daibhidc | Smallville

That was pretty good. The Dark Archer is a cool villain; basically Merlyn from the comics (complete with a name out of Arthurian myth). I've commented before that Green Arrow is Smallville's Batman, and the idea of Ollie learning his skills from a shadowy organisation of vigilantes, before abandoning them when he learnt they were killers, is reminiscent of Bruce joining Ra's Al Ghul's League of Shadows in Batman Begins. And in the comics, after training Ollie, Merlyn joined ... Ra's Al Ghul's League of Assassins. It all fits together!

Cool to see more of Mia, and Clark and Lois as a couple. It's unfortunate that the writers, even when they have everyone point out that Oliver and Lois broke up years ago, still have Ollie looking mopey about the OTP. What happened to Dinah again?

The Chloe subplot is getting interesting. Her theme this season seems to be that she does things the heroes won't do, for their own good. Which presumably will lead to a story where she goes too far (yes, even further than hiring a criminal to shake Oliver up a bit) and they have to stop her. It's a bit odd for someone who spent the last season reminding Clark that the Blur stood for something, but there you go. At least it's a consistent theme within this season.

Because ... do you remember what I said last season, about how it felt like there were two groups of writers, pulling in opposite directions? Well, we're getting it again - Clark's decision to make friends with Zod and not force a confrontation turns out to last less than an episode. Was it just for the sake of the (admittedly cool) "Kneel ... before Kal-El!" moment?

And what happened to the glasses?