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A little bit James Bond, a little more Michael Douglas, Oliver Queen has to play a deadly game to win back his soul. Ringside seats, anyone?

Oliver is duped by a woman (Roulette) he meets at a casino, and ends up in the middle of a dangerous game with seemingly serious consequences. He finds himself in a coffin, hit by a truck while stuck in a car, and arrested after being accused of murdering the woman who got him into the mess.

After Lois stumbles into the middle of all this, Oliver has to save her and then supposedly save Roulette, who turned out to be alive and behind the whole thing. But it was all a ruse set up by Chloe to make Oliver realize he’s still a hero and take up the mantle of Green Arrow once again, as well as mend his relationship with Lois.

Meanwhile, Clark and Chloe try to figure out how the Kryptonian assassin who died trying to kill Clark several weeks ago is still around. They search for Kryptonian family crests after seeing her tattoo, and discover that they’re marked into the ground all over the world.

I was a little concerned last week that Ollie had come back from the dark side too easily, so I was happy to see that the episode started with him right back in the dumps: drunk, gambling, and picking up on strange women. Who wants to watch a show where everyone is happy all the time? Am I right?

I’ll try to avoid complaining too much that the plot of this show was lifted from another movie, this time The Game starring Michael Douglas. I suppose that, unlike me, most Smallville viewers are too young to have even heard of the film, never mind seen it. It was an interesting way to get Ollie back on track, put Lois in danger, and show Chloe’s own dark side (and skills), while at the same time pull the wool over Clark’s eyes. I wonder if Clark is ever going to stoop to listening to peoples’ heartbeats to see if they’re lying, like he’s done in the comics (a la Daredevil)?

Even though Roulette is a character in the DC comics universe, casting an Asian actress in the part made me think of the character Shadoe from the Mike Grell version of Green Arrow, especially because of the tattoo on her back. I don’t know whether it was intentional or not, but I find it interesting that they ended up with a combination of a Justice League villain and a Green Arrow anti-hero in this Oliver-centered episode.

While I approved of the storyline this week, I had some problems with the execution. Like the majorly flawed motorcycle chase from a couple of shows ago, a lot of what happened was just a little too over the top for me. Yes, I know this is a show about an alien with super powers, but I’ll reiterate what I’ve said several times before: Just because we are willing to suspend our disbelief and accept the premise of the show (the last son of a dying planet is sent to Earth, where he has powers far beyond those of mortal men, and pieces of his planet come with him that cause humans to gain powers also), that doesn’t mean that we should be expected to go along with every strange occurrence and coincidence they throw at us.

Having said that, I’m still enjoying the show a lot more than I was a couple of years ago, so let’s hope they keep it up.

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