Smallville Review – “Bound”

The fourth season just keeps coming.

Cast

Tom
Welling
as
Clark Kent

Kristen Kreuk as
Lana Lang

Michael
Rosenbaum
as Lex Luthor

John
Glover

as Lionel Luthor

Annette
O’Toole
as Martha Kent

John
Schneider
as Jonathan Kent

Jensen Ackles as
Jason Teague

Allison Mack as
Chloe Sullivan.

Written by Luke Schelhaas.

Directed by Terence O’Hara.

Original Airdate


Bound
originally aired on Wednesday,
November 17, 2004.

Synopsis

Lex wakes up next to a dead woman, Lionel has had a
change of heart,
and Jason’s mother is in town.

High Point

Jason’s meeting with his mother. Suddenly, the move
from Europe may
have made a lot more sense.

Low Point

Even the lawyer’s on the list? Isn’t that something
she could be
disbarred for? And she was worried about a conflict
of interest.

The Review

When I saw the opening, I was thinking of
“Avatar” (from the third
season of The X-Files) and was prepared for
an unoriginal
story. Thankfully, there was a significant departure
from the other
story after the opening credits. We’re into new
ground for all of the
characters, save Clark. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects were those we’ve seen before
executed well, and
some pretty cool fire effects. I give it 6 out of 6.

The story was fairly well written. There
seems to be a lot
of paranoia on Lex’ part, but that may not be out of
place. I give it
5 out of 6.

The acting from Tom Welling was typical.
John Glover’s was
typical for him, which is a very good thing. The
guest star playing
Shannon Bell wasn’t too thrilling, though. I give it
4 out of 6.

The emotional response was good. The
mystery itself wasn’t
as engaging as it could have been. (When the list of
suspects is
treated as a list we never see, it’s hard to solve
things yourself.)
The story about Jason is actually somewhat
interesting. I give it 5
out of 6.

The production was good, with lighting,
editing, and camera
angles that show you the clues that need to be
revealed at each point
in time. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a good episode, that is paving
the way for more
developments to come. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Bound receives 35 out of 42.

7 replies on “Smallville Review – “Bound””

  1. Too much sex
    I must say that although Smallville is one of my favorite shows on TV these days, I’m getting increasingly disappointed in the excessive sexual content this season. It seems a stark contrast from the past 3 seasons, and I really don’t see the point of it. The WB has plenty of sexually charged teen dramas/soap operas, and I was always proud that Smallville tended to steer clear of that. But this season, it’s kind of disappointing. I usually watch it at a friends house, and his kids all love it (they’re 3, 5 and 7). But we have to turn the channel for most episodes because they’ve gotten too risque. Very annoying.

    • Re: Too much sex

      I must say that although Smallville is one of my favorite shows on TV these days, I’m getting increasingly disappointed in the excessive sexual content this season. It seems a stark contrast from the past 3 seasons, and I really don’t see the point of it. The WB has plenty of sexually charged teen dramas/soap operas, and I was always proud that Smallville tended to steer clear of that. But this season, it’s kind of disappointing. I usually watch it at a friends house, and his kids all love it (they’re 3, 5 and 7). But we have to turn the channel for most episodes because they’ve gotten too risque. Very annoying.

      I think this episode required the “sex” to tell the story it wanted to tell. I agree that there is more of it this season but hey – they’re human… mostly.

      • Re: Too much sex

        I must say that although Smallville is one of my favorite shows on TV these days, I’m getting increasingly disappointed in the excessive sexual content this season.

        I think part of it is that they aren’t sure who their demographic is. Older teens and adults, teens in general, or family show? Like you, I prefer the family show, since there’s relatively little else that’s entertaining for just about every age.

        Another part is that the writers have backed away from subtle. Suggested is a lot sexier/kinkier for me than explicit, mostly because imagination is a lot stronger than what they can show on screen. I thought they did a great job in the first season with the Lionel/Victoria plot twist. They could have used a videotape, but that photograph suggested all the many good bits in the Kama Sutra plus some extras to somebody who is alert to sexuality while a young child could have watched it without having to poke mom or dad in the ribs, “What’re they doing?” Similarly, in Spell, Lois could just have looked down at her breasts and flashed a really, really smug grin.

        Aside from explicit or suggested, in this episode, the sex came off as a time filler! The plot line seemed as though it were drawn out to make an entire episode when it was best suited for a half-episode, with another plot line making up the other half. There was the thing with Lana and Jason’s mother, but that was more of a reminder that they’re in the show rather than a real “meanwhile, back on the ranch” development.

    • Re: Too much sex
      Personally, I watch the show by myself and so, frankly, don’t care about whether or not little children can watch and enjoy the show – I’m self-centered that way. I prefer a more “adult” tone to TV and, like it or not, sex is a human universal. It would be far more noticeable to me if they ignored it, especially with a young, eligible billionaire (he’s got at least a billion, right?) bachelor as one of the key characters.

      Of course, all that’s just my opinion, no more valid or meaningful than anyone else’s. If you want to know the likely reason WHY there was sexual content in this episode, and why the last episode showed a lot of skin and underwear, the answer is simple: It’s November – sweeps time – and sex sells, proven time and time again.

      PS- In the last sentence above, I had originally typed “swells” instead of “sells”…Uncle Siggy would have been proud.

      PPS- It’s non-genre (though on-topic for this reply) but this is the only place on the net I yak about TV so I want to throw out a recommendation for Desperate Housewives. I caught a bit of it a couple weeks ago and was intrigued (I’m a Felicity Huffman fan since Sports Night), so I decided to play evil Internet catch-up over the last few days. The show is well-written and funny with a healthy dose of mystery to go along with the inevitable sexual content. Unquestionably not for kids but pretty darned good entertainment, IMO. Teri “Lois Lane” Hatcher is on the show as well so maybe I’m even closer to being on-topic by putting this here. :)

      • Re: Too much sex

        Teri “Lois Lane” Hatcher is on the show as well so maybe I’m even closer to being on-topic by putting this here. :)

        TERI HATCHER?!?!?!?!?!?

        Man, I might just have to watch that. I had the biggest crush on her back in the Lois & Clark days…

    • Re: Too much sex

      I usually watch it at a friends house, and his kids all love it (they’re 3, 5 and 7). But we have to turn the channel for most episodes because they’ve gotten too risque. Very annoying.

      You’ve got to be kidding, “too risque”??? This is prime time TV, not Saturday morning cartoons. Even so, while I think this episode was 45 minutes of filler leading to the last 30 seconds, there wasn’t anything in it (or any of the other episodes) that I think was inappropriate for any age to watch. It was mildly interesting though, despite being mostly filler, and I’m curious what Lionel has up his sleeve, but suddenly Jason has become *much* more interesting.

  2. High point
    Yes, the bit with Jason and Mom in the car is very powerful in terms of plot… but the second elevator scene was the best visual.

    Say what you will about Tom Wellington’s acting… But I’ve seen that look an number of friends’ faces.

    Okay, I’ll stop talking… for now.

Comments are closed.