It's taken two and a half seasons, but at last we have it: the Origin of Clark Kent's glasses! Behold! Deaths, insane asylums, double crosses, tornadoes, spring formals, heartbreak, ejaculating eyes...it's all just been a lead-up to this, the story to end all stories. Eyeglasses! Take that, The O.C.! During a botched jewelry robbery, Clark gets flashed in the eye by reflected Kryptonite, and suddenly he goes blind. Before you can say "walking cane," Clark has given up all hope of recovery and declared himself blind for good, accepting it as a lifestyle instead of something that'll get solved within forty minutes. The upshot is that Clark develops Superhearing, so really it's lucky he went blind like that. Clark learns to focus his new power, and overhears Chloe and Papa Luthor talking about him. He busts Chloe, who gets in trouble with Papa Luthor for spreading a rumor about Lex going back to LuthorCorp to a job involving sharpening pencils and...man, is it just me or does this sound like seventh grade? Chloe loses her column in the Daily Planet, Lana mopes even though she has a new guy (she gets the last scene in the episode again...grrrrr!), and we finally meet Pete's mom, a judge who gets about as much screen time as Pete usually does. Pete is kidnapped by the jewelry robber's accomplice (he's a Kryptovillain with a bionic Adam's apple, and thus is crushed by cars in the end) and rescued at a scrapyard by Clark, who regains most of his eyesight after (I'm not kidding here) getting a blowtorch to the face. Yeah, it's like LASIK, but an open flame. Sure. Whatever works. Clark now has to wear glasses, and now you know how Clark Kent got his specs on. Sorry you had to wait more than fifty episodes for that.
By: Omar L. Gallaga (TWoP)

Attempting to stop a robbery, Clark is temporarily blinded when he shoots off a burst of heat vision that is reflected back into his eyes by a piece of kryptonite. He soon realizes that his body has developed super-hearing to compensate for his lack of sight. However, as it was in the beginning with his other gifts, Clark doesn't quite have his new power under control. Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Allison Mack, Sam Jones III, John Glover, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider also star.

Clark: Lana... Lana, it's my eyes, I can't see.

Jonathan: Last time we trusted a doctor, she sold his blood to Lionel Luthor.

Clark: What's the worse that could happen - I go to school and walk through a wall?

Lana: One thing I learned from my accident is you can't go through this alone.

Lionel: You have to look at Clark Kent as a work in progress.

Pete: Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder obviously hasn't met the two of you.

Lex: Clark, I don't know what to say.
Clark: How about hello?

Martha (to Jonathan): You both think you're supermen... you need to start relying on people and so does he.

Lana: Lex you were...
Lex: Craxy
Lana not yourself.

Clark (to Chloe): I may have lost my sight but things are becoming much clearer now.

Clark: Your silence is deafening.

Clark: For all the times you accused me of keeping secrets, how could you do this to me.

Nathan: Ross, get in the truck. I said get in the truck.

Abigail Ross: If I don't grant it, they'll kill my son

Clark: the truth is I miss having you in my life.

Nathan: Hows that, blind man.

Martha (seeing Clark wearing glasses): Sweetie, they look fine.

Jonathan: That is such a long shot.
Clark: It's all i've got.

Lionel: Are you threatening me. Be careful Ms Sulivan.
Chloe: I'll do whatever I ant. Apparently I don't work for you anymore.

Lex: At least this way I was able to keep you out of it.

Lana: The reason I pulled away is that I, uh, met someone at the hospital and i'm not sure how I feel about him... I didn't want you to find out from someone else.

How cute did Clark look in his new glasses? I was so thrilled. Fingers crossed we'll get to see more of nerdy Clark Kent!

"You both think you're Supermen who can do everything alone. Well, you can't. You need to start relying on people." Martha got to deliver this week's tagline. And so did Lana, earlier in the episode, "One thing I learnt from my accident, you can't go through something like that alone." A hero needs his friends. People he can turn to when he's vulnerable. Without Pete, Clark will be walking into walls. Without his parents, he won't have the necessary encouragement to hone his powers.

I really enjoyed Lionel and Chloe's scenes together. That girl is gutsy, threatening an old hand like Lionel. And she's reminding me more and more of a certain Miss Lane. Was Clark right to be angry at Chloe? Most definitely. He thought Chloe had betrayed him. But should he be more understanding? Probably. He knew that his secret relationship with Lana had hurt Chloe. She even admitted that "it was a stupid decision made in a moment of weakness." That's almost as good as confessing she still had feelings for him at that time. Poor Chloe. But like all the other characters, she'll have to suffer the consequences if she makes the wrong choices. Strike a deal with Lionel, and don't expect to get away so easily.

In fact, strike a deal with Jor-El, and you're not let off so easily either. Jonathan's starting to show side-effects from his deal with Jor-El in "Phoenix". How long before he keels over?

"The structure may look perfectly stable but it can't take any pressure." Last week, we were left wondering if Lex faked a memory loss. This week, Lex is seemingly back to normal and back to proving himself to Lionel. It's like someone hit the "Rewind" button and we were frustratingly transported back to "Phoenix" again. Are the writers going to keep bringing us back and forth throughout the season? Where Lex gets close to his target, only to have it snatched from under his nose again. I hope the writers will decide to have more fun and surprise us with a Lex who remembers everything but he's doing an excellent job of hiding it.

Lana shows concern for Clark, he pushes her away. He tries to hold her hand, she pulls away. All this pulling and pushing is driving me crazy! The anguish between Lana and Clark is actually best shown without words. The last scene packed a powerful punch when all Clark hears is just the sound of Lana crying. (more...)
By Hayley Planet