“Leach”

A slight twist on the FOTW motif.  This time, someone doesn’t just get powers.  He gets Clark’s powers and Clark gets to try his hand on normalcy.   It works well for the most part.

Eric Summers is the son of a teacher who is picked on and the usual typical loser type with no friends who gains Superman’s powers and gets reckless.  Not a bad kid, he just loses control of himself and becomes an outcast.  Clark still feels responsible for what Eric does and knowing that only he knows the secret of Eric’s weaknesses.  It’s a telling sign of Clark’s true character that even without his powers, he’s Superman…well not yet but close enough.

It’s also a great showcase to what Clark has in terms of a support structure in his family.  His family is very supportive and believes in him while Eric’s is paranoid and accusatory.  It forces Eric, who was ready to be a decent person, into a life of fear and loss.

The sidebar story of Lex and his girlfriend, Victoria works quickly and quietly to work her out of the picture in a dry, quick manner.  For the little build up they had it was worth about five minutes of screentime to cut out.  Almost as if they were bored.

The most important part of the story is that Lex is continuing to dig deeper into the accident, not believing that Clark is normal…until Clark gets hurt in front of Lex, so it works out well.

Clana gets very little development which is alright as that angle needs to breathe now and again to have the desired effect.  Unfortunately Pete and Chloe are nowhere really to be found either, and the strongest scenes sans Lex always seem to be between Clark and Chloe.

Overall, it’s a positive episode, if not altogether unoriginal.  Definitely worth a watch.

B-

References:

1. After Eric stops Chloe from being mugged, Chloe dubs him Superboy.
2. Lana says she wishes she could fly.

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