Tuesday January 29, 2002
227609
An invisible stalker is pursuing Lex and one of the household staff may, or may not, be responsible.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)A teen obsessed with Lex has an unseen supporter, out for vengance against anyone who hurt his family. Chloe and Clark work together to identify and neutralize the invisible assailant. Clark encourages Lana to support Whitney. hide show
At Smallville HS, a bully is seeing some strange things happening after he harasses coed Amy and her brother Jeff - locker door swinging, shoe flying through the air, then weights getting in some heavy hits on him. Towel-clad Clark and Pete see nothing, but there's a ghostly shape seen in the steam.
A sub-plot is set up quickly with a tiff between Lana and Whitney. Lana's getting sign-ups for blood donations, but we might expect Clark to decline the offer to avoid damaging those needles.
At the mansion, Victoria is still in the script this week, plotting a corporate takeover of something. Bullying victim Amy is there serving refreshments, spilling them on Victoria, who sees that Amy is attracted to Lex. Amy's mom is now in the employ of Lex, and Amy is acting like a pouty teenager. Brother Jeff is obviously the one who's meteor-infected, and going to protect his sister with some invisibility moves on Lex or anyone who harms Amy. Meanwhile, she's admiring a gold watch - she stole it from Lex.
As Lex is hunting for that same watch, Clark stops by to deliver a load of tulips raised by Martha, but some unseen force - that would be Jeff - flings the flowers to the floor. We also get a shot of someone logging into Lex's computer...again easy to figure it's Victoria, so that relationship must be doomed. Clark offers to help find the watch, and walks in on Victoria, hard at work on that product placement Apple laptop. Hearing banging noises upstairs, all three ascend the stairs, to find a door slamming by itself. The room has been trashed with painted words on the walls, "Leave."
This becomes another pinup on Chloe's Wall of Wierd; she suggests poltergeists, the police suggest vandals. Both could be correct. At the mansion, Lionel enters to tell Lex that he's disappointed, accusing Victoria of swindling Lex, even as she listens to these rude accusations. Of course, Lionel knows that Victoria's father is a predatory industrialist. Merger is not on his mind, and Lionel drives home the point that Lex will regret selling out his family. Victoria, meanwhile, eavesdrops on this entire conversation, and is seen by Amy...who passes on her jealous snit to Jeff.
While Lana and Clark arrange blood donation schedules, he lets us know that Lana's Aunt Nell and Jonathan used to date - that's a potential story line. They almost kiss; Aunt Nell spoils that tender scene. Next day at school, Clark runs into Whitney and discovers he's carrying meds. for high blood pressure. Then Amy turns up and dishes some dirt on Victoria to Clark, indiscreet as she is.
While Victoria is bathing, Clark drops in to talk to Lex about her - but Lex already knows she had infiltrated his computer. Upstairs, something is moving near Victoria, and we see a transparent hand push her underwater - Clark hears her scream and lifts her out, but the ghostly force pushes Clark. He sees a skeletal image leaving the room.
Chloe and Clark look over some broken glass from the bath attack; she finds a green substance that causes part of her hand to disappear. They decide to compare blood on the mirror to Amy's blood donation. Clark asks Whitney about the medications; it's his father, in a Metropolis hospital, and he hasn't told Lana. Clark urges him to tell her, so Clark is playing matchmaker against his own romantic interest. Later, Lex advises Clark to pursue Lana in spite of the vulnerability of Whitney, but that the difference between Lex and Clark.
While Amy talks to Lex, Clark sees the watch she's wearing - it's the keepsake from Lex's mother. We don't see what Clark told Lex, but they see Mrs. Palmer at the mansion, and in Amy's room find evidence of her obsession with Lex. We see a job change in store for Mrs. Palmer. Lex offers to pay for any counseling or medical treatment Amy needs.
At the barn at sunset, Lana has kept her date with Clark to watch the sunset. Despite his feelings, he does the right thing for Whitney, telling Lana that he needs her. Lana would almost prefer that Clark not take the high road, but he did, thus ending the developing romance.
