[happy mom]

Absolute Justice
February 5th, 8/7c

A man named Sylvester Pemberton tracks down Chloe (Allison Mack) and tells her he knows about her team of superheroes and needs their help. However, before he can explain who he is, he is attacked and killed by Icicle (guest star Wesley Macinnes). Clark (Tom Welling) and Chloe's (Allison Mack) investigation leads Clark to the former headquarters of the Justice Society of America where he meets up with Nelson AKA Dr. Fate (guest star Brent Stait), Carter Hall AKA Hawkman (guest star Michael Shanks) and Courtney AKA Star Girl (guest star Britt Irvin). Courtney pleads with Hawkman and Dr. Fate to help her catch the killer that is targeting their group but they are reluctant to resume their duties as superheroes. Clark, John Jones (guest star Phil Morris), Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) and Chloe team up to help the JSA stop Icicle before he murders another member of the group. Meanwhile, Lois (Erica Durance) receives a package from a mysterious agency called Checkmate, run by Amanda Waller (guest star Pam Grier). Geoff Johns wrote the two-hour episode. Glen Winters directed the first hour and Tom Welling directed the second hour.

Shows - Smallville - Episode Guide - Absolute Justice

Discuss!

[ocfan27]

it was what it was.....okay at some parts...lame in others....but all around pretty okay

[Chase.This.Light]

I actually really enjoyed it. More than i expected to. The first hour had the right tempo and everything, while there were a couple of moments in the second hour where it seemed to drag on a bit.

[now.it.all.begins]

Absolute Justice was absolutely awesome! IMO, Geoff Johns did a much better job with this two hour movie event than he did with last year’s Legion. I think it helped that he could use the first hour to set everything up and get to all the action in the second hour. I’ll try not to make this review too long, but I make no promises since this ep is two hour longs and there are a heck of a lot of characters in it. Before I get into the characters and the plot though, I just want to say that everything about this episode was extremely well done. All the effects, from the fight scenes to the video, were very well done. They did a great job at making the video look really old and giving us a quick glimpse into who all the members of the JSA were and what happened to them. I liked the scene when Clark was in the museum and they showed us who all the JSA members were and revealed their superhero identities to us. Also Glen Winters and Tom Welling did a great job at directing the first and second part of the episode. Now on with the review!

Stargirl/Courtney Whitmore: Her character could have easily come across as being a bratty teenage girl, but I think they did a great job at showing what her motivations are and why she’s so wary of the press initially. Also I like her moxy with the way she tries to take on Icicle and her unyielding belief in the JSA and the good they were doing and they good they could do together once again. I enjoy her scene with Chloe, starting with the scene when they reveal the old computer and both girls give each other looks like, “Seriously?”. The way she brushes the dust off of that old thing is a nice touch. I also like the way she gently suggests that the JLA could use a more personal touch and try to become more like a family instead of just co-workers. Also it’s good that she comments on the fact that watching other people’s lives doesn’t make you part of theirs. Lastly, her scene with Clark when he tells her to keep the torch alive and she says he’s a lot like Sylvester is great. Like his scene with the Wonder Twins in Idol, this scene gives us an inkling of the hope and inspiration Clark gives to heroes and regular people alike. One question though, does anyone else think she looks a lot like Alex Johnz (sp?), the girl who played Saturn Girl in Legion last year?

Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson: Okay I loved Dr. Fate. Brent Strait did such a great job at making him a sympathetic character and it was so sad to see him lose his mind and be separated from his wife in the film strip and to see him muttering to himself and the helmet in the present timeline. When he’s about to put on the helmet again and doubts whether or not he’s worthy to wear it and talks about his family and how he lost them, I feel so bad for him. The overload of images and information about other people’s future caused him to go insane and destroyed his own future, which is sadly ironic.

