On Smallville this week, in the episode titled “Icarus,” super-heroes’ “vigilante” status has been “upgraded to terrorists.” Metropolis was overrun by agents of darkness outfitted in uniforms meant to remind of a fascist state. Not the greatest atmosphere for a marriage proposal, to be sure.
Nonetheless, in a shower of white rose petals, Clark Kent proposed to Lois Lane, she accepted, and Oliver Queen agreed to be their best man. Why, Lois even got a congratulatory note from Chloe, who was seen in a flashback Lois had about a conversation the two shared in which Chloe assured Lois that she was Clark’s true love.
But then except for a brief engagement party attended by heroes including Hawkman, and a couple of cute jokes about people failing to notice Lois’ engagement ring, the rest of “Icarus” concerned the super-hero crackdown. There was the return of General Slade Wilson, now so far along in his transformation into Deathstroke that he was saying things like, “I’m beyond death’s stroke by now.” (I’m not sure whether he winked his one good eye when he sneered that one out.)
This was primarily a fanboy Smallville episode. It was fun to see Lois holding a “Most Wanted” poster that included images of Supergirl, Impulse, Stargirl, Hawkman, Green Arrow, Zatanna, Aquaman, and Black Canary, as well as the name “The Blur.” It was less fun to endure the snarled grilling of Tess, Dr. Hamilton, and Lois, after which it was actually said, “Take them to the secure location.” (Would they have been joined there by Dick Cheney?)
Slade proved his base villainy by holding a gun to Lois’ head; she was defended by Hawkman. He did not have a good night; his tussle with Slade resulted, first, with him plummeting with singed wings (thus the episode’s title) and, ultimately, his death.
There followed a solemn funeral march with Lois and many of the heroes carrying Carter Hall/Hawkman’s body to rest beside that of his beloved Shayera. Of course, Hawkman has died many times in the past and been returned to us, so it was difficult to get too weepy.
This hour set up the coming battle with Darkseid’s minions when Smallville returns next year, but its best-executed scenes were the early ones, between Clark and Lois.
Did you watch Smallville this week? What did you think?
Twitter: @kentucker
Very good episode! I loved Tom & Erica’s scenes together. Hawkman was awesome as usual!
Really enjoying Clark this year, and I too really enjoyed the Clark and Lois scenes tonight, they were great. And I gotta say DO NOT watch this episode with your girlfriend because well Clark just created huge expectations in this episode for guys like us who are waiting in the wings to propose someday. Damn you CK. But kidding aside, I also agree with your Hawkman comment, Shanks aka Daniel Jackson (sorry huge fan of Stargate here) was totally awesome tonight. Carter and Oliver scenes were hilarious. The bromance all around was alive and well tonight. Too bad Bruce isn’t around, he should’ve been the best man but I guess Oliver will suffice. LOL.
That’s another thing, I love that Lois is solving such a huge component of Clark’s character, in that he’s always been afraid he’ll end up alone. It’s good to see him get that happy ending, and the Chloe flashback talk about Lana was perfectly used to reflect and reinforce the fact that Lois is the answer to everything he’s ever wanted.
Andrew, LMAO the bromance, yes it indeed was off the charts tonight, especially with Oliver and Carter, those two got some fire in em huh.
Andrew my man you bring up a great point, Clark put up some lofty expectations. I even for curosity asked my wife if my proposal was better and she said yes so beat that Clark. Nah he did a great job. As for the “bromance” as you put it…it was definitely flowing like fine wine in this episode, with Clark being the confident leader in between the 2 sparring partners, that was gold.
Agreed! I loved the proposal scene, especially the shower of white rose petals. It reminded me of the white roses at my wedding. AWESOME!
Thanks Ken — Why don’t they list these recaps in the main recap list, though?
It’s good that others enjoyed this episode, but I was disappointed in “Icarus”. The ending was so lame, and not much of a “cliffhanger. Of course, Clark (and the others) are not going to die!
IMO, Smallville has lost its purpose and its focus. This final season is not about heroic Clark Kent and his journey to taking the Superman identity. Instead, it’s about how many guest stars the writers can cram into an episode, about the supporting characters, about the adventures of the JLA and GA, and about Clark’s love life with Lois. Even though Hawkman told Clark about balance between his heroic life and his romantic life, the writers have not shown that onscreen for the first half of this final season.
I’m sure some fans are happy with Clark’s romantic life being the focus of the first half, but I am so disappointed in the final season. I was expecting more focus on Clark as an individual and more focus on his heroic journey.
