I loved how the Stide gum factory was poisoned by a river of kryptonite that Clark "took care of" offscreen. Um, given a couple of ounces of this stuff can incapacitate you, how the hell you do you "take care" of a river of it by yourself? Pete returns for this (not Jonathan's funeral mind you) and fulfills the Pete role of doing something stupid, almost getting killed and then being saved by Clark.

So, so awful. And I've never missed an episode.

WHY IS KRYPTONITE IN EVERY FUCKING THING IN THE SMALLVILLE UNIVERSE?

God damn, that has pissed me off for years. Oh, sure, that wacky glowing radioactive waste makes your car go faster, cool, and also, we found these radioactive rocks all over town, lets put them in the class rings.

So friggin stupid.

They did this already a year or two ago with Ford; Chloe got a new Ford Fusion she was really proud of, and during commercial breaks for the same episode, the WB announced a contest sponsored by Ford and "Smallville" to win a new Fusion!

"Superboy Is Angsty?" more like "Superman Won't Grow up"

@ElijahDProphet: Don't forget Kryptonite Gatorade, mmm mmm good!

The CW does this on almost all it's shows. I remember back when every show had to integrate Sunkist into a few scenes each ep. And yes, it's uber lame.

Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but Smallville is produced in part by Brian Robbins. Robbins is the auteur who has provided us with such recent cinematic greats as Norbit and Wild Hogs. The man who is A-OK with being hated by the critics as long as his films inexplicably continue to rake in the cash. So the idea that his plot points are for sale to the highest bidder does not surprise me in the least.

@Frozen-Tex: Yeah i remember that, wasn't there a scene where she was talking about how great the stereo was?

Just as bad as Heroes and Hiro's Nissan Versa. Or when Claire got excited about getting a Rogue.

In a word: lame.

I love Superman, always have, always will.

It's an American icon. That being said, I will just ignore the blatant whoring by the CW and give it a rest for now. What's next, advertisers logo patches sewn onto his super suit? Although, I do want to see the episode when the Kryptonite gets loose in the Viagra warehouse!

It's a shame too, because all-in-all the show is quite good and has had a great many moments worthy of the franchise.

I know that the "Man of Steel" will survive this brush with the evil corporate villians to fight another day. One day, Kal-el will find better management and Superman will fly again in another incarnation, without the shameless ad tie-ins.

Like Macloserboy, I continue to watch this awful show, which seems somehow to get more awful with each episode. It's been a soap opera for so long now I almost forget that Clark is supposed to actually be Superman.

I was going to rant about how krytponite is in every single square inch of Smallville, but Elijah beat me to it.

I guess this show comforts me somehow, like a nice hammer blow to the head.

Smallville has gotten lame, its always the same thing.
Just stop watching and it will all go away(hopefully)

Guess I was lucky to have the show preempted by one of the basketball games, huh?

@Zantor: She show has been cheesey crap since day one. And I've never missed an episode.

Products Eclipsing shows is a sticky situation, and one that really sends me into Orbit. I don't want to sound sTrident about the need for sponsors, but they need to put this practice on Ice!

Am I really going to buy your gum because I go "Hubba-Bubba" at some Carefree Chiclet offering some of your product to some Bubbalicious Black Jack as an Ice Breaker?

Oh No Bazooka Joe. This is the Big Leagues! You've got to be more creative than that, really reach and do something Extra. And if you don't like it, you can Blow my Pop.

@BeAgrestic:
Nothing new here!
Ten years ago, NBC forced all the Thursday night comedies to have a box of MetRx in a scene.
So Seinfeld had a box of this crap up there with all his cereals.

@Macloserboy: Superman is Cheesey! Hell, he's a guy who flys around and has super powers. You can't cut bigger swiss than that. within those constraints, "Smallville" has done a pretty good gob of developing the "Clark" character.

Don't get me wrong, the show has gone downhill in the past two or three of years, I'm not defending that. As it is today, it has out-lived it's story line and needs to go to the "Fortress of Solitude" and pass on.

