That said, I wish they'd given him something to do. At least, something to do that he hasn't done before. Window dressing aside, Hero was a complete recycling of previous Pete-centric plots. They wait three years to bring the guy back, and all they do is rewrite Rush with gum instead of slugs?

Speaking of. Gum? Chloe's right. Is nothing sacred? I know, I know, it was product placement. As usual, Smallville was as subtle as a brick wall about it, but I'm going to be philosophical.

I choose to believe their anvilicious advertising was meant as a joke, a nod to fandom and its 'Product-Placement-Pete' jokes. I should warn you, any attempts at convincing me otherwise will be met with dismissive scorn. Leave me my fantasy people, I beg of you.

As advertising tactics go, I'm rarely actually bothered by product placement. If I don't recognize the product, like the gum, it goes right over my head. If I have to choose between my favorite character guzzling a Pepsi and a commercial with the latest pop sensation shaking what her plastic surgeon gave her? Bring on the product placement. So much of our viewing time has been lost to commercials, I'd like a little of it back please.

Maybe I shouldn't have to deal with the problems I am. While it was very good to see Pete again, I feel like it was wasted time. They completely ignored all the good stuff or, rather, they flirted with it. We got ten second reunions and Cliff Notes explanations. Not good, Smallville, not good at all.

As this is my week to take a trip on the river Denial, I'm going to hope that the recycled plots and wasted opportunities are due to Hero being hastily written to avoid the strike. For the most part, Smallville has been very good with the character moments this season. Hero was a marked departure from this. Between Pete's recycled plot, Jimmy's insta!breakup with Kara (Bart doesn't move that fast!), and the copping out on Lionel's secret keeping, they really went for broke.

Sam? It was really good to see you again, come back soon! When you do, however, make sure they give you more to work with. You deserve better man.

While we're on the subject, for a show so fond of the obvious, Smallville certainly has been ignoring it lately. While Oliver isn't supposed to know Clark is an alien – might want to deal with that, Smallville - we don't have that problem with Pete. There's no reason Clark can't talk about Kara with him. So, where exactly was our conversation about that?

Oh right, it was eaten up by the recycled 'Pete the Meteor Freak' plot. My bad!  

I know, I give this show such a hard time, but I only complain because I love. Smallville could have done so much with this episode and just didn't. Even with the strike, they still don't get a free pass on this one. My "Yay! Pete!" and "Yay! Lex! Kara! Chloe!" only goes so far and it wasn't far enough for this one.

That said, I think I'm going to go get some gum. I don't know why, but I have a sudden craving.