Anyways, the scene where he suits up is super cool and I love the effects they use in that scene with the helmet wrapping itself around his head and the transformation of his clothes from being the regular everyday clothes he wears to the blue suit and gold cape that he wears as Dr. Fate. Also I love how they show the ankh when he changes and also when he takes Clark away with him, and later when he opens and closes the door for Lois, and when he saves Martian Manhunter’s life. The scene where he sees Clark’s fate and we see the flash of the cape makes me squee and I love how he tells Clark that he’s the hope that people need and he gives him more information about his future and how he will let people know who he is. Also his scene with Lois is awesome and I love what he has to say about Lois and her relationship with Clark. The way he says “Thank you” to Lois’ comment about his helmet makes me laugh. Clearly sarcasm is lost on him. In his last scene, I love how he chooses to save MM’s life and restore his powers to him at the expense of his own life. Yes, he did know that MM was not supposed to die that day, but that doesn’t mean that he had to sacrifice his life for MM’s. He’s truly an awesome character and I’m so glad we had the chance to see him on SV.

Hawkman/Carter Hall: After reading all of Michael Shanks interviews and seeing the respect he has for the character, I was really excited to see his portrayal of Hawkman. He didn’t disappoint. Shanks brought a certain intensity and weight to the role that made his character and the burden he bears completely believable. Although I was slightly amused by the gruff, Batman esque voiced he used as Hawkman, I think that overall he did a great job at grounding his character and explaining his motivations. Also props to him for wearing that outfit. I remember reading in his interviews that those wings were really heavy and hard to move around in.

In his first scene, he has just the right amount of suspicion about Clark and what he’s doing at their brownstone and I love seeing how protective he is of Nelson. His scorn and disbelief over the JLA and what they can accomplish if they work together is understandable, given the fact that the JLA hasn’t really been working as a team of late. He’s the older, wiser voice of experience and he doubts that people who have no idea who the JSA was can actually become a successful team. He hates it that he knows so much about them and they know nothing about his team that was and still is so important to him.

However, when he does decide to start working with the JLA, I love his snappy banter with GA. He had some really great lines in there, like when he taunts GA for crying and when he tells him to shut up and calls him a “green punching bag” . I like the scene when they talk about Shayera, and how Ollie comes to realize just how hard things have been for him. The guy’s been cursed with falling in love with and losing Shayera time and time again. There are no words to express just how much that sucks. I think that after Ollie comes to understand Hawkman, he begins to respect him, especially since Ollie knows what it’s like to want to give up and stop fighting. He acknowledges that staying around for Nelson was an admirable thing for Carter to do and implores him on behalf of Courtney to not throw it all away at the eleventh hour. In spite of their initial feelings of animosity towards each other they come to an understanding and I like their banter again when Hawkman flies GA into Watchtower...something to do with Ollie throwing up on the flight over.

In the final battle with Icicle, I love seeing Hawkman use his mace and take back what belonged to his friend from that annoying brat. His interaction with Clark in this scene and in the later one is awesome. He imparts some of his wisdom on Clark from one leader to another and tells Clark that he’ll “soar higher than anyone of us”. When Clark expresses his doubts about the JLA, he encourages Clark to trust them. Then he decides to go out of hiding and help the remaining members of the JSA and the new heroes that are emerging. This is quite a change from his attitude at the beginning of the episode. Kudos to Michael Shanks for a job well done.

Icicle: His powers were cool (no pun intended), but he himself kind of bugged. So you have daddy issues and the JSA turned your dad into a vegetable...why should I care again? You did kill your own mother...unintentionally of course but still. And he killed Dr. Fate!!!! Nooooo! I’m so glad that he got what was coming to him in the end. He should have questioned why Waller got him out when she did and I’m glad she stopped him and his whining in the end.

Amanda Waller: Pam Grier, you are incredible! I used to watch the animated Justice League tv series so I have come across Amanda Waller before and Grier’s version of Waller is the perfect embodiment of the character. She’s morally murky, she does what she thinks needs to be done, and she’s pretty bad ass. I love it when Icicle threatens her, she doesn’t let it get to her and is like, “Please. I’m from Chicago. I can handle the cold.” Also her scene with Lois is great and I love how she explains why she chose Lois to break the story, and the way she says, “Does it matter” with that slight tilt of her head and evades Lois’ question. In her last scene with Icicle, she explains that he was merely a pawn that Checkmate used to get the superheroes out of the wood work for the coming Apokolips! And yes Geoff Johns confirmed that he meant that Apokolips! Anyways, she verbally takes him down a peg or two and lets him know that they never wanted him to kill off all the members of the JSA and they didn’t think he could do that anyways. Heh, burn. Then he starts moaning again and she gets fed and looks him in the eye and shoots him. Wow. Now that is ballsy. She actually looks someone in the eye when she kills them. Then Tess shows up and they go off to get Tess up to speed, because in a nice twist we find out that Tess is actually Agent Mercer and she works for Checkmate!

