This repellent and disappointing episode could have been developed like this - someone in the Smallville production cadre decided to pander to the "wrestling" crowd, and found several locals involved in that activity and wrote a script for them. That turned out to be a poor way to produce any kind of story that would do honor to the Superman legend. The violence, brutality and death is disgusting, and the CW network on one hand glorifies it, then preaches to us about how awful it all is. This is not the first S-Ville episode that exhibits this type of hypocrisy - another example of sub-demographic-group pandering was to the street racer crowd in "Velocity" in season 3, both low-rated episodes.
In a sudden departure from the murder-wedding-loss-of-Lana episode last week, it's quite a come-down to insert an episode about repellent internet- based fight clubs, and the sleazy people that populate these civilization-free zones. Nothing to admire here. The preview scene has a ruthless wrestler tearing up an arena, sending everyone running in a flurry of smoke, fireworks, blood, and violence. Maybe he's just too tough, but one of the fighters is Clark! Is it a Zoner threatening him? "Time to die, Kryptonian," Brutus says.
Martha questions Clark about a string of citizen's arrests of criminals, what does Clark know? He know a lot - "They were meteor-infected." She warns him about justice meted out in this manner: Clark isn't ready to hear it. He's turned to heroics, possibly to supress his feeling of great loss - as the Lana-Lex wedding comes up again.
Clark and Chloe are disgusted by the fight club scenes on the net, even murder takes place; Chloe tries to find the source of the feed. They see that one of the fighters, Titan, has Kryptonian tattoos - a Zoner. Clark will have to settle this.
Lex and Lana's honeymoon trip was canceled over Lana's concern for the baby's health. Lex offers Lana a celebration, instead of their trip. Is Lana pulling away already? Lex is understanding on the surface, but secrets lie beneath.
Chloe is at the Talon, as Clark blows in. She's found some leads to the fight club; one of the dead fighters was an inmate at Belle Reve. Several victims have been found, and they figure Titan is a kryptonian warrior and fight clubs are right up his alley. Lois pops in, saying the Chupacabra (an urban legend creature featured in tabloids) could not be found, she didn't get a story, and her editor is miffed. She need a story for the Inquisitor, but gets no help from Clark and Chloe.
But something was left in Chloe's trash; Lois finds an image of Titan, and recognizes a logo on his shirt - it's a military facility - FR-44. Lois has those investigative skills...and she's off to the old hangar, wearing red vinyl, ready to play fight girl.
She's found by an overly-tough female fighter, exploited here for her physique and piercings. Lois claims to work at a local club, then risks a few flash photos in the fight ring, as she steps in smears of blood from previously-killed competitors. This gorefest is inappropriate and beneath the production values and standards that were established years ago for Smallville. Lois is detected, the two "ladies" engage in a kick-fest, Lois wins round one, then the manager shows up with a gun, and she's effectively a prisoner.
Chloe has found that the fight club honcho is the "executive administrator" at Belle Reve, Richter, (but his compay profile lists him as "administrative clerk") giving him an unlimited supply of meteor freaks to use at the fight club. Chloe refers to Titan as our "jolly mean giant," so the writers managed to come up with one humorous line in this depressing story. Clark decides he must do battle with Titan, to the death, as he feels responsible for loosing this monster from the Phantom Zone. Is hand-to-hand combat really the only way to end this menace? If you're determined to portray Clark Kent as a brutish combatant, it is.
Lex is plotting again - in checking security videos of various Luthorcorp facilities around the world, he sees they are being compromised by a hooded figure - his nemesis, the Green Arrow. This is a bit of a follow-on to the "Justice" episode in which Oliver Queen and friends set out to disable those facilities. Lex discovers Lana on the floor in pain. In her bi-weekly stay in Smallville Medical Center, Lana awakes, desperate to know if the baby is all right; Lex has called in another doctor (to replace Dr. Langston whom he murdered last week), but Lex has to tell her they lost the baby.
At Belle Reve on a foggy night, Clark confronts Richter, saying he wants to fight. He provokes Richter into pulling a gun, which he fires at Clark, who simply catches the bullet. Such a display of powers in front of an inconsequential person is out of character for Clark. Now Richter is interested, and takes Clark to the hangar for round one. Clark wants Titan, Richter says no, offering another adversary - of course, it's Lois, and we are not surprised. Clark fries the internet feed transmitting equpment with heat-vision, then gets into a bloody and disgusting battle with Titan, who has recognized Clark as Kal-El. Clark wins, if you can call barehanded murder a victory.
