Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of "Hypnotic?"

[Supsfan]

I did not like Martha's advice and wanted to smash her in her old face. What exactly does she want for her son?

Maybe Martha like a bunch of viewers just got sick and tired of the non stop angst between Clark and Lana and just wanted him to move on.

[Raistlin]

Maybe Martha like a bunch of viewers just got sick and tired of the non stop angst between Clark and Lana and just wanted him to move on.

The point is he can't move on as long as he carries the same baggage into every relationship. And Martha didn't offer any useful guidance or advice in that area. Just more Kent BS.

[super_j_man]

I think I would have liked this episode much better if the writing didn't feel "forced". They jumped right into the Simone story line without any build-up to who she was. Now besides the Simone story, it really wasn't that bad. But then there's the Clana break up. A part of me is happy they finally broke up but this came a few episodes after Clark told her his secret and proposed, she died, Clark spun back time, Clark's dad dies and now secret and lies is back on again and then they break up. It all felt to forced and unnatural to me.

5/10

[laurarawlins]

Lex annoys me

I hated this episode for many reasons. Here are my reasons why I never liked this episode:

1) Lex/Lana's relationship is solely based on manipulation, this whole Lexana thing is unrealistic and fake that is rushed and forced.

2) Lex sending Simone to break up Clark and Lana so he can have Lana all to himself, but never have either Clark or Lana know or find out about him being the reason behind their break up.

3) using Simone to discover Clark's secret, but instead of finding out his secret, he manages to break up Clark and Lana through some body else.

4) Simone manipulating and controlling both Clark and Lex by super charged hypnosis to carry out her bidding. not only it was lame, but it was stupid and pathetic

and 5) Simone seducing a hypnotized Clark in the loft and Lana walking in on that so she can accomplish what Lex wanted ( to get Lana to be with him)

Now I what I love about this episode:

1) The Lex and Brainiac's conspiracy, I find Lex and Brainiac working together was very interesting

2) Lois and Chloe working together to getting on to Simone's trail. I love how Lois and Chloe are trying to save Clark from this seductive woman with this sparkling gem around her neck.

3) Clark throwing Lex across the Library while under hypnosis and Lex's reaction to Clark's super strength (thinking it was from being under hypnosis) that it was classic

4) The Clark and Lana break up afterwards, because that relationship was getting too redundant and repetitive (but the only thing I didn't like about this, is Lana informing Lex about the break up not knowing that he was the one who orchestrated the whole break up)

[Aurora Moon]

I was very uncomfortable with the fact that Simone was clearly sexually assaulting a man against his will. That was just kind of very rapey as hell, to the point that the writers had to have Clark clarify to Chloe that there had been no sexual intercourse at all... even though the two of them did strip their clothes off and make out. *rolls eyes*

Come on, admit it, if the gender roles were reversed here then most of you would think that an male hypnotist making out with a hypnotized lady was very rapey. So why is it perfectly okay for this Simone to do this **** and have Clark be perfectly fine by the end?

And for this to be how Lana and Clark break up... really?? If I had my way, there would be far better ways for the two of them to break up for good.

[Bally]

5.5.

The journey time between Smallville and Metropolis is something that creates all sorts of plotholes. The writers in earlier seasons made a cock-up by suggesting it was a 3 hour drive, only to have characters flit back and forth as if they were just up the road from each other. Ridiculous case in point: this episode. Lana is on her way from Smallville back to Met U. She pays a flying visit to the Luthor mansion where she has a brief discussion with Lex about the spaceship and Milton Fine, then arrives at her Met U dorm to see both Chloe and Lois there. They cover up the real reason why Lois showed up, only for Clark to call Lana and ask her to come back to Smallville for an urgent talk. No sooner has she arrived back and she walks in on Clark and Simone getting down to business. Brutal 6 hours that, unless the road infrastructure between the two places has improved markedly. But Dark Thursday hasn't happened yet so a significant infrastructure upgrade would not have materialised as of yet. Another case is Lois and Chloe agreeing that they need to head back to Smallville from the DP, only for Chloe to tell Lois to go on ahead as she has something she needs to do first. Did they really need to journey seperately?

