TheWriter, seriously? You think you needed to clear up Lois could change her name to anything if she wanted to me? Yes, she could call herself Lois Chunky Chicken Soup if she wanted, but who cares.

My point wasn't whether she should or could change her name to anything, but rather why waste precious TV minutes on dialgoue that serves no purpose whatsoever. The fact that she went for a convoluted name change only served to confuse, and I'm thinking it was more a character-driven joke that landed flat. I'm cutting and pasting my main beef with this scene below in itals. I am hoping since your name here is "the writer" you will understand my point of view.

I refuse to believe Lois didn't know about the hyphenated married name. Why is this significant? Because Lois Lane is supposed to be a very bright woman. Here's the thing - in writing, if it doesn't drive the story, it doesn't belong on the page. Explain what that insipid piece of dialogue did other than give Erica Durance a bigger speaking role. It didn't help further the plot, it didn't tell us anything about Lois' character (other than she must be an idiot, which is not the case) and that information was not used later in the episode. That kind of stuff really annoys me. It's ridiculous. Why waste the time to do that? It wasn't funny, it wasn't informative, it didn't pay off down the road. It just laid there, and went no where.

How much of that wasted writing do we need in an episode? Answer: None. Sadly, we get it a few times each week. There are plenty of bad shows that don't break that simple rule. If it's not relevant to the plot/if it doesn't drive the story or progress the character, leave it out. It's basic writing.

Damn.  Gone for almost a day and this thread has taken off like it was a LOST review or something. I seriously expect that Rob V. butchered Joe's review just like he did that hooker and for the same reason (just to screw with them.)

I look forward to catching up on all of the comments tomorrow, but here are my parting thoughts...

Cat Grant must die! That character is easily the worst blonde ever to appear on this show (that includes both Chloe and Whitney... yeah, that's right, I just went all season one on ya!)

I think that bashing Joe on his opinion of the show is unfair especially when we asked for his full review, favourable or not. He's done that and he's argued his position. I think that there will always be a contingent of fans who will love the show, flaws and all. Sadly I one of these but we should be always give credence to the critics or else, we won't recognise a better product if it ever comes along.

Personally the biggest problem with Smallville has always been the writing. Had the focus remained on Lex/Clark it would have been something special but it was as if the showrunners back then lost their confidence in that being able to carry the show and we got the more ludicrous storylines with each season. I'd love to see Rosembaum back but I don't blame him if seven seasons of the show have left a bad taste in his mouth.

And yes...Cat Grant must die. I'd take the Tracy Scoggins version from Lois & Clark over what they came up with.

Joe, perhaps the name change thing will become important in future episodes.  I don't find that likely but it could happen.  And anyway, it's not like it was a major part of the episode.  It was a few seconds out of 42 minutes.

I have no beef with people who liked the ST movie on the level of a mindless action film.  The FX were good, the actors were decent at delivering the performance as instructed, it was fast paced and fun to watch.  It's when people tell me that it was A) well written, B) scientificly acurate, C) it doesn't matter if it was scientificly acurate or not, D)a good representation of the characters, E) the best thing since sliced bread, that I get hot under the collar.

But if all you wanted was lots of action and cool explosions then go for it.

I avoided the new Planet Of The Apes.  I read an interview with the director that the strange ending which people had been wondering about the meaning of didn't mean anything.  He thought it was cool and hey, it was just a dumb science fiction film so it didn't matter.  I figured that if he thought so little of his own work that it was bound to suck so I skipped it and still haven't seen it.

And Mark Walberg is a decent actor.  There is no more reason to hold his boy band past against him than Will Smith who used to be the Fresh Prince Of Belair and a teen idol rap artist.

Joe, I was one of the people who 'ripped you a new one' because of your truncated review. You must admit that before the whole article was posted you came across as extremely beligerent and petty. So I merely responded in kind. I apologize for the personal attack, but you started it first with the Erica Durance's gnarly hands remark. If that isn't the definition of presonally attacking the actress, I don't know what is! I'm just so sick of the Chloe and Lana fanatics who constantly bash Erica Durance for no other reason than the fact that she plays Lois Lane who ends up with Clark Kent. How pathetic is that?! But you appear to be an equal opportunity hater, who seems to detest both Erica Durance and Allison Mack, so I can't accuse you of favoritism. However, I must question your judgement if you think Cassidy Freeman is a good actress. She appears to have gone to the same acting school as Roger Moore - with his eyebrows doing all the emoting. With Cassidy Freeman, the widening and narrowing of her enormous eyes serves the same purpose! But let's face it, NONE of the Smallville regular cast have a snowball's chance of ever winning an Emmy. The mostly bad writing for the show pretty much skewers any chance of that.

That said, I enjoy watching the show even with the plotholes, retcons, inconsistent story developement and sometimes glaring lapses in logic. Because it is what it is. Mindless fun. And the incredibly good looking cast really helps too! 

Anyway, I'm sorry that I was so rude, but I was reacting to your initial article. 

PS. I can't understand why the Lois Lane name change bugs you so much. It was clearly written for laughs. But it seems to have bypassed your funny bone and headed straight for your spleen! 

Oops. That should be 'development'. I know what a stickler for correct spelling you are!

