Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Marked Men
By Tippi Blevins | Season 10 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.01.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Lois is off in Africa, writing about an archaeological dig that's being spearheaded by Carter Hall, a.k.a. Hawkman. For some reason, Clark has asked Carter to babysit Lois, even though she's there for totally mundane purposes. Anyway, they each discover that the other knows about Clark's powers and bond over the whole star-crossed lovers and destiny thing. Then there's a weird moment where Carter mistakes Lois for his dead wife but it just means he's about to be reincarnated soon. Back home in Metropolis, Clark hems and haws about chasing after Lois, but he's soon got his hands full with his new partner, Cat Grant. But she's not that Cat Grant, as she's quick to point out. What she is, though, is perky and pink and ever so hateful of vigilantes like the Blur. When someone fires a bullet into a very precise part of her car's engine block, she's convinced it's for her anti-"hero" writings. When Clark finds markings on the bullet, he turns to Tess for an ID. She tells him about a much-feared and unnamed gunman that Checkmate was never able to track down. He was so good at hitting his targets that they nicknamed him Deadshot. Clark tries to protect her, but it's really him Deadshot is after. Clark takes a bullet for Cat. It doesn't hurt him, of course, but it marks him with an invisible skull emblem that will allow the Suicide Squad to track him.
Meanwhile, Oliver is trying to find Chloe. He searches her apartment for clues and confronts Tess after all digital records of Chloe Sullivan disappear. Tess says she's not responsible, although she did help with the computer part. She trusts that Chloe has a plan. Oliver goes back to the brewery where he was tortured and is met by his torturer. The man shoots Oliver in the arm, and although it doesn't harm him, it marks him as Clark was marked. The still-unnamed torturer tells Oliver that Chloe traded herself for Oliver, then ate a cyanide pill rather than answer their questions. But one of the things Oliver found in her apartment was a cyanide antidote, so he knows she's still alive somewhere. Carter, too, is marked, not with a bullet but with a bowl of water... somehow. The woman who brought it to him is that annoying Plastique from a couple of seasons ago, so: ugh.
Throughout the whole episode, there's much talk (as usual) of destiny and fate and anvils of that sort, as well as talk of whether it's better as heroes to stay in the shadows or to come out into the light. Much of Cat's early ranting about the "lifestyle" of vigilantes has many parallels to the homophobic diatribes of the ultra right-wing. Clark's out and proud, though, and to prove it he puts on a bright red leather jacket instead. I'm undecided on the style, but at least it's a step up from the Emo Blur outfit.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see what other superbeings have crossed Clark in our guide to the Heroes and Villains of Smallville! And see what our vlogger thinks about the show, below.
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previously on Smallville: Lois figured out that Clark is the Blur; Hawkman lost his wife and suffered an ancient curse that made him and his wife to reunite and then die in every life; Oliver got kidnapped and tortured again; Chloe traded herself for Oliver's safe return because she loooves him; Lois took a job with Perry White in Africa.
Currently on Smallville: The sands of the African desert are grooving to the beat of some rhythmic drumming. Wind-carved dunes tower over a small gathering of tents. In the distance, a CGI Jeep approaches, bearing no CGI shadow nor leaving any CGI tracks in the CGI sand. The phantom Jeep becomes real as it pulls up to the camp and a tall woman in a headscarf gets out. She squints through the billowing dust, getting her first look at the camp. She unwraps her scarf. It's Lois, of course, and she's whipping out her phone and leaving a message for Perry. "I really hope this story is worth it, because so far my 'dream assignment' is turning into 1001 Arabian Nightmares!" I bet she took the whole ride there coming up with that. Also: shut up, Lois. As she wanders through the camp, she complains about having to ride a camel for eleven hours. It was probably no joyride for the camel, either. She goes on: "As for this newly unearthed tomb of Isis, all I see are some rocks and a couple of tents." Welcome to the world of archaeology! Just wait till you get to all the cataloging and diplomatic red tape. She wraps up her message and then heads into one of the tents. It's quite cavernous inside, and fairly well-appointed, with a smattering of rugs and netting around the cots. "Hello?" she calls out. "Lois Lane, Daily Planet!" She picks up an ancient piece of papyrus scroll depicting Isis and Osiris. At first my inner anthropology major had a minor panic attack, but then I realized it was pretty dumb of someone to have left it out in the first place. "They were star-crossed lovers," a man says behind her. They were also siblings, but times were different then. Carter Hall walks into the tent, looking all hot and scruffy. "I guess you never know what fate has planned for you," he says. The dusty desert air has done wonders for his voice, because now Carter sounds like regular Michael Shanks and not like acid-gargling Michael Shanks. Lois gives him a piercing look, or maybe the sun has burnt out her retinas.
Metropolis. Clark is just showing up to work, phone in hand, leaving Chloe his fourth message without response. "Jor-El warned me some dark force is coming," he says. The world's most observant reporters mill about him without hearing a word. He ends the message saying he needs her help. A nameless colleague hands Clark the day's paper. "Check it out, page three," he says. "Someone hit the big time!" Clark looks at the paper. There's a long-ass article about Lois joining Perry White in Africa, complete with picture. Was it an exceptionally slow news day? Clark frowns. His sadness grows when he spots Lois's empty desk. He hops online and buys a plane ticket to Cairo. Dude, don't be clingy. You're the one who told her to go. In the time it takes him to go to the printer for the receipt, someone new has taken over Lois's desk. She's blond and perky and looks like June Cleaver got into a teleporter accident with Hello Kitty. She perkily introduces herself to Clark as Cat Grant. "No relation to the woman on TV," she says, giving him a gooey homemade cookie baked with twice the sugar. So her diabolical plan is to kill people with diabetes! Evil, yet delicious. She starts redecorating Lois's desk with all manner of pink doodads. She gushes about how excited she is to be working here, after "all those weeks" of working at a small town paper. Clark scoffs even though he was hired with less experience than that. She sets up a (pink) radio and tunes it to someone railing against the "masked, anarchy-loving vigilantes," including the Blur. Cat nods along in agreement. Clark turns off the radio in a fit of pique. Cat extols the virtues of Godfrey, the radio crusader. "He is so right, about everything!"