I was hoping the writers would show why Superman is so special, why he is the “first” one to do specific things (like take a public identity for example), and why he is the rightful leader for all of the other “heroes”. And, that’s simply not going to happen on this show. Clark is not going to be an inspiration for anyone on his own show. Why would he even take the Superman identity at this point? He already has the BLUR identity, and the JLA is already formed.
Are there going to be any Clark-centric episodes at all this season that focus on him as an individual? 11 episodes down, 11 to go….I will watch until the end, mostly for Tom Welling. But, as a non-shipper Clark Kent fan, I no longer have any faith in a payoff for this show.
Well I’m a “non-shipper Clark Kent fan” and I’m not disappointed at all. Watching this show from the start, I’ve seen why Clark Kent is so special and what makes him so human. He’s been heroic since day 1, the whole point of Smallville has been about Clark Kent’s internal struggles as the young boy and now the man. I don’t think they’ve lost focus or purpose at all. I guess different strokes for different folks.
Great episode, start to finish!
-Loved all the Clois stuff.
-Deathstroke’s evolution was handled well, as was Clark’s way of dealing with him: tossing him into the Phantom Zone.
-Hawkman was cool once again, so I was sorry to see him go (even if he’ll come back, he’s still gone and we won’t see him again). It would’ve been neat if Carter had said something to the effect of “I’ll see you around” to Clark, because Clark will still be around when Carter and Shayera come back.
-Clark, Ollie, and Carter all breaking into Slade’s office separately was funny and well played.
-I liked Cat’s turn to sanity.
-Nice recall of Tess’ escape hatch and reference to the Daily Star, where Clark originally worked in the comics.
-Chloe was well-used. So were Tess and Emil.
-Neat to see the classic “super hero funeral,” even if Aquaman, Cyborg, Impulse, and Martian Manhunter were all body doubles. Definitely hope they can get Bart back for real before the season ends.
-What happened at the end? I have no idea. At first I thought it was just Hawkman and Hawkwoman’s souls being reincarnated, but I’m not sure. Could’ve been a Suicide Squad attack (or the Squad could just be using the reincarnation to their advantage).
Can’t wait until this returns in six weeks! I’m also sad this is SV’s last winter hiatus ever. Can’t believe we’re halfway through already.
Oh yeah, also liked the idea that Darkseid’s been on Earth before, feeding off of/enhancing people’s darkness. First hint that Darkseid is defeatable, even if not permanently.
my guess? boom tube that carries someone like mr. miracle.
Well, we did see them all unconscious after the pyramid flashed it’s shiny light. More likely Darkseid’s omega beams than a boom tube.
Definitely an interesting theory, though none of these other minions seem to be aliens. Even Darkseid isn’t the classic version (a welcome change, IMO, since that version has done the same things in every recent cartoon with him in it), so I wonder what the other New gods would be like on SV.
Maybe we’ll get to find out. Carter took credit for helping to beat back the darkness. Doesn’t mean he and the JSA didn’t have help. And wouldn’t John Glover make a perfect host (at least appearance-wise) for Highfather?
I was thinking Glover would be a great host for Darkseid at the end of the season. It’d be fitting if the show’s first real supervillain ended up hosting its last.
I like that idea. But I was under the impression an actor had been cast to play Darkseid already, made up to look like the Darkseid we know and loathe.
I think that was a rumor or for a villain that was just speculated to be Darkseid (but could be appearing earlier in the season). As far as I know, BP and KS are only bringing Darkseid in for the last three episodes, so I don’t think they’ve cast anyone for Darkseid yet.
I think it might be New Gods. Just a hunch.
OmG! I would love to see Berta and Mr. Miracle! she is like the cooler and more relaxed version of wonder woman, and a better fighter as well, as miracle is too funny!
I’m thinking more and more that it’s Dessad. We haven’t seen him get an episode to himself like Godfrey and Granny did yet, and all the stuff with Clark saying that he lost his powers could be a result of Dessad’s “binding of bodies.” He is Darkseid’s chief torturer, after all.
That device that came out of the sand had the ability to knock out everyone in the funeral party. Only one man could have the power to do that and that is Lex Luthor’s father. He did this so he can experiment on them and take their powers from them. If you saw the coming attractions Clark tells Lois that he no longer has his super powers. I think that our heros are going to go through hell but the country will come around and see them as true heros. I think that the way this will happen will be that the heros will get help from Chloe. Chloe will show everybody that Darkside is the person who is responsible for all the hate towards the super heros.She will wind up sacrificing her life to help the super heros get back to having people see that they were never a threat to any one.
