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
Erica Durance as Lois Lane
Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan.

Written by Steven S. DeKnight.
Directed by James Marshall.

Original Airdate

Mercy originally aired on Thursday, April 20, 2006.

Synopsis

A strange assailant attacks Lionel physically and psychologically.

High Point

The elevator conversation was pretty nifty, though pretty much any of Lionel's dialogue from that point on could qualify.

Low Point

That's a pretty specific lesson to learn from a man who doesn't know you. The Hangman game pretty much implied a closer relationship than there was.

The Review

It's a fairly original episode, putting Lionel in an unusual position, giving us new perspectives on his relationships with the other characters, and changing the nature of Clark's rescues. After 100 episodes, it's hard to do something new, but there's a lot that's new here. I give it 5 out of 6.

The effects are physical effects, superpowers we've seen many times, or some rotten blue screening as John Glover jumps away from dangers that are obviously nowhere near where he is. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story is fairly well done. We don't learn a lot about the villain, but that's the point. The opening sequence doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the episode, but once that's out of the way, the rest works quite well. I give it 4 out of 6.

The acting from O'Toole and Glover was great, and was the driving force of the episode. When your episode is being driven by tension, you need to make sure your characters are tense, and the actors pulled it off nicely. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response was damped a little by the disconnect between teaser and reveal, and by the painful amount of time it took the characters to realize it was an anagram. Still, the last two acts and their implications for Clark's relationship with both Luthors make up for a lot of that. I give it 5 out of 6.

James Marshall did well with the production. I had a hard time not thinking of the set as the fake school redressed, but that's not really the director's fault in most cases. It does somewhat irk me that the characters' faces were constantly well lit while the set wasn't. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it was a good episode, and a break from the usual teen angst we've been getting. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Mercy receives 33 out of 42.