Wither debuted on 12 October, 2006 and was written by Tracy Bellomo.
One of the escaped Phantom Zone prisoners is causing problems in the forest, and Clark (Tom Welling) is having all manner of issues.
He’s a little put out over Chloe’s new relationship with Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore). But he does meet a cute forest ranger, Gloria (Amber McDonald), which could mean something. Like perhaps she’s the baddie? And that’s too bad. Clark deserves a little happiness. She also seems to have a kind of Poison Ivy thing going on.
Speaking of relationships, Lana (Kristin Kreuk) and Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) finally commit to theirs and sleep together. Lana is still attempting to settle into the mansion and doesn’t want to be seen as just another Lex-Girl.
We learn that Lois’ (Erica Durance) new beau, Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley), is Martha’s (Annette O’Toole) benefactor and bankrolled her campaign. He’s also, unknown to everyone in Smallville but not us viewers, the Green Arrow. They have a less-than-spectacular first meeting, but he definitely seems to fit with Lois’ type.
This version of Queen is okay, but HArtley isn’t quite as good in the role as I would like him to be.
And a lot of this is going to play out at a charity costume party Lex has organized to help raise funds for damages caused during Black Thursday.
It’s an okay episode; I’m still not keen on the Lana/Lex thing but I’ll let the story run its course. And I was hoping to see Clark taking bigger steps towards who he is going to become. In fact, for the most part, Clark feels like a smaller part of this episode, which is fine, but I want more from his character lately, and hope to see it soon.
Arrow sees Lois and Clark investigating a series of thefts that Lois is referring to as The Green Arrow Bandit. I wonder who that will turn out to be?
Written by Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson, this episode was first broadcast on 19 October, 2006.
It’s a solid episode, with lots going on with the supporting characters. Lois and Oliver’s relationship continues (but will it after she discovers who the bandit is?). The Green Arrow costume is okay, and definitely leans more towards the bright colours of comic books instead of a more grounded, realistic look.
This Green Arrow is already established, and he has all his trick arrows. No one in Metropolis/Smallville seems to know who he is because he’s not usually working in their area. Are there already legends of Green Arrow happening in Star City?
It comes as no surprise that Green Arrow isn’t really a thief. Yes, he’s stealing from the rich, but he’s stealing things that were stolen and bought on the black market by the wealthy.
Lionel (John Glover) is shepherding Martha around for fundraisers and meet-and-greets. And despite Lana’s blossoming relationship with Lex, Lionel checks in with her to see where she actually stands because of the way he plans to exploit all the tech he’s been amassing, including the spaceship. But is that all a ploy?
He also touches base with Clark, who is trying to find a way to stop the Green Arrow.
There are secrets revealed and kept, and more seeds being planted for some sort of league, some kind of Justice League.
It’s not a horrible episode, but having now seen more of him, I’m just not a fan of this series’ interpretation of Green Arrow, who has long been a favourite character.
