Savior (901)

[GateWorld]

SMALLVILLE SEASON NINE SAVIOR EPISODE NUMBER - 901 Now undergoing Jor-El's training, Clark decides he must sever all ties to his human life. Lois returns from the future with an assassin on her trail and no memory of the experience, and Tess finds herself a prisoner of a ragtag military unit from Krypton. VISIT THE EPISODE GUIDE >

[apollo22]

So the season premiere of season 9 was last night and to say i was a little disappointed in a few things. First it was to slow passed, there wasnt that much action in it, only two little battles. I thought we would of at least seen something out of major zod.

Though there was some good things, i am glad to see clark doing the training and how he stood up for his morals and told cloe that he is not a god and told her that he could not go back and save jimmy. you would think cloe of all people would understand the repercussions of going back in time and saving someones life, it could cause numerous things to happen namely what clark and jor'el said, the universe is about balance, if he were to save jimmy then someone else would have to die to keep the balance, i applaud clark for this.

so i just hope we see more action this season because the season premiere didnt really have that much

[LoneStar1836]

Hmm....okay first off, the burning his mark into everything has got to go. He is not Zorro, even though Clark did dress up like Zorro in that terrible but hilariously bad Halloween episode in Season 5 where Lana turned into a vampire. It's just too cheesy. I mean this show has enough of that already.

Dark and detached Clark. I hope this does not last long. I get that the show has taken a darker path, but meh.

Not really liking that guy they got to play Zod.

Pity that Brian Austin Green is only in these first two eps.

Episode was okay...general set up for the season. Still need to go back and watch all of S8 and will do so soon, but yep this episode was kinda slow. Best part of the episode was the exchange between Clark and Chloe about Jimmy. Course I'm still po'd about them killing Jimmy.

Oh, and please let him learn to fly this year for crying out loud. It's probably going to be the last season anyway....

Next week's looks good.

[apollo22]

i agree, him scorching his symbol into everything is a little pretentious but i can see why and that is just to get his "name" out so people know he is protecting them.

The whole thing about jimmy though is that he was not the true jimmy olsen, his first name is henry but there is speculation that his little brother from the episode with his funeral is the actual jimmy and this would explain why clark and lois have always been older than him

[LoneStar1836]

i agree, him scorching his symbol into everything is a little pretentious but i can see why and that is just to get his "name" out so people know he is protecting them.

Oh, I know. I just find it a bit cheesy. It probably won't last long I hope...

The whole thing about jimmy though is that he was not the true jimmy olsen, his first name is henry but there is speculation that his little brother from the episode with his funeral is the actual jimmy and this would explain why clark and lois have always been older than him

Bah. He'll always be Jimmy for me. I read that was the reasoning behind the move last season to kill off Aaron Ashmore's character...that his "Jimmy" was too old and didn't fit with cannon...but I still think it's stupid.

I thought AA did a great job the three years he was on the show. The show changed hands last year, and I don't think the original creators would have gotten rid of him. I think the new ones bumped him off because they didn't want to write for him anymore and needed the space and the money for the new Zod character among other things. Yeah, I'm bitter because I liked his character.

[Madwelshboy]

It was a very different kind of season premiere, but i did like it. I didnt have a problem with the speed of the episode, Smallville has a habit of rushing thought things at times, it allowed for some nice character interaction, but yes it didnt allow for the typical season premiere adrenaline rush. Clarks costume and the not being able to fly i can live with, at least he wasnt to be able to fly. I'm not convised yet about Callum Blue as Zod, time will tell. Like the Clark/Chole scene and the Chole/Hamilton setting up Watchtower stuff. Loved Lois, interesting direction with the dream visions. The episode was a good set up for the season, with the kryptonian from the future and the vision setting up a "event" that will change the world.

[the fifth man]

Pretty good premiere IMO. I really look forward to what this season could be.

[entil2001]

Over the course of the series, I’ve noticed a trend regarding the treatment of the mythology. It’s not so much the internal mythology that has been the issue; it’s the external mythology that is mostly familiar to the DC Comics fandom. The writers are eager to bring in familiar faces from the Superman comics canon, but they struggle with the process of bringing all of that continuity into the “Smallville” world.

