Smallville (TV Series) Phantom (2007) User Reviews

It all Comes to a Head- Make that a Cracked, Distorted Head!

[Rcwilkinson123 · 10/10 · 12 October 2007]

This episode sees the most main characters in peril since the finale of Season 3- a result of many climactic, revealing points that produces a finale that trumps the previous season's finale 'Vessel'- and a cliffhanger that might be the best since the end of Season 1's "Tempest."

Lana tells Lex that she has learned everything regarding his despicable plans to keep Lana at his side, and says that she is leaving him. In his anger, Lex does the most despicable thing yet. This prompts Lana to want to leave Smallville for good- until her SUV blows up in front of Lionel's eyes. Clark is enraged by this news shortly after learning why Lionel threatened Lana into forcing her to marry Lex. Clark is unconvinced of the truthfulness of what Lionel is telling him until a certain "martian manhunter" assures him of the truth.

Meanwhile, Lois goes to Reeves Dam to explore a branch of Lex's 33.1 facilities until a guard stabs her with a 6-inch knife. Shockingly, Chloe arrives at her aide, and her power manifests itself just in time. Clark believes that Lex murdered Lana in his anger and retaliation. Law enforcement believes the same thing, and arrests Lex on the bridge near the dam.

The final Kryptonian Phantom Zone escapee arrives. Problem is, it is different from the other Phantoms. It is an artificial prototype from Krypton, a result of experimentation by the evil Kryptonian warlord Zod. It needs a Kryptonian body to survive without having to inhabit a new human body every 24 hours. Finally, at episodes' end, it finds who it has been looking for: Kal-El. Using his DNA, the artificial Kryptonian possesses a body of its own: the body that is an exact duplicate of Clark, turned upside-down. An intense fight between the true man and his copy leads to the collapse of Reeves Dam, where they battled. As a result, the nearby bridge collapses, and Lex, in his car, plunges into the water below. The dam breaks, the water disperses, revealing new land, and the Clark duplicate, a "little more bizarre," flies into the atmosphere with a cracked, twisted face. See you in Season 7.

So much was revealed, so much has yet to be concluded. A great Season 7 premiere awaits.

Fatality, Revelations and Healing Power

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 28 May 2008]

In a poor cabin in Quebec, an old man is possessed by a phantom escapee from the Phantom Zone. While a priest tries to exorcise the man, Lex and his army break in the cabin trying to capture the entity. Meanwhile Martha moves to Washington; later Lana tells Clark that she is leaving Lex and explains the reason why she married Lex. In return, Clark reveals his secret to her. Then the upset Clark runs to Lionel and he meets his mysterious savior that tells a secret about Lionel. The snoopy Lois discovers the secret behind the numbers said by Wes but she is severely stabbed in Reeve Dam and calls Chloe. Lex captures a boy possessed by the entity to use his DNA in his combat-army of super soldiers; however, the unexpected reaction of the alien jeopardizes his plans. When Lana is victim of an attempt, Clark arrives in the facility seeking Lex, but he faces the powerful phantom with unpredictable consequences.

"Phantom" is spectacular, certainly the best episode of the weak Sixth Season with revelations and fatality. Lana joins the club of those that know Clark's secret (I believe only Lex and Lois do not know). The amazing secret about Lionel surprised me, and in many opportunities I noted the ambiguity of this character but I could not imagine the reason of his behavior. The power of Chloe is finally revealed and I do not believe that Lana's tragedy has really happened. The powerful Phantom will certainly be the toughest enemy of Clark so far. Unfortunately, the distributor of Smallville insists in his usual subterfuge and ends this excellent series in its climax, leaving the fans anxiously waiting for the conclusion of the episode in the next season on DVD. In my opinion, this nasty procedure shows a total lack of respect with the viewers. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Fantasma" ("Phantom")

A Solid Season of an Amazing Show

[themanofhope · 9/10 · 29 October 2016]