Martian Manhunter/John Jones: Oh how I’ve missed you! Hee, love how he shows up and is all, “Is it too late to say we come in peace?” Nice move having a Martian say that. I think the costume choice for him in this ep is pretty clever with the red holsters across his chest, the green shirt, and the blue jacket, since those are traditionally the colours he wears. His scene with Dr. Fate when he learns about the burden of knowledge that the helmet gives him and he talks about the family he lost makes me want to give him a hug. When Icicle comes in and Dr. Fate shoves him aside, it’s so cool that we get to see Martian Manhunter in his true form for a second. Oh and in the last battle, he’s wicked awesome when he shows up with his powers restored and lets those icicles phase right through him. Also when he says, “I’m Mars’ sole survivor. There’s a reason for that.” I get giddy and squee and clap my hands with glee. In his last scene with Chloe, I like how he talks to her about what the helmet did to Dr. Fate and warns her about having too much knowledge and information. When Ollie shows up and invites them to dinner, his snarky comment about being on a police officer’s salary makes me smile and I love it that they mentioned his fondness for cookies!

Chloe: AM has a lot of screentime in this ep and a lot of great material to work with. Her fear when Pemberton tosses her in the trash can and she witnesses the fight from inside there is understandable, as is her initial caution when she realizes that he knows who she is. I thinks it’s great that Chloe uses her smarts when she gets the phone info with her handy little device and then tells Clark the info he needs to know to continue their investigation. “This sounds like a job for Clark Kent”, cute shout out to Superman, but I’m waiting for the day when they’ll finally say, “This sounds like a job for Superman.” Her scene with Ollie when they look for Pemberton’s car is cute and I like how Ollie’s ready to pick the lock, but she suggests trying to see if it’s locked first. When she comes across Dr. Fate with Clark, and he mentions that they have similar paths, I wonder if he’s referring to the way they both amassed massive amounts of information and knowledge. We all know what that did to him. Maybe he’s warning her that the same thing could happen to her...Chloe does have a history of mental illness in her family (I think she still does, unless they completely changed her mom’s back story when we found out that her mother is a meteor freak.) Anyways, like I already said I liked her interaction with Stargirl and how they seem to have this connection from the moment they see that decrepit excuse for a computer. I don’t know how much effect her conversation with Stargirl and then later with MM about actually going out and living life instead of just watching other people live their lives will make in later episodes, but it’s good to see that Chloe’s big sister act is troubling to everyone around her. I don’t really understand why she kept referring to the JSA members as criminals, even after Clark kept insisting that their crimes didn’t match who they were. I’d think that Chloe’s curiousity would have been peaked and that she’d want to look deeper into their backstories before writing them off as supervillains. Anyways, I enjoyed Chloe’s scenes in this ep for the most part and hopefully that last scene when she goes out with Ollie and MM will mark the start of a turning point for her character.

Tess: Like Lois, she’s only in the second half of this episode, but once again I like her interaction with Lois. Tess never resists the opportunity to make a dig at Lois and makes a crack about her coat when she sees that Lois’ coat is all dirty. She sees the package Lois got from Checkmate and is intrigued. She thinks it might be her package, but Lois immediately assures her that it’s not. She mutters an ominous warning under her breath when Lois says she hasn’t been having any problems, then snoops through her desk later on after seeing a chess piece (a queen) on her desk. Clark catches her snooping and tells her to hand over the files. Tess does so, but does some mild flirting with him before she gives him the files. She comments on Clark’s curiousity and says that maybe Lois and Clark are meant for each other after all. She warns Clark that Lois is in way over her head. In her last scene, we find out that Tess is actually Agent Mercer and that she’s working for Checkmate! This is really good twist and now Tess’ previous actions make a lot more sense. She wasn’t just checking up on Lois or bugging her computer (in Metallo) to get her own kicks out of it, she was doing it all for Checkmate. Tess probably let them know about the threat Zod poses and this is why they’re trying to get the superheroes out of hiding and back on the streets. I like it. I like it a lot.