Watching this episode, I felt like I had missed the real premiere. In particular, I had no idea what was going on with Major Zod and this battle in Kandor. They tied it into Tess and her actions at the end of the previous season with the Kryptonian “orb”, but I’m not so sure that it all makes sense yet. Adding that layer of time travel with the Zod follower (Alia?) only complicated an already murky story.

My interpretation of Alia’s warning was that Clark’s solution to defeating Major Zod and sending him back to Kandor would precipitate the destruction of Krypton. This would make sense if Zod was the one, as often said, who triggered the cataclysm that brought about that destruction. Unfortunately, not knowing the comics continuity for Zod, I have no idea if this is presumed to be common knowledge for Superman fans or if this is all a new construct specifically for “Smallville”. It just doesn’t quite add up at the moment.

Lois’ dream, however, strongly suggests that Major Zod’s arrival is not a good thing for Earth. It seems that there will be a choice between the salvation of Kryptonian civilization (assuming Kandor is still the capital city of Krypton during Major Zod’s time) and preserving civilization on Earth. Given that Clark’s character arc this season is all about making the choice between his Kryptonian destiny and his humanity, this is a logical enough circumstance.

This could tie into Tess and her experience with the orb in “Injustice” more than it seems. What if the voice she heard from the orb, connected to the Traveler and not Zod, was actually Jor-El? Was Jor-El’s plan all along to prepare Earth as a place for Kal-El to defeat a younger version of Zod, so that Krypton might survive? Was that why Jor-El was always trying to get Clark to take control of Earth, so he could rally a proper response when Major Zod arrived? (Like I said, to me it’s still a massive jumble.)

As confusing as the story is at this point, I was very impressed with Callum Blue as Major Zod. He’s taking on a thankless role; there will be inevitable comparisons to the iconic film version of Zod. Callum seems to be letting that iconic version inform his portrayal of Zod without falling into simple mimicry.

Not all the characters fare so well. Lois is annoying as a starstruck Red-Blue Blur devotee, and Tom Welling seemed to be phoning it in throughout the episode. Chloe wasn’t quite herself either, but that made a bit more sense, given the loss of Jimmy and her frantic attempts to find Lois. Hopefully her work with Emil, getting the Watchtower in place, will give her a little more direction, especially now that she’s no longer Clark’s support system.

My overall initial impression is that the writers may have bitten off more than they can chew. They’ve never been particularly good at setting up strong season-long arcs, but they usually start with a clear enough beginning to get the audience set for the journey. This episode was too confusing for its own good.

[the fifth man]

I didn't view it as too confusing. It did set up a lot though. Personally, I look forward to where this all leads.

[Colonel Rebel]

This was a good episode. Zod is a more interesting character than I thought he'd be. I'm curious if they'll develop a relationship between him and Tess.

[SciFiGeek17]

...it was to slow passed, there wasnt that much action in it, only two little battles. I thought we would of at least seen something out of major zod.

It did seem kind of slow.

I was confused by Zod really. I mean at first it looked like he wasn't in charge and then later on they are all kneeling before him??? Tad confused on that part. (maybe its just me)

Though there was some good things, i am glad to see clark doing the training and how he stood up for his morals and told cloe that he is not a god and told her that he could not go back and save jimmy. you would think cloe of all people would understand the repercussions of going back in time and saving someones life, it could cause numerous things to happen namely what clark and jor'el said, the universe is about balance, if he were to save jimmy then someone else would have to die to keep the balance, i applaud clark for this.

I'm glad to see Clark do his training, but he seems to have this attitude like he's only doing it because it 'has' to.

As for the scene between Clark and Chloe, if you remember the episode where Lana died, Clark ignored his fathers warning. He was very emotional and not in his right mind. And I'd put Chloe in that category. I don't think she was thinking straight. I'd give her some slack, considering how many times Clark has reacted to his emotional problems. So...

i agree, him scorching his symbol into everything is a little pretentious but i can see why and that is just to get his "name" out so people know he is protecting them.

I found it very odd that very recently Clark was freakin out about Jimmy getting that picture of him as the blur and was on his way to publishing it the newspaper in season 8 and now he's just decided to let everyone know.

Seems kind of fast to me!?!

Also, noticed that for the last 8 seasons Clark has had this undenying love for Lana, and after a few episodes they are separated he's got this obsession with Lois???

It seems like there should be a season in between 8 and 9... *Jade Shrugs*