Smallville Season 6 is definitely one of the better seasons of the show although it does not reach the heights of Seasons 3 and 5. This season opens the show to a lot more mythological storytelling by introducing more Superman related settings like The Phantom Zone as well as opening the show up to more superheroes. Season 6 has a lot of positives but their are also a few negatives that have been a problem in earlier seasons and still need to be fixed. Filler episodes!!! Thankfully season 6 doesn't have more than 2 or 3 super filler episodes cause something in every episode happens that at least slightly affects the plot but their is one horrendous episode that will stick with me for all of Smallville history. The episode when Clark helps the Mexican immigrants was a huge waste of time and was an incredible waste of 40 minutes. What people like to say about Smallville is that it is either amazing or horrendous but this season had a lot of meh episodes that could have been so much better but weren't awful. Other than that Season 6 of Smallville was spot on. Some amazing episodes include the season premier, the justice league episode, promise, nemesis and the season finale even though it wasn't spot on. Lex was completely evil in this season with barely any good left in him as Clark started to get a hold of his destiny. Everything fell into place in Season 6 as Lana found out how messed up Lex really is, the Justice League was created, Lionel was proved to be good, Lex journeyed farther into darkness and Clark got a step closer to becoming Superman.

Smallville Season 6 was a very solid season of the show although it wasn't perfect for having some clunky episodes and repeating the same mistakes over again. Other than that the season was great and is definitely recommended for fans of the show. Smallville Season 6 gets an 8.6/10.

Phantom

[Colcatron · 10/10 · 13 April 2011]

While season 6 as a whole was disappointing, and ranks among my least favourite seasons, it was shocking to me how good the finale "Phantom" really was. Not only is this a great season finale, I'd say it's probably the 2nd best finale in Smallville history, behind only season 4's "Commencement, and probably also in my top 3 or 4 Smallville episodes of all time.

I thought the season made many mistakes, but what Phantom does is make all of those weak moments and dull episodes pay off big time. The Phantom Zone escapees had been incredibly mishandled all season, but here we get a fantastic payoff, which not only surprised me, but had me more excited about the season 7 premiere than I had been for any Smallville episode in years. The best thing about the final battle between Clark and the Phantom is that it provides a satisfying climax for Clark, who as a character had been on the sidelines for much of the season. The Lana/Lex marriage actually worked well throughout the season, in my opinion, and the way that story concludes here was dramatically powerful thanks to some good writing, good acting (for a change on Lana's part) and a solid cliffhanger. Finally there's the revelation for Chloe's power, which again was handled poorly throughout the season, with too little time spent mentioning it. It was too easy to forget she was supposed to have a power, but when it is revealed, it was surprising and dramatic.

Every Smallville finale is packed with cliffhangers for all of the characters. Some seasons handle it well, like season 2 and 4, where all of the characters are left in tight spot, but all still fit together as part of the overall story. Others seasons have multiple cliffhangers, yet it feels like the writers just came up with an idea off the top of their heads and never properly worked it into the story. Every cliffhanger in "Phantom" works well on it's own, and builds the drama on the other stories. This is as close to a perfect episode as you'll find in Smallville.

A great ending to the 6th season. (Spoiler free review)

[Roger_Sterling · 10/10 · 17 May 2007]

The 6th season has had its ups (Crimson), and its way downs (Subterranean), and Phantom is definitely one of the ups. The last wraith from the phantom zone is wreaking havoc, and Clark aligns himself with Lionel and the Martian Manhunter to find it before Lex, who is trying to get its blood to put the finishing touches on his army of super soldiers.

Every character has a pivotal role in this episode, and it helps this episode immensely. The 6th season has been disappointing, but this finale is astounding. The cliffhanger is one of, if not THE best in Smallville history, and already has me pumped up for the 7th season.

10/10.

Bizarro is in the house!

