Lately I've been watching "Smallville beginnings" where they show episode 1 shows. The plots may have been far fetched with the freak of the week stuff. But the use of characters was much more interesting back then. It is easy to forget what a compelling character Chloe is and how much potential there is for Pete.

    Then you see this season's episodes which tend to have stronger plots but a poorer use of the characters and a general sloppiness to the plot lines. A good illustration of this problem was this past week's "perry" episode. In it, down and out reporter, Perry White, future editor of the Daily Planet is a drunken sleaze for this episode. The episode is designed to show that his encounter with Clark Kent marks a turning point in his career.   

    The episode falters on immense sloppiness. Clark has become increasingly careless in showing off his super powers. While a anomalous solar flair is the justification for some of this, it doesn't resolve the basic problem that Perry White witnesses Clark using his powers over and over again. Only so much can be forgiven due to assuming Perry was too drunk to understand. In one scene, a totally sober Perry sees Clark run off as hypersonic speed. How can that be reconciled? It isn't. It is just shrugged off as Perry coming down from being drunk all the time. That's not plausible.

    Worse, the show's use of the characters gets worse. Lana Lang is not a show carrying character. Characters like Chloe and Pete are much more interesting. The show seems to rely more and more on the Clark / Lana dynamic that ultimately is hollow because we know that Clark and Lana will never end up together. Armed with that knowledge, would we not be better off seeing the team of 4 (Clark, Lana, Chloe, and Pete) taking on the vampires, um I mean Kryptonite infected baddies, that plague Smallville?

    This episode has to rate as the weakest one of the season and I give it a 4 out of 10.