SMALLVILLE: ABYSS (EPISODE 809)

I'm Dee, and I'll be your guest recapper for Smallville this week. (Feste is in New York with Keira checking out Harry Potter's wand.)

Previously on Smallville, a lot of stuff happened. Chloe used her healing power to weaken Brianiac, but he infected her brain and now she can download information like whoa. Clark frets; Chloe chooses to look at this new power as a gift. Jor-El wasn't happy with Clark's defiance (is he ever?) and warns of consequences. Clark was certain he can cure Chloe if he can retrieve the blue crystal and rebuild the fortress that Lex helped destroy with his glowing purple orb. (Oh Lex. How we pine for you.) Davis woke up naked or covered in other people's blood with no memories. Davis felt as if Chloe were sent to him. Chloe harshly informed Clark that he doesn't get how much Chloe spends her life protecting his secret. Chloe used her white-eyed Brainiac powers to bring back Clark and Kara from the Phantom Zone and push Oliver across the room. Oliver warns Clark to stop Chloe before it's too late for her. (Sadly, this is Ollie's only appearance this week.) Chloe thinks she and Davis should take a break. Faora, Zod's wife and escapee of the Phantom Zone, possessed Lois, informed Davis/Doomsday that he is genetic matter AND her son, and then skewered him with a metal rod to make him stronger. Aw, mommy! You do love me best.

Got all that? Now on to the actual episode!

Jimmy brings Chloe breakfast in bed, expositing about their upcoming marriage using coffee beans as an example and oh god shut up! Nothing against Aaron Ashmore (okay, maybe nothing but this), but I really don't like Jimmy. I feel that he's written as mostly useless and annoying, with a heap of unfunny thrown in. And why has no one ever mentioned his uncanny similarity to The Bonecracker from Season 1? That said, Ashmore does play Jimmy's love for Chloe well. He mentions not getting an RSVP from Lana, and Chloe wonders, "Who?" Oh, Chloe, if we could all be so lucky! In comparison with Lana, I love Jimmy! Jimmy worries about Chloe's forgetfulness, but she plays it off as pre-wedding jitters. He mentions their engagement party, and with some weird flickering and computer noises she and the audience flashes back to the lovely affair in which Lois gave a drunken nontoast to her "cuz." But something's off, and as Chloe and JImmy dance, people and items in the background disappear in flickering flashes. As a blue strobe light bathes the couple, Chloe knows something is wrong, and when she looks at Jimmy, his face is even blanker than usual.

Jimmy don't need no education...

Soon even he disappears, and Chloe is left alone in a dark place surrounded by green Kryptonian flashes and whirls of color. She comes to, and doesn't recognize Jimmy. who is trying to comfort her. Somebody needs to saaaaaaaaaave her!

Kent Farm. Jimmy tells Clark, "As Chloe's future husband, I thought that I could steer her ship through any storm, in sickness and in health. But I just got hit with a major bridal wave." See? Who talks like that, especially in a panic? Jimmy tells Clark Chloe has been forgetting things for a while, and now she can't remember her own fiance. Clark counters with a blank face of his own, or, it could be argued, his default expression.

Huh. Did I leave that cow on?

Jimmy thinks that Chloe's meteor power of healing may have left her with brain damage. He wants to take her to a doctor. Clark, who knows the truth, says it could be any number of things. Jimmy begs Clark to look after Chloe, because she must remember Clark.

Metropolis General Hospital. On the way to the library to pick up some cutting-edge amnesia research, Chloe runs into Davis, whom she remembers with no problem. (And she hasn't even seen him naked and wet - talk about unforgettable!) She apologizes for not looking into his past as promised, but he says he wants to give up on that. You know, because being unable to stab yourself in the chest with a big-ass knife only raises more questions. Davis can tell Chloe isn't herself, and he offers to "be there" for her. Uh huh.

At ISIS, Chloe tries to convince Clark she's okay, but Clark isn't buying. He opens the doors to the "secret" computer room, where there are onscreen dossiers for Clark, Jimmy, and Lionel as well as thousands of pieces of paper—articles, photos—on the wall with connections between them.

Several walls of weird... now with monitors!

