Smallville (TV Series) Labyrinth (2007) User Reviews

A real mind-blower

[Rcwilkinson123 · 9/10 · 10 October 2007]

You better see this episode from the beginning, because if you start to watch it any later, you will be confused as to what is happening to Clark's life.

Yet, that is the twist; Clark is stuck in an alternate reality. Lana is devoted to him. Lex lost most of his legs and is in a wheelchair due to the bridge accident when he swerved to miss Clark in the pilot of the series. Martha is married to Lionel. About the only constant is his most loyal friend Chloe, who still believes in who he is. And, oh yeah, he doesn't have any superpowers. He is in a mental institution for putting himself in a fantasy world where he does have powers, and is ridiculed for believing so. Aside from Chloe, there is one mysterious figure who believes in Clark: a black man who in the alternate reality is also a resident of the institution, who believes he is from Mars.

Clark must stay true to everything he believes is actual reality, and not get brainwashed by the institution's psychiatrist, who is in fact the fourth Phantom Zone escapee.

This episode is utterly mind-blowing and shocking. Plus, it provides a fresh twist from the usual type of "Smallville" episode.

The Most Intriguing Episode

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 7 May 2008]

While in the barn of Kent Farm with Shelby waiting for Chloe, Clark is attacked and awakes in a mental institution in the middle of a session with Dr. Hudson. The psychologist tells him that for five years he has been delusional, believing that he has come from Krypton and had superpowers. Clark succeeds to escape, and meets Lana, Martha and Lex that confirm the words of Dr. Hudson. Only Chloe believe on his words, but she is also considered insane. Clark fights to find the truth about his own personality and origin.

"Labyrinth" is undoubtedly the most intriguing episode of "Smallville". The writer was very luck and original denying the whole existence of the powerful boy from Krypton. The annoying hum gives the sensation of disturbance and the identity mysterious saver need to be clarified. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Labirinto" ("Labyrinth")

One of the best of the sixth season

[garrard · 9/10 · 28 January 2007]

Though derivative, "Labyrinth" still stands as the highlight of the mid-half of the six-year-old show. Finally a story allows Welling to show how he has grown as an actor. It's not easy playing a character that is the embodiment of "truth, justice, and the American way" on a weekly basis with very little variation. His performance, permitting him to show how one might react if he/she discovers that all that he knew may be a lie, was quite believable.

Welling rose to the occasion marvelously.

As always, Michael Rosenbaum, as the "handicapped" Lex, delivered, as did Kristen Kreuk as a too-sweet-to-be-believed Lana. Allison Mack, the ever-present Chloe, also scored as a slightly "off-her-rocker" version.

The use of an annoying hum in the background added to the tone of the installment and made for an engaging drama.

Labyrinth

[Colcatron · 10/10 · 13 April 2011]

This is hands down the most original and interesting episode of Smallville season 6. Clark is caught in a mental institution, and confronted with the idea that his entire history as the last survivor of Krypton, Jor-El, the Phantom Zone, the Justice League and everything else is all part of an elaborate fantasy he created in his own mind. The mood of the episode is great, with an eerie hum playing in the background constantly, and the pacing of the episode is almost hypnotic at times. Aside from the original concept, we also get our first real introduction to DC character John Jones, and FINALLY a decent portrayal of one of the Phantom Zone escapees. No more park rangers, Lil Bow Wow, WWE wrestlers....... don't want to speak too soon on that one I guess. Plain and simple, THIS is what they should have done with all of the Phantoms.

Far from a forgettable, disposable episode.

[fad_b · 10/10 · 6 September 2021]

This is not a delusion spun in Clark's consciousness by an intruding parasite. In a sense, this is really who Clark Kent is.

How many Clark Kents are out there? And how many of those are real supermen aliens? What is more likely, to be an undercover alien who sports superpowers or an individual who suffers from mental illness?

What is your secret Clark? What sets you apart from the rest of humanity? What is this mysterious, morbid quality that sets you apart from mankind? Why claim that you're a superhero, where in fact you suffer from high functioning autism?

What makes you feel better about yourself? To believe you're the last survivor of a planet lost in space and time, or to admit that you are simply a typo. ACC TTG ACT TGT TGA ACG....

The writer of this episode didn't come up with a smart idea for an episode, he secretly discovered who Clark Kent has been all along. For you it might have been a forgettable episode, at best a tad smart perhaps. But if you were a fellow sufferer it would penetrate deep and touch the deepest depth of your soul. It would remind you that your idyllic memory and sharp intelligence might not have been bestowed upon you by a conscious agent and for a particular reason. Instead they, as well as your bitter loneliness, maybe the simple consequences of a spelling mistake.

If it offers you any solace, you might want to remember that spelling mistakes should not be the source of shame when all life is meaningless and unintentional.

Clark's suffering from a blow to the head.

[tokanac · 9/10 · 31 March 2008]

This episode is a bit confusing. Some people say that you have to start from the very beginning but I have to say I was a bit confused from the beginning!

