On the whole, I really did enjoy Persona. As Smallville episodes go, it was a well constructed one that hit some interesting marks and had a lot of interesting character moments.

As much as I enjoyed his turn on Torchwood, it's great to have James Marsters back as Brainiac. James does the role a lot of justice. I'm looking forward to seeing where he takes the character next. I would love to see them delve into Brainiac's history with the House of El. The WB's animated Superman series touched on it regularly and I'm intrigued to see what Smallville can bring to the table.

Similarly, Bizarro didn't disappoint this week. In fact, my problems with his last appearance in Gemini made a lot of sense here. Tom Welling's performance was still just as understated as last time. Bizarro wasn't his usual gleeful self, but he wasn't supposed to be and that change worked. I'm not sure that it should have been as obvious in the previous episode, but it still worked in this one.

Speaking of portrayals that finally worked, I pretty much marked poor Grant for death in my last review, didn't I? It's typical. He goes from annoying me on sight to some kind of sympathy and they shoot the poor boy. Sorry Michael!
    
Yes, Smallville, we all knew that Grant was doomed. The moment he was revealed as Julian, he was a dead man. Unlike Lucas Dunleavy (remember him? Points you do. Smallville doesn't), Grant/Julian would never be allowed to fade into obscurity. I had hoped for something a little less obvious, but, again, Smallville. Like its protagonist, it can not be accused of subtlety. I might have hoped for some kind of grand Shakespearean revenge plot, but that was never in the cards.

Just the same, they really rushed this storyline. Smallville has never had much in the way of patience for prolonged story arcs, though this one did set some speed records. I'm going to chose to pretend that their haste was because of the strike, but I doubt it. Grant's relationship with Lois lasted longer than his true arc. We needed at least one more episode of his arc to properly say goodbye to it. The father/son bonding that Lionel was attempting felt off and Lex's actions seemed atypically rash. Lex has a temper and makes bad decisions at times, but even for him this was an overreaction.

Not that these issues are new. Characterization is usually the first victim of an episode's plotline. The best example of this actually occurred in Persona. Lana has never been one of my favourites – until this year – and so I never thought I'd make this argument.

She's not that dumb.

Five minutes with Bizarro and Chloe knew something was wrong. While I can believe Chloe Sullivan is that bright, I cannot believe that the Lana we've come to know is that stupid. How much time did she spend with Bizarro again? This is a woman who, for a time, successfully outsmarted Lex Luthor.  She spent hours upon hours with Bizarro, she made love to him, and she never once suspected something was wrong?

Being fooled because she wanted to be fooled is one thing. I can almost believe that. We're capable of selling some big whoppers to ourselves when we want to. What I can't believe, is her continued insistence when Chloe laid it out there for her. She didn't appear to doubt for a moment that Clark might not be who he said he was.

As I said; Lana is not that stupid and Smallville can't have it both ways.

If she is, then she's not the woman running Isis and she's certainly not the woman who's been holding her own with the Luthors. It isn't the first time they've made this mistake, it won't be the last, but it is one of the more glaring examples.

Really. Smallville.

Moving on before I really start ranting, it was fun to see a Kryptonian introduced who was not a maniacal villain bent on galactic domination. They surprised me with that, though I did find the "surrendering his powers for a human" to be a little overplayed. Actually, a lot overplayed.

We all know Superman isn't going to do that for Lois (certain Superman movies aside) and we all know that Lois won't want him to. Sacrificing everything for love is great, but sometimes you just have to live with it. It would have been nice to see Dax-Ur play that out. I was left a little unsatisfied by his part in the story. His introduction, appearance, and murder went by so fast you would think Bart Allen was directing. While they flirted with his backstory, it was little more than flirting. He served one purpose and one purpose only – the delivery of the Blue Kryptonite. If they mention him ever again, I will be very surprised.

Despite my quibbles with it, I did really enjoy this episode. It definitely had its bonuses and set up some potentially delicious story twists.  It held its pace well and entertained me all the way through. Still, I do think it could have been better.

With Smallville, that could almost be my mantra, here's hoping I'm not saying it after Siren.