Collateral (4 Feb. 2011)

Clark, Oliver, Lois and Dinah are back home after long VRA captivity, with confused memories and robbed of all superhero-powers. They believe they have been tortured in an experimental lab ... See full summary »

Director:

Morgan Beggs

Writers:

Jerry Siegel (character created by: Superman), Joe Shuster (character created by: Superman),

Stars:

Tom Welling, Erica Durance, Cassidy Freeman

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Tom Welling	...	Clark Kent
Erica Durance	...	Lois Lane
Cassidy Freeman	...	Tess Mercer (credit only)
Justin Hartley	...	Oliver Queen / Green Arrow
Allison Mack	...	Chloe Sullivan
Alaina Huffman	...	Dinah Lance / Black Canary
Ted Whittall	...	Rick Flag
Bradley Stryker	...	Deadshot
Lori Ann Triolo	...	Lt. Trotter (as Lori Triolo)
Darcy Hinds	...	VRA Op Officer
Chris Shields	...	VRA Op Hacker

Storyline

Clark, Oliver, Lois and Dinah are back home after long VRA captivity, with confused memories and robbed of all superhero-powers. They believe they have been tortured in an experimental lab by none other than Chloe, hence fear she switched sides. Then she, or rather her avatar, appears in dreams to each of them, claiming they only lost their powers in a virtual illusion, which can nevertheless kill them for real. She calls upon them to trust her, break the virtual spell by believing it fake and thus escape back into reality, with Rick Flag's team. Oliver does so quickly, and is reunited with his true love. Clark wants to, but finds it extremely hard, until Lois joins in.

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Plot Keywords:

fall | bare chested male | kissing | bully | marriage

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 February 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wonderland Sound and Vision, Tollin/Robbins Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

42 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Clark Kent: How'd you do it? Trust me, I mean - back then, before you found out.
Chloe Sullivan: I had my suspicions.
Clark Kent: But that's what I mean. You knew I was lying to you, and still you look me in the eye every day and you trusted me.
Chloe Sullivan: I guess that's the true test of believing in someone - knowing that their lies are there to protect you. It's not really trust if you ask someone to explain themselves.
Clark Kent: But that's hard.
Chloe Sullivan: It's *really* hard.
Clark Kent: You never gave up.
Chloe Sullivan: And I never will.

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Connections

References The Truman Show (1998)

User Reviews

Ugh. Made me glad Chole's been gone.

Every time Chloe punned or alliterated I wanted to punch a writer. It was just freaking painful.

And yes, it's a really blatant rip-off of the matrix, not because of the theme--The old super man series Lois and Clark did a V.R. episode looooong before the matrix was ever around so superman has a pretty solid precedence here--but because of the style. Chloe is dressed like they dressed in the matrix, she has lines similar in style and substance to the matrix (Dorothy, rabbit hole, dreamland, spoken while holding reflective CG objects up to one's face, etc.) and her combat moves are taken right out of the matrix she actually does that one-armed fight scene just like Neo does at the end of the matrix. It was so cheap and predictable--the style similarities were too reminiscent of the matrix, and its scenario, for it to come as even a remote surprise when the big reveal came.

And I just can't overstate how cringe-inducing Chloe was in this. She was the source of some of the sloppiest homage, puns and rag-newspaper-esque alliteration I've ever seen. just revolting.