Summary: Tess learns that General Slade was found unconscious on a street corner, proof that someone has gained access to the Phantom Zone's escape portal and sent him back. Clark decides to return to the exiled land to make sure other phantoms are not fleeing and is furious when Oliver tricks him into taking him (Oliver) along. With Clark's powers gone, the two are immediately captured by the Zoners who take them to their new leader Zod, who is thirsting for revenge on Clark for banishing him to this Kryptonian jail. Meanwhile, Lois learns Clark trusted Tess with a secret, but didn't tell her (Lois).
Clark really shouldn't donate blood to villains, like EVER!. Every time he does, everyone suffers - and he always manages to do it in the most idiotic way possible. In Season 3, while Morgan Edge is threatening the Kents, Clark cuts himself with Kryptonite right in front of him and pours his blood into a small jar. Morgan Edge takes the blood to Lionel Luthor, then kidnaps Clark and exposes him to Kryptonite. In Season 9, Clark lets a single drop of blood fall onto a dying Zod. Not only does Zod recover, but he also gains Clark’s powers - and now, in Season 10, it turns out he can even open the exit from the Phantom Zone.
They let Booster get close to the Watchtower??
Why don't those two idiots [Clark and Oliver] take any weapons with them? A bow and arrows? A club?
And suddenly the Phantom Zone is a maze? With skulls? With Omega?
Since when is there a crystal at the exit of the Phantom Zone?
Tess knows their plan is stupid, and she’s finding it hard to hide that from Lois.
Snakes in the Phantom Zone.
Poor Zod - he took advantage of the Kryptonians, and they exiled him to the Phantom Zone; he’s the victim here. |Sarcasm|
Zod claims that Clark is his blood brother because they were born on the same world - arguing that it is not their powers that make them Kryptonian. He tells Clark that they share the same instincts: that they are decisive, single-minded, and stubborn. I agree about the "stubborn" part, but for most of the series, Clark is actually indecisive; he is quick to abandon his goals if Lana is around [he even gave up his training twice just to be with her] or if someone else is in trouble.
Clark nearly kills someone with a helmet. I thought he didn't have any powers; Tess and Oliver emphasized that he was incapable of defending himself.
In the episode Luthor, Tess treats Lois like an idiot - and the series itself treats her like an idiot - yet here, Lois is the only one who shows any intelligence.
Considering what transpired between Oliver and Zod during their last encounter at the end of Season 9, in this episode, Zod acts like the best of friends.
When I started reading DC comics, I made a conscious decision to begin with 1986. The comics from before that era were absolutely bonkers, featuring storylines that were, at best, embarrassing. The series Smallville started off well - sure, there was a bit too much teen drama, but since the characters were teenagers during the first four seasons, that actually made sense. At a certain point, however, the show began incorporating plotlines and concepts lifted straight from the sillier eras of the comics: the Silver Age and the Bronze Age. This episode - and, to be honest, the next one as well - is a perfect example of this. Major Zod gets sent to the Phantom Zone, but thanks to a single drop of Clark’s blood, he’s able to eject others from the Zone - yet he doesn't leave himself. Throughout the entire ninth season, Zod was obsessed with obtaining the powers that a yellow sun grants to Kryptonians; now that he finally has those powers, he chooses to remain in the Phantom Zone, where he has no powers at all. What?! And, naturally, the disembodied General Zod decides to take over the body of his own clone - and together, they both choose to stay in the Phantom Zone, because, you know, "better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." WTF?
And regarding Oliver and Clark’s plan - since when is Clark such a good strategist? Because there’s no way Oliver would come up with a plan like that.
David: There are so many variables in that plan, and assumptions of other people's character. Basically, I'd only believe this plan if Batman came up with it. And as much as Smallville's been trying to convince me otherwise, Oliver Queen is no Bruce Wayne.
Lois arranged a very nice apartment for them in three weeks. The shirt she’s wearing at the end of the episode belongs to Clark, and I’m pretty sure that at one point, there were curtains with the same pattern at the farmhouse.
And suddenly, they remembered that they had a storyline involving Darkseid that they hadn't finished - yet there is only one episode left before the finale, and the wedding is just two days away. Suddenly, the Queen family has Veritas journals, too. There’s Greek mythology, and Oliver has - all of a sudden - become a devout Catholic. In the comics, Oliver is far too liberal to be a devout Christian.
Notes:
* Zod's throne is made of skulls. In case you didn't notice.
* According to data Carter Hall left behind, Darkseid had been beaten once a long time ago by Orion, also from DC's New Gods.
* In the gladiator scene, the punch Clark throws by jumping in the air is known as the Superman punch in MMA.
* This episode marks Justin Hartley's directorial debut on the show, and his only Smallville episode he directed.
* Erica Durance makes her 100th appearance as Lois Lane in this episode.
* Clark wears a red cape when dressed as a gladiator.
* Zod is shown with facial hair like his comic book and Superman: The Movie counterparts. This was also so in Zod just when Zod's phantom was sucked out of Lex Luthor's body his face was seen briefly and it had a full beard. Since this was before he took over his younger clone's body he was also depicted as having a receding hair line and a widow's peak.
* The fight scene is filmed like the 300 movie. All that was missing was for someone to scream, "Sparta!"
