Smallville - Echo - Season 9 Episode 4 - WB

Well . . as you can see . . Toyman is back this episode. That's the guy from Eureka that's playing him. You know . . the one who runs Cafe Diem? I think he's the perfect look and attitude for this character. Actually though, to me . . this episode was more about Ollie than Winslow's character. This one is connected to last years episode where Luthor supposedly dies in that STAR Labs transport. Shortly before that, Toyman had tried to blow up Ollie and his board at Queen industries. Or was it Luthorcorp? I think it was right after Ollie told Tess that he had gained controlling interest. Anyways, Ollie planted one of Winslow's stuffed bear bombs at the scene so it looked like he did it, and was consequently arrested. So now he's mad at Ollie for framing him. It's not like he didn't do anything else bad, he just didn't do 'that'. He blows up one of the Queen factories, to draw Ollie out, and then tries to kill him at a press-conference. Of course Clark stops it, we see a Toyman robot, and Winslow is arrested . . again! At the end of the episode it looks like maybe Ollie has learned a lesson . . he's certainly giving Clark all the right answers during their dialogue. We thought this was all because of his guilt about Jimmy, but . . I'm thinking this actually has more to do with Lex. After Clark leaves, Ollie sees his reflection in the glass. Because of the shadows and the light it almost looks like it's Lex standing on the other side of the glass. Anyways, Clark also gains another power this episode . . temporarily . . telepathy. Apparently Jor-El had programmed this to happen to teach Clark another lesson after something traumatic happens. I'm thinking it was the explosion in Ollie's factory. Well . . the explosion certainly affected his hearing, but Clark takes out the guy who he thinks is controlling the bomb. He knocks him pretty hard across the room. But when his mask falls off, we find out that he was just a hostage / victim also. Jor-El says he wants him to learn how to read humans better . . how to anticipate their actions. An instinct that once developed will help him out in many various situations. I don't know that it actually did that, but . . he does gain a whole lot of insight into how Lois actually feels about him. Which turned out to be an interesting part of the story. One time when Clark is holding Lois and she feels his biceps, we hear her say, 'Hello Sailor!'. A lot of the lines were pretty comical. Which is another part of what I like about this series. Sure it has it's drama, and action, and romance. But . . it's not always so heavy. The writers put a lot of subtle humor in it. It helps to keep things a little 'lighter'. Plus, remember . . Clark is supposed to be a person who inspires hope and a belief that people can be more than they are. That's kind of hard to do when the guy is running around town dressed all in black and leaving cryptic burning symbols everywhere. Anyways, I'm glad that they're putting a little more focus on Ollie's character this season. I think he's a great character. Another great episode. Next time it appears that Ollie is going to fall into the world of Roulette.