It’s funny how hard Smallville goes into “freak of the week” territory with its second episode. What’s downright hilarious, then, is the fact that “Metamorphosis” was often aired with the pilot as a two-hour movie event. Sure, this episode picks up directly after the events of the pilot and carries over a few story threads, but so much about the tone and structure of this episode are different that it’s hard to imagine the two working together as a single, cohesive whole.

Starting with that little bit of continuity, this episode continues to develop the love triangle between Clark, Lana, and Whitney. I’ll be honest, I was surprised to see Eric Johnson was a main cast member, if only because Whitney came across as so one-dimensional in the pilot. He read as the generic quarterback boyfriend, extremely jealous and serving as a short-term blockade standing between Clark and Lana. While this episode didn’t do a whole lot to change that – Whitney was as possessive of Lana with Greg as he was with Clark – it did manage to soften him a little. He’s still a tool, but Clark saving his life seems to have improved their relationship a good bit.

We also got to see more of Lex’s devious side in this episode, in what seems like a slight bit of character realignment following the pilot. While he served as a mostly ambivalent force last time, Lex showed off just how devious and methodical he can be this week, through both his visit to Lana’s and the way he gave Clark her necklace. It’s actually kind of funny seeing a character traditionally known for his manipulations using those skills on something as low stakes as a high school romance, but I suppose he needs some way to stay entertained in Smallville.

As for meteor freak Greg Arkin, well, he started turning into a bug boy, before actually turning into a bunch of bugs at the end of the episode. So… yeah, kind of a ridiculous foe. I actually appreciate the attempt to play things fairly straight as a horror story, but the over-the-top performance made it hard to take seriously. And while I don’t want to make a habit of calling out 15-year-old special effects for being out-of-date, they certainly didn’t do this storyline any favors.

Still, this episode continued to focus on fleshing out the core characters, even if Chloe and Pete were once again left with very little to do. If we can keep developing the relationships and just bring in less goofy meteor freaks, I’ll have very little to complain about in the future.

Random Asides

– Jonathan calls the barn Clark’s fortress of solitude… ugh…

– Clark, Chloe, and Pete are surprisingly chill with just breaking into Greg’s house.

– Curious if it’s going to be Jonathan’s thing to deny the supernatural. The last thing any show with actual supernatural stuff needs is a Scully.

Final Score: 7 out of 10