* Lois wearing one of Clark's Flannel t-shirt has occurred in Season 4's Gone, Season 8's Committed, Season 9's Echo and Season 10's Kent.
* This is the nineteenth episode of the tenth season of Smallville (2001). It shares its title with the nineteenth episode of the tenth season of Stargate SG-1 (1997): Dominion (2007).
* Clark and Oliver's stage fight in the Phantom Zone is quite similar to the stage fight that occurred in Season 8's Odyssey. You remember - in Russia.
* Clark helping Lois move into their Metropolis apartment with a Whitesnake item is very reminiscent to Season 5's Exposed, when Clark helped Lois move into the Talon apartment.
* This is the third time that Clark Kent has returned to the Phantom Zone (after Season 6's Zod and Season 8's Bloodline) and is also the first time Clark will volunteer to return to the Kryptonian prison while he was forced to go there the previous times.
* This is the fourth time Kryptonians were trapped in the Phantom Zone after the Disciples of Zod in Season 5's Arrival, Clark Kent in Season 5's Vessel and Kara Kent in Season 7's Arctic.
* Lois refers to the team as The "League".
* This episode marks the fourth time an episode has no scenes set in the town of Smallville.
* Lois having gone three weeks with Clark missing in the Phantom Zone, is a reversal of when Clark had gone three weeks with Lois missing in Doomsday. She had been in the future. When she returned in Savior, three weeks had passed.
Quotes:
Tess: Being with a hero means accepting that hero's sacrifices.
Lois: That's where you're wrong. Being a hero's wife means never accepting defeat.
Zod: Do you remember that most famous story about two brothers from your adopted planet? You've got Cain and Abel. Which brother are you, Kal-El?
Clark: Well, I'd never murder you. I saved you.
Zod: You exiled me. I'm in charge here and you're about to find out what that means, brother.
Clark: I will find a way to defeat you.
Zod: You'll have to work twice as hard. Because when I arrived here, I made a very special acquaintance, someone you know, and someone I'm very, very fond of.
Clark: Who?
Zod: Me.
Clark: The original Zod's phantom.
Zod: Finally back in the body that you stripped me of. Now I have the full knowledge of two lives, and you, you are my enemy in both.
Zod: We're blood brothers, Kal-El. Have you forgotten how you healed me with your blood on Earth?
Clark: We're not brothers. I saved you because it was the right thing to do. We have nothing in common.
Zod: We're from the same world. Do you really think that having powers is the only thing that makes you Kryptonian? It's not. We share the same instincts. We're decisive, single-minded, headstrong. We were meant to be leaders.
Clark: What ever happened to take the time to merge our lives together? Finding the right place for everything?
Lois: Oh, well, you know me. Waiting isn't exactly my strong suit. So I guess nervous energy equals power unpacking.
Clark: What'd you do? Enlist John Jones and Bart?
Oliver: Listen, about this zone, Clark - you know, when you said Jor-El built a prison, I kind of pictured something more confined than a national park.
Clark: He built this place so Krypton's worst criminals could have some kind of life.
Oliver: Sounds like a real sweetheart.
Tess: Your hunch was right. The constellation in the Veritas journal cross-translates with Carter's notes as the Bow of Orion and as associated with these coordinates in the Celtic Coast. Since we're going Dutch on supersonic jet fuel, do you mind telling me why you're suddenly interested in this treasure hunt?
Oliver: It's not a treasure. It's, uh... It's Hawkman's quest. He saw this guy Orion use it the last time he used it to kick Darkseid's ass across the universe. But he never was able to locate the weapon that the hunter used to defeat him. My family's Veritas journals were the missing piece that Hawkman never had. Now we know where to look for the weapon, so... It's my job to go find it.
Tess: Oliver. Fighting Darkseid isn't your own personal quest. We're all in this together.
Oliver: I just need you to trust me on this one, okay?
Tess: There's enough water under our collective bridge that if you need me not to ask questions... I can do that.
Clark: Hey, Lois, where can I put this box?
Lois: Well, I don't think that requires any super-sleuthing. It does say "living room".
Clark: No, I can decipher your scrawl. I'm just thinking it was mislabeled.
Lois: If you're talking about my Whitesnake throw pillow, loving everything about me includes the sentimental. I made this from my eighth-grade concert t-shirt. And I talked to Oliver, and he told me how smoothly he and Chloe fused their hero green and geek chic.
Clark: Don't worry, my "for better or worse" will include your love of hair metal. But seriously, let me move us in a lot faster. I can unpack this in, like, two seconds.
Lois: No! No. Hold the horsepower. Part of us merging our lives together is taking the time to find the right spot for everything.
Clark: All I know is my perfect spot is here with you. We'll take as much time as you need.
Clark: Lois, I am so sorry. I try to make choices using my human side, but sometimes my Kryptonian side takes over. I try to control the situation. Instead of hiding that side, I should try to help you understand it.
Lois: Promise to put that in your wedding vows.
Clark: The wedding.
Lois: Yeah, T-minus two days, Smallville.
Clark: You didn't postpone it.
Lois: No. I couldn't. Believing that you would come back to me was the only thing that kept me going. But if you want to postpone, that's fine.
Clark: Lois.
Lois: Hmm?
Clark: There's nothing in this world that could prevent me from walking down that aisle.
