“Instinct” Review
By: Carll89
Tess Mercer is in possession of Clark’s kryptionan crystal. With it, she and the recurring scientist minion of LexCorp accidentally send a mating signal into space, leading to the appearance of Maxima on earth. Ready to, well…mate, the female alien of planet Oberon (can this sound any more Trecky?) starts searching for the Kryptonian whom she believes sent the signal.
Furthermore, it‘s the only species that can reciprocate her kisses without dropping dead: Humans suffer a sudden vicious heart-attack due to an overdose of adrenaline and endorphins. Not to mention a dangerous nose bleed. Apparently Maxima can‘t ask beforehand if you are the one single possible match on the entire planet; leading to many unfortunate, but at least horny, deaths.
Either way, Lois and Clark try searching for her, but in the end Maxima catches up with Clark after he super-saves Jimmy to a hospital (Jimmy‘s infidelity is explained in an instance.) The first encounter between Clark and Maxima leads to the unexpected: They make out. Lois bursts in and thus prevents…100 points if you can guess this one right.
LexCorp soldiers fail in catching Maxima, but Clark succeeds in sending her back through her gate of teleportation.
The second storyline consists of Jimmy discovering a letter Chloe once wrote to Clark in which she admits her deep feelings for him. This causes some old jealousy issues and a heart-attack (really now?) on Jimmy‘s side. Apparently not everyone can handle so much attention from the other gender. Tess Mercer in the meantime asks Chloe for help in deciphering and analyzing the crystal since Chloe‘s brilliance are her biggest hopes (for further explanation: see Odyssey). Before any work can be done though, the “super computer“is stolen. The thief sending Tess only the message “You are not ready yet“.
Review: To be perfectly honest here, this storyline gave me the “been-there-done-that“déjà-vu. A beautiful person with powers to “make“others their love-slaves are just not a very fulfilling subject. On the bright side though, it was really fun to watch! I was grinning sheepishly during the greatest part of the episode. Not only (but mostly) because people where constantly making out, but also the Clark and Lois interaction was once again a pleasure to watch.
Concerning the second storyline, Jimmy finding Chloe‘s old love letter for Clark: The subject felt forced, contrived and completely pointless. The Pandora’s box of Chloe‘s lingering feelings for Clark has already been opened and closed and opened and closed, ad infinitum. Now they‘re getting married and it should be expected of both of them not to make that big step without complete certainty over their feelings for each other. Chloe pinpointed it well with “it‘s really getting old“.
Guest star Charlotte Sullivan looked absolutely Amazonian, so once again kudos on the nice pick. Her kissing, uh, acting, wasn‘t bad either. Her role of being a love-desperate, lonely super-woman, but also being brutal and careless for the life of humans might admittedly not be very easy to relate to. She managed, but her eyes honestly fascinated me more than her acting skills.
A part I did enjoy was the Chloe/Tess interaction. The idea of them joining up in some form or another was interesting and their chemistry was spicy. Truly, a case of two strong women with personal interests trying to achieve their own stances. Meow. Cassidy Freeman‘s performance was a convincing, yet sassy display during „Instinct“. She portrays her characters attributes subtly and well; there are many layers to her that are just purely curious and willful as opposed to malevolent and evil. Two thumbs up.
Personally, I enjoyed the Lois and Clark moments the most: How Lois first pushed Clark‘s buttons in telling him to “get out in the field again“ and try something new and wild, when only hours later she reacts jealously when catching him doing exactly that. It was a wonderful touch, showing their progressing feelings in a nice and human way.
On the other hand, Maxima’s blunt talk of Lois‘feelings and her bringing up the soul mate issue was unnecessary. If something smells like pizza, it most likely is pizza. No need to shove it down our throats.
I just quickly want to mention that I‘m thrown by how well Erica Durance conveyed the completely mixed feelings that her character is experiencing. While it‘s still Lois with her natural bantering sarcastic self, there‘s a new (or rather: more obvious) spark of deeper connection towards Clark. She ignores it, she avoids it…but still Erica shows us that deep down, she thinks about it.
This was an episode dedicated to “sex sells“ and seeing Tom Welling‘s diamond cutting abs. Therefore, I give it 4 heart attacks out of 5.
Beeeeep.