Ollie: So he’s been keeping in touch with Dinah, eh? Nice reference there, Johns. It’s good to know that they haven’t completely abandoned that relationship on the show. I liked his reaction in this scene when he realizes that he’s going to have to break into police headquarters. I also like the way he tries to get through to Courtney and lets her know what happened to Sandman, and then the way he tracks her down, while doing his fancy jumps and such, and saves her life from Icicle. Unfortunately, he then gets swooped up by Hawkman and tossed through one of Watchtower’s stained glass windows. Ouch. After Chloe cleans up his cuts, he goes after Hawkman and shoots an arrow at his picture. I love how he calls him “Big Bird”. Before they can take each other’s heads off, Martian Manhunter shows up.

Later when he’s teamed up with Hawkman, I love how Ollie’s the first one to ask why Icicle’s going after them now, when the JSA put his dad out of commission years ago. That’s my smart Ollie. His heart to heart with Hawkman later is a nice change of pace from the way Hawkman snaps at him earlier scenes, as amusing as that was. I like how you can see Ollie’s yearning to have a deep connection to someone like Hawkman has with Shayera, and Hawkman doesn’t sugarcoat anything and calls things like he sees them. I also like how Ollie’s able to get through to him and convince him to not go after Icicle alone. Ollie’s learned from the mistakes he’s made this past season and he knows that going after someone out of vengeance is not the way to do things. After Hawkman drops them off at Watchtower, I like Ollie’s crack about Hawkman sending him his dry cleaning bill, and later when he takes Hawkman’s advice to heart and invites Chloe and MM out to dinner.

Clark: I need to take a moment to say the obligatory, “Oh Tom Welling you are so pretty!” . Okay moments over. Like I mentioned before, I like his scenes with Stargirl, starting from when he tries to comfort and help her out after Pemberton’s murder. She eventually comes to trust him, when Dr. Fate says that he’s okay and then starts to look up to him in the last scene together when she tells him he reminds her a lot of Pemberton and he tells her to keep the torch alive.

I like how earlier in the episode, Clark goes to investigate these murders and picks up on the clue JSA, left there for him by Sandman. I love how Clark immediately realizes that the arrests don’t fit who the JSA members were and that something isn’t right about that, and how he admires their loyalty and the way they stood by each other. Poor Clark, probably had flashes back to Failsday when his own team literally stabbed him in the back. Moving on, I like how his research leads him to where Hall and Nelson are staying and how he uses his x-ray vision to see the helmet. He knows that magic’s involved and that they’re not just regular people like they claim to be.

Clark and Chloe investigate further into the JSA and come across Joar Mahkent. They think he could be their guy after they dig up info on him that talks about his powers. When they track him down at Met Gen, they see Dr. Fate there doing something to him. Clark tells him to get away and Dr. Fate sees a vision of Clark’s cape! He spirits Clark away with him and when Clark wakes up, he’s in JSA headquarters and uncovers all their weapons, pictures, etc. He convinces the JSA to work with him as a team so they can stop Icicle.

Dr. Fate asks Clark to hang back with him and gives him a more detailed version of how important he is and what he will become. Clark is the hope that MM mentioned. Hell yeah he is! Clark hears Lois at the door and is worried about her getting in the middle of things, he speeds off when Dr. Fate decides to talk to her. The next time we see Clark, he’s at the DP. Apparently he was checking up on Lois to try and find out how she found out about the JSA. He sees Tess snooping around and confronts her and gets the file from her. I love it when he tells her, “You were smarter when you were leaving”. Clark talks to Lois about what she’s discovered and tries to convince her to work with him, but it’s a no go. He does learn from her though that a bunch of criminals that the JSA fought were released from prison. Ruh roh.

