Ep 4.07 - Jinx

[JosephKenny18]

I totally agree with Bilza, the friendship between Clark and Lex is what got me hooked on the show in the first place. I am a true superman fan, and the prospect of LL and CK being practically brothers interested me. Everyone knows what LL is capable of in the Dc universe but in Smallville you see a tiny glimmer of hope for this character and viewers start to be attracted to this character. That maybe Lex isnt all that bad maybe just misguided or pressured into this life he leads. In the first 3 seasons i liked Lex but season 5 and 6 just ripped out lexs heart and we see a more cold LL.


Anyways i just wanted to say that i loved that scene where Clark puts on his football stuff, the song aswell just added to it. In that scene we see just how isolated Clark is. He puts on a facade of a happy farmboy but in reality he is all alone when dealing with certain situations with regards his origins and in this scene the viewers see that this young man has the weight of the world on his shoulders. One of my favourite scenes ever in Smallville.

[Lilah]

I think this is when they started the whole "Lex might have some sort of feelings for Lana" thing... that's always the vibe I get from that last scene. As for the football scene of Clark's super speed... it's actually one of my all time favorite moments in Smallville because the effects were so spectacular... I'm going to go look for that deleted scene now lol

[Nimkong]

This episode was good.Liked how it introduced a villan,liked how clark had fun at the championship game,and liked how it introduced 33.1!

[jon-el87]

I did not care, for this version of Mxyzptlk. Honestly, verbal mind control..? Couldn't they at least, have given him the ability to generate illusions? Honestly, they should've made it closer to his comic book counterpart (now that would've been funny)...

That was when he was Kal-El so maybe now he doesn't have the power to breathe in outer space yet.

We never saw him breathe in space (and he was only up there, for about a second). Superman's ability to survive in space, for extended periods of time, are generally explained as being a result of his super breath. His lung capasity is bigger then ours, so when he flies into space, he merely takes a deep breath and then holds his breath for as long as he can (which is much longer, then what a human can do).

[tyson08]

I've been re-watching the series from the beginning and recently got to this episode, when I saw it on the main screen I couldn't for the life remember what it was about. That's because I've never seen this episode! Which is crazy because I've seen every episode of the series (or so I thought). bUT i re-watch random episodes or even seasons that I liked for years now and I've never seen this episode.

[We're Luthors...]

This is it I think this is the OFFICIAL signal that Lex is interested in Lana, we've seen the signs, as mentioned, since season three, but this is the episode where we see Lex somewhat going after Lana.

[SGuthrie27]

I gave this 9 out of 10 Old Spice Red Zone Deodorant bottles simply for the ridiculous amount of product placement, LOL! I really enjoyed the football elements, the Clark and Jonathan argument and resolution, the Chlark scenes and team-up to take down Mikhail... I wasn't as irked by the use of the Mxyzptlk name here, especially since that's one character I can't imagine them really portraying well in his comic book incarnation. I thought of it more as a clever way of including elements of Mxyzptlk without too much silliness.

[Raistlin]

Loved that scene, they should've kept it in and shortened the football game scene. The look in Clark's eyes when he realised that Lana didn't care about the school, football games, or Clark possibly being on drugs was classic. It's like he finally clicked on to that she's really self-absorbed.

That was a good scene and should have stayed, it would have explained the frostiness between Lana and Clark in later episodes. But calling Lana self-absorbed is a misread, IMO. She and Clark are not running in the same circle any more. They are not spending any "friend" time together. Lana has a boyfriend that she cares about; she's into her relationship with Jason.

And if there's one thing you have to say about Lana's character it's that she's consistent when she's in a relationship. She (almost) blindly defends and trusts her boyfriend. She did it with Whitney. She did it with Clark, and now she's doing it with Jason.

I love Clark, but he has managed his relationship with Lana badly. If anyone can be accused of being self-absorbed it would be Clark. He knows Lana and Jason are dating. Why would he think he's numero uno with her now? Lana never said she didn't care about the football games. But Clark wrongly assumed she was there for him instead of Jason.

The only reason Lana went to Clark was to make sure he'd keep mum on her relationship with Jason so he wouldn't lose his job. I don't think Lana would have talked to Clark about it if Jason hadn't planted a seed of doubt. Lana was honest about her state of mind (i.e. she used to trust in a lot of things, she doesn't know where they stand anymore and she doesn't want to make the same mistakes) and Clark didn't like what he heard.

So now he's angry and jealous that he's been replaced in her affection, that she's moved on. That's how I read the scene. It finally clicked and he has no one to blame for it than himself.

----- Added 10 Minutes later -----

"Clark: Every handshake, every hug, every time I'm out on that field...I make a conscious decision to fall when those guys hit me so they don't get hurt. No matter how hard you try, you can't understand that. That's why this is my decision, not yours."

I absolutely loved this scene between Clark and Jonathan. This was something that most definitely needed to be said. Jonathan has always been too judgmental and controlling on the subject of football, and it was good to see Clark stand up to him calmly and rationally.

----- Added 16 Minutes later -----

I think alot of people have missed the significance of this episode, more specifically the end scenes between Clark and Lex and the consequences of such a rift between the two main characters.

I very much enjoyed this post and for the most part, I agree with your analysis.

