Last week it was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this week it’s Cloverfield which is the movie to rip off as Smallville 8x10 Bride kicks off with a fairly obviously Cloverfield lifted video opening and then closes with it too, much like the movie. In Smallville’s defense, the Cloverfield imitation is put to good use and makes the cliffhanger episode darker and more epic, but blatant imitation is still blatant imitation, and Smallville really needs to cut it out.

Besides plagiarism, Doomsday comes to town, or rather he’s been around all along in the form of the evil medic with a last name as his first name, Davis Bloome. Since the show is Chloe centered now, he arrives just in time to ruin Chloe’s wedding reception and kidnap her over to the Braniac controlled Fortress of Solitude. Of course this requires some tinkering with Doomsday’s origin, Smallville’s Doomsday is a lot younger than the DC comics version, and he’s the product of General Zod’s efforts and I would imagine he’s a lot weaker. Still it’s a half-decent way to introduce a worthy adversary for Superman.

And besides Doomsday, Bride also features the return of Lex Luthor and Lana Lang, possibly working together, along with more of Lois’ cloying love for Clark, which completely cuts against the grain of the story, is out of character and has been plopped in with no development at all. Naturally quickly after coming home, Lana finds herself in the hospital again. Because no episode with Lana would be complete that did not find her in her own hospital wing. But overall Bride is a well done episode, despite all these problems, and a decent setup for the entry of a real enemy. Let’s hope Smallville doesn’t blow the landing.