Loved it? Hated it? What did you think of Action?

[Nimkong]

It was ok better than the last two.Liked the plot and how the dude was trying to protect clark.But the lionel and lana plot was to overatited

[Aficionado]

Gave it an 8 simply because coming as it did, after Fierce and Cure,
made it seem a whole lot more palatable. Didn't really buy the guest actress playing Rachel Davenport as "being her own constellation." I liked proactive, heroic Clark, that's always worth something in my book. Also enjoyed the Lionel/Lana interaction.
Mad woman indeed, they're turning Lana into a revenge freak.
Still can't believe the total lack of passion in the Lana/Clark relationship. All that angst sure didn't pay off. I think that's one of the things that bugged me the most in season 7 and I'm not a Clana shipper. Come on a little zest would have been fun, all they do is stare at each other with mopey eyes, friggin annoying.

[SGuthrie27]

Compared to a lot of ridiculousness throughout the rest of this season, this episode wasn't all that bad... It felt a little more lighthearted than many of the others, and I really didn't mind the Warrior Angel plotline all that much, for some reason. The gal portraying Rachel was... an okay actress. The cape moment was kind of cool. Clark super-saving Lana who was falling off Oliver's clocktower balcony was neat. Chloe looked insatiably adorable when she was hanging out with Clark at the beginning of the episode, and it was nice to see her pursuing a story as much as she was here, while still helping Clark out. The "Lana holding Lionel captive" element of the episode was really rather creepy, especially pulling the bear trap off his hand... and that Marilyn was clearly rather psycho. I don't know WHAT Lana was thinking, honestly... I will give this episode 7 out of 10 Warrior Angel action figures for just being not nearly as horrendous as a lot of other episodes this season had to offer.

[hadezown]

Yeah, it was hard to watch bed bear trap removal. It's nice to see Lana not pulling any guilt cards or passive aggressive strings on Clark. For once I think I enjoyed the Clana. The cape at the end was great, but why the heck would you leave a gift on the fence to blow away in the wind...

[Raistlin]

I really liked this episode and thought it was a lot of fun. Christina Milan did a good job, Clark was yummy as usual and of course, there's that saving Lana dive that was just romantic and cool.

----- Added 26 Minutes later -----

Okay, where can I begin with this episode? Well, first, I would say that I would have to give it an 8 in rating and in turn I am very surprised that I enjoyed this one because the previews really made it look sort of craptastic. The episode did have its cheesy moments, but I still really liked where the writers were going with the storyline. I think this was an episode purely for the Smallville fans, discussing the Smallville Experience in general. It was for people like us who will watch the show on Wednesday or Thursday, who are so passionate about the show, that we will log onto to websites such as this one and post our opinions about where the show is going. The smallville staff writers realize that some opinions are positive, some are negative and of course they have those hard core superman comic fans who are trying to rush them into transforming Clark into Superman. I think this episode was a message to the Smallville bloggers/ message boarders reiterating that the show Smallville is just a chapter in the whole Superman mythos and not to get Clark Kent, farm boy, confused with Superman. Even though they are one in the same, the two occur at different times of his life. I think they also were kind of saying thanks for watching and thanks for your passion. All that being said, here is what I was passionate about in this episode:

-I may be the only on who still feels this way, but I like the exploration of Lana’s dark side. I mean, you can’t be married to someone like Lex Luthor and not bring out a little of your dark side. Even though we know it was a marriage of protection for Clark, she still had to act like she was in it to win it and even pretending can be enough to bring out the dark. What I like most about this storyline is that it requires Lana to interchange from light to dark and vice versa in 2.5 seconds. The two scenes in this particular episode that displays that is when she clotheslines Lionel with a shovel in the woods and she’s laying into Marilyn for letting him get away. The phone rings and she sees that it’s Clark, so she has to put on her light Lana voice. The second scene is when she is confronted by Lionel in the loft and her reaction is so clever. It reminds me a lot of how Delores Umbridge is described to be in Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, in that Lana’s smile was almost too sweet to be real and the vindictiveness she shows is great. It also is very brilliant how in this instance, Lana is naturally dark as opposed to in the past when she has been evil due to some other force and that concept comes across in Kristin Kreuk’s performance. Overall, the writing when it comes to Lana’s darkness speaks volumes of how much Kristin Kreuk has grown as an actress and how she has been able to make people not trust Lana and some people to not like her even.