The episode is not entirely devoid of humour. As expected, it comes with the presence of Lois. Putting on the dark glasses is a very Lois-like touch and adds to her brazen attitude towards Simone. Likewise Martha pointing a shotgun at her while under Simone's influence before Chloe knocks her out.

Martha has a heart-to-heart with Clark and says some wise words that the writers clearly decided to ignore by dragging the mangled carcass that is the Clana relationship as far as the end of season 7, and then briefly midway through season 8. Maybe that little hypnotic trinket of Simone's exists in real life and is in the possession of a Clana-obsessed teenage girl who speaks regularly to the writers. That girl must have moved on to Twilight or Vampire Diaries or whatever teenage relationship angst story became popular at the turn of the decade.

Lastly, something I've mentioned before. NOBODY at the DP talks to Chloe or even acknowledges her presence there. She strides around the bullpen pulling files and using the computers seemingly invisible to everybody else who works there but is never working on a story. She only ever talks to Clark, Lois, Lana or Jimmy. She's on the DP payroll but has no earthly reason to actually be there judging by her output or lack thereof. In addition to that, non-employees can wander in and out at will and even use DP resources for their own ends. You can't even get into a public library and use their facilities that easily!

[jon-el87]

The journey time between Smallville and Metropolis is something that creates all sorts of plotholes. The writers in earlier seasons made a cock-up by suggesting it was a 3 hour drive, only to have characters flit back and forth as if they were just up the road from each other.

In "Idol", they explain away the inconsistent travel time as being thanks to a monorail. But, they really should've addressed this matter sooner. Part of the problem is, you now had Chloe and Lana live at Met U and Chloe having a job at the DP, while the rest of the characters all resided in Smallville. And, because of the title of the show, they couldn't have all the characters re-locate to Metropolis (especially as they still had five seasons to go). I guess the moral of the story is: don't name your show after a physical location. Of course, that depends on what kind of show you make.

I was very uncomfortable with the fact that Simone was clearly sexually assaulting a man against his will. That was just kind of very rapey as hell, to the point that the writers had to have Clark clarify to Chloe that there had been no sexual intercourse at all... even though the two of them did strip their clothes off and make out. *rolls eyes*

Yeah, that did make me uncomfortable too.

[DJ Doena]

In "Idol", they explain away the inconsistent travel time as being thanks to a monorail. But, they really should've addressed this matter sooner. Part of the problem is, you now had Chloe and Lana live at Met U and Chloe having a job at the DP, while the rest of the characters all resided in Smallville. And, because of the title of the show, they couldn't have all the characters re-locate to Metropolis (especially as they still had five seasons to go). I guess the moral of the story is: don't name your show after a physical location. Of course, that depends on what kind of show you make.

It's even worse. The "three hour drive" was a totally unecessary plot element. It would have never needed mentioning.

And to make matters worse, that these two images from season one's Nicodemus:

https://78.media.tumblr.com/ac830c90de0ea4c513c8c10067fae0fa/tumblr_peungev0NM1tu2mzao1_1280.png

https://78.media.tumblr.com/a633e404f5cc08d53e79ed79399c276d/tumblr_peungev0NM1tu2mzao2_1280.png

Let me do the calculations in metric, and I'll give you the result in miles at the end.

To calculate any visible distance on Earth, you need the elevation of the watcher and the watched.



Kristin Kreuk is 1.63m (5' 4") per IMDb, which means her being stacked seven times reaches a height of 11.41m which is the elevation on the windmill.

While you can see the skyline of Metropolis, it is not clear that you can actually see the bottom of the skyscrapers. So let's calculate with 10, 20 and 30 floors being invisible due to the curvature of the Earth and let's go with 4m (13') height per floor.

