energy again. The second story with Tess and Zod is, as I said, a step in the right direction. There's nothing special here, only a couple of brief scenes, but it actually establishes a clear plot, and gives Tess and Zod something to do for a change. As has become normal in the last 2 seasons, the best part of the episode is the interactions between Clark and Lois. I don't know how realistic it is that they can hold a 5 day a week job as talk show hosts while still working full time at the Daily Planet, but it made for some entertaining scenes, so I'm not going to complain.
Some of the weakest episodes of Smallville come when they try to combine unrelated stories, like has been done here, but the writing and direction here is solid enough to make this watchable. "Crossfire" isn't a perfect episode, but it's a step in the right direction.
On a side note, fans of Superman comics should watch for the poster shot cameo of Cat Grant in the final scene.