The Palmer family leaves the mansion as Lex observes, but Jeff is still there, invisible, and begins assaulting Lex. Chloe drops by to update Clark on the blood sample - it was a match for Jeff, so Clark speeds to the mansion, where Lex is bound and beaten by Jeff, and threatened by a sword. Just as Clark arrives, Lex is conveniently knocked unconscious. It's almost a fair fight between Clark and Jeff until a falling paint can reveals him in some pretty slick special effects. Off he goes with the police.
Whitney and Lana are together again, thanks to Clark, who is once again left alone.
"Shimmer" is another fair episode - no significant developments, and a rather quick disposal of the antagonist. The Clark - Lana relationship stays the same, and Chloe gets no closer to Clark as she'd like. So it's typical Smallville, and ok to see again. Re-run rating C.
Unseeing Is Believing hide show
Shimmer-An invisible stalker is pursuing Lex and one of the household staff may, or may not, be responsible.
A very good episode that moves at a smooth pace and has a great sense of mystery, "Shimmer" is an above average effort for a meteor freak episode. "Shimmer" works by checking you guessing as you never really know who the idenity of the invisible stalker is. The 2 suspects are Amy Palmer and Jeff Palmer who are siblings living in Lex's mansion as there mother is the housekeeper. You never really know who could be the meteor freak as Amy has an obsessive crush on Lex and Jeff seems very over-protective of his sister almost to the point of madness. It's nice to see the writers trying to develop these meteor freaks more and give the reasons for their actions more meaning as it can get rather silly with super-powered humans going psycho for no reason.
There are some great scenes that catch you off guard like the one where Lex and Clark find one of rooms in Lex's mansion horribly disfigured. Also, the scenes that feature the invisible attacks are well done like Lex's girlfriend getting attacked in the shower and the final confrontation in Lex's mansion. My only problem is the opening teaser which is awfully similar to the opening teaser of a Buffy episode that also featured an invisible attacker. I just hope the writers didn't rip that scene off from that episode 4 years later. Anyway, the SFX crew continue to make the special effects more polished like Clark using his x-ray vision and seeing the skeleton of the invisible attacker. I also loved how when Clark stops Jeff, who turns out to be the attacker in the end, the paint falls on his face showing his physical form, which has the most stunning special effect this season. "Shimmer" is sometimes underrated as it's truly a great episode with a solid mystery and good meteor freak storyline.
Someone is jealous of Victoria and tries anything to get her to leave Lex's mansion. hide show
Shimmer is another episode that I didn't really care for, but also once again, I still liked the episode. The storyline is kind of predictable, but in a good way. I say that because if there wasn't a somewhat twist, it would have been the even more obvious conclusion and would have been even less satisfying. Who the invisible person turns out to be is really no surprise. The cool thing about this episode is that the meteor isn't even used for the villains power of invisibility. Instead, they become invivible due to a special flower. Pretty good episode, but nothing real memorable.
Amy Palmer is obsessed with Lex. After discovering that Lex's roses release an invisibility fluid, because of the meteor rocks in the soil, someone sets out to make sure that Lex knows that Victoria is wrong for him. Victoria is forced out of the house after almost being killed by an invisible assailant. Amy is fingered for the attack when a watch Lex's mother gave him turns up in Amy's drawer. Jeff is revealed to be the attacker, and he attempts to kill Lex. Clark manages to confront Jeff in Lex's manor, and using some paint, keeps Jeff visible long enough to be arrested.
The bad guy is a naked weedy freak with plant sap on him...come again? hide show
Hated this whole episode. I mean the guy just happens to come across some plant that makes him invisible and decides to attack Lex and his new bit of fluff - Poor! It was completely preidictable from start to finish. Though i did enjoy the locker room scene (Tom with his shirt off). I suppose there is at least some character development, Whitneys father being ill, Lex relationship with his mother and father, and Clark giving up Lana - which we all know is just the beginning of many more annoying times. I wouln't waste my time watching this ep again - where the bad guy is a weedy bloke, naked with plant sap on him - not my cup of tea.
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