All I'm saying is "Smallville" was a good attempt to fill the void in the Superman story line. But, yes it's time has definately passed.

@Macloserboy: A couple of ounces of Stride gum can incapacitate you? I'm sticking to Juicy Fruit.

@92BuickLeSabre: Sounds like you've got a real Beeman's in your bonnet!

(Correction) definitely

@Hooplehead: You best not be dissin' Norbit, boy...

Oh hell, I can't even pretend.

Smallville always portrayed the cliche, unwatchable, unreadable Superman. Teenage angst didn't make it any more interesting, nor did Kristen Kreuk's obvious....assets.

I find it shocking that the crowd over at Whedonesque gets so pro-Smallville just becuase James Marsters shows up. I'd like to think they valued good writing...

Hrmmm a DC character with a story to be decided by the fans. Somewhere Jason Todd is crapping himself.

Did i miss something, or doesn't prolong kryptonite exposure give you some form of cancer?

in this case, wouldn't this entire town be filled with walking tumors, falling hair and the world's most successful cancer ward?

That was a fucking horrible episode.

Actual dialogue from the show:

Chloe: Stride gum factory?

Clark: It's been used as an underground venue for bands until it was shutdown a few months ago.

Chloe: It's already been shut down? Maybe next time they won't make the flavour last quite so long.

It made me sick. I hope it made them sick too. Clark follows up by quickly mentioning, almost an afterthought, that he destroyed the gum. Way off screen.

Couple that with the "virus" that Pete installs that takes a scorpion clipart image and uses it for absolutely everything. Not only does multiplying scorpions on your monitor mean your computer is "fried", but there's also a scorpion progress bar to show the virus is installing.

Are you kidding me?

Another thing that pissed me off: No one died. Even Pete survived for some god-awful reason.

@Hooplehead: Norbit was nominated for an oscar this year. ugh...

Oh well, at least it's not "Lois & Clark"

@Bluecell: Afterwards, they chewed some gum to get rid of the taste of vomit in their mouths.

That's pretty terrible. Heroes did almost the same thing with Hiro saying something along the lines of, "at least the new Versa is okay" followed by a close up of the Nissan logo. Get bent.

I keep hoping "Smallville" will end and "Metropolis" will pick up in it's place. As a superhero show, not a teen angst show.

Don't get me wrong, I think smallvile has done a great job telling to the story of Clark before he meditates in the fortress for years.

The strongest points in the last couple of seasons have been the move toward it being a superhero show. The angst is weighing it down now more then it ever has. It was OK when they were still in high school, but now it's time to move on.

Gum whores!

@ashadowcastinred: That was so bad that the actors were cracking on it in the commentary: Sendhil Ramamurthy (I think) pointed out that they were also drinking Nissan coffee.

@ShockTerminal: Virtually all of the stories have been taking place in Metropolis instead of Smallville for some time now. I think they should've changed the name of the series to Metropolis two seasons ago, and committed to a JLA-in-progress storyline.

And on the next Smallville: Louis appears at Clark's door, dripping wet, takes off coat to reveal an ultra sexy VICTORIA SECRET lingerie and purrs: Clark, want some?
Clark sights and when he's about to answer, a Stride falls from this mouth.
End Credits.

@TheAlmanac:
Agreed

@darcymcgee: You get points for trying. I imagined you as Eddie in a fatsuit, sputtering at me in the middle of a barbershop somewhere.

@Bluecell: Transformers being nominated seemed a more sensible choice than Norbit. But only comparatively.

@MarlboroTestMonkey7: Assuming you mean LOIS, agreed. Of course, she'll also have to mention out loud that it's Victoria's Secret, and tell him where/when/how she bought it. That sadi, the show needs MORE scantily-clad Erica Durance!

@Frozen-Tex: You haven't heard about the new "twist" apparently.

@92BuickLeSabre: I get a little Big Red in the face over the product placements, but as long as they occasionally show off a scantily-clad Chiclet, I'll continue to get my Thrills from "Smallville".