-I did enjoy sort of seeing old Chloe back doing her supportive best friend thing and chasing the newsworthy stories. I hate that Lois is probably going to date her way to the top of the Daily Planet, but I know that it won’t completely be her fault. This Grant Gabriel seems like he is more concerned with helping Lois to the top because he wants to hook up with her and had completely given up on Chloe. The plot sucks, but that is what make it sort of good because it will create a new dynamic between Lois an Chloe. Up until this point, they have been displayed as sisterly type of cousins.

-Last, but certainly not least, there’s Clark. I really enjoyed the “flight like” scene that he had with Lana, partially because in my mind it really eluded to the first time Superman saves Lois Lane in the Superman movies. I think Lois had fallen off a building or out a window, I can’t remember. The main difference is in the movie, Superman can fly, but Clark Kent cannot. I really liked the silent moment that Lana and Clark had, a lot of the time their best chemistry is when they aren’t talking, but just being together. I am not afraid to admit that I am a Clana supporter, so that is why I enjoyed this scene. I think in reference to Clark he is accepting that he has a greater destiny, but instead of ignoring it like he has in past seasons, he’s just putting it on the back burner and trying to continue with life as he knows it. I can honestly say that I’m okay with this because it leaves for great writing as to what the journey will be.

Great post. I really like your Lana insight.

[Simba_Muffy]

I think "Action" is funny, but if the show had good writing for the start, this episode wouldn't even exist.

[jon-el87]

If this episode was made today... it'd still be quite topical. A Warrior Angel movie is being shot in Smallville. An obsessive Warrior Angel fan wants to kill the leading lady, so the film lines up with the comics. When he finds out about Clark, he decides to kill Lana, thinking it'll turn Clark into a superhero (because that's how things work in the comics)

This episode visibly sets out to ask the question (which is often the case of fiction) what if? A lot of good stuff has come out of the internet, but there's also been some bad stuff. The rise of toxic fandom. People who make online comments about how Joel Schumacher deserves to be killed, simply because he made a bad movie two decades ago. These days, you've got actors being harrassed off Twitter, by hateful comments. So, the question this episode sets out to ask is: what if one of those people, who makes these kinds of comments online, would decide to actually kill someone? And then be confronted by someone with actual powers?

Ben is without a doubt nuts. He wants to kill Rachel, simply to ensure that the movie stays "true" to the comics. A plan that wouldn't have worked (of course, you need to be rational to realize that). Look at The Crow, Brandon Lee was killed onset (which, I suspect, they were referencing with the prop gun being loaded with a real bullet), but the scene of his character's death isn't the take, where Brandon was actually shot and killed. So, with this fictional movie, they either would've used a body double (to stand in for Rachel, when Warrior Angel saves her character) or recast the part and reshot all her scenes. Then he wants to kill Lana, because he thinks that it'll turn Clark into a superhero (when the reality is that killing his girlfriend would probably cause Clark to be depressed and shut down. It wouldn't magically prompt him to put on a suit and fight crime, despite what a comic book might suggest).

The Warrior Angel character was introduced in the season one episode "Stray" and they sure got a lot of mileage out if the in-universe fictional superhero. Not only was it a smart move, as it replaces Superman's place in pop culture, within the universe. Anything attributed to Superman in the real world, can be attributed to Warrior Angel in this universe. Any appearace or reference to Superman is an appearance or reference to Warrior Angel. The character also allowed them to comment on the comic book genre versus the real world. Lex ("Ryan"): "You see, Ryan, in life, the road to darkness is a journey, not a light switch." Why things aren't exactly like in the comics.

In Ben's apartment, we get a brief glimpse of action figures of some DC characters, including the members of the JSA and Parallax (Hal Jordan). In retrospect, that's a good inclusion. The JSA almost appeared to have come out of nowhere in "Absolute Justice" (with Jordan being revealed to have been around in like the 90's in "Lantern"). So, by going back and seeing this, it creates the impression that they have been part of this world before season nine. These people did exist and were noticed to an extent, becoming urban legends. Eventually, someone created fictional characters (with different names), based on these urban legends.