Clark gets a blow to the head and wakes up on the floor of Fairview Mental Institution and is made fun of for believing that he's a superhero. Clark is told that the life that he knew was all in his head. Delusional. He also find some things that are unusual: Martha's married to Lionel; Lex is bound to a wheelchair with his limbs cut off after his accident on the bridge; and Lana is devoted to Clark. But he finds one familiarity; someone else who's devoted to Clark: Chloe. He also finds that a mental patient is also from the known world of Smallville. And the doctor is an escapee from the Phantom Zone.

This episode reminds me right back to a Buffy episode called "Normal Again" where Buffy begins to have vivid-daydreams about a mental asylum. The doctor tried to convince her that all that she knew was a figment of her imagination and that she was, in fact, crazy. Her parents were still married, they still lived in LA, her friends didn't exist, Angel was never her boyfriend and she didn't have a sister called Dawn. Demons and vampires also didn't exist. Both episodes are a bit sad because doctors aren't just telling the characters that it's all a figment of her imagination but it tells us what it really is: fiction, and it brings us back to reality. It's nice, though, to have a sense of reality every once in a while, but we watch these shows to escape from reality. It's again nice because the characters have to overcome new challenges.

Underrated, one of the best episodes thus far this season .

[Roger_Sterling · 9/10 · 26 January 2007]

(No spoilers, just plot details) I can't understand such hatred for this episode. You want to watch a bad episode of Smallville? Watch Subterranean - now there's a sack of crap. Tom Welling gives a good performance (I don't say that very often), and Michael Rosenbaum is great, but he is most of the time. The alternate universe scenario seems eerily realistic. The Martian Manhunter, who previously appeared in "Static", returns and tells Clark that the doctor that is the head of the insane asylum where they are being held at is actually a phantom from the phantom zone, and if Clark wants to return to his universe, he must kill him. An overall great episode, with good acting and a decent pace.

Redeemed by last 15 minutes

[movieman0791 · 6/10 · 25 January 2007]

Quite possibly the worst episode of the series, until the last fifteen minutes. The scenario of "am I really who I thought I was or am I just nuts" has been played out hundreds of times in television series and in motion pictures and quite frankly it is just one cliché I have seen one too many times. This is one of my favorite series of all time so it pains me to ever have to say a negative thing about the show, but this was too much. The show is saved by the final fifteen minutes which shows more of J'onn J'onzz (aka Martian Manhunter of DC comics and JLA fame) and a quite refreshing scene with Clark, Lana, and Lex, which hearkens back to a time when they were all good friends.

an annoying episode

[LittleStorpingInTheSwuff · 1/10 · 25 September 2018]

Not the plot, that was okay. Not original, but interesting anyway. What ruined it was the 35 minutes of the ceaseless background humming noise.

Does everyone get as tired of formula episodes as I do?

[ilthaniel-1 · 1/10 · 15 August 2010]

In this episode Clark gets attacked by a Phantom who creates a world in his mind where he ends up in a mental asylum where he has no powers and the last six years never happened. Of course he'll start doubting himself and nearly believes that this world is the truth, but with the help of one of the other inmates who claims he is from Mars he fights back just in time to thwart the plans of the Phantom.

The only reason I can think of why they created this episode is to introduce more fully the existence of the Martian Manhunter. But why choose this plot-line if there are so many far better ways to do that than to use a formula script you've seen so many times already in so many other series. I can't imagine why the producers okay-ed this, except for a depressing lack of imagination on their part.

I've watched this episode because chronology is important for me and because I was hoping that they might have put an unexpected twist in it, but that hope was in vain. I won't be caught watching it again.

The background hum hurts my ears

[meaghan-holahan · 2/10 · 19 August 2020]

I can't remember if I watched this episode through the last time I watched the show. But I couldn't play this episode. I had to keep pausing every couple of minutes and then eventually skip it altogether because of the pitch that played In the background through the episode. Apparently it was supposed to make the episode seem eerie, but it just hurt my ears and was making me a bit crazy.

good bad

[debofly · 1/10 · 3 February 2007]

As there was nothing wrong with the acting etc etc the writing for the episode is way off for this series phantom or no phantom. It was a waste of 42 minutes to see the martian man hunter. You have to know that in the middle of the 6th series no matter what happens it is not true what is going on and really brings nothing to the story of the series except meeting the martian man hunter again and to waste 30 minutes to do this is by far another case of bad writing in the soap opera of smallville. I really like the show but mainly due to the cast and the 3 or so good episodes each year but who ever is on the writing cast that works or used to work on the soaps needs to be canned. This was by far one of the worst. With in the first 4 minutes you know that what is going on is bogus and anything happening is a dream based on Clark's infliction obviously caused by a phantom zone character and when he wakes up he will win and blah blah blah so the writers don't have to really create a villain that will progress the story line any this week. May as well have added another villain to die in the last episode the martian man hunter was in and made him fly away again or come back and tell Clark he forgot his sunglasses to get a closer look like in this episode and call it a day.