After the big fight scene, Clark tells Hawkman that he’s sorry for his loss and they have a nice little heart to heart. I like how some of Clark’s concerns are addressed in this scene and I think Clark still has problems trusting the JLA after what happened in Doomsday, since he doesn’t think they can ever be as good a team as the JSA were and Hawkman reminds him that they’re only human and they make mistakes. I also like how Hawkman mentions his wife and Clark has a little look of surprise on his face. After everything Lana told him, he probably started to think that superheroes had to be alone. In his last scene with Lois, I like how we have their classic banter back and how Clark realizes that he’s the person that Dr. Fate was telling Lois about. This was another great episode for Clark and Tom Welling’s direction was excellent, as per usual.

Lois: Not going to lie, I went through the entire first hour of the ep, going, “Okay when’s Lois going to get here? Is it hour two yet?” Johns smoothly incorporated Lois into the story and I love how he set up her story arc, as well as a few other important arcs, in the second hour of the episode. Lois has me cracking up from her first scene in this ep. I love how she storms into the DP, talking a mile a minute about how the taxi she was in stalled, and she got out and pushed, then a bus ran through a puddle and got mud all over her. She’s so caught up in her story that she doesn’t realize that Clark’s not there until the guy turns around. Nice touch with the glasses btw. Oh I also love how Johns ties her into the main storyline in this ep right away when she mentions that she was supposed to interview Michael Holt, a.k.a Mr. Terrific. Anywho, she sees a package on her desk and rips into it like a kid on Christmas morning. When she opens it she sees pictures of the JSA members, then she hears Tess behind her commenting on her coat. She banters with Tess about how she’s surprised that Tess is paying a visit to the little newspaper that could and Tess spots the package on her desk. Tess suggests that Lois’ package was actually meant for her, but Lois shows her the slip with her on name on it and retorts that she’s never had any problems with her mail.

In her second scene, Lois’ investigation leads her to the brownstone. Dr. Fate says, “She is the key”, and opens the door for her. That line makes a lot of sense to me, since Lois will be the key to good relations between superheroes and regular people. Depending on the way Lois depicts these superheroes in her articles, she could either make the public trust and adore them, or fear and loathe them. Lois nervously calls out hello and just as she says this is the part where the guy with the hockey mask attacks the girl, who shows up behind her but Dr. Fate. Nice timing. He welcomes her and she snarks about his helmet. He genuinely thanks her. He then talks to her about her fate while she slowly keeps backing away until she’s out the door and he closes the door on her. That was a nice directing choice by TW, since it meant we never had to see Lois’ back as she was leaving the house. She wonders if Dr. Fate does horoscopes as she turns to go.

Back at the DP, Lois sees Clark for the first time all day and wonders why he missed out on their breakfast date. She shares her info with Clark, which is a pretty big deal for her to do, and even fills him in on info he didn’t know before about criminals being released from prison. Btw, I love how this ep shows Lois being given some info to start her off, then running with it and doing her own investigating to get to the bottom of the story. I also like how she realizes right away that the JSA was framed and that they’re actually heroes. Lois continues to search for info and comes across some in her next scene with Waller, I like how she wonders who the hell Waller is and the way she says, “The truth will set you free” after Waller hands her the tape (is that what it was?). Lois is suspicious of Waller and her motives, but she’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

In her last scene, we find out that Lois got a front page headline! That’s my girl! She proudly shows it to Clark and says he could have shared the byline with her, which again is a big deal coming from Lois. Lois accidentally lets it slip that Dr. Fate hinted at what’s in store for her and I love the look on her face when she realizes she’s said too much and then tries to shrug it off, as no big deal. So once again, not a lot of Lois, but the scenes we got were great, so you won’t hear me complain .

Clois: I like how they have Chloe mention Lois and how Clark’s been chasing her from the start. Hearing their friends and other people on the show talk about them in the context of being a couple, makes them being a couple all the more real...if that makes any sense. I love Clark’s concern for Lois, as soon as he hears her outside the house and realizes that someone tipped her off about the JSA. Clark’s going to have to learn that there really is no stopping Lois and that danger is just a regular part of her life . Oh, I adored what Dr. Fate had to say about Lois and Clark’s relationship and how nicely it ties back to Bride, when talked to Ollie about someone needing her. Dr. Fate tells her, “You are the one he will need. He is the one you will need.” Damn straight.