[jakesoy62 · 8/10 · 22 May 2007]

This episode didn't quite match up to my expectations. As members of The Justice League had been introduced earlier in the season, I would have expected some more Green Arrow, or The Flash or Cyborg to make an appearance, even if only brief. The appearance of Jonn Jones was welcome, though, and hopefully his presence will finally lead to Clark embracing his destiny, and beginning his training. Chloes' "power", if indeed we have been shown it, was portrayed as very 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. I mean, tears of healing! Come on! What next ,we call her Phoenix? Oh, yeah, that's another superhero! Michael Rosenbaums' Lex just gets more sinister every week. He is a great actor, and one can tell he relishes the evil direction his character has taken this season. Lanas' death wasn't surprising, but I for one don't think it will prove to be real. I mean, Lana Lang dead! The final battle scenes, with Clark and the phantom, were excellent. When Clark asks "What are you?" and the reply "I'm you, just a little more bizarre.", Bizarro was the first thing that came to mind. When the phantom takes off into camera at the end, and his face breaks away, I was left satisfied that next season will be one worth watching.

Phantom

[Aaronhaughey · 10/10 · 20 May 2007]

I thought that this episode was extremely good and cannot wait for season 7, although slightly confused at the end, when Clark asks the phantom 'what the hell are you',the phantom replies 'i'm you only a little more bizarre' does this mean that he is bizarro???

Apart from this, the episode was very well put together and although this episode answered a lot of questions, a lot more have to be answered in the next season which hopefully will not contain as many pointless and irrelevant episodes which contain nothing of the main plot..... and the rest of this is just to get 10 lines used up so that i can post this review and hopefully it will be some help for smallville fans and critics

if only this could have been prevented

[joh03096 · 7/10 · 22 December 2012]

The episode starts in a cottage in Quebec where a woman is washing clothes by hand in a pot of hot water while a priest performs an exorcism on her father, who has been possessed by a wraith from the Phantom Zone. Anyone who has ever been to Quebec will tell you that the entire population of Quebec is just medieval farmers. I'm pretty sure.

Lex shows up to get the wraith possessed man because he needs wraith people to make more super soldiers. Lex does not realize that the reason Wes died was that Wes was too stupid to stay invisible while he fought Clark, and instead Lex believes that Wes just didn't have good enough alien DNA, so he needs a live wraith possessed person for that perfect alien DNA.

This seems to be what Lionel has been trying to protect Clark from. A few episodes ago Lionel wrote down some Kryptonian symbols and then wrote "mirror" underneath it, which all makes sense when we find out the wraith turns into Bizarro Superman. Lionel must feel like an abject failure. He's known, clearly, for quite some time what threats lay in Clark's future, and his grand plan to protect Clark from those threats just did not pan out, despite his best efforts. I've been right there with Lionel the whole time. I always thought the absolute best way for Lionel to stop Lex from capturing a phantom that would turn into Bizarro Superman and threaten the life of Clark Kent was to cut out the middleman and just threaten the life of Clark Kent directly by telling Lana that he'd personally kill Clark if she didn't marry Lex.

Surprisingly, "threaten to kill Clark Kent and pointlessly force Lana into an unhappy marriage" plan doesn't seem to have kept Clark out of danger. It has caused a lot of needless drama, though. Lana "blew up in a car bomb," which is so unlikely to be what actually happened that I will actually blow MYSELF up in a car bomb if we don't find out five minutes into season seven that Lana faked the car bomb to escape from Lex. An entire dam is destroyed now, because of Lionel's bad planning. A senator is dead. And Clark is still in danger.

Meanwhile, while Clark is fighting for his life against the bizarro version of himself that everyone refused to tell him about before it was too late, Lois and Chloe are busy getting stabbed and crying rejuvenating tears. I'm surprised to find that Chloe's meteor power is the power to trade her own life for someone else's. Maybe she was acting really selfless when the meteors hit? That really isn't the story of Chloe's life. We all know that if Chloe got a meteor power it would be exactly like the meteor power she had a few seasons ago where no one could lie to her. And she would abuse it, and everyone would hate her. Just like last time. This "I give my own life for your life" power is a cop out.

