Loved it? Hated it? What did you think about "Turbulence"?

[Nimkong]

This episode is ok.I liked the plot,tess knowing clarks secret and davis story

[BoyScout-ManOfTomorrow]

Loved the empoyee newsletter!! damn funny.

I loved "Turbulence". It had everything you want from an episode. Every episode that discusses and shows about Clarks patrols around the city, even if minor scenes are great (Like they did in "Prey".) The Jimmy/Chloe/Davis scenes were also good because it really gave the story some drama. And Im all for drama that doesn't concern Clark. To me, Clark should be the one to resolve the drama, not be the cause of it...which keeps happening in Smallville too much. Clark saves Tess from her plan is a great example.

You could argue the episode was a filler. Well Jimmy and Chloe broke up but otherwise it was filler...But my god what filler it was!! I mean we get really intense scenes of Jimmy and Doomsday even if it's just hallucination. We get great character depth to Tess in this episode. As many have stated this is her best episode here. I love how she is all vulnerable and the next all cold hearted again. Loved how Clark was going to handle the situation when the talk went to Lex and possible secrets Clark could hold. He quite sensibly tried to get info from Tess, about Lex's journal by...making her drunk... Also loved the jump out of the plane (no, I wasn't expecting flight, but we got a little more than everyone keeps telling...I mean it seemed even Clark wasn't sure what he did when Chloe asked about it.

Loved the ending montage that wasn't Clark angsty related. I didn't mind Clarks low screentime, he just owned every second he was in leaving room for Jimmy/Chloe drama. Tess' character also got more depth as I said. This episode was to Tess like "Kandor" was to Zod. The defining episode...

I noticed Lois wasn't in it which usually automatically drops the interest but here I was just clued to the screen. Also Lois pulled her weight in the amazing "Infamous" and Erica Durance is just hilarious in "Hex".

But If I had to decide what kind of filler episodes I want, I'll take "Turbulence" over "Instinct" (loved Maxima though...)

10 from me!

[lexluthor408]

i really enjoyed this episode because it focused on many characters. i feel that season 10 suffers due to only having fewer regulars and the overuse of lois when she is not needed. and despite having only 4 regulars the show still can't seem to put enough limelight on clark. sigh, only if season 10 were like season 8.

[ck123]

i will rate it 10/10 ^^

[SVFAN89]

I love Turbulence. I love rewatching this one. The Clark/Tess scenes were great and Jimmy was great in this episode, but the break up was really sad.

[Detorio]

Just an 8 for me...
Nice to have seen Tess open
Needed more Clark
Jimmy is so dark now (not vibin' with that)
And its was decent enough seeing Davis move closer to the inevitable

[MarvelL]

Can't believe how gullible Chloe was in this episode

[Bally]

8.

After Hex, this is probably my favourite episode of the second half of season 8. Any time you see Clark being proactive and thinking for himself, he looks a much better character and the episodes look that much stronger. Of course to humanise his character, you have to have him show some doubts or make the wrong choices sometimes, but there has to be a balance leaning more towards the proactiveness and assuredness.

There are parallels between the two main stories in the episode - Clark & Tess plus Jimmy & Davis. In each case, there's a suggestion of one knowing something about the other that the other would rather not be the case. In Clark's case, it's dealing with Tess playing games and manipulating a situation for her benefit. She never outright says what she suspects about Clark but you are in no doubt that she's hiding something. She's isn't somebody he can trust because there's too much Luthor mentality under the surface. Jimmy is much more overt in making it clear to Davis that he's not what he seems, and he certainly has a valid case.

Smallville has made a habit of making its villains sympathetic. Davis wants to be a good guy and he doesn't want the evil that is within him, yet he can't help but be driven by the monster's impulses. Sam plays Davis as conflicted in accepting that this is who he is, and that all his heinous misdeeds are being reluctantly carried out.

Chloe delivers an ironic line to Clark near the end about how always looking for the good in people is what gets him into trouble so often. That is exacty what she is doing with Davis and it is derailing her marriage with Jimmy, only she's not seeing it. The problem is that with Jimmy only having just returned to Metropolis, nobody else has had a chance to see it either so nobody can speak to her about it. In Bride, Lois did inquire as to whether Chloe had feelings for Davis but that wasn't with the knowledge that Davis is bad news. Even still, in this episode it is never in doubt that Chloe loves Jimmy and wants him to get better and come home. Allison is always brilliant when playing sad Chloe and you see it again here. She has a way of making herself seem smaller when playing Chloe this way.

Aaron does a great job of showcasing Jimmy's downward spiral. He is suffering from PTSD and then some. He has become addicted to painkillers and is irritated by the fact that everybody seems to think he's just suffering from paranoid delusions rather than the actual truth. His anger has been simmering below the surface and he decides to act on it by ambushing Davis. Chloe inadvertantly saves his life by intervening. Also, neither knew just what danger they could have been in. Jimmy's anger then pours out back at the hospital when he brutally tells Chloe that their relationship is over. Jimmy's insecurities have made him look weak in the past but here it is just right because he's just fed up of nobody ever listening to him.

It's hard to understand why the producers allowed season 8 to get derailed so badly by the Lana arc when the main arc had so much going for it.

[jon-el87]

A good episode. The plot doesn't revolve around Clark trying to take down a villain of the week. Instead, we got some fleshing out of the Tess Mercer character. And Jimmy finding himself in the middle of what could be described as a psychological thriller, along with developing an addiction to drugs. The latter being something, that has been known to happen, to people who have had to take pain medication. I always appreciate, when writers have real things happen to characters. Him suffering from PTSD was also a nice touch, which, again, shows the reality of these kinds of experiences. You wouldn't just get back up and walk away from something like that. Which is a problem I have with earlier episodes, like "Obscura", when Chloe is kidnapped and buried alive, while Lana experiences being gunned down by the police. Yet, neither shows any lasting effect from it. Neither needed to spend years, seeing a psychiatrist, to get past what happened to them.