When Clark goes back to the DP, Tess is the first one to refer to Lois and Clark as being boyfriend and girlfriend and that made me squee. I also enjoyed her saying that maybe they are meant for each other after all and how she said, “Your girlfriend’s in way over her head.” Lois walks into the bullpen to see Clark sitting at his desk and she mentions their missed breakfast date. Clark asks her about what she’s working on and she gives him a hard time at first, but she does give him info on her story. She also mentions meeting Dr. Fate and says that his cape looks pretty good. Apparently Ollie couldn’t convince him that the cape was a good idea in Identity, but hearing Lois compliment the cape is making him reconsider. I really like seeing Lane and Kent in action in this scene and seeing just how well their teamwork and partnership is.

In their last scene together at the DP, Lois is so proud to show Clark her front page story and he genuinely congratulates her. Lois says he could have shared the byline with her, which is a pretty big change from Plastique when she scoffed at the thought of sharing a byline with him. He promises, “Next time” in a rather flirtatious manner and Lois lets it slip that Dr. Fate told her about her fate. She realizes she let something slip that she didn’t want to, but Clark is intrigued and won’t let her attempts at sidestepping him work and presses her for information. She tries to temper what Dr. Fate says, since it sounded to her like he was telling her that she’d be with someone else, and tells him that Dr. Fate babbled on about him being there for her and her being there for him and brushes it off as a Valentine’s day card. The exact wording that Dr. Fate used is pretty intense...saying that “you are the one he will need” is a lot different than telling a friend, “I’m always going to be there for you”. Clark gets an intense look on his face and asks her, “Who’s him?” He looks like he’ll beat up whoever this mystery man is. Lois tells him that Dr. Fate said it was the savior/sentient power and Clark smiles at this, because he now knows that Dr. Fate was referring to him. However, he can’t look too excited about this in front of Lois, since she still isn’t in on the secret (WHY?), so he smiles and asks her if she believes in fate. Lois responds with the perfect answer and tells him, “Only the kind you make happen.” Her answer makes Clark very happy. If she’d responded with a definite yes, she would have been saying that she didn’t really want to be with him as Clark, but if she’d said “no” she would have been rejecting him as the Blur, so her answer was the perfect way to show that she does want to be with him as Clark and that she will accept him as the Blur when he lets her in on the secret. I love how this also affirms that Lois and Clark may be destined to end up together, but they also actively choose to be together.

Okay now I’m done. Like I said, I thought this episode rocked overall and I loved how it advanced things for the second half to the season. Next week: Zatanna’s back! Yay!

[happy mom]

Thanks for sharing your reviews, ladies.

I thought Absolute Justice was really cool to watch. Coming in with pretty much zero background knowledge of the comics characters in this episode, it took a few minutes to get my head around their characters and what they're all about. Then, it didn't take long before they had me invested in their cause. Seeing all the artifacts in the museum was interesting, it all looked great. There was so much going on with all the various characters, so I'm glad they made it a 2-hour event. I'll just mention some of the more memorable parts for me:

Chloe's moment in the dumpster was scary to watch! Great special effects.

Hawkman and Dr. Fate really tugged on my heartstrings with what they'd gone through; I really enjoyed their storylines. Poor Dr. Fate.

Some of the scenes involving Green Arrow and Hawkman were fantastic comedy - loved it.

John Jones was back! He's such a great character, portrayed so well.

I liked Lois's choice of answer to Clark's question about believing in fate.

The Checkmate organization still confuses me, but it's interesting to see Tess involved with it, together with Waller (who also confuses and scares me ).

And a final nod to Tom's direction of the second hour - I thought he was right on track since I wasn't bored or wondering why certain parts were shot the way they were. He had a lot to deal with in directing this hour of TV, and he certainly stepped up to the task - well done, Tom!

[TomsEnough]

I am going to close this thread now.

[livstevi21]

Thanks for all the hard work here hun

[TomsEnough]

^ You're Welcome. Thanks.