Prediction for season seven: Clark kills Bizarro Superman with a single punch in the first ten minutes, then goes back to complaining about how much he loves Lana. Chloe's second meteor power is revealed: the ability to bring joy and peace to the world.

Season Six (5/10 stars): A Wildly Inconsistent--And Mostly Disappointing--Soap Opera Season

[zkonedog · 4/10 · 3 July 2019]

There's a strong case to be made that Smallville was never as popular as it was coming into this sixth season. The preceding campaign was clearly the show's strongest, Superman Returns overtook theaters in summer '06, and the series was practically launching the new CW network on its broad popularity. Sadly, such hype could not be parleyed into a strong season--instead producing the weakest allotment of the bunch to this point.

To be fair, there are certainly a few S6 highlights:

-The premiere is fantastic and seeing Michael Rosenbaum portray General Zod in Lex Luthor's body is a treat.

-New addition Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) is a strong character in the early goings.

-The "young Justice League" team-up episode is a fun precursor to those heroes' future destinies.

-A midseason red kryptonite episode--Crimson--is fantastic and somewhat remarkably turns all the season tropes on their head in fantastic satire.

Unfortunately, two key aspects of S6 pull the whole endeavor down considerably:

-No disrespect to Kristin Kreuk's acting--which has clearly and considerably improved through the seasons--but the Lana Lang character is practically a menace to the show at this point. The writers clearly have no plan whatsoever for her and continue going back to the "pining for Clark" well to the point of nausea. Even worse, Lana pulls down usual-highlight Lex with a soap opera romance that destroys all the previous chemistry that pairing once crackled with.

-Clark Kent (Tom Welling) is obviously the hero Smallville is built around. So why is he "whining" all season long? I'm not exactly sure where this character trait emerged from, but nearly every episode sees Clark blaming himself or moping about for one reason or another. Coming off of the death of father Jonathan in S5, viewers were hoping to see a more Superman-esque portrayal. Instead, we are given ridiculous angst.

The extremely disappointing finale (one Bizarro scene aside) also illustrates a key S6 weakness. It isn't that there aren't interesting ideas bandied about all season long, but more that those ideas aren't executed properly:

-Duplicitous Lionel (John Glover)? Great potential, but only used as deus ex machina.

-Meteor-freak Chloe (Allison Mack)? Very intriguing--then given no space to breathe.

-Martian Manhunter (Phil Morris) appearances? Zero context or season-long meaning whatsoever.

-Even the supposed S6 theme of Clark rounding up escaped Phantom Zone prisoners ends with no pay-off.

All in all, S6 as a whole was dangerously close to being a disastrous season of Smallville for the way it emotionally bankrupted most of the show's important relationships and failed to pay off almost every key plot point. I can give it 5/10 stars because the ideas themselves were often intriguing, but by the end of the finale this is a show utterly adrift in what to do next or how to handle its long-running characters.

I'm so glad that it's over...

[m-47826 · 4/10 · 24 July 2023]

So far, CW green is not a great color on Smallville... Can we just appreciate how idiotic this season finale was? Season 6 is without a doubt one of the worst and most ridiculous seasons. And oddly childish as well. As seen on the start recap, it is so bland and soap opera-ish, the change of tone is striking. Writers had their references all mixed up. It went from X-Files to Dynasty, in one single shot. And now that the Lex character is officially toasted by the silly super soldiers/level 33.1 arc, I see why Rosenbaum wanted out as well. Even Lionel is looking a little lost lately. Far greater menaces pop up left and right, for these human nemesis of Clark, to be relevant again. And Lana... Why didn't I see the ice cream truck was a decoy, for her to escape and fake her own death? It is so obvious now. But maybe I was just too bored to care... The ending was so chaotic, with Chloe's very weird powers finally revealed. And the corny scene where « phantom » kid attacks everyone, and talks like a gremlin. Or dumbo Clark causing the whole dam to collapse, that I welcome next season more than I did previously. The opening scene was ok, some special effects as well, and Lana's scenes too (that slap...), but that's it.