I did think it was amusing that for all the money the desperate gum company obviously threw at the show, what did they get? A snide conversation and a plot that made their product the cause of the problem, not the cure. It pretty much made the makers appear totally incompetent within the Smallville universe and not terribly bright in our own. That's not enough to redeem the writers for one of the laziest, insanely annoying episodes they've ever put on the screen, but I suppose it's hard to get too enthusiastically creative when you're told "write a story about chewing gum". I do hope there's a director's commentary on the DVD, when it appears. That'll be entertaining, regardless of whether they play it honest or keep shilling.

In all, this was most definitely a dismal, failed experiment. Dear Smallville guys, DO NOT DO IT AGAIN.

I didn't really get the marketing, aren't they suggesting that Stride gum is bad for you? I guess there would be an equal amount that would take it the other way and want super powers. Another reason Tivo is good, I usually end up skimming through the crap in episodes and stick to the good parts. Usually only takes me 15 min. :)

I never understood why people watched this. It's more like emo Superman

How 'bout a "Stride Gum Causes Cancer" arc?

It's bad product placement when it's so obvious when the show starts. Seriously, .25 seconds into it you could tell Stride was being pimped out. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a minor placement, but this is silly.

Knight rider was almost just as bad, but at least that was the commercial breaks for the most part. Sure most of the cars were Ford, but I only recall small mention of K.I.T.T. being a Ford compared to the old Pontiac. BTW, K.I.T.T. will always be a Trans Am to me.

Worst episode ever! By far!

Sounds like a typical "Smallville" episode. The show has been crap since Episode One and I only watch roughly a show a season, by pure bad luck and not moving fast enough.

People growl and rage that "Superman Returns" didn't deliver the goods. Well, thank "Smallville". I'll bet anything that when the concept of "SR" was being worked out, they looked around for how to present the Man of Steel to modern audiences. Obviously, since it's been around for years, people love the angsty, romantic triangle soap opera slop of "Smallville". Let's fill the movie with the same muck.

What? They wanted superheroics and action?? How do you please these yoyos?

the Stride-sponsored episode last night is only the start of an "innovative online promotion"

Then mark this as the start of me no longer watching the show. The marketing angle was horribly forced and clumsy product placement at best.

@Frozen-Tex: IMHO, the Ford tie-in did not seem anywhere near as forced

@Bluecell: EXACTLY! Who says crap like that?

ouch. never watched Smallville, but that sounds like it even beats that Alias episode where Sydney stopped in the middle of chasing Sark to yell "Quick! The Ford F-150!" instead of "Quick! the truck!"

It's funny, but I haven't really watched much of this season as my being able to watch Smallville has lessened over the past years. However, I actually did manage to catch last night's episode, and man did it hurt. Every time Pete had a piece of gum, it really hurt. Also, I mean, even for Smallville, this episode had some of the worst resolution I've ever seen. Pete's beaten and tortured by Lex, then IMMEDIATELY in the next scene he's walking right back into the Daily Planet, all smiles like nothing happened. Why would he think Lex is going to leave him alone? All in all, this was such a god awful episode and kinda makes me glad I don't watch the show anymore.

Superman's always had a problem with believable scripting. The comics are no better than the show.

The problem is that people like vulnerable, compassionate, heroic heroes. If theres no danger, if being a hero is just something on a to-do list right after "Pick up more eggs", the hero loses public favor and comes off as arrogant and inhuman. Enter Superman, vulnerable to kryptonite and magic...and ONLY kryptonite and magic. In order to keep him grounded to the viewers, kryptonite has to be all over the place. Batman fights a robot, Superman fights a kryptonite robot. Batman disarms a bomb, Superman disarms a kryptonite bomb. As one can imagine, that sort of thing gets really old, really quick.

Also, since it's been around for forever, a lot of contradictions are all over the place. Someone mentioned the kryptonite cancer, and that's probably the least major thing the show is overlooking for the moment.

Woo! Remy Zero! -- Pete Ross, season one Smallville

Back in the days when I knew the show wasn't good, but it had promise. We used to call him "Product Placement Pete." It seems fitting that his return to Kansas involved selling out to corporate shills.