@JoeArtistWriter: I was so very much on board with this show back in the early years a good 4-5 years run made sense.  Season 1 through 4 = Clark's years in high school and maybe a season 5 as he transitions into college and/or takes that big step into a bigger world.  I loved SMALLVILLE!  I ate it up with a spoon! Superheroes on TV!  Hell yeah!  But the key word there is loved...past tense.  Lana's witch subplot pretty much killed this show for me years ago.

In hindsight, this show was only ever half "there".  It never really found its sea legs and that's why its the mess that it is.  It never found a voice of its own.  It started to, but ultimately failed to ever do so.  Clark was never at his best when he was sullen and brooding, how about we leave that for the sparkly vamps in other franchises and let Clark do what he does best.

I don't fear changing a character or franchise for the better, if something makes sense.  Battlestar Galactica was re-imagined as a contemporary social commentary on war, politics, and religion.  Though really depressing, it played out and seemed to never really lose itself, but then again it only had 4 seasons.  If BG was on season 10 I may be singing a different tune.

The first Iron Man film made essential changes to Tony's back story to make it modern that didn't damage the character at all.  The middle east instead of the far east...the change made sense and didn't destroy the core of the character unlike the numerous sharks the Smallville producers and writers have force Clark to jump season after season for no reason really other than to mine some more established DCU characters in which they can interject into the show without really having to actually write anything that would bring something new or interesting to the table. 

Lol Thanks again Joe , oh yeah and thanks for spurring Kara on with the whole Star Trek thing again this week, its funny though , and dont get me wrong Kara your one of my favorite posters, but last week I said to you that beside s two of the movies, out of all the Treks including TNG ones, which ones would you say was better then the reboot, you claim that the original is better and in some waythe reboot demeans Roddenberry's work, and I disagree, I think all the actors involved did a great Job portraying the orignal cast, was it a deep thinking plot no, but maybe I missed something in my 30 some odd years wacthing Trek when have they ever been deep thinking plots, My idea of a great written shows is West Wing, Band of Brothers, if your looking for great written Syfy , I would say Babylon 5, and the new BSG for example. Star Trek has never been a heavy thinking show ever and I challenge anyone to show me one episode that was, in fact most of the original shows went like this find new planet , send away team red shirt dies , Chekov is injured, Kirk loses shirt Spock figures out what went wrong, and kirk punches someone, Loved every min of it, lol. Pretty sure you didnt need a degree to follow the show. TNG wasnt much better story wise, The Borg arcs where always good , but Farpoint and the Q arc where good for a laugh, Oh yeah where is the science in the fiction, what cause they are in space, hmmm.  Deep space Nine , had moments of goodness but found the show really didn t get its leggs till it was almost over. There again not so much science as it was religion on DS9. Voyager , well what can we say about Voyager Ryan (7 of 9)was a major hottie, Tuvok was a poor mans Spock, and Janeaway was just Janeaway, lame. Enterprise, I kinda liked and I really think that most people didnt like it cause it had better writting then all the other series, not to mention T'pal looked great in her uniform wink wink, lol .  There again that show was just getting interesting when it got cancelled.

Oh yeah sorry Joe turned our Little Smallville Review into a continuing Trek discussion, but i think some people needed a time out on Smallville, now that everyone has counted to 10 and done their wooo ssaaas, we return you to tear Joe a new one for has a crappy view of Smallville , LMAO, j/k Joe

millean, no arguments on Cat Grant, but on the subject why on Earth did the producers of this show create two Cat Grants? One is the talk show host and now this one? Talk about sloppy and stupid. They are supposed to be two different characters, but they couldn't come up with a different name for this one... since the other had already been established? And was hotter.

Scribeoz, I don't ask for everyone to agree with my every opinion, just for mature discourse... thanks for feeling the same.

Kara, I agree Mark Wahlberg is a fine actor, but I can't call him anything but Marky Mark when it comes to that movie. I hate that movie so much, he gets my ire just by being involved.

Eleanor, thank you and I appreciate your newest comment. I certainly understood the criticism I was getting, and was hoping those who saw the rest of the review came back and commented on it as a whole. As for Cassidy Freeman, I'm just liking her this season. Maybe because the surrounding acting is often so weak she stands out... though I do find Justin Hartley to do a fine job as Ollie, and feel of the regulars, he;s the best of the bunch.

Also, if that Kent-Lane thing was a joke, I didn't find it clever or amusing, and there were much better opportunities for humor than that. I've written comedy for a living before, and I wasn't too sure that was supposed to be a joke... it just seemed like if Durance says it with a frazzled delivery it will pass as a joke. It was not funny. Just annoying because there was room for a real joke in there. Again though, thanks for being mature enough to leave another reply. It's appreciated.

thecheckeredman, I didn't watch much of the first 8 seasons, and don't feel that I missed out on much, especially since people tell me these last two years are the best ones yet. Sounds like you have a different opinion, but I can't comment since I didn't see nearly enough of them to have a qualified opinion.

We are however in agreement with this episode specifically and this season overall as well.

Loco, oh oh, you just set Kara off for another 5 paragraphs   ;)

i just want comics on tv.