Lex is looking for Titan, so we learn of Lex's involvement in Belle Reve meteor freaks and their fighting, but he learns that Titan is dead. Who could have taken Titan down? There's no video left of who who did it, fortunately for Clark. Titan wasn't human, according to an autopsy.
Clark looks through more crater photos, realizing that more Zoners may be loose, as Martha steps in to tell him Lois will be all right. Clark questions whether it was an accident to kill Titan - how is he different from them, he wonders? Martha replies - regret, remorse...these feeling make Clark human. He still wonders how Lana could marry Lex. Did someone influence her? Martha advises letting it go, or the anger he feels will always be there.
Lana is devastated by her loss, isolating herself in the nursery, where Lex tries to comfort her. She tried to call Dr. Langston, she says, but was told that he was killed in a car accident; Lex feigns surprise, shocked that Langston was killed the day they were married. Why is all this happening, she wonders, her life feeling out of control. He tells her to let go also. She wants her medical files from Langston's office; Lex promises to get them.
In the final scene, Lex has the confidential files on Lana's pregnancy - he slowly burns them the fireplace.
This is a truly awful episode, and it's disappointing to realize that well-respected stars such as Welling and Durance apparently didn't draw a personal line on how low they will go as actors. Surely this schlockfest was not necessary for their contracts or careers, perhaps they didn't know just how bad it would be until the final scenes were edited. Someone should have known and told them. Even a disaster of an episode has a few redeeming scenes, but in this one, all you need to know is that Lana lost the baby. Then you don't have to bother ever watching it. Re-run rating - F.moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
Clark and Chloe find an escaped Zoner named Titan who is the star of a secret fight club that puts its death battles on the internet. Lois can tell that there is a story and goes to investigate, where she is put in the ring to fight. Clark goes in as a super-powered fighter to take on Titan but ends up against a different opponent instead.moreless
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Annette O'Toole
Martha Clark Kent
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Erica Durance
Lois Lane (Season 5+)
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Kristin Kreuk
Lana Lang
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- At the beginning of the episode, the guy comes in and talks to Athena while in the background we hear the start of the Lois/Clark fight get announced. The guy says Titan showed up and the fight will soon be over, and then the alarms go off. But later in the episode when we see the actual fight, Titan doesn't arrive until after the Lois/Clark fight is announced and his arrival appears to be unrehearsed and after the alarms start. Edit
- Why can't Chloe record the video feed of the death match? She's an experienced hacker, on her own computer at home, and there are several ways to record a computer image simply by capturing it through a video card output. Edit
- Why does Chloe close her eyes during the fight, with nausea and/or disgust? At the point where she's watching, there are basically two men punching each other, no worse than on an average TV wrestling program. Plus she's seen far worse while hanging around Clark, getting attacked by krypto-mutants, seeing people turned into wax statues and shattered, etc. Edit
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Notes
ADD NOTES- Michael Eklund was nominated for the 2008 Leo Award for Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series. Edit
- Deleted Scene: Clark knocks one of the combatants out to prevent him from having to face Titan. Edit
- Original International Air Dates: Norway: June 17, 2007 on TVNorge Belgium: January 26, 2008 on KanaalTwee Australia: February 7, 2008 on Ten Ireland: February 15, 2008 on RTE Two Czech Republic: May 26, 2008 on TV Nova New Zealand: August 15 2008 on TV2 Slovakia: August 23, 2009 on Markiza Edit
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Chloe: Clark! Slow down!...I don't have enough money to hire a full-time maid to clean up every time you decide to blow in. Edit
- Chloe: Clark, he can kill you. Clark: Not if I kill him first. Edit
- Richter Maddox: You scared me. Where did you come from? Clark: You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Edit
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Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS- Chloe: So I think I found our Vince McMahon wannabe. Vincent K. McMahon is the chairman and majority owner of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). Glen Jacobs (Titan) and Ashley Massaro (Athena) are both currently working for the WWE. Edit
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