Smallville: Homecoming

So far, the final season of Smallville has been pretty impressive, unlike the last couple of years that seemed dour and overly complicated.   The just aired 200th episode of Smallville blew me away.   Before I can explain, here is a little bit of setup:

1. We are on season 10 of Smallville and Clark Kent still can't fly.   (I even heard someone at my work complain about this.)  He has tried.  His cousin Kira (Super Girl)  recently showed up and tried to give him flying lessons, but to no avail.
2. It seems that Clark Kent doubts himself.  Events happened that caused him to question his role as Earth's protector and he has been told by someone who knows that there is a darkness inside of him.  This darkness has him questioning his past mistakes and blaming himself for the death of his father.
3. He is in funk.  He has taken time off from his job at The Daily Planet and taken a break from his relationship with Louis Lane.
4. Clark Kent has saved people in Metropolis, but he keeps his identity a secret, and he moves so fast that he is known merely as "The Blur."  He is not yet "Superman", but this season is rapidly moving him towards that identity.
5. Clark's friend, Oliver Queen, has "come out of the closet" by declaring to the world that he is "Green Arrow."
6. Oh, by the way, Louis Lane knows Clark's secret, and even helped save his life, but he doesn't know that she knows.  Naturally, she is quite attracted to Clark.  Her nickname for Clark is "Smallville" because that is where his is from.

Louis Lane shows up to the Kent farm in Smallville and tells Clark that she knows just the thing to cheer him up:.  She wants Clark to go to the Smallville 5 year high school reunion, where it turns out she was a student for just 23 days. (She had a military general father who moved around frequently.)  Once she gets there with a reluctant Clark, she tries to endear herself with some of the former students, none of which remember her.  ("Remember me?  Chess Club.  I once sat through a whole game!") 

The first 12 minutes of this episode is nothing but silly reunion antics, including Clark being crowned the Homecoming King, much to his dismay.  Then suddenly Brainiac shows up and stops time.  If you don't remember Brainiac, he is the super computer villain in a human body, played by the wonderful James Marsters, who in a previous season was nearly destroyed and taken to the future by other heroes from the future who can travel through time.  Now Brainiac has come back, but he doesn't want revenge.  He is the "fixed" version of Brainiac who wants to help Clark realize his destiny, by acting as the Ghost of Christmas-Past-Present-and-Future all at once.  He takes Clark on a journey through time so that Clark can come to terms with both his past and his future.

This episode has "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life" written all over it, but oddly enough it works.  There is a scene that takes place in the future, where Clark saves Louis Lane in a crashing helicopter on top of the of The Daily Planet building, which is reminiscent of a similar scene in "Superman:  The Movie."  The TV version of this scene is not perfect, because it looks like it was done on the cheap, but it is a nice touch nevertheless.  It is the thought that counts.

There are so many flashbacks and references to previous seasons that I was worried at first that this was going to turn into a clip show.  It didn't.  Instead it is a sentimental journey down memory lane with comic flairs around every corner.  This would have made an interesting series finale, although when it was all over they still would had some more explaining to do.

The episode ends where it started, in Clark's barn on the Kent farm. It is here that he gets to patch up his relationship with Louis Lane in a great feel good moment that literally takes off.