It even surpasses Lex's altar room dedicated to Clark in Season 3 ("I understand how you can think all this is about you [Clark]. But, in fact, it's about me.") As dossiers switch to Oliver, Martha, and Lex in the background, Chloe explains it's a sort of crib sheet so that when she starts forgetting, she can remind herself. Clark tells her there's something seriously wrong with her. Thanks, SuperObvious! She admits she remembers Clark, but that's about all. She has to fake her feelings more and more with people. For the slower members of the audience, she says, tears in her eyes, "I'm being taken over by Brainiac." I'd cry, too, at the threat of James Marsters appearing on this show again.

At the Talon, Davis intends to drop off a note to Chloe, but Jimmy opens the door. Fishing for info, David mentions he saw Chloe at the hospital and asks if everything is alright. Jimmy lies badly, as he is in a rush to find his forgetful fiance. But he takes time to quote Frank Sinatra as proof of his love (is he stuck back in "Noir"?). Davis asks Jimmy to tell Chloe Davis will not be attending the wedding. Oh, and that Chloe is "an amazing girl." Tell us something we don't know!

The Original Fortress of Solitude, a.k.a. the Kent barn. Chloe says the more she tries to recall what she's forgotten, the more Kryptonian symbols swirl in her noggin. "Brainiac is replacing your memories with Kryptonian data," Clark realizes. Oh for the love of... Chloe draws out the symbol for "Doom." Clark wants all of this to stop, and says that when Kara lost her memory, Jor-El restored it. Clark is going to rebuild to fortress. Chloe points out he could strip Clark of his powers again, or drop an ice castle on his head. Please, don't let this feeling end! It might not come again. Chloe didn't tell Clark what was happening because never thinks of consequences. Like being sucked into the Phantom Zone or being controlled by Lex. Mmmmmm. What? Clark pulls on his pity cape and says everyone who knows his secret either goes away or dies. "My dad, Pete, Lana, Lionel, even Lex." Chloe says that her life changed—for the better—when she saw him catch that car with his bare hands. "Clark, thanks to you, I've actually made an impact on the world. I wouldn't trade that for anything." Remember those words, folks.

And now, another Brainiac-induced flashback, this time to that very moment when Chloe saw Clark catch that car, although Alicia is nowhere to be found. As the scene flickers between the Doom symbol and other Kryptonian letters, Chloe's memory is modified as the car disappears from between Clark's hands. Clark snaps her out of it, but Chloe realizes the more she tries to think about someone, the more she gives that person "a mental makeover." Clark mentions his abilities, and Chloe cannot remember them or Kal-El, Krypton, or Brainiac. Clark says he knows someone who can help, and Chloe needs to stay in the barn. Chloe panics and doesn't want to forget him while he's gone. He gives her a Smallville High yearbook, and zooms off. In the arctic, Jor-El rebuilds the Phallic Phortress. Clark looks determined.

I am DETERMINED! And as hot as your Earth sun.

In the barn, Jimmy finds Chloe. As he hugs her, he realizes she's "not feeling the love." He made an appointment with a neurologist, but Chloe says Clark told her to wait for him and to trust him. Jimmy shows Chloe pictures of them together, and begs her to trust him now.

Jor-El welcomes Clark home. Clark says he knows what it is like to protect all people, not just his family and friends. Jor-El is impressed, both with this realization and Clark's statement that Jor-El needs to stop punishing him and trust him again. Lots of trust going on around here. Clark asks for help with Chloe's problem. Jor-El can fix her, but Brainiac is so unstable that there's no way to predict the outcome. "It poses a tremendous threat to all of us." Is Clark willing to take that risk?

Met Gen Hosp. In the dimly lit MRI room, Chloe flashes back to when she kisses Clark as a distraction in a filing room in Season 3, when she and Clark "reenacted" Lex's love in an elevator, their almost kiss at the Spring Formal their freshman year, and then the oft-referenced-but-never-seen scene of Clark and Chloe's first kiss plays out in this episode. The young actors are very cute, even if WeeChloe is forced to spout lines such as, "I guess you truly are a gentleman farmer. Emerson and Thoreau have nothing on you!"

WeeChloe!

WeeGentlemanFarmer!

They bond over their love of reading, and WeeClark even zips out and back to the public library for a copy of the book WeeChloe says she lost. She gives him a kiss, and repeats the line Clark said in Season 1: "I know you've been thinking about that all day, so let's get it over with so we can be friends." But Brainiac is still taking over, so WeeChloe grabs WeeClark and drags him into another part of her mind. This time, it's Dark Thursday. But no memory is safe, and as soon as Clark promises, "I'll never leave you," he's dragged away from her completely. Chloe finds herself alone in a darkened Daily Planet basement. Well, until Davis approaches her and takes her hand.