I think Lionel’s one of many good possibilities, but I really hope it’s Clark that makes everyone see that the heroes are heroes. That’s gotta be Superman’s job, as he’s the most inspiring of them all.
Really enjoyed the episode.
Every character was awesome tonight, Which is surprising because there were a lot of them on screen. The fight between Hawkman and Slade was great. One of my biggest complaints about “Absolute Justice” last year was Hawkman’s wings. So happy they got them right in this episode.
Great ep — nicely balanced elements of Clark/Lois, JLA mythology, action, etc. Acting and pacing were spot on, and the look of the episode was perfect.
Anyone else catch that it said Supergirl under Kara’s picture? Wow! I don’t think they actually said ‘supergirl’ in the Supergirl episode-remember, Lois was like “megagirl, ultragirl” or something. However, not sure it makes sense for Kara to be Supergirl before Clark is Superman.
Eric Summers was already “Superboy” way back in Season 1 in the newspapers, so that ship has sailed anyway.
i thought the exact same thing as megan , but your completely right good call
technically he was cited as “A Super Boy” in a Headline… if you want semantics.
the reason Supergirl and Super Boy are used and in the way they got used is due to legal issues in ‘Our World’
and personally Kara as Supergirl does create a basis for CK being renamed Superman despite already having the Blur ID — and once he slows down for Photo-ops Blur ceases to be accurate
Also, once Kara adopts the \S/, everyone will realize who’s been around first anyway, since Clark’s been using it as his calling card for years now.
@Brian… it was an attack by Granny Goodness. Carter said that he’d beaten back the darkness before. They knew where to wait.
Is Granny that old though? She seems to be a regular human just infected with the darkness.
She doesn’t have to be. Darkseid is giving the orders.
Good point.
In retrospect Brian you idea that it’s Desaad and not Granny makes much more sense. Let’s go with that.
Interesting Orac.
Get episode!! loved the clois scenes as well as everyone elses. I forgot how much i missed the interaction between carter and oliver–they were awesome!! Cant wait to see what that ending was all about–come on jan 28th
Good episode. But one small point – they made the point of showing Chloe re: the engagement,and Lois telling Ollie that they wanted him to be the first to know, but they couldn’t even show Clark telling his mother over the phone?
Well, there was a lot of the romantic relationship stuff that they generally don’t show cause as cute as it all is this is a superhero action show now. However-spoiler alert-since Martha’s coming back next episode, I’m sure they will have at lest one scene together about the engagement.
Oh wow Martha’s coming back, that’s great. Hopefully we’ll get some happy moments with Martha and Clark because in the past we’ve had so many sad moments where Clark felt like he’d be alone and Martha reassuring him that he’d find someone, it’d be nice to see Ma Kent finally celebrate her son’s happines. Plus I didn’t like that Martha was at Lex’ engagement party in S6 so I hope she’ll be able to enjoy her only son’s engagement maybe Clark can take Martha and Lois out for dinner. Yeah I know it wont happen, but one can wish right. But thanks for the scoop FL!
It was sad seeing Hawkman go but it totally makes sense cause he was basically the leader of the group.
Now it’s time for Superman to take over.
Wicked episode. Smallville continues to impress this season.
I’m sad to see Hawkman/Carter Hall killed off because I’m fan of Michael Shanks from his Stargate days.
Though I did laugh at Tess’ comment when she was interogated “You couldn’t stare at me in my office?”
PERFECTION. really is gonna be a long 6 weeks wait
Episode was freakin epic… I cant wait for Jan. 28th 7pm sharp lol… And yes Clarks proposal trumps a lot of proposals… So romantic… Wish real life was a bit like that… Way to go to the Smallville team… Awesome awesome show… from start to finish…
hey, better to make it rain a dozen white roses in petal form, than having to be a 100 year old sparkly “vampire” with a thing for 17yr olds. — how many relationships ended due to paradigm?
great episode,can’t wait for it to come back next year.also loving lois and clark.FINALLY THE PROPASAL.SMALLVILLE FIRES ON!!!!
Another excellent episode. The proposal and engagement party scenes were really cute and I enjoyed the Chloe flashback. I’m so glad she participated in Clark and Lois’ happy occasion, even in such a small way. I’m sad that Hawkman is gone, but I thought it was awesome that he fell w/ his wings on fire in an episode entitled “Icarus”. I loved the part where he opened his wings and Lois was safely inside. I also got chills when the superheroes carried Carter’s body. That final image was eerie and it’s going to be a very long wait until Jan. 28.