Episode Report Card Omar G: C+ | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Goodbye Jocko
By Omar G | Season 2 | Episode 11 | Aired on 01.13.2003
Another room. Lana opens the drawer to put the wrench away and notices two photos of Jocko Whitney in cammies. She didn't notice the photo when she took the wrench out? Clark asks if she's heard from the military. Lana takes a picture out and says she's worried. Would it kill Jocko to smile at the camera? Don't they teach you that at boot camp? Lana says he's been missing for more than a month. She says they sent his personal effects back to his mom. Like his morphing effect and his personal tornado effect from "Vortex." Lana says Jocko's mom gave her the necklace back. Clark suddenly looks serious. Lana takes out the lead box and opens it, revealing the green jewelry inside. Necklace music. Clark winces and turns away. He asks if she's going to start wearing it again. Lana closes the box and says it doesn't feel right. It feels downright radioactive. Hey, I have a question. How come if in the comic books, Lex wore a kryptonite ring and his hand had to be chopped off, Lana wore a necklace and...Never mind. Let's move on. Lana says she hopes Jocko is safe. Clark says that if anyone can get through "It," it's Jocko. Whatever "It" is. We pan over to the photo in the drawer with a pair of scissors on it. "Cut from the show"? We get it.
Suddenly, we're in Saving Private Ryan/Three Kings-O-Vision. Everything is jerky high-speed shutter and khaki coloring. I like the break from the format or from them just telling us about this bit off-screen like they have a habit of doing. Jocko is in uniform and looks damn gritty. And that's a good thing. We cut back to show him with other soldiers in "Aceh Province, Indonesia." "Indonesia"? Ripped from the headlines, are we? Tromping through the grass. "This is pointless, Fordman: they think we're dead!" some whiny guy says. Jocko says they're going to make it back home. Somehow, some way, even if it involves being Doppelganged. Private Cannon Fodder asks if Jocko wants to get back to Lana, or Smallville, or horseback riding in the freakin' meadow, the implication being that Jocko talks a lot. Suddenly, a blast erupts behind them. They scramble and run. This is actually done quite nicely. A guy is hit and flies through the air. He flies better than Clark. There's an overhead shot of more blasting. Wading through water. Blasts. It's just Jocko and Cannon Fodder. They just have to make it to a ridge, and they'll be spotted by friendly forces. Another blast. Oops. Cannon Fodder bit it. Jocko falls in the water, loses his helmet, and rushes back to get his fallen comrade. He goes into the smoke and gets the guy. He pulls the guy up, all Hamburger Hill, and they stumble together. The guy is hit. Jocko tells him not to die. Slow motion. A shell lands right in front of them. Opening credits.