Back at Met Gen Hosp, Chloe has fried the MRI machine and says she can't remember anything but Davis. She finds him in the parking lot and practically tackles him. She is terrified and can remember only him, trust only him. Allison Mack sells the hell out of this, by the way. Davis reassures Chloe that she's safe.

At the Talon, Clark and Jimmy find out that the hospital "lost" Chloe. Jimmy can't believe Clark left Chloe alone. Clark knows they can find her if they work together. He tells Jimmy to call Jonn Jones and Clark will start searching in Metropolis. As he descends the stairs, Clark sees Chloe with Davis, who brought her to reunite with her friends. After Chloe freaks out at seeing Jimmy, Davis tranqs her in the neck with a sedative. As Jimmy takes an unconscious Chloe to a chair, Clark wonders why she remembers Davis. Davis claims not to know, and Jimmy thanks him for bringing Chloe home. As Davis leaves, Clark tells Jimmy to gather some of Chloe's things and he will put Chloe in the car to go to Smallville Med. But instead, he zips her to the...

Phortess. Clark says that now that he's taking more risks, it's even more dangerous for Chloe. She deserves a life free from the "burden" of Clark's secrets. He tells Jor-El to not restore any of her memories of Krypton or Clark's abilities. Clark kneels before Chloe, telling her she is the best friend and ally he could have, that she saved him more than her ever saved her, that he's sorry, and that the best way he can protect her is to let her go.

"Chloe, it's for your own good... no, really. No. REALLY. I told you to trust me, after all."

Hold up. To semi-quote Amy Winehouse, what kind of effery is this? Chloe said, "Clark, thanks to you, I've actually made an impact on the world. I wouldn't trade that for anything." Yet Clark "frees" her from this choice by mindwiping her? How is this protection? To make Chloe's choices for her—how is this anything but selfish and horrible? I know Clark is emotionally stunted, but really? Does he honestly think this is a "noble" sacrifice he's making? Also, does this mean that Chloe also doesn't remember Kara or that Ollie is Green Arrow? I can't see Ollie being onboard with this "solution." And, as much a I hate to bring up the L word, what would Lana think of this? What's to stop Clark from doing the same thing to her? And what is Chloe's purpose now?

Anyway, Brainiac drains out Chloe's ear in a lovely black goo, and the Phortress phloor absorbs it. Er, is that the best way to dispose of alien artificial intelligence?

Talon. Jimmy and Chloe get lovey dovey over the seating chart. Chloe exposits that she woke up in the hospital happy to see both Jimmy and Clark. Speaking of the mindwiping doofus, there he is now. After Chloes jokes that Clark drives like an old lady and can't set up all the folding tables at the farm by himself, Clark looks sad. But "noble." In the alley, Chloe runs into Davis and jokes about hypodermic needles. Davis isn't laughing as he explains that the reason he can't come to her wedding is because of his feelings for her. Chloe insists that she loves Jimmy, but Davis asks her why when she forgot everyone else, she came to Davis for help. He knows she feels the same connection, and then he kisses her.

She's totally kissing him back. But wouldn't you?

She breaks away from him, and says that their connection "was never this." He emphasizes he's not going to let her go, and he'll wait as long as it takes. CREEPY.

Phortess. Clark thanks Jor-El for saving Chloe, but he's starting to realize how much he actually lost. I can't really feel that sorry for you, Clarkbar. Chloe was right when she said you never think about the consequences. Clark tells Jor-El about the symbol for Doom; ends up that it represents "the ultimate destroyer." Bred to kill, adapts to any attack, virtually unstoppable, the usual. Oh, and it's most likely after Chloe because Brainiac used her as its vessel. Jor-El offers his assistance, and Clark replies, "Thank you... Father." Aw, I would have been touched by that moment more if Clark hadn't been such a tool. And, uh-oh, looks as if the black goo is coating the insides of the control panel, and we hear Marsters intone that Jor-El's son will fail, the house of El will fall, and Doomsday's coming.

Next week: A dark and horrible creature crashes the wedding: Lana! Oh, and Doomsday shows up too.