Ep 2.23 - Exodus

[Aficionado]

I'll be watching it again tonight. The one thing that's really hard to stomach is Lionel roping Chloe into delivering him a bio. of Clark Kent. Sure she's close to Clark and ferret out secrets but Lionel has money to burn can't he just hire someone to do his evil deeds? It's somewhat believable at the end of this episode but when it continues into season 3 and Exile it sort of loses steam.
Lionel presumably lives in Metropolis and I know it's a huge city but he's still completely clueless as to Clark's presence there? Now would have been the time to open the pocket book and hire a really good private detective. Sometimes writing on Smallville is just too lame for well....words.

[Supsfan]

Lionel presumably lives in Metropolis and I know it's a huge city but he's still completely clueless as to Clark's presence there? Now would have been the time to open the pocket book and hire a really good private detective. Sometimes writing on Smallville is just too lame for well....words.

I am not sure if it's Calling or Exodus but I personally never got why Jonathon did a complete 180 on Lex and said he was like his son then gave him his father's compass. It was so out of character.

[D-11]

IMO this was not a bad episode but pretty close. I mean how could Clark NOT have known that putting a Green Kryptonite "key" into the ship would be a REALLY bad idea. Maybe not foresee that it would go "nuclear" but that something really, really bad was going to happen.

[vyperman7]

Re-Watch.

While I REALLY enjoy Calling, Exodus isn't one of my faves. It only has two redeeming qualities IMO. The first is the song Weapon by Matthew Goode Band played when Clark and Lana have their talk in the barn. The second is the scene with Pete and Lionel in the cave. Lionel calling Pete's family's creame corn factory a "ramshackle" was hilarious and I LOVE Lionel's "NO!!!!!" scream when the key is stolen. Pete telling Lionel not to look weak was awesome.

Now onto the bad :

- Don't like this dictator version of Jor-El. It's ironic because in the series finale Jor-El tells Clark that the people in Smallville made him the hero he is. Completely contradicts the attitude Jor-El has that they've served their purpose.

- Helen turning villain was lame. I liked her as a supportive and trusted chatacter. Lame plot device.

- Chloe never takes responsibility for her part in how Chlark went down. She became really unlikeable there for a bit during S2.

- The baby loss was a bummer. Since they set it up nicely showing how they welcomed Ryan, it would've been a good follow up. Also, imagine if the child had special powers and aged differently because the ship helped Martha conceive.

It's weird because I actually love Exile (one of my favorite eps) and I get this episode had to be used to set it up. But still, not an overly enjoyable episode to watch.

[jon-el87]

- Don't like this dictator version of Jor-El. It's ironic because in the series finale Jor-El tells Clark that the people in Smallville made him the hero he is. Completely contradicts the attitude Jor-El has that they've served their purpose.

Not so sure that it is. In the series finale, Jor-El shows Clark that largely everything that he's been going through over these ten years have been his trials. So, the attitude he shows here could just be a test: will Clark leave Smallville or will he stand up for himself and fight? It's a test of character. Does Clark care about the people around him or will he just go "ah, screw them, I'm out of here. Never liked them anyway"?

Another thing we should consider is what Raya said in "Fallout", that Jor-El was hard on himself and felt guilty for not being able to save Krypton. That's the Jor-El we're dealing with here. A man, who saw an entire world fall before his eyes. He tried to save it, but couldn't. If we look at past incarnation of Jor-El from the Donnerverse and Lois & Clark, neither showed much emotion about not being able to save anyone other than his son. Heck, on L&C, he even says "we are content", about only being able to save Clark. This Jor-El carries regrets, a burden about not being able to save his people, his world. If only he had done this and that, when he had the chance. If only he wasn't so weak. He brings this with him, during his initial interactions with his son. He behaves this way, because he doesn't want Clark to repeat his mistakes. However, as time past, Jor-El began to learn to forgive himself and calmed down (hence his more friendly behavior in later seasons).