The mean radius of Earth is 6,371,000m.

Windmill distance to horizon:
(6,371,000 + 11.41)² = 6,371,000² + x²
40,589,786,386,350.19 = 40,589,641,000,000 + x²
x = 12,057.63m

Lowest visible point of skyscraper with 10 floors missing:
(6,371,000 + 40)² = 6,371,000² + y²
y = 22,576.13m

Lowest visible point of skyscraper with 20 floors missing:
(6,371,000 + 80)² = 6,371,000² + y²
y = 31,927.52m

Lowest visible point of skyscraper with 30 floors missing:
(6,371,000 + 120)² = 6,371,000² + y²
y = 39,103.13m

Distance between both visible points:
z = x + y

10 floors missing:
z = 34.63km = 21.53mi

20 floors missing:
z = 43.99km = 27.34mi

30 floors missing:
z = 51.16km = 31.8mi

Even with traffic jam inside the city, 3 hours seems a bit far fetched.

For comparison: Trenton, NJ to Manhattan Wall Street is a 70mi ride which Google Maps says you can do in between 1h30m and 1h45m

[jon-el87]

It's even worse. The "three hour drive" was a totally unecessary plot element. It would have never needed mentioning.

Agreed. The line in "Truth" was completely unnecessary. After all, they've already had Pete tell Chloe that Clark's going to the stadium in Metropolis to get them some hot dogs, that they'll eat at Pete's place. It's something that should rise an eyebrow, regardless of the distance. Personally, I live like a 5 minute drive from a stadium. Even the statement that I'm gonna get some hot dogs from the stadium would make no sense (and raise questions). Okay, so I'm going to get into my car, then drive for 5-7 minutes (depending on traffic), then find a parking space and park (another minute or two). Then get into the stadium (there could be lines just to get in and then to buy the hot dogs), before driving another 5-7 minutes home and park the car. Even with my small distance, such an endavour would probably take close to a half-hour, just to buy some hot dogs. A six hour commute was just unnecessary overkill. Just have Chloe remark: "Wait, Clark's gonna drive all the way to Metropolis, just to get some hot dogs?". It establishes that there is some distance to Metropolis (it's not just right across the street from Pete's house), but doesn't give a specific figure, that you're probably not going to be able to stick to in the future.

[Bally]

When I'm writing, I am looking for plausible ways not just to have characters in certain scenes, but for plausible ways for the characters to move from point to point without it requiring a needless 6 hour return journey or the ability to travel at super-speed (unless it's Clark). What I have done is gone with the assumption that the significant infrastructure investment by Lex following Dark Thursday (Chloe mentions this to Clark in 'Sneeze' when he visits her at the DP) includes new road infrastructure linking outlying areas such as Smallville and Granville to Metropolis. This new road infrastructure has significantly cut commuting times between Smallville and Metropolis to under an hour to make it more reasonable for the characters to travel between the two places so frequently. Regarding the monorail, I would think that as with most cities that have a monorail, it only really exists within the city. The Metropolis monorail wouldn't go anywhere near Smallville. When Lois mentions the monorail being down leading to a 2 hour journey to the damage site in 'Idol', I think she is referring to travel within the city being adversely affected by the power cut. I've been in London during the tube strikes where what would normally be a 30 minute commute has turned into a 3 hour slog.

[jon-el87]

A simpler way would be to just consider the line in "Truth" (S3) exactly what it is: a goof. After all, "Nicodemous" (S1) had already shown Metropolis to be visible from Smallville. So, it's actually "Truth" that makes a wrongfull statement, about a previously established fact, rather than later episodes condradicting a fact established in "Truth". It was Drew Z. Greenberg (who'd only written two previous episodes (with "Truth" being his last) and probably didn't know that they had already established Metropolis as not being very far from Smallville; as it's often portrayed as being in another state) who made a mistake.