[DJ Doena]

Question: What's the song playing during the final game (not "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") when Chloe is blocking Mxyzptlk's ability?

[Supsfan]

Question: What's the song playing during the final game (not "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") when Chloe is blocking Mxyzptlk's ability?

Not sure which song it is but I assume it's one of these

http://www.kryptonsite.com/smallvillemusicseason4.htm

[Chandu.Lahari]

Wow, I am just about the slowest gal on the PLANET--I just realized that Clark's jersey has the number "8" on it... kinda' like the Kryptonian symbol he has in Exile... kinda' like the Superman symbol. *face-palm*

[Bally]

Mediocre episode, probably because it focussed on a sport I have absolutely no interest in. I'm sure there's a lot of tactical thought processes at work for each play but to me it always looks like a bunch of roided-up oafs running into each other while one of them chucks the ball and another goes to catch the thing while nobody on the field is paying attention to them. And every little move has to have a bunch of high fives, group hugs, butt slaps, fist pumps etc.

But enough about the game. The save at the end was pretty cool. I've sort of watched the later seasons of this show before the earlier ones and that save was reminiscent of Clark saving Lois from Sebastian in Identity. He speeds in, saves the girl, shoved the villain away with force, then speeds away again. No messing about, just get the job done. The villain is out for the count and the girl is looking around incredulous at what just happened.

[jon-el87]

Mister Mxyzptlk is in town... or is he? Decided to rewatch this episode (and the Lois & Clark episode "Twas the Night Before Mxymas"), due to the character's upcoming appearance in Supergirl. As people will no doubt compare that version to the Smallville one (the L&S one will probably be forgotten, like the 80's Superboy one), I thought I should write down some thoughts.

In this episode, we're introduced to Mikhail Mxyzptlk (in his one and only appearance). With a name like that, one is quick to assume that he's an adaptation of Mister Mxyzptlk. However, I'd like to argue that he isn't. This show had a Dr. Steven Hamilton and a Dr. Emil Hamilton. Two blonde women, with Kryptonian powers, who went by the name "Kara". A Henry James "Jimmy" Olsen and a James Bartholomew "Jimmy" Olsen. So, why not two guys named "Mxyzptlk". A statement I'm sure will be followed by arguments that it's unlikely that there's multiple dudes named "Mxyzptlk" (whereas Hamilton is more common. It was the real Kara's uncle, who selected "Kara" for Lindsey Harrison. And the two Jimmy Olsens are brothers).

However, a little research into the comic character (didn't even take me five minutes) reveals that "Mister Mxyzptlk" isn't his real name. His real name is unpronounceable. When he first appeared, it was simply a magical word, that allowed him to travel to Superman's dimension. The post-Crisis incarnation chose the name "Myzptlk" as he had challanged Supes into getting him to say his name backwards (promising to leave, if Supes could make him do it) and figures that name will be next to impossible for that to happen.

If we go by the post-Crisis incarnation, Clark will one day encounter an imp from the 5th Dimension. The imp challanges him to make the imp say or spell his name backwards, promising to then return to his native dimension. However, as his real name can't be pronounced, he selects one, possibly from Chloe's files and comes across Mikhail's name. Figuring it'll be next to impossible for Clark to get him to say or spell that name backwards, he selects "Mxyzptlk".

That would then mean, that all we saw in this episode, was the origin of the "Mxyzptlk" name. Of course, this is something that can never be proven.

[jon-el87]

Upon further reflection: Mikhail marked an important moment in the show's history. He's from an unnamed country in Eastern Europe, with no ties to the United States. Up until this point, everyone with powers (not counting aliens like Clark) had been Americans. And only a few exceptions (ex. Bart Allen and Chrissy Parker) had not acquired their powers through exposure to Green K.

In "Run", they had presented Bart Allen as the first person whom Clark met, that didn't get his powers from the meteors (I mean, he wasn't (Ryan James, Chrissy Parker), but let's just go with it). The episode ends with Bart going off to see if there's anyone else out there in the world. We're introducing to the notion of there are people in the world, who didn't get their powers from Kryptonite.

Then we get this this episode. Now, here's this guy from Eastern Europe, who has a metahuman ability, that has been in his family for generations. Establishing that there are people in other countries, who have metahuman powers. It's no longer something unique to the United states.

Then, in the next episode, we get three French witches. Not only introducing the concept of magic, but further building up the concept of there being people with powers (be they metahuman or magic), in other countries.

Then we get to season six, where the proto-League go off to try and shut down Lex's 33.1 experiments (a concept introduced in this episode), around the world. We never see the full extent of the global 33.1 facilities, but are shown and informed of the destruction of facilities in places like Mexico, Ukraine, Taiwan, South America, India, Australia. As 33.1 facilities are said to be set up wherever there's evidence of people with abilities, the storyline further builds up the notion that there are people with powers all over the world (they're just keeping their heads down, until Clark inspires the benevolent ones to become superheroes or something).

Mikhail introduced the notion of there being metahumans in other countries (rather than people with super powers being a unique American thing), meaning that there's a much bigger world out there than Clark's backyard, and his exit introduced/teased 33.1. Something that S6 expanded upon, and set up a world, where all countries on Earth likely have an X amount of people with powers, that will eventually (post-S10) develop into the superheroes and supervillains of the various countries. And it all starts with Mikhail Mxyzptlk.