Smallville - Upgrade - Season 9 Episode 17 - CW

John Corben is back this episode, and it appears that he's appreciative of having been given another lease on life. The episode starts out with Lois poking her nose into one of Tess' secret bases. Later in the show, Tess tells Chloe that she's created her own bodyguard. I guess that's what John is, but in the lab where Lois is Tess is having her scientists upgrade him. She putting a chip in him so she'll also be able to control him. Luckily, Lois disrupts things just before that can occur. And in the confusion John makes his escape. Unfortunately for Clark, the next day when he's trying to retrace Lois' steps, he stumbles across the same secret base. The problem is . . Tess was also experimenting with Red Kryptonite. So in his haste to go running into things . . he inhales some of the dust left behind. Which sends Clark on a bender . . and right into the waiting arms of Zod. Well that, and the fact that he finds out that Chloe and Ollie have been stockpiling Kryptonite, and Kryptonite based weapons all over the country. Zod doesn't know what's causing Clark's change of attitude, but he picks up on Clark's weakness almost immediately. Chloe weapons were mainly as a deterrent against the Kandorians getting their powers. If that were to happen, they'd have to have some way to stop them . . some line of defense. Anyways, John saves Lois from the fallout in the lab. And then Lois saves John when his Kryptonite heart is about to give out. Later on, when Clark and Zod are working together, Chloe and Tess have also joined forces. Chloe helps her finish the upgrade on John so that they can us him to help Clark. He uses the caves to transport to the fortress where he begins fighting them both. He seems to have the advantage because of his Kryptonite. But when they freeze him, and Clark drops a giant icicle on his head, it appears to have knocked the chip loose. But John remembers enough of what Chloe's intentions were to still help Clark. Of course that involves stabbing him with a piece of Kryptonite to burn the Red influence out of his body. 'A friend sent me here to save you. I owe you. The problem with being saved is . . we don't always know when we need it.' I'm not sure if he was talking about Clark or himself. Anyways, Zod and Tess go back to working together. She sows the seeds of mistrust by showing Zod pictures of Clark helping out some of the Kandorians with 'papers' and ids. She sells it as a 'silent revolt, and tells him that some of his flock are 'looking towards a new leader'. Which prompts him to step up his timetable. He decides that the Kandorians that he feels are worth should get what's due to them . . their powers. Since he got his from Clark's blood, he's going to use his for them. And of course Clark apologizes to Chloe. It wasn't an overly exciting episode. And like I said before . . I'm kind of getting tired of this whole Zod thing. But . . it did move the story along and sets us up for the finale in a few weeks. I'm sorry . . the season finale. Despite not being